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When tenor
Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, listened with astonishment when Anduaga made her house debut two seasons ago: “To be honest, I was astounded by her voice.”
Anduaga has become a star everywhere Europe At age 30, when many tenants are just beginning to form their own identity.
Now, he has introduced himself American Mass audiences are headlining the Met’s new production by Rolando Villazón of Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece “La Sonnambula,” which runs through Nov. 1.
Anduaga stars with soprano Nadine Sierra, while Frieza conducts. The October 18 performance was broadcast live in HD to cinemas around the world.
Sure, this is an opera where the soprano gets the last word – and in Sierra’s case a rare high F – but Anduaga puts herself ahead of her virtuosity.
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim writes in her article, “His tenor flows in endless legato, capable of threading a silky thread or blossoming into a ringing, stately fortissimo.” new York Times Review.
From boy soprano to star tenor
Anduaga grew up in San Sebastián, Spain, where he began singing as a child.
“In the Basque Country we have a great tradition of chorus and amateur music,” Anduaga said. He debuted as a boy soprano in church when he was 7 years old, and at the age of 10 joined the Orpheion Donostiara Choir, where he first encountered Elena Barbe, the choir’s voice teacher.
Once his voice changed he began to study singing seriously, but he had trouble at the conservatory when his teachers wanted him to learn roles that were too heavy for his light voice at the time.
“After a month I couldn’t sing anymore,” Anduaga said. “I was straining, not singing naturally.”
“So I called Elena – we were just friends at the time – and I said, ‘I need help!’ I started studying with him again, and then eventually it turned into something different, and now we have a child. We have been together for 11 years.”
In 2016, when he was just 21 years old, he sang at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy, while continuing his studies. Later that year he was in class when he received an urgent call from the opera company in Bilbao.
“It was Friday, and they told me they had a cancellation and needed a tenor on Monday to sing Don Ramiro in Rossini’s ‘La Cenerentola,'” he recalled. “I called Elena and told her I couldn’t do it. I only knew one aria and one duet.
“She said, you have to. This is a great opportunity. We just have to study. Say you’re sick and come home. She played the piano, and by Saturday morning I knew the whole part. She knows my ability better than I do.”
Texting your husband from the audience
Through marriage and the birth of a child, Barbe has retained his role as Anduaga’s coach, chief booster – and most discerning critic.
Before a recent Friday night “Sonnambula” performance, the couple left 15-month-old Leonardo with a babysitter at their apartment and came to the Met together. When he was ready to go on, Barbe took a seat in the audience and began quietly texting her husband during the performance. Every time he left the stage he would look at his phone to read her comments.
“She’ll say little things, like, ‘Focus on your breathing’ or, ‘Look more toward the audience, not so much toward the conductor and the orchestra,'” he said.
“She waits until the applause so that she doesn’t disturb her neighbor,” he said. “Sometimes people are looking at her. She doesn’t want to tell them she’s a tanner’s wife.”
Expanding your repertoire
As Anduaga’s sound has evolved, he said, “It’s grown and is taking on different colors.” Although he sticks with bel canto favourites, he is adding some lighter Verdi roles and venturing into the French repertory – Massenet’s “Werther” and Gounod’s “Faust” and “Romeo et Juliette”.
Whatever his tastes in roles, the people running the opera house can’t get enough of him.
Joan Matabosh, artistic director of the Teatro Real in Madrid, said, “In addition to singing like no one else, he dominates the stage and dramatic performance.” “He is undoubtedly the role model of the future.”
In fact, the popularity of Anduaga in Europe is so much that the mate has to wait in line.
“We’re actually having trouble booking him because he’s in so much demand.” Gelb said. As things stand, Anduaga is scheduled to sing at the Met in “Rigoletto” and “Romeo et Juliette” in the 2028-29 season.
“Everyone is always looking for the next Pavarotti,” Gelb said. “I’m not saying he’s the next Pavarotti – but he could be.”
Anduaga rejects that comparison.
“It’s huge,” he said. “I don’t like the ‘new this’ or the ‘new that’. When you hear ‘Nessun Dorma’ sung by Pavarotti, everyone around the world knows it’s Pavarotti, and that will never happen again.”
“I try to do my best,” he said. “So let’s just say, this is me – I’m new.”