CHANGING VOICES ON THE FLY

Ilham Nazarov is the Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan and a countertenor. Thanks to his voice range, Nazarov can perform roles in bass, baritone, contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano. He has performed on opera and concert stages in more than 63 countries. The book Ilham Nazarov: A Voice Without Borders... written by PhD. Gulnaz Abdullazade, also the Honoured Artist, was published in 2020.

Nazarov's countertenor portfolio includes many unique roles earlier performed by his very famous predecessors. Great composers wrote magnificent pieces of music to them. It is the countertenor singers that we owe the birth of one of the most luxurious styles—Baroque music, which makes modern audiences listen to it even today, immersing them in a refined salon atmosphere nurtured by the Renaissance and evolving into classical music.

The word Baroque comes from Portuguese and means irregularly shaped pearl. This is probably why the countertenor singers are considered to have an usual performing style. Although Ilham NAZAROV always emphasises that he feels equally comfortable singing in in the most diverse vocal styles, it is the countertenor that underlines the preciousness of his voice. He has recently returned from one of the many vocal competitions and festivals, where he could demonstrate his phenomenal abilities.

"Your festival biography is like travelling through the musical universe, so active are you..."

"Indeed, I have taken part in more than a hundred different competitions and festivals. I just returned from the International Baroque Festival in Tbilisi. I was joined by many honoured artists of Azerbaijan, including the magnificent Farida Mammadova and maestro Ayyub Guliyev. I performed Alto giove by Nicola Porpora, Scherza Infida by Handel, Stabat Mater by Antonio Vivaldi, and Handel's Fermati, Armida Son Fedel, Io t'Abbraccio and Monteverdi's Pur Ti Miro together with Farida. I was also accompanied by the amazing Georgian Sinfonietta Orchestra, which participated in our International Baroque Days Festival back in 2022, with me as the artistic director of the event. It was the first time I performed many unusual. I am really proud our state has assigned such a responsible task to me. I received many high appraisals from the guests and participants of the festival. Then, for the first time in Azerbaijan, I performed the part of Orpheus from Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Gluck on the stage of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre. We still keep many pleasant memories from the festival, including the harpsichord performance by Stefano Demichele, the Turkish countertenor Kaan Budlular and others. Those were the days filled with marvellous music, accompanying all those who know or have come into contact with Baroque music for the first time."

"How would you describe the coountertenors?"

"You wouldn't believe it... They are weird (laughs). Perhaps my colleagues will disagree with me, but there is a concept in the theatrical world called prima donna. The male version of it among the countertenors is called primo uomo. Some of them deserve this title, while some believe they are or called by others. However, a certain difference from usual voices is quite understandable and fits into the character of the vocalist. At the same time, almost all countertenors without exception are very competent musicians. Baroque music dictates rather strict rules unlike the rest genres of the classical music. It is akin to maths, where the vocalist must know the cadences, bravura, etc., where, what and how to perform a musical phrase."

"You have recently joined the permanent opera company of the Azerbaijani Opera and Ballet Theatre."

"It was a conscious step. Today the Opera and Ballet Theatre is headed by a man who knows the specifics of opera. Yusif Eyvazov has vast experience of cooperation with leading European theatre houses, which makes him set the theatre on a course for great projects. We also started working in this direction. I am happy to be part of the global rebirth of the theatre. Especially when the director pays attention to different genres, styles and eras. Baroque operas are always a demonstration of high class, a symbol of any major leading opera theatre. Our Opera Theatre will enjoy such an opportunity as well. So I would like to spend my mature vocal years to theatre productions of baroque operas from the 17th-18th centuries or contemporary works with parts for countertenors. I would love to take part in them. I am sure that we will pay attention to them too, given the tendency to prioritise music of various genres and styles in our repertoire."

"What do you gain from music competitions or festivals? They are not touring tours, where performers know their position from the outset."

"It is an incomparable experience! It is an incredible emotional gain! The very atmosphere of such events is special. A place for true immersion, when there are people around who speak or read, sing with you in the same language, quite literally. Here you can peek at your colleagues without shyness. It is also a kind of professional fair of talents, in a good sense, of course. Competitions and festivals are the events to demonstrate your talents and abilities. By the way, this is where one can most often get duly criticised, not out of great affection. In addition, it is common to prepare in advance the works that have not been performed by the vocalist before for some reason. Or to to go back to the most favourite ones from one's personal repertoire. This is what happened, for example, with Julius Caesar's aria from Handel's Julius Caesar in Egypt, which I performed in October in Moscow with the Yevgeny Svetlanov State Orchestra at a gala concert in honour of the anniversary of a magnificent singer and an amazing teacher, Tamara Sinyavskaya, People's Artist of the USSR and Azerbaijan! At the event, she was surrounded by love of friends, admirers and us, the laureates of the Muslim Magomaev Vocalists Competition. I was one of them and was awarded the first place at the 4th Competition. That is why it was very pleasant and honourable to receive her invitation, which was an indicator of the artist's level."

"Does an established artiste really enjoy this fuss and vanity?"

"No matter the Muse an artist serves, he has no right to stop. The moment he stops, he dies, which has been verified in practice. It is fundamentally wrong to refer to the concept of vanity when talking about the stage. If your soul is truly part of  it, if you understand the responsibility on stage and before the audience, you will work hard up until the last minute on your active career path. I'm not talking about idols for an hour. Rather about those who adequately perceive their talents and abilities. For me, a true example of sucha talent has always been the great Muslim Magomayev. I have devoted many of my scientific researches and publications to his genius. My career is directly connected with his name. He has contributed in every achievement of mine. Even though I have never met this amazing man, he has played a huge role in my life. That's why I understand that as soon as you give the slightest chance to vanity to enter in your career, it will put an end to it despite bringing in some sort of success, as it is not based on a solid knowledge and professionalism."

"You have an unusual voice, which can often shock the unprepared listener."

"It is not easy to be a countertenor. One of my students at the Uzeyir Hajibeyov Baku Music Academy, Tofig Zeynalov, will soon take stage for his concert. This shows some continuity among the countertenors in Azerbaijan. But I must admit that unfortunately there is a strong stereotype associated with the male vocal art in our country. The Almighty gifted me with a unique voice, and I am proud of it! Both professionals and competent audiences ready to expand their knowledge have numerously praised my performances at all the competitions and festivals. It is their opinion that encourages me to go on... Let me also make a shameless plug that I am the first and only countertenor, who took part at Muslim Magomaev competition. I really enjoyed to hear Tamara Sinyavskaya's feedback on the performance of a baroque aria by an Azerbaijani singer. Since she is familiar with almost all the baroque repertoire, her high evaluation makes me proud of myself. As to those who might be shocked by my voice, I think they will at least learn something new about the opera. After all, as Handel said, it would be a shame for me if I only gave people pleasure; my goal is to make them better. I could not say better than the genius, could I?..."

"For an untrained ear, a countertenor has a limited repertoire..."

"...and that is fundamentally wrong! I thought so too, at first. Before I started singing romances by Schubert, Schumann, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Glinka and other composers. All of them are far from baroque music. For example, in the Grand Opera project I performed Ratmir's aria from Ruslan and Lyudmila for contralto. By the way, Orpheus was written for this voice too! And I perform both pieces as a countertenor. Given that I was quite active in concerts at the time, I had to reorganise my voice practically on the fly. For example, within a short period of time, I would go from the soprano tessitura of Adili Huseynzadeh's soprano romance to the part of Orpheus, which, by the way, means a variable vocal performance. The part of Cherubino's pageboy from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro is written for mezzo-soprano. Usually these parts are sung by different singers, because it is difficult to withstand the tessitura. This is exactly my issue when I was preparing for the part. It seemed like it would be easy. But that's what makes it more interesting. Today I realise from past experience that I did a good job actually. To sing contralto, then mezzo-soprano, and then soprano...? That's great. Which means I've got my five octaves working, including my bass. Once I thought about it, I felt that I was changing my voice on the fly..."

"Indeed, your repertoire is quite wide..."

"It is like putting on sort of the vocal masks of singers. For example, I ask myself who I would like to hear in Orpheus? Listening to different singers, I find the best. It's as if I were compiling a composite image of the part so that it would fit me comfortably, like a costume. But putting on the mask of Orpheus in Cherubino would sound false. Your voice, charisma, attack of sound, almost everything should be in line with your character. And vice versa. Few people remember that in my vocal life I had the role of Cio-Cio-San from Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly in the USA. I wouldn't advise any countertenor to take the part, honestly. Because it ruins the voice. Which is what happened to me when I lost it for a month. It was a rigorous experiment on myself. Kind of a challenge. And yet it was worth it, and at the same time it wasn't. It was a strange feeling. And even though I solved a lot of things for myself because of it, I paid the price with a month of depression. My point is that a vocalist with a voice range like mine has to be extremely technical. That's why I listen to a lot of recordings of myself performing everything that is or was in my repertoire."

"This makes sense. After all, the voice we hear is different from what our audience hears."

"Plus, you have to know how you sound. It's like a woman looking in the mirror to make herself look beautiful and flawless on the outside. It's the same with the voice. It's a kind of playdough, which you have to shape constantly. If a vocalist is technically prepared, there will be no special pressure on the voice and ligaments."

"In addition to technique, opera involves performing in different languages."

"I sing in Italian, German, and French. I have sung in Greek, Kazakh, Tatar, Ukrainian, Chinese, Turkish, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Georgian, and Norwegian... If an artist has a good ear, something that allows him to hear the colours, the language get aligned with it like notes. I think we should admit that different instrumentalists or vocalists with perfect technique will play the same piece differently, and it will sound different. It also happens that everything seems to have been performed cleanly, but you can only hear the technique. Sometimes there is something subtly felt, which is born by the musician or singer himself, giving something deep, where you can already hear the palette of transitions. Music is a canvas where the artist is its performer. And there will never be a repetition."