I'm in love and happy. His name's Mihai Ciortea and he's Romanian like me. He's good-looking, kind and very, very young.
Angela Gheorghiu is talking about her new partner who is twenty-two years her junior and works as a dentist.
He followed me everywhere in the theatres. We first met a couple of years ago at Covent Garden after a performance of La Rondine. We haven't been apart since. I've learnt to live in the present. Since I've been with Mihai every day has special and wonderful.
This seems at contrast with her relationship with Roberto Alagna; at least, from her point of view.
You need time to get rid of such pain… meanwhile, I can't believe what it is like to have someone who loves me without setting boundaries. Someone who doesn't suffer because I get more applause than he does, or who throws tantrums because I'm onstage with other partners.
The idea that I was singing Tosca with Jonas Kaufman drove Roberto mad. It was a pathological jealousy. A sense of ownership which was vicious and vengeful. They were the darkest days of my life. But I hate looking back.
Her lack of feeling towards Scala's new Director, Alexander Pereira, is well known. In this interview with Giuseppina Manin for Il Corriere della Sera, she is asked about performing Adriana Lecouvreurat La Scala being that it was first performed at the theatre and next year will be the 150th Anniversary of Francesco Cilea's birth.
It would be nice but it would have to be with the right circumstances. If Pereira doesn't suggest something too crazy. The greatest problem with opera today are the productions. You see things that are meaningless and embarrassing. The public boo because the theatres keep offering such things. Rather like contemporary music. Why are today's composers afraid of melody? Of emotion?
Zeffirelli's productions are perfect even after half a century. But where do you find similar directors today? Among the few is David McVicar; his vision of Adriana Lecourvreur won me over.
If it hadn't convinced her, she said she would have withdrawn from the production.
I give the best of me and I demand the best. It is important to believe in yourself and be assertive. I say what I think, for good or for worse. I've never lied in my life. Pavarotti was the same: the sincerest and nicest of all the tenors. I'm just honest. In a world full of hypocrisy and is a quality to treasure.
Gramilano( Editor )
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
Angela Gheorghiu and Jeff Cohen 2014
