Cherubino
My coolest ensemble story: This was when I played the role of Cherubino once again in The Marriage of Figaro, in a new production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst in 2007.
Cherubino is a trouser role – he’s a teenage page boy whose hormones are raging …
The role and the music involve a lot of movement, liveliness and a sense of play; all this determines his stage presence. Cherubino is funny, cheeky, on the go, and always either running away from the jealous Count or running after someone in a skirt.
Right from the start it was clear that teamwork was very important to Sven. He sensitised us to this and made us realise that the opera only functions if we keep tossing the ball to each other, as it were, both in our singing and in our acting.
The dynamism and the energy were fantastic, and our enthusiasm grew with every performance. Unlike in other productions, I also felt that the ensemble had an ever-stronger sense of solidarity.