Plowright relishes role of Verdi's jealous lover

'I like singing the nasty roles,' says Rosalind Plowright of Princess Amneris in Aida. She talks to TARA WERNER.

Rosalind Plowright is having a ball singing the role of the Egyptian princess Amneris opposite Margaret Medlyn as Aida in the NBR New Zealand Opera production now on at the Aotea Centre.

Known throughout her international career as a soprano, Plowright's voice has gradually lowered to become a mezzo, while intriguingly the opposite has happened to Medlyn, who is now a soprano.

"It's normal, with us ladies of indeterminable age, for our voices to go down in range. It's much rarer for it to go up," Plowright laughs. "What matters is the quality of the voice and making sure that the repertoire is right. Both Margaret and I are essentially dramatic singers, and that's what counts with Verdi. I find it easy to project and focus my sound. I don't tackle those high Cs any more but I'm enjoying all those lovely roles for mezzo."

Amneris - tailormade for Plowright - is one of Verdi's greatest mezzo-soprano characters who almost steals the opera from Aida. Amneris, the daughter of an Egyptian king who becomes jealous of her slave-girl, Aida, when she finds they are both in love with the same man, Radames, is not the most pleasant of personalities, says Plowright.

"I like singing nasty roles - I hate playing weepy women. Amneris has her claws out for Aida once she discovers what has happened. It's all rather sad and complicated. She's in love with a man who is in love with another woman. And he would rather die than give up that love. So Amneris is quite an emotional part. She goes mad in the end, quite bonkers!"

Despite Plowright's irreverent tone, it is clear that opera is the centre of her life. Her distinguished career has taken her to the world's most famous opera houses, and she has collaborated over the years with an operatic Who's Who, including the famous threesome - Carreras, Pavarotti and Domingo.

She is well aware of the fiercely competitive nature of opera, particularly in Italy with its claques - members of the audience who are engaged by a performer, often at considerable expense, to applaud the performance and call for encores of their "favourite" singer.

"I was in one particular opera house at the beginning of my career and honestly didn't know what I'd got myself into. I was lucky - I wasn't shouted off stage. They whistle and boo singers. It's not exactly the most romantic of scenes. Audiences can be fanatical, especially about Verdi, who is treated like a god."

Plowright's face lights up when she talks about Verdi, and she prepares well in advance for her roles. "With music like Verdi's that is so well written it's much easier than others, since it is so melodious. It's easy to get it into the voice, and then you find that emotion takes over. Acting is just as important on stage as singing. I think singing should come from the heart."

And like the composer, she admits to being sensitive about bad reviews. "He got very upset about the media at times. I have a photo of him just after Falstaff was produced, and he's scowling at the camera, probably because he'd just read a bad crit."

Plowright is right about Verdi's antagonism towards journalists. He had a special disdain for many of the French and Italian critics who were invited to the opening of Aida in Cairo, and when one, Filippo Filippi, offered to "do his best" for the new opera beforehand, Verdi was so outraged that he threatened his publisher that he would destroy the score.

"Journalists, musicians, singers, directors and so on must all contribute their stone to the temple of publicity, to build a cornice out of nonsensical gossip that adds nothing to the worth of an opera," he wrote.

Plowright agrees with his sentiment. "I don't like labels. I just know what I like to sing. This production of Aida is a huge success, I feel. It may be a controversial version but I'd agree with Verdi - every opera must stand on its own merit."

* Aida runs at the Aotea Centre until July 23.