The Duke of the high Cs

Kenneth Zammit Tabona has a chat with Sicilian tenor Antonino Interisano about operatic life and his Gozo experiences while in Malta singing Rossini’s Stabat Mater at St John’s Co-Cathedral, last month.

Could not help it. After having chatted for hours with Antonino Interisano over a protracted lunch, when I saw him en frac at the top of the altar steps at St John’s ready to break into Rossini’s Cuius animam gementem with its utterly splendid declamations, I winked at him. There are human sides to hacks like me and superstar tenors as well.

The descriptive though lugubrious religious sequence of the Stabat Mater is set to a rollicking score which somehow works in some mysterious Rossini fashion and is not in any way out of synch with the words. Interisano was terribly impressed by St John’s. Although as familiar with the baroque idiom as we are in Malta since he hails from nearby Enna, the heraldic phantasmagoria of the Co-Cathedral, especially now that it has been so extensively restored, had a huge impact on him. He is just as favourably impressed with the Maltese talent. The a cappella sections of the Rossini were perfect, he declared adding that even the most professional of choirs sometimes go away.

This was not Interisano’s first appearance in Malta and yet in a funny way, as he has performed in Gozo twice, Cav and Pag in 2006 and Turandot in 2008 at the Astra Theatre. He sang both Turiddo and Canio in one evening while his Prinicipe Calaf last year with Francesca Patane’ as Turandotand Miriam Cauchi as Liu, brought the house down. Interisano is the embodiment of a heroic tenor.

His voice projects beautifully as was evidenced in the evening in his Rossini performance with its extraordinary bursts of high Cs for tenori di petto, literally belting them out till they reverberated on Preti’s mesmerisingly beautiful ceiling.

Interisano is a dyed-in-the wool italophile. Not for him are the austerities of English opera or the subtleties of the French while the superhuman Wagnerian roles are not to his taste. Verdi, Puccini, and the Italian gang of Donizetti, Bellini, Giordano, Leoncavallo and Rossini are the love of his life and like Rossini, who invented those mouthwatering Tournedos that still bear his name; he is a gourmet par excellence.

We had a lovely time discussing food over a scrumptious lunch at the Pegasus. Pasta dishes and cucina baroniale Siciliana were high on the agenda along with the state of opera in today’s world that is beleaguered by the aftermath of the credit crunch.

Opera is still going strong although there have been attempts to cut corners. Interisano thinks that the tendency today is to have a famous director and then scrimp on the singers employing the services of what he calls: ‘cantanti economici’.

This is why Interisano has fallen in love with Gozo and its unique way of putting up opera. He declares that he has never encountered the level of “entusiasmo naturale per la lirica” anywhere else. He truly believes that Gozo productions like last year’s Turandot can be easily sold to other theatres all over the world as the allestimento was of such high level.

He was unstinting in his admiration and I could not but agree having followed Gozo opera for the last 30 years.If only our National Theatre could match a Gozo production in style and quality let alone aesthetics. Interisano feels that there should be more political commitment to the arts especially opera that embodies the inspiration not only of Terpsichore but several other muses too.

Interisano will be interpreting the role of the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s evergreen Rigoletto at the Astra Theatre in October. This is far and away Verdi’s most popular opera as it is, from start to finish, so utterly orecchiabile. Its arias starting with the iconic La donna e’ mobile remain the catchiest of all Verdi’s prodigious output. Interisano is very excited about this role as it will be the first time that he will be performing the opera in its entirety.

Of course he has sung excerpts many times before the Questo o Quella or the wonderful quatetto in the last act, but singing the entire opera is an entirely different ballgame. He is very much looking forward to work with Gozitan soprano Miriam Cauchi again who will be interpreting the role of Gilda.

“I could easily become a citizen of Malta, particularly Gozo”, explained Interisano who went on to explain that the enthusiasm for putting up a good show was of a level that he encountered nowhere else…and he certainly is very well travelled.

He was also fascinated by the similarities between Malta and Sicily and even more so by the marked differences, especially the use of Maltese and English. My Italian was initially a bit of an uphill struggle but was, after half an hour of prattling, just of a level high enough to impress him.

I was in my element of course giving him an overview of how the histories of Malta and Sicily diverged radically after 1530 but how we remain by and large Siculos who speak English.

I am convinced that Antonino Interisano is destined for great things and if his love affair with Gozo is nurtured, which I am sure it will be, we will have him wowing us for many years to come.

[The Times Weekender, May 2, 2009]

Photos: Joe Attard