She has only just returned from an international opera tour led by René Jacobs, and she is already back in the concert halls with a song recital: Sabine Devieilhe is one of the most sought-after sopranos of the moment. Having three days off is exceptional, she admits after a calm Easter weekend at home in France with her family.
Sabine Devieilhe (Normandy, 1985) is making waves at opera houses at home and abroad with her crystal clear soprano voice and flying virtuoso coloraturas. A role as Lakmé in the opera of the same name by Léo Délibes is tailor-made for her, just like the chilling Queen of the Night from Mozart's That Magic Flute. In 2022 she received the International Opera Award for female singer of the year.
Her new CD was released on Good Friday: songs by Mozart and Richard Strauss, together with pianist Mathieu Pordoy. “A tribute to two composers for whom making music was also playing,” she calls it. This month she will tour it through France, the Netherlands and Germany. On Tuesday she will visit the Recital Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Yet she tries to limit herself: “I do a maximum of one opera production per year abroad. You will then immediately be away from home for two months. Since my children started school, I want to be home as much as possible, especially on weekends.” That requires quite a bit of coordination with her husband's equally busy schedule. Husband Raphaël Pichon is conductor and founder of the pioneering early music ensemble Pygmalion. Together they made several CDs, including an acclaimed recording of Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
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Does passion music also sound in the Devieilhe-Pichon house during such a quiet weekend? “Not specifically, but we do have the habit of listening to Bach on Sundays. And we often have classical radio on.” Our own work is regularly heard there: “It is very normal for our children that mom and dad are often on the radio. When our son was a little smaller, he thought that everyone at home listened to themselves on the radio,” laughs Devieilhe. “When we visited my mother, he was surprised that grandma could not hear herself singing on the radio.”
Son Lucien, now seven years old, makes a small guest appearance on his mother's new CD. “I rehearsed a lot at home with Mathieu, the pianist,” explains Devieilhe, “and funnily enough, both my son and my daughter liked the song 'The Children's Play' hanging the most. Of course it helps that it is a strophic song, and that the genius Mozart wrote such catchy music. The fact that the children sang it at home gave me an idea.”
At the end of the song, little Lucien still hums the sweet melody softly. An endearing moment of barely fifteen seconds. But when asked whether these are his first steps in the music world, Devieilhe immediately ducks behind her hands: “Oh no! That is absolutely not the intention, to steer him towards a music career. That is entirely his own choice. But a great lesson we want to pass on to our children is that you can turn your passion into your job. Of course, that can also be done outside of music.”
Playfully
“I like to convey my own passion for music in a playful way, for example by singing together. Not only for our own children, but also at my son's school. I did a short version of that That Magic Flute in twenty minutes, just every character with my own soprano voice. In the class of 11 year olds there was a little boy at the back who didn't like it and became a bit rebellious. “That's a good thing,” I told him, “Then you are Prince Tamino!” I explained to him that Tamino's ordeal was not being allowed to say anything to me – and how much his silence hurt me as a lovesick Pamina. He sat next to me on his stool while I sang my aria, and he acted so well that he received applause from all his classmates. That was a wonderful moment of connection.”
That connection works both ways, Devieilhe sees. “Performing for young children is often the key for us as musicians. Even if they don't understand what you're singing, they should be able to sense exactly what you want to say. You learn a lot from that as a singer.”
And she brings those experiences to a song recital, such as on Tuesday evening for the Dutch audience. “I think of a song like 'Abendempfindung' by Mozart,” says Devieilhe, “that is a small opera scene in itself. We have to use a whole palette there to be able to paint the right atmosphere.” But where sets and costumes help to create that atmosphere in an opera, everything in a song lies with the piano and voice.
At the same time, this opens a door to new repertoire for Devieilhe: “Song is an art form in which you can experiment. Most of Strauss's songs are not intended for my light voice. I would therefore never dare to try the versions with orchestral accompaniment, but with just piano I run no risk of overloading my voice and I can still discover this great music.” A win-win situation, she calls it. “Strauss also teaches me a lot of singing techniques. Such a song as 'Waldseligkeit' has extremely elongated vocal lines, which requires a completely different breath support than Mozart.” She listened a lot to recordings of the Slovak soprano for inspiration Edita Gruberova (1946-2021). “How she could soar in the highest part of her voice and at the same time put power in her lower register, that for me is the way to sing.”
Despite her fabulous voice control, Devieilhe immediately puts her part in next Tuesday's recital into perspective: “The main thing we as performers have to do is prepare well. For the rest, there isn't much down to us. We just chose brilliant music.”
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