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S C E N E
Clippings from
world press with
praises for Jadranka
Jovanović
Jadranka
Jovanović (Photo:
Vukica Mikača)
Since the age of five, when I started playing
the piano, to the present day, I have
been giving myself to my gift. I loaded, followed,
sharpened, discovered it more and
more. I never chased awards, career, biography;
I have always just followed, with
discipline, with passion, determinedly and
courageously, the talent written in my being.
My job was to take care not to be in
bad company, and everything else was “fate”,
which I neither could nor wanted to change.
It seems that fate was on my side and I’m
grateful to it. I am glad about this award, although
I believe that the biggest award in
my life is the talent that has been given me.
WHEN EVERYONE’S HEART TREMBLES
One of your artistic encounters with Domingo
was in the opera Adriana Lecouvreur
in Barcelona. Mirella Freni also
played a role in it. Even in such a cast, you
succeeded in captivating both the audience
and the critics?
I accepted Adriana Lecouvreur, although
convinced that the audience would
greet me with disapproval. I thought that
my voice, at that moment, was still green,
while this veristic role implied dramatism,
with a thick orchestra. Realizing that I received
an extraordinary offer, a possible
encounter with two greatest opera artists
in the world, I accepted the challenge.
Formula
When an austere critic was asked what the “secret of Jadranka
Jovanović’s irresistibility” was, he replied:
– Intelligence, emotion, charisma.
You will never guess who that critic is.
I already knew Domingo from “La
Scala” and Budapest, but we had never
sung together. I offered my hand to Mirella
Freni, she looked me up and down
reservedly and said: “So tall!?” Then she
turned to director Giancarlo: “Flat shoes
for her, highest heels for me!” The rehearsals
lasted more than a month, three times
a day. The most fantastic work, the essence
of art is around me. I am happy, creating,
advancing, watching, enjoying. The premiere
arrives and, in the second act, I enter
the stage, unknown to the Catalonian
audience, and sing the aria. No applause.
Alone on the stage, in heavy silence, I say
to myself: “There you go, Jadranka. Your
anticipations are coming true.” Domingo
enters during our duet, sings “Arioso”
wonderfully, and the theater collapses. We
continue further, Freni sings the famous
Fedra’s monologue. We are all trembling,
me, the chorus, the audience. Carried
away by the greatest possible artistic sensation,
I am completely free from fear. I’m
thinking: even if it’s the last, it’s enough.
We come to individual bows, and I enter
the stage with dignity, expecting all the
ammunition of this world to start firing at
me. However, the entire audience begins
yelling: “Braavaaaa, braaavaa...!”
Even today I believe that, vocally, my
voice was green for Princess de Bouillon,
but my will, energy, personality, as well as
the greatest artists around me, Domingo,
Freni, Del Monaco, Romero, maestro Gandolfi,
made everyone’s heart tremble to my
interpretation.
You were Carmen to Domingo, as well as
to Jose Carreras, Jose Cura; you sang premieres
of Carmen in Abu Dhabi, Tokyo,
Nagoya, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Rome,
Milan, Athens... Who was the most convincing
Don Jose?
I experienced an absolute artistic collision
with Placido Domingo, at our first
joint rehearsal in the “Municipal” Theater
in Rio de Janeiro, when he came to the beginning
of the rehearsal straight from the
airport. He had no need to know the direction
for the production, because every
direction is actually in singing, expression
and emotions. It’s clear that Domingo is an
artist who marked our époque, and there
is no such artistic criterion in which someone
else would stand before him. However,
82 SRBIJA • BROJ 54 • 2016.