OC is all about moving onwards and upwards, which is why we still have the utmost respect for 42-year-old Italian soprano, Fiorenza Cedolins, despite the lukewarmish reviews from critics over her Elisabetta in Scala's Don Carlo opening night. Io Donna recently ran an interview with her, and we loved every word of it. Take out your notebooks, because here are the key points [all translations copyright Opera Chic blog]:
At 12 years old, after singing in the local choir and playing the piano, she realized she wanted to follow a career in voice. However, her father -- a mechanic who passed on his dexterity to her -- wanted her to be a mechanical engineer. When she told her father she wasn't going to follow his dreams, he was absolutely crushed. Now that she's a professional singer, she still relies on her manual dexterity...as around the Cedolins household, when something breaks, she's always the one to fix it.
Her birth-name is actually Cedolin, but she added the "s" at the end in homage to the little place she grew up in (she was born in a tiny town called Anduins waaaay up north in the mountains). She's married to Filippo Militano, who is also her personal manager. She was picked out by Jaffaese maestro, Daniel Oren, as the next Mirella Freni. She had her Scala debut in February 2007 in Puccini's Butterfly.
She spoke about Don Carlo, specifically her character of Elisabetta, and how it corresponds to her own personality. She mentioned that she has a very dominant sense of self (raaaawr).
Cedolins refuses to wear fur on stage because she's into animal rights (she used to wear fake fur, but now she won't even go there because it still sends the wrong message). She has three cats who she loves to snuggle with.
She has a passion for designing jewelry and clothes. In fact, for Casa Damiani, she designed four pieces based on opera heroines. The Tosca piece was created out of rubies, La Traviata was diamonds, Manon Lescaut was pearls, and Aida was made in costume-jewlery stones. She also designs dresses for Maison Gattinoni.
The soprano recharges by spending time in her country house in Marcignago (outside of Milan) where she tends to the garden and loves foggy days. But she never listens to music off the stage because for her, it has such a powerful hold on her, and she therefore gets too distracted. Like she can't listen to music while driving or cooking because she gets carried away with emotions. She says rap gives her heart palpitations. Yeah, us too, but in a good way.