TFE: Have you ever sung a high F?

Jonas Kaufmann: Yes, I have. My voice is fortunately very long. It goes down to the low D. In my younger years, I could sing the high F of the Queen of the Night in head voice. I don't have that anymore, but when I warm up, an Eb or E is still possible. Earlier, when my voice was younger and more flexible, I had this F quite easily. But it is already a very special field that is also very limiting. There are very few singers who can meet the extreme demands of "I Puritani" and at the same time sing Wagner and Co... That simply doesn't work.

TFE: What type of tenor do you need for "I Puritani"?

JK: Juan Diego Florez is a very clear case for this. His voice is very soft, flexible and has a bright timbre. It lies higher, which fits the role. Siegmund would be difficult for him because there you have to sing deep notes loud enough against a large orchestra. But his voice goes up high. We all know how often he has sung "La Fille du régiment". And then he even had to repeat the famous aria occasionally. That makes a total of... 18 high Cs. I don't want to say that the C is middle range for him... but it's not like the C would be a peak note for him: it lies comfortably in his vocal range. This type of tenor is exactly created for this repertoire - and vice versa. It's also interesting that this vocal range is identical to that of an alto, i.e. a very deep female voice. Even lighter is only the Haute-Contre. If you look at the whole thing as a colour spectrum, then at the top would be the Haute-Contre, a light play tenor. Below that comes the lyrical bel canto tenor, who must already bring a somewhat more masculine sound.

TFE: You have sung very different roles in the course of your career. Has anyone ever offered you "I Puritani"?

JK: "I Puritani" was never offered to me. During my studies, however, I seriously considered becoming a countertenor because of this flexibility in the high range. But that wasn't a perspective for me, because I studied singing because I wanted to sing verismo: Puccini, Leoncavallo, whatever they're all called. Those were the gods I wanted to sing for! And there's very little for countertenors to do with them. But of course I have sung operas like "Il Barbiere" and "L'elisir d'amore", very many light Mozart roles such as Belmonte, Ferrando, Don Ottavio, etc. And I did that for quite a long time. I once stepped in for "Così fan tutte" in Zurich and sang a series of performances there with Cecilia Bartoli. And almost alongside that, I sang my first Parsifal in Zurich. Whether you like such "fach mixing" is of course a matter of taste. It has become a fashion phenomenon that you want to hear certain fachs only with very specific voices. That wasn't the case before. If you look at older programmes and see who sang what in a season, then it's almost unbelievable what was sometimes sung by one and the same singer back to back in those days.

TFE: Why did you put "I Puritani" in the programme?

JK: Starting small, anyone can do that. We wanted to start big. And "I Puritani" is certainly one of the pieces that is most difficult to cast. Of course we knew it wouldn't be easy, because we didn't have much time to realise this project either. But we had the great luck, together with our artistic advisor Ilias Tzempetonidis, to get the best people you can imagine. Accordingly, it has caused a stir in the industry. We have a cast where every house in the world would say: God, if they would do that with us, that would be a success... that here in our little Erl and in such a short time. Our tenor is the absolute king of his field. Arturo is one of his signature roles. He is incredibly in demand. The industry is queuing up to hear our "I Puritani". Even some famous casting directors have announced themselves because they want to hear how we do it here. Our courage has proved us right.

TFE: Why should you absolutely not miss this "I Puritani"?

JK: Not everyone likes concert performances. But it is true that a concert performance can trigger a more intense musical experience than a staged performance. Productions, quite independently of whether they are successful or not, can distract from the music and lead to not concentrating fully on the sound. I have often participated in concert performances that didn't give anyone the feeling that something was missing. If you have any kind of enjoyment of bel canto, you have to buy a ticket. There will hardly be a production in the next few years that is better cast than ours.

The questions were asked by Daniele Godor.