Most operas are famous for a tuneful aria or two; the audience waits for the lead tenor or soprano to belt out the melody and often judge the entire work on that song alone. Verdi’s Nabucco stands out in that its most recognisable tune — Va Pensiero, or the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves — is not sung by one of the leads but by the opera’s chorus. What a beautiful tune it is; a lyrical lament with a stage filled with voices pining for the lost land of Israel.
“For the Italians it is a metaphor, for we Jewish people it is not a metaphor – we always pray ‘l’shanah haba Yerushalayim’,” says Daniel Oren, the Israeli conductor who will be taking the podium when the Royal Opera begins a short season of Nabucco at Covent Garden next week.
Works by Verdi and Puccini hold a special place in Oren’s heart, as he spent the early years of his career as musical director at the Rome Opera. He is currently artistic and musical director at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno but is in high demand throughout the world as a conductor. At present, he will not conduct the works of the virulent antisemite Wagner, but he does not rule out the possibility at some point in the future.
Born in Tel Aviv, he did not choose music as a career — his mother chose it for him. Originally from Poland, she studied philosophy and psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris but dedicated her life to turning her son into a musician. She encouraged Oren to study the piano, cello and singing. As a young singer he was picked to work with Leonard Bernstein when he visited Israel in 1968 to perform his Chichester Psalms.
“Bernstein was one of the biggest geniuses in the world,” says Oren. “His way of communicating music was unique, something exceptional. He was a fantastic man, he was a mensch.” While other conductors would secrete themselves in their rooms during rehearsal intervals, Bernstein was keen to chat to members of the orchestra. “He knew everything about everybody. There was not only great genius in this man, but great humanity.”
Oren’s mother was a formidable force throughout his early years. “She guided me from the beginning; you need somebody to guide you. She told me she prayed before I was born that God would give her a son, a musician. She said, ‘I don’t want friends in the house’ as it would distract me. She didn’t want people to disturb me. She didn’t let me go to friends.
“She decided when I was 13 that I should begin to take conducting lessons. She went to all the big professors in Israel and they said she was the craziest person in the world but she insisted and found a person from Prague. He was a conductor and he accepted, therefore at 13 I began to study.”
Nabucco
Marianna Pizzolato and Andrea Car in Nabucco (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)
Having determined that her son’s mission in life was to become a conductor, rather than a pianist, cellist or singer, she believed starting as a teenager would give him an advantage over other conductors, who usually take up the baton in their twenties.
Oren had another big fan in his paternal grandfather — a Muslim who, having married a Russian Jew, was a strong supporter of the Jews and on more than one occasion saved Jewish lives when they were in danger from Arab attacks. “He was a great man and he loved me very much,” says Oren.
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The Royal Opera chorus in Nabucco (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)
The intensive early studying paid off. Oren continued his training in Germany and attracted worldwide attention in 1975 when, at only 20, he won first prize in the Herbert von Karajan Competition. From then on, his path to international acclaim has been steady and he has worked with some of the greatest operatic stars of today. He is sought out as a conductor of opera, often a more challenging task than conducting symphonies. Keeping control of singers who may have outsize egos and temperaments to match requires the skills of a true diplomat.
“When you are doing symphony music, you and the orchestra are the soloists. In opera it is much more difficult because you have singers. Let’s say it is a collaboration; you give to them and they give to you. There are great singers, or very good singers and this exchange exists, but they have to follow you. So they have to be intelligent. They must not be arrogant, because an arrogant person doesn’t want to collaborate with you. Believe me, it is difficult. Many times, it is you who has to follow them! Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s less easy, sometimes it’s very difficult, because the singers are only thinking about their voice and I try to explain that that is not the aim — the aim is to make music and to bring emotions to the public.
“For instance, take a great, great voice — and we are so sorry he is not with us — Luciano Pavarotti. But you had to follow him. And sometimes it was very difficult. If he made some error musically, it was very difficult to change it. In Rome, I conducted a Tosca. During the first rehearsal he made some errors which were difficult to accept.” Oren tried to explain quietly to Pavarotti that he was constantly mis-timing his entrance, but to no avail. “It was really a mess. I was very diplomatic because Luciano is Luciano!”
Ultimately, the soprano playing Tosca called Oren aside. “She said, ‘I wanted to tell you that it’s not Mr Luciano Pavarotti that has to learn the part, it is you who has to learn how Luciano does it!’”
Oren is looking forward to working with both the singers and the orchestra at the Royal Opera House. “They are really fantastic, I think they are better than before [the pandemic]. It is not enough that you are a good musician to do opera, there are other things that you require. With symphony music, everything is written and you follow the conductor, that’s all. In opera you have to follow the singer. As I say, if you remember what Toscanini always shouted, ‘Cantare, cantare, cantare!’. You have to sing with the singers, you have to breathe with the singers and not always what is written is what they are singing!
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Vitalij Kowaljow as Zaccaria in Nabucco (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)
“You really have to know how to be very flexible and a symphony orchestra is not exactly trained to do it. The orchestra at the Royal Opera House are fantastic in doing it. They are so ‘elastic’ and the quality of the musicians is amazing. The chorus are better than before and it is a pleasure to work here.”
Other orchestras have been less welcoming. He now only wears a kippah when performing in Israel. “There is a theatre, I don’t want to say where in Europe — not here, they are fantastic here — the first time I did the first Act of La Boheme, in the interval I had representatives of the orchestra speaking about it. I didn’t feel comfortable. It was very hard for me.”
Covid meant that he was not able to get back to Israel and so missed the birth of his granddaughter. Now based in France, he is a father of six. One of the few advantages of the pandemic was that he was stuck at home and able to spend time with his youngest children. Usually the constant travelling required by his work means that being able to enjoy more than a few days at home is a rare occurrence.
With performances now resuming, he has plans to conduct in Italy and Spain after Nabucco finishes in London, and he is looking forward to taking part in the annual music festival in Verona. With his schedule at the world’s major opera houses booked months if not years in advance, finding time to visit other venues can be a challenge
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Daniel Oren
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“One thing I am sorry about is that I cancelled some contracts in Israel. I cancelled because I had propositions from very important theatres in Germany, London and La Scala, so I cancelled Israel and now I see that it was a very big error. Because for me, for my soul and my children, Israel is too important. Sometimes I listen to Hebrew songs, religious songs, and I begin to cry. I don’t have time, that is also a problem. I will try to find some solution because I cannot live without Israel.”
Meanwhile, he is just happy to be back in an orchestra pit, baton in hand, ready to coax beautiful performances from musicians and singers. “For artists, the period of Covid was terrible; Madrid, La Scala — everything was cancelled. Without music we are nothing. Without our public, we are nothing. We don’t exist without our music. It is our oxygen.”
Nabucco is at the Royal Opera House from December 20 to January 23.
roh.org.uk
