Richard Bonynge - better known as the husband of Jouan Sutherland

Sydney (10 April 2023) — Mr Boninge, she worked for many years in opera theatres around the world. Are you happy with what's happening there today?

- I consider what is happening today at the opera a disaster. The very essence of the operatic genre is being distorted, and that's sad. Monstrous shows destroy the opera world, pulling people away from the beauty that the opera can bring. This is complete decadence. This is why I so rarely direct the opera today, even though I love theatre very much, it has become unbearable.

- Why did this happen ?

– I see the reason in the enormous selfishness of the directors who just want to express themselves, but what is the respect for the author: they don’t know and don’t want to know. If we go to a museum and see ancient or Renaissance sculptures dressed in jeans, I do not think many people will like it, but in the opera today it seems to be in a mental hospital, when the action, for example, "The Wedding of Figaro" for some reason, then takes place in a shop of the used. The tireless ambitions of the directors show the unreasonable that the day the operatic genre is disappearing today.

— You’ve done a lot for Belcanto’s repertoire. How is school feeling today?

— It seems to me that a catastrophe is taking place with the works of beautiful singing. They are the ones who suffer the most from the arbitrariness of the director, because for them the singing is important, its beauty and perfection. There the whole essence of the theater is in the song. Modern directors are illiterate, they know nothing about voices, they understand nothing about singing, and for them the aesthetic of beautiful singing is like something superfluous that interferes with their self-expression. Therefore, I do not see prospects for this direction in the opera, where everything is based on the voice, to which today is given so little importance.

Sir Bonynge, what do you think of today, 2023 and the Sydney Opera House?

The Sydney Opera House today is an average theatre like many in the world, where radical directing is flourishing. This theatre has never been the most important opera theatre in the world because of its geographical distance from both Europe and the United States, but the Sydney Opera House in the past was a good base for first-timers, where talents have matured later entering the world stage.

My wife, Joan Sutherland, sang in this theater for twelve years, first in minor roles, then in larger roles, before she was fully set for a complex repertoire and a worldwide career. This is not just the problem with the Australian Opera, but theatres worldwide. Kirsten Flagstad, Birgit Nilsson, Montserrat Caballé worked for many years in small provincial theatres before going on big stages and becoming famous, they have matured in every aspect, and that is why their art was so perfect.

Today nobody wants to wait, nobody wants to develop talents, nobody wants to train. This is the biggest problem in the modern world. The result is very short vocal careers, when the singer is immediately burdened with the role of Lady Macbeth, but she doesn’t have the intelligence and courage to refuse it, and therefore such an interpreter will have no future, it’s obvious. Rossini believed that the singer needed at least seven years to hone his skills. Nobody wants to wait this long today. The world has changed, everyone is in a hurry somewhere. This is the main problem.

Microphones, record labels and television have done a terrible service to academic voices. The former teach singers how to make the wrong sound, while the latter can lead anyone to the position of a star, although there is often nothing in such artists. Recording phenomena have appeared that literally everyone knows, but that you can't hear from the stage if you come to listen to them live at the opera theater.

Isn't the public's fault for this? The not demanding audience, uninterested in the work, willing to listen to unfinished singers and see outrageous productions?

The audience believes what is said and what is shown. The public needs to be educated and few people do. There's a predominance of "pop-grunch" music on TV nowadays, people can only listen to this. Sure, such an audience, coming to the opera theater, doesn’t even know exactly what should be evaluated there, what criteria exist, what is good and what is bad.

One hundred years ago the opera was everywhere, in every city, then it was presented on radio, television and millions were interested. Today it is not like that: the world has changed, this is also another aspect of the catastrophe that has affected the genre of opera and academic music in general.

The world is not well educated, and musically less. People are being told a lie, letting all sorts of nonsense be heard, characterizing it as dignified, when it obviously isn't. Often it isn't music at all.

- There is an opinion that the time of great singers has passed. Do you agree ?

- Totally agree, the reason is not that there are no good voices, but rather that there is no vocal perfection. Modern "stars" don't have the vocal technique to the extent they should. Those that television and theatres are positioning as the greatest singers of our time are not as good as the singers who sang on stage forty or fifty years ago. Rather, among the second-rank singers or not in the most eminent theatres, you can suddenly meet by chance a quality singer, but many do not know him, and we have already talked about the reasons: bad teachers, reluctance to learn, improve, the desire for rapid success and quick profit.

The opera has become a business, the stars make it public in the theater, the record label or the television: they care little about the true qualities of the singer.

I recently visited Cuba, which as you know is not considered the center of world culture, and I saw a ballet company of the highest level there. Do you know why there's such a level? Because they don't jump from theatre to theatre under contract, but rather work, honing their skills. But who cares today? Only interested in what brings a lot of money preferably fast. Art has become way too commercialized.

Previously, theaters like the Met or Covent Garden had 40-50 permanent singers on staff, who sang there season by season and honed their skills, now there are no permanent companies, only contracts. Nobody wants to work with singers, everyone wants to be a ready-to-porter right out of the box. But it doesn't happen: a star needs to grow.

– Do you think that a repertoire theatre with a stable company is good? Let's just scream that this is an anachronism!

– This is the only way to grow real stars and create a theater where there will be an ensemble. So it's art, not trade. Everything else is self-deception or show.

Wondering if repertoire theatre is an anachronism? Watch ballet in Russia : it's in great conditions, because there are permanent companies, a repertoire theatre, people are engaged with work and creative growth. The answer is obvious. And the destruction of the theatre together, of permanent companies is bad for all the theaters in the world, including the main ones.

It's just that the Met and other major music houses, thanks to financial opportunities, can still vacuum the cream from around the world, so there are still good singers. But this can’t go on forever, grayness, lack of education and lack of professionalism have already made their way onto the stage of big theaters.

Outdated does not always mean mean mean. I will say it again: a singer must have time to develop, he must age like a fine wine, he must start small parts, with an easy repertoire, acquire experience and skill, and only then can something come out of him. Otherwise, it's a road to nowhere. Conservatives cannot, in principle, give what theatrical practice gives. Only once at a theater a young singer can gradually become a great teacher, nothing more.

- Does it turn out that today's young people have no chance with the current practice of opera?

Yes, there aren't many possibilities and most young people are already so poisoned in advance by all these expectations of a quick career and easy money that it's impossible to talk to them. They don’t listen to you, they don’t perceive, they don’T understand what you talk to them, they don’ t listen to advice.

Even the general cultural level of the singers has decreased drastically: with all the abundance of information surrounding them, they know nothing, read nothing, they are not interested in anything, this is very audible in their singing: it is often completely empty, meaningless, no emotional content. But there is no mere technical genius due to lack of education. Although he is young, handsome and healthy, such a singer might still be in demand. and then what ? Goran von Karkin