Marcello Giordani supports New Tang Dynasty TV?s International Vocal Competition
Created: September 27, 2012 Last Updated: September 27, 2012
Marcello Giordani (Dario Acosta)
This year, one of the leading tenors in the world today, Marcello Giordani, will be singing in Carnegie Hall on Oct. 21 to promote the lofty mission set out by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD): to promote traditional vocal arts of pure authenticity, pure goodness, and pure beauty.
Giordani, whom Opera News calls ?arguably, the greatest leading tenor of his generation,? has sung over 170 performances at the New York Metropolitan Opera in the last 20 years.?
Giordani will appear at NTD?s Sixth International Vocal Competition Concert, singing alongside selected young vocalists. Giordani will also present awards to the contestant winners.?
Marcello Giordani in ?Madama Butterfly,? Metropolitan Opera 2006 (Ken Howard)
?We are very happy to have such a world-renowned vocal artist as Mr. Marcello Giordani joining us,? said Lijuan Nania, vice president and director of the Global Competition Series at NTD Television. She explained that the International Vocal Competition?s mission is ?to revive traditional vocal arts and help talented young artists who dedicate themselves to this field.??
Rising from a small town in Sicily, Italy, to the top of world?s most renowned opera stages, Giordani and his extraordinary voice crafted a unique space in the opera world.?
His repertory ranges from the bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini and the lyricism of the French operatic repertoire, to the more dramatic roles of Verdi, Puccini, and Berlioz and, most recently, the popular Verismo operas of Mascagni and Leoncavallo.?
In an interview with The Epoch Times, Giordani shared the elements that empowered his dream, enriched his love, and gave real purpose to what he does.?
An Influence Beyond Time
Loyalty and Love?Marcello (L) with wife Wilma (C) and father (R) (Courtesy of Marcello Giordani)
Giordani said he would never have been able to succeed without his father. ?I am from a little town in Sicily where people rarely pursue an operatic career. My father was a huge fan of opera and used to listen to arias all the time, and one day I joined him to attend a performance at the Teatro Bellini in Catania. I was just blown away! I knew it right away: I wanted to end up on that stage and sing all those beautiful arias.?
Giordani considered his father a most extraordinary person. ?Even though he was not a musician, he was my mentor, my guiding light,? he said. Giordani?s father recognized his son?s talent at a very young age and always supported him, both financially and mentally. Other members of the family wanted Giordani to do something ?serious like becoming a banker.??
His father?s influence extended beyond his father?s life. In 1994, Giordani?s father passed away. ?I was really challenged and was about to abandon my career because nothing made sense to me anymore,? Giordani recalled. His wife encouraged Giordani to continue to sing. ?She insisted that my father would have wanted it,? he said.?
Great Art Comes From Goodness and Compassion?
Describing the effect of his first encounter with opera, Giordani said, ?It is a spell that has never left me. It is a pure magic?the music, the stage setting, the story, the poetry, the entire atmosphere, the smell of the theater?it is just a combination of many things that makes opera a beautiful art form.??
Giordani advises young opera singers to ?never ever stop studying, always stay humble, and try to grow as an artist and as a person as well.?
By growing as a person, he said it means to be a good person, a compassionate person. ?If you are compassionate, you automatically have beauty in your heart, mind, and soul.??
\>");By humble, Giordani means to be grateful for being blessed with talent. ?It is our duty to accept it and make it available to other people.??
Giordani shared two incidents illustrating how he honors his pledge to make his talent available.?
Accompanying his children on a school field trip, Giordani got a call. The MET, which he considers his artistic home, called him with a tenor emergency. ?I had to head back immediately to save their ?Rigoletto? performance that evening.?
?The other unforgettable experience was when the MET asked me to sing two performances in two different operas the very same day. A critic gave me the nickname ?The Iron Tenor.???
Recalling the experiences, Giordani said, ?I think I was almost hypnotized in a way. There was literally no time to think too much. I just tried to stay really calm and focused because only in this way I was able to give the very best of myself.?
Good Advice
As glamorous as it appears on the stage, opera is a profession of hard work. ?Young people need to know that having talent is not enough; equally important is to study, study, and study. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of patience, and consistency to build a career, step by step,? Giordani said.?
Accepting challenges and overcoming tests of one?s faith and love of singing is part of what it takes to achieve success. ?I don?t think there is an artist who didn?t experience a setback at least once in his/her career. It is very important that you have loyal people around you, people you trust, people who are not afraid to be honest with you,? he said.
Giordani said that he is a very lucky person, who always meets the right people at the right moment.?
?You are the diapason of my life,? Marcello said to his wife Wilma. (Courtesy of Marcello Giordani)
Wilma, the woman that Giordani met in 1988 when he was singing in Lucerne, Switzerland, is perhaps the most important person that Giordani has met in his life. They were married in 1990. He said to her, ?Wilma, you are the diapason of my life.?
He subsequently met another important person, his voice teacher, Bill Schuman, whom Giordani calls ?the turning point to a new beginning.?
Bill Schuman of the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia is a voice teacher of international acclaim. A native of Portland, Oregon, Schuman studied ?with the famed vocal pedagogue, Luisa Franceschi, who was a prot?g?e of Luisa Tetrazzini and Pietro Mascagni. Many of his students have been heard in the world?s greatest opera houses,? according to the AVA website.?
Giving Back
In the spring of 2010 at the age of 47, Giordani founded a nonprofit organization in New York, the Marcello Giordani Foundation. The goal was to help young opera singers at the start of their careers.?
In the spring of 2011, he launched the first Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition, which took place in Giordani?s hometown of Catania, Italy.?
?It was a great experience and a joy to watch all the young talents trying to do the best they were able to do at that very moment. As the president of the competition, I always look for their ability to learn and their willingness to be open and accept suggestions and advice,? Giordani said.?
As a busy performer in his prime, Giordani?s schedule is full year-round. Asked why he placed so much importance on supporting young vocalists, Giordani said: ?For the few of us who make it to the top, we shall never take this for granted and always remember the struggle and the sacrifices it takes to get there. I just think the time has come to pay back and to pass on my knowledge to other talents waiting out there.?
In September, Giordani partnered with NTD?s Sixth International Vocal Competition?and will sing three operatic arias, including ?Nessun Dorma,? at NTD?s International Vocal Competition Concert.?
Giordani believes that NTD?s vocal competition provides a great platform for young vocalists to showcase their talents. ?It offers so many possibilities for singers to be heard in a city like New York, which is considered the headquarters of opera business,? he said.?
NTD?s Vocal Competition
Part of a series of nine competitions, NTD?s vocal competition is designed to promote cultural understanding between the East and West. This year, it is open to vocalists from all ethnic backgrounds. NTD?s vocal competition will give out one Gold award ($10,000), one Silver award ($3,000), and two Bronze awards ($1,000) for both male and female divisions.?
According to Ying Guo, the assistant producer of the NTD vocal competition, as of mid-September, more than 30 contestants representing more than 15 countries from four continents have registered to participate. ?Half of them are Asians and half Westerners. They come from the U.K., U.S., Canada, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Australia, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and more,? Guo said.?
Contestants will not only perform well-known operatic works in Italian, French, or German, but will also sing a classical Chinese song. NTD?s vocal competition provides the pronunciation of Chinese-language lyrics.
?We are pleased to receive contestants from such diverse cultural backgrounds. We appreciate the warm response from the opera communities around the globe,? Guo said.?
Giordani acknowledged the importance of supporting emerging talents from around the world: ?I am very sensitive to the needs of young singers regardless their nationality. It is very important to support these young singers because they will continue the legacy of great opera, and they all need guidance and help to make the right career choices.?
For more information, see NTD?s International Vocal Competition Concert website (http://concert.ntdtv.com).
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Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/iron-tenor-tender-heart-one-true-love-297454.html
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