Tuesday, April 21, 2015





  • The other day,  being vain and a bit bored, I looked through  Youtube clips of mine. Under one which was recorded in Vienna, of me and  tenor Roberto Alagna,  there's a comment stating something such as "Alagna is fabulous, but the lady singing with him ,  is unfortunately not a Carmen".

    This kind of comment is not new to me. Throughout my career , I've heard this several times. Imagine- even from intendants who hired me based on my manager's recommendation, and then discovered that to them, I am "not a Carmen".

    What IS "a Carmen"? The answer is as varied as your taste in lovers. Could my Carmen be a good lover to your very very specific expectation of who Carmen *should* be? to *you*?

     If you  (and many of you do) expect a heavy-voiced, slow walking, tall heavy boned amazon roaring powerhouse of a singer for your Carmen,  you sure will be disappointed with my soft-grained, petit, lolit-ish, quick on her feet, anti-thesis to your choice little me. My nuanced pianissimo will be written off by you as "small voice" as much as  when my forte, although heard, won't ever never, ever be what volume it is that you are expecting to hear. My legs will be too short for your taste, my dancing - not grand enough, my  eye locking looks with  Don Jose, will be surely lost way before they've reached your eyes , as you are trying to figure out what *is* there in that nobody who is daring to take up your favorite role, and is, goddamn  not -delivering? 


    But you know something? Somehow I have managed to , despite the insane expectations , and the good old comparisons,  to sing this role again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again,  and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again (I said "and again around 40 times, did I ? ) and at a certain point, it stopped being because of my manager's recommendation, or because I have black curly hair. And it stopped being because of the reviews, and because of social media, and because I am nice. 

    I must have been doing something right, even tho, I am "unfortunately not a Carmen".

    No, I am not. I am a Rinat Shaham. 

    1 Comments:

    Blogger Alex Bana said...

    Love your Carmens and everything else!

    10:27 PM  

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