Hot-blooded Latvian

Even in a city grown accustomed to a steady stream of major music stars, next week's recital by Elina Garanča promises to be special. A world-famous mezzo-soprano who built her reputation largely on the strength of her dazzling work with bel canto, Garanča will be unveiling a new repertoire in Prague. And she has an ideal partner conducting the Prague Philharmonia: her husband, the acclaimed Karel Mark Chichon.

"Since I was in Prague two years ago with bel canto, this time I wanted to surprise the public with something a bit more 'hot-blooded,' " Garanča, 33, says in an interview conducted for Prague media. "I will be going on tour with a similar program in September and October, but the Prague public will be the first ones to hear this."

Among her many gifts, what may be most remarkable about Garanča is her willingness to constantly challenge herself and grow. With her movie-star looks, acting ability and enormous popularity on European stages, Garanča could happily coast for years to come doing, say, Mozart in Salzburg and Bellini and Rossini in Vienna. But occupying just one professional niche is apparently not in her nature.

"I want to make sure that every time I return to a house where I've worked before," she told the Web site Musicalcriticism.com last year, "I can show that I've developed from the last time they heard me."

Though she comes from a musical family - her mother is a classical singer, and her father a choral director - Garanča showed that eclectic spirit early on, pondering a career as an actress or pop singer before settling on opera. After strenuous training by her mother, she was admitted to the conservatory in Riga. From there, she built her career step by step, starting with an invitation to audition at the Meiningen Opera in Germany at the age of 22. "I left [Latvia] with no language, no experience, straight onto a professional stage," she recalls.

Her exposure grew with competition victories and other awards over the next few years, as well as memorable appearances on stages in Frankfurt, Vienna and Salzburg. Her performance as Annio in La Clemenza di Tito in Salzburg in 2003 was the first to draw major international attention, followed by accolades for her Charlotte in Werther (Vienna, 2005), Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (Vienna, 2006) and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte (Covent Garden, 2007). Now, even her CDs have star quality, like last year's Bellini: I Capuleti e i Motecchi (Deutsche Grammaphon) with Anna Netrebko.

And Garanča is still capable of surprises, as she showed in a star turn in the title role of Carmen at the Met in New York City earlier this year. There may be no more stereotypical role in all of opera, but Garanča managed to find new depth in the character, winning plaudits for her portrayal of a wily, cruel woman whose audacious sexuality is driven by a fierce intelligence. New York magazine called her "the most convincing Carmen in a long time." And The New York Times praised her singing for its "rich sound, unerring feel for the nuance and subtext of a phrase, and alluring sensuality."

Given that, perhaps a move to the "hot-blooded" world of Spanish composers and zarzuelas is only natural. The program for her recital next week offers some tastes of her existing repertoire: Donizetti, Ponchielli and Bizet's Carmen. But the bulk of the evening is devoted to composers like Fernando Obradors, Xavier Montsalvatge, Federico Chueca and Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, For flavor, there are some interesting diversions into Villa-lobos, whose Bachianas Brasileiras offer a unique marriage of Baroque and Brazilian forms, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, which is based on Spanish folk melodies. But most of the program is popular zarzuelas.

Garanča recorded some of the material earlier this year. "The CD is called Habanera, and it will be coming out in August," she says. "I do love zarzuela, and this CD has some quite interesting examples of it."

Given the enthusiastic reception Garanča receives practically everywhere she goes, it would be a surprise if the new repertoire was anything but a hit. Still, she has to prove that she can deliver it in proper fashion - a challenge that, as always, she's looking forward to.

"I'm very excited about coming back to Prague because I remember the audiences there as extremely appreciative, understanding and knowledgeable," she says. "And I have a chance to show the public that not only dark-haired singers have the temperament to sing 'South soul' repertoire."

Frank Kuznik can be reached at
fkuznik@praguepost.com