In conversation with Jeanette Veccione-Donatti Part 2:"You need to have a solid vocal technique to get vulnerable with your emotions!"

09. Januar 2024

Rubrik Interviews

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: What do you rate the most important attribute for a singer to convince the audience: Vocal technique or emotional depth?

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: For sure that is vocal technique. You have to have a solid technique in place first and foremost and then you get vulnerable with your emotions, because if you do not have a bullet proof technique you wind up damaging your voice.

If you start getting too emotional all along you really damage your chords. Everything regarding emotional depth only makes sense if you have the technique sorted out.

And only then you can get vulnerable with your emotions and further play around with dynamics and power.

Operaversum: And have you ever come across an aria which you have already peformed and found out that you were almost getting to your limits? 

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: Oh, yes. The Queen of the Night is an aria, where I can say that nothing ever was so hard for me to perform. 

Everything else feels like a piece of cake. The reason why I feel it comes so close to the limit is that you are off stage for a long time and there is no warm-up in between the arias  before you enter the stage again. And then of course the expectations from the audience are extremely high.

They are expecting you to be perfect. So there is a lot of pressure being on stage and doing an exceptionally big firework piece right on the spot.

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: Jeanette, is there any performance on stage which you will never ever forget in your life and what made it so special at all?

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: Oh, my goodness, absolutely! There is one performance which you can actually view on Youtube. It was a performance of Mozart´s "Magic Flute" at the Theatre de Champs-Elysee where I sang the "Queen of the Night" aria under the baton of Maestro Spinosi.

And I remember that during rehearsals I was requested to add ornaments to this aria, which I willingly did, since I loved the idea a lot. So I commited myself to apply those ornaments to all six perfomances, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

So after the first performance the reaction of the audience was strongly opponent to my interpretation and got more divergent by the time the third performance was done.

There were boos and cheers all the like. The audience was basically fighting over it.

And that of course made me a little apprehensive. But by the time I had my last performance, I did not give it a another serious thought and let my emotions all out.

In basketball you would have a saying: Leaving it all on the court. So in that case I just left everything out on the stage.

And guess what happened! My last performance really turned out to be the most magical performance of all, as the audience could feel my energy spill over them.

It basically flooded the whole place, as everything came together in one perfect moment, when the conductor and the orchestra were totally insync with me and their dynamics so utterly matched mine.

Of course the audience could feel that, which made it an amazing and magical moment alltogether. But I did not realize it until I came off stage where my collegues would be telling me to return to the stage for a bow as the audience cheered.

Operaversum: This sounds like nothing was really intentional and you acted free, being your true self and just doing your thing, no matter what everybody else would think of you? 

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: I was very vulnerable to be precise. 

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: And that did the trick! 

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: That is the trick because the audience appreciates when you are vulnerable. I realized it after that particular performance that you have to take that emotional chance on stage, no matter if the audience will like it or not.

You have to take that chance, as it makes your performance unique.

Operaversum: I do agree. And this is what I can feel when  listening to somebody. I can feel vulnerability or I just feel somebody singing nicely! And guess what I prefer? I think you may know the answer already!

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: I sure do. And this is also where the technique interferes, because if you do not have a solid technique, emotions cannot flow.

And working on this craft and having the ability to transport your emotions needs time to develop, which is why I took off so many years, even though COVID got accidentally in the way.

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: I so much hope to see you perform in Germany soon. What are your next career steps? Is there an opera event coming up in Europe. What will your schedule look like for the next season?

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: I can't wait to return to Europe to sing again! In the meantime, I am singing concerts with incredibly talented conductors like Ramon Tebar and Pablo Mielgo in the United States. I am also in negotiation to sing Violetta in La Traviata soon in Europe which, when confirmed, I will excitedly publicize."

Operaversum: Short and concise: What makes the magic of opera?

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti:  The magic of opera is, what I mentioned before, when all the energies collide, when everything matches, when you are in sync with the orchestra, the conductor and your collegues  and you just make music. And with that energy in place you really reach out to the audience.

Operaversum: Thank you so much, Jeanette, for this very inspiring conversation. I am wishing you a lot of success for your next career steps and toi, toi, toi for any upcoming performance.