Roberto Alagna

Scofield: You have your beautiful wife Aleksandra to support you and to help you, you are such a beautiful couple. We really hope that after all the struggle, you’ve got many years of happiness ahead, and you really do deserve it, because you’ve come such a long way from that beginning. The son of Sicilian immigrants, who moved to the outskirts of Paris in the 1950s, and you told us you were singing pop songs in Paris to get started in this career?

Alagna: Yes, it was quite incredible, this life I had. For this reason, I made this CD My Life is An Opera. Because it’s true. It’s quite a fairy tale. I start with popular songs, because it was more accessible for me at that time. I was very young. I was a professional when I was 17, and I started to study opera at that age too. It was amazing for me to have this career.

Because I remember I was very shy, and I was full of doubt all the time, and I was thinking I’m not able to sing that all the time. Even L’Elisir d’Amore was impossible for me to sing. And I had to study a lot to be able to sing this kind of opera, and every time when somebody proposed me to sing this opera, my first reaction was to say no. I am not able to do it, it is too difficult for me. And now I will sing, in one month, my first Wagner role. It’s amazing to start with popular songs when we’re very young, and to sing this very large repertoire. In fact, I received more than I expect.

For me, everything was impossible, everything was too difficult. And I remember having the critics against me. For many years, they said nothing was for me, nothing was for my voice, he will break his voice… And today, they still continue to do the same! A lot of people are still telling this kind of story! But in the end, I was very lucky, because I had the voice for nothing, and I sang quite everything! That’s strange. God helped me, and I thank God and the nature for that.

Scofield: What an amazing story! Your life has really been like an opera, and the hard struggle from the beginning really helps to explain the origin of your success and how you got to where you are now. But I think there’s one other aspect of it as well, because people love you so much. You’re obviously an extremely deep feeling emotional person, who feels things in very great depth. And so it’s easy for people to see into you, and that makes you very genuine and very lovable too.

Alagna: It’s very strange, because in fact I’m very sincere and natural with everybody. I like people, I like to share my experiences with everybody, to give emotions to people. And you have people who love me, but you also have people who hate me. I don’t know why, but you know it’s in the human nature to be like this, and I accept that. I am very tolerant, and I understand sometimes those people doesn’t know you, or even your voice. But they create a legendary character of somebody, and they hate you. But we have to accept that, because it’s life, but at the same time, I was also again very lucky, because many people who hate me today loves me! It’s incredible! I met many people in my life who would change their mind just when they met me. When they spoke to me, and they changed that mind.

Scofield: I believe that. And if there is anybody who hates you, it is because they don’t know you well. I am so happy that we have been able to have this marvellous conversation to explain who is Roberto Alagna to our listeners here, and to get them to know what a beautiful and talented person this glorious singer is.

Alagna: It’s a pity because I wrote two books. They are translated in many languages, but not in English, maybe in someday. Because in those books, I explain everything about my family, about my philosophy of life, and a lot of experiences of life.