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Maria José Siri answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers' Edition

https://www.gramilano.com/2017/11/maria-jose-siri-answers-the-gramilano-questionnaire-singers-edition/

Portrait of Maria José Siri by Victor Santiago

Q&A

When did you start singing?
I started as a young girl… for as long as I can remember.

Why did you start singing?
I started by accident. I was supposed to go to my saxophone class, but I was given the wrong day and time of the lesson, and therefore I found myself attending a voice class.

Which singers inspired you the most when you were young?
When I was a child, Raffaella Carrà was my inspiration. Her records were popular in Uruguay and I would sing and make up the choreography of the song: “Ah… en el amor todo es empezar”.

Which singer do you most admire?
I admire too many to give only one name.

What's your favourite role?
Madama Butterfly, at the moment.

What role you never played but would like to?
Thaïs.

What's your favourite opera to watch?
Thaïs.

Maria José Siri after Madama Butterfly at La Scala © Brescia e Amisano, Teatro alla Scala 2016

Who is your favourite composer?
I have more than one, but Verdi is one of them.

Who is your favourite writer?
Eduardo Galeano.

Who is your favourite theatre or film director?
Eliseo Subiela.

Who is your favourite actor?
Anthony Hopkins.

Who is your favourite dancer?
Rudolf Nureyev.

What is your favourite book?
The Seven Rays.

What is your favourite film?
Philadelphia.

Which is your favourite city?
Istanbul.

What do you like most about yourself?
My self-irony.

What do you dislike about yourself?
My shadow.

Maria José Siri with daughter Sofia backstage at the Gran Teatre del Liceu after Un ballo in maschera

What was your proudest moment?
When I became a mother.

When and where were you happiest?
In Uruguay, when my daughter Sofia was born.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Sofia, my daughter.

What is your greatest fear?
Spiders!

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I'd like to have blue eyes. 😊

Who do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being able to have a career as a soloist and at the same time raise my daughter.

Maria José Siri with her dog Victor in Verona

What is your most treasured possession?
My daughter Sofia, my dog Victor, and my parents.

What is your greatest extravagance?
To sleep with my legs on the wall with my back on the bed.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
My sense of humour.

On what occasion do you lie?
When I'm late for an appointment.

If you hadn't been a singer what would you have liked to be?
A dancer.

What is your marked characteristic?
My congeniality.

What quality do you most value in a friend?
Sincerity.

What quality do you most value in a colleague?
Humility.

Maria José Siri with her cat Lolit

Maria José Siri on the beach

Maria José Siri drinking Mate backstage at her first production of Aida in 2004 in Argentina

Maria José Siri with her daughter Sofia as well as Victor and Lolit

Which historical figure do you most admire?
Gandhi.

Which living person do you most admire?
My father.

What do you most dislike?
Falsehood.

What talent would you most like to have?
The talent to conduct an orchestra.

What's your idea of perfect happiness?
Health, love, work, fun.

How would you like to die?
Making love.

What is your motto?
Smile, give that gift, maybe someone needs to receive it.

Keep up with María José Siri on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and by visiting her website.

Jump to BIOGRAPHY

Maria José Siri as Odabella in Attila at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna © Rocco Casaluci, 2016

Maria José Siri in Il trovatore at the Vienna State Opera © Michael Poehn, 2017

Maria José Siri as Norma in Macerata © Alfredo Tabocchini, 2016

D&R

Portrait of Maria José Siri by Victor Santiago 2 — Portrait of Maria José Siri by Victor Santiago

Quando hai iniziato a cantare?
Ho iniziato da bambina, da quando ho memoria.

Perché hai iniziato a cantare?
Ho iniziato per sbaglio, dovevo studiare sassofono tenore ma mi hanno indicato male l'orario e il giorno della lezione, quindi mi sono trovata a fare una lezione di canto.

Quale cantante ti ha più ispirato da piccola?
Da piccola mi ispirava Rafaella Carrà …. in Uruguay arrivavano i suoi dischi ed io cantavo ballavo e facevo la coreografia della canzone, “Esplode mio cuore” 🙂

Quale cantante ammiri di più?
Ne ammiro moltissime per dire un solo nome.

Qual è il tuo ruolo preferito?
Butterfly, in questo momento.

Quale ruolo non hai mai interpretato ma vorresti o avresti voluto cantare?
Thaïs.

Quale opera non ti stanchi mai di vedere?
Thaïs.

Chi è il tuo compositore preferito?
Ne ho più di uno ma Verdi è uno di loro

Scrittore preferito?
Eduardo Galeano.

Regista teatrale o cinematografico?
Eliseo Subiela.

Attore / attrice?
Anthony Hopkins.

Danzatore?
Rudolf Nureyev.

Libro?
The Seven Rays.

Film?
Philadelphia.

Città?
Istanbul.

Cosa ti piace di più di te stesso?
La autoironia.

Cosa non ti piace di te stesso?
La mia ombra.

Qual è stato il momento di cui sei più orgoglioso?
quando sono diventata mamma

Dove e quando ti sei sentito più felice?
Uruguay quando è nata mia figlia Sofia.

Cosa o chi è il più grande amore della tua vita?
Sofia, mia figlia.

Qual è la cosa di cui hai più paura?
I ragni!

Se potessi, cosa cambiaresti di te?
Vorrei avere occhi azzurri 😊

Cosa consideri il tuo più grande successo?
Essere riuscita a fare carriera come solista e allo stesso tempo crescere mia figlia.

Qual è la cosa a cui tieni di più?
A mia figlia Sofia, al mio cane Victor, ed ai miei genitori.

Qual è la tua abitudine più stravagante?
Dormire con le gambe sulla parete e la schiena sul letto.

Virtù ti sembra più sopravvalutata?
Il mio senso dell'umorismo.

In quale situazione dici una bugia?
Quando arrivo tardi ad un appuntamento.

Se non fossi stato una cantante cosa ti sarebbe piaciuto fare?
Una ballerina.

Cos'è la tua più evidente caratteristica?
La simpatia.

La qualità che apprezzi di più in un amico?
la sincerità.

La qualità che apprezzi di più in un collega?
L'umiltà.

Il personaggio storico che ammiri di più?
Gandhi.

La persona vivente che ammiri di più?
Mio papà.

Cosa non sopporti?
La falsità.

Quale talento ti piacerebbe avere?
Il talento per dirigere un'orchestra

Qual è la tua idea di perfetta felicità?
Salute, amore, lavoro, divertimento.

Come vorresti morire?
Facendo l'amore.

Qual è il tuo motto?
Sorridi, dai quel dono, forse qualcuno ne ha bisogno!

Keep up with María José Siri on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and by visiting her website.

María José Siri – a biography

María José Siri is one of today's foremost sopranos, having earned praise for her interpretations of the great Verdi, Puccini and Verismo roles.

Engagements of the 2017/2018 season include the title role of Madama Butterfly at the Vienna State Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper of Munich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a new production of Francesca da Rimini and Messa per Rossini at the Teatro alla Scala, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo in Valencia and Bologna and a gala concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

In 2016/2017 she inaugurated the season of the Teatro alla Scala as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly conducted by Riccardo Chailly, performed Verdi's Messa da Requiem conducted by Maestro Chailly with the Teatro alla Scala on tour to the Bol'šoj Theatre in Moscow, and subsequently with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Marek Janowski and at the Florence Opera House conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Regio of Turin, Teatro San Carlo of Naples and Grand Théâtre of Geneve, Tosca at Semperoper Dresden and Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chénier at Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Teatro dell'Opera of Rome, Madama Butterfly at the Macerata Opera Festival, Aida at the Arena of Verona and Messa da Requiem at the Santander Festival.

The Uruguayan soprano began her vocal studies at the ENAL Montevideo, completing them at the Paris Conservatory and with Ileana Cotrubas in Nizza and Vienna.

Ms Siri performed her first operatic roles on the stages of her native country and in Argentina, making her European operatic debut in 2008 as Leonora in Il trovatore in Genoa under the musical direction of Bruno Bartoletti.

Engagements since then have led her to the most prestigious opera theatres and festivals worldwide, among them the Teatro alla Scala (Aida), the Vienna State Opera (Tosca and Maddalena in Andrea Chénier), the Liceu Barcelona (Mimì in La bohème), the Berlin State Opera (Tatiana in Evgenij Onegin and Tosca), the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tosca), La Monnaie Brussels (Amelia in Un ballo in maschera), the New National Theatre Tokyo (Tosca and Andrea Chénier), the Palau de les Arts Valencia (Manon Lescaut, Aida), the ABAO Bilbao (Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos), the Teatro Comunale Bologna (Leonora in Il trovatore, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and Odabella in Attila), the Teatro Regio Turin (Tosca, Andrea Chénier, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Desdemona in Otello), the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli (Mimì in La bohème and Suor Angelica), the Maggio Musicale Florence (Aida), the Teatro La Fenice Venice (Il trovatore), the Monte-Carlo Opera (Nedda in Pagliacci), the Hamburg State Opera (Aida), the Semperoper Dresden (La bohème), the Mikhailovsky Theatre Saint Petersburg (Rachel in La Juive), the Bregenz Festival (Aida and Andrea Chénier), the Macerata Opera Festival (Norma) and the Arena di Verona (Aida, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni).

María José Siri has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Myung-Whun Chung, Marek Janowski, Andrea Battistoni, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo, Donato Renzetti, Plácido Domingo, Pinchas Steinberg, and Michele Mariotti and with stage directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Ferzan Ozpetek, Keith Warner, Graham Vick, Marco Bellocchio and Alex Ollé (La fura dels Baus).

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.