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Photo by Javier Salas
Photo by Javier Salas
ALBERTO MIGUÉLEZ ROUCO, countertenor and conductor
Why did you decide to come to Basel?
I did a masterclass with the Spanish countertenor Carlos Mena in 2011, and he strongly advised me to go and study at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Without thinking it much, and without applying for any other conservatory, I passed the entrance exam, beginning my studies in September 2012. I don’t know what would have happened if I would have been rejected. I would have probably studied Architecture.
After these years, do you want to stay living here in Basel or do you see yourself returning to Spain or another country?
Having my group based in Basel is a very strong link with the city, and a reason to keep having a room here. But at the end, when you are away for an opera or a long production you are not much at home, and I always try to go very often to my hometown in Spain, La Coruña. So for the next years I see myself just going back and forth between Spain and Switzerland.
What do you like most about Basel?
I think that, for me, one of the best things that Basel has is that it is an enormous net of musicians, which translates in an important cultural life. The Swiss people are great supports of art and music, and this allows us to be able to carry on with our projects.
What do you think is missing in the world of early music and what would you like to change?
I think that sometimes we might be too relaxed. I understand that the Early Music movement was a reaction to the “modern opera repertoire” but often I think that we should try to reintegrate some aspects of their practice, such as arriving prepared to the rehearsals, not complaining if more practice is needed, or a little more of discipline in general.
Photo by Javier Salas
We would like to know more about Alberto. What was Alberto like as a child?
I don’t think that I have changed much since I was little. Of course one gets more mature and learns to wait and to cope with certain situations, but since I remember I always tried to organize things, even at school. I even created a small chamber orchestra with the children of the choir I was singing in when I was young, so I guess that without knowing it it was the origin of everything that I’m doing now. I was a very good student and I would not say that I was rebellious, but I always had big problems with people telling me exactly how I needed to do things, a that was absolutely one of the reasons that brought me to create Los Elementos.
Why did you decide to start “Los Elementos” such a big orchestra project?
I did the maestro al cembalo course at the Schola as a singer, but when I asked to officially do it as a conductor, my application was refused. So, I decided to organize myself a performance of one of José de Nebra’s zarzuelas and conduct it. We were around 35 musicians in the tiny Kleiner Saal of the Schola, which was the minimum amount of people to be able to do it. It was a big success and even the Embassy of Spain came to the concert. Since that we have grown little by little, and next week we are starting the rehearsals of our fourth Spanish opera production.
At what moment did you decide to specialize in historical music and why? What triggered this decision?
I don’t think that I took that decision, consciously at least. I was singing in choirs since I was 6. With the choir I was singing in we performed Britten’s War Requiem, which, as a kid, I didn’t enjoy much. Then some months later I heard the first part of Handel’s Messiah, and it was like a revelation for me. Since I was 12 I listend to many fantastic baroque recordings, all of them with fantastic orchestras, so it is something that came naturally. I simply did enjoy much more the historically informed recordings but I didn’t understand why until some years later.
Who or what would you say have been your biggest influences?
I think that one of my longest influences has been René Jacobs. Without knowing who he was, or what his work had been, I ended up having many of his recordings, attracted by the interpretation and also by the fantastic booklets that accompanied them. Once I arrived at the Schola, and studied with Rosa Domínguez, one of his students, I learned who he was and how he worked. I was very lucky to have sung in several projects with him in the past years, and I can’t say how much I have learned with him, both as a singer and conductor.
Photo by Javier Salas
What is your next project?
Next 7th and 10th November we will be performing Francisco Corselli’s opera “El robo de las sabinas”. First in Riehen and then at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid. I’m really looking forward, we have a fantastic cast and I’m very happy to be the first one to play this opera since it’s première in the 18th Century.
Outside of the musical world, could you tell us something surprising about yourself that nobody knows?
Yes! I would have never imagined but since two years I’m a huge fan of my hometown’s football team ☺
Photo by Javier Salas
