Luca Salsi: “Germont? A Verdi ‘in flesh and blood'”

Attending Verdi, he admits, would have liked him very much. “I would have listened to him speak 24 hours a day” says the baritone Luca Salsi, one of the protagonists of ‘La Traviata’ who returns to the Verona Arena on Saturday evening, on the podium Francesco Ivan Ciampa, director of staging Michele Olcese. Salsi will play the role of Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father, a young man who falls in love with Violetta Valéry, a beautiful Parisian courtesan. “I’ve sung Germont everywhere – he explains to Adnkronos Salsi – from the Metropolitan to the Florentine Maggio, I like it a lot. He’s a multifaceted character and he’s a bit like Verdi himself. Germont is a very intelligent and enriched farmer, for me it is as if Verdi had written an autobiography ”. Germont appears on stage in the second act, accusing Violetta of ruining her son Alfredo. She reacts with dignity but Germont begs her to leave him because his daughter’s engagement risks being compromised by the scandal of their relationship, inadmissible for bourgeois morality. “He is a hated character but he is not so bad – Salsi emphasizes – you have to think about the circumstances of the time, having a son who wants to marry a prostitute for an enriched bourgeois like Germont is a shame, he just wants to defend the family”. The Verona stage is not new for Salsi. “I have been attending it for ten years – he explains – it is always a magical stage, which I love very much and to which I always return very willingly. There is something magical in the air, I like the particular scent of that place, it gives me beautiful sensations and positive. “Born in San Secondo Parmense, class of ’75, Salsi is viscerally Verdi:” I would have liked to have known him – he underlines – I would have listened to him 24 hours a day, I love all his compositions and I study him a lot. his score is a well of emotions. He wrote for the theater, he started from the text to write the music, behind every score there is a world, he is a constant and continuous study, every time I open the score I find new things “. in ‘Macbeth’, a role that Salsi has interpreted several times and which will return to sing next December 7, on the occasion of the Prima alla Scala. “It is my favorite role of Verdi, I sang it 5 times with Maestro Muti – highlights Salsi – allows me to express whatever I think today the theater should be, not just a show off of one’s voice but to be able to express emotions that reach the public. Only in this way can we excite those who listen to us and Macbeth gives this possibility. Making my fourth Premiere with Macbeth at La Scala is a unique opportunity, it is not a common thing for an Italian singer, I am very happy. “After Verona Salsi will be engaged in Naples in the ‘Trovatore’ with Anna Netrebko then in Madrid with ‘Tosca ‘, and again in Verona for’ Nabucco ‘, to land on the stages of Munich, Vienna, New York and London. “I have commitments until March 2025” says Salsi, who in the future dreams of playing Stankar in Verdi’s ‘Stiffelio’ and Alberto Franchetti’s ‘Cristoforo Colombo’. “Some theater is satisfying me – he confesses – and we are planning ‘Stiffelio’. For a baritone, even Cristoforo Colombo is a unique role and I hope it will be played soon. ”In the post-pandemic, one of the bets will be to bring more young people to the theater. “I think the best way to attract young people today is to try to be as credible as possible on stage – observes Salsi – so that they come and get excited. Opera is not just about singing with a big voice but feeling and letting you feel emotions in a magical place, like the theater. I invite all the kids to try: come to the theater ”.