Opera, like football, has its benches and its "heats you out". As on the playing field, in theaters there are also substitutes who eventually succeed due to the star's indisposition, or at least they have been able to follow her behind the scenes, learn from a great figure, attend the rehearsal period, see the production process of an opera and gain experience without taking excessive risks. The substitute or cover, which is how substitutes are called in the world of lyrics, must know the role as if they were going to sing it at any time. He must have rehearsed, learned the stage movement. And he has to remain available in each function, although in many cases it ends up being in vain (not for free, since covering is a paid job).
In general, these are young singers to whom the time has come to give them a chance. But if it is a role that requires a mature voice, it may be the case that the theater prefers to bet on a professional artist as a substitute than end up urgently calling someone from the international circuit for an incorporation.
The most notorious recent case of cover –with a happy ending– has been that of the soprano Maribel Ortega (Jerez de la Frontera, 1970), an artist with extensive experience as a lyric soloist who left chemistry for singing and was forged in Catalonia, at the Liceu Conservatory and at the Escola d'Òpera in Sabadell. Her debut in a leading role (with Norma) was in Sabadell, and since then she has been a regular in the Òpera Catalunya cycle, where the incoming course will once again be Turandot.
Well, the Teatro Real wanted her this summer as a substitute in the revival of Turandot with a production by Robert Wilson with which the Madrid coliseum closed the season. There were 17 performances of an impossible role with three different casts, there were many unforeseen chances, says the theater's artistic director, Joan Matabosch. “For Turandot it is absurd to try to find a young cover. She has to have experience and a mature voice to tackle such a dramatic role. You just have to find the right candidate and prepare her for the challenge. We gave Ortega the chance to work with maestro Nicola Luisotti and with Wilson, it worked, she is one hundred percent reliable and we bet on her in case of an incident”.
And indeed, one day the Polish soprano Ewa Plonska felt the high temperatures in Madrid, lost her voice, and the Jerez-born woman came out to sing, perfectly prepared.
“These are opportunities that do not usually occur. I don't know if it will be a before and after in my career, but things are moving and I hope that it translates into more work and recognition, because it is difficult for those of us at home in this country to be considered”, says the artist. It is not her first experience as a substitute for her, so she speaks knowingly when she says that "it is very exhausting on a psychological, mental and emotional level." “You live with nervousness. If you don't go out because you don't go out, and if you go out because the adrenaline shoots up and many emotions intertwine. If everything goes well, like this time, the joy is tremendous”.
The point is not to anticipate anything, keep a cool mind. “There can be no fear, you have to think about work and not about the opportunity. I had to sing the rehearsal with the orchestra [Saioa Hernández was not there and Anna Pirozzi needed rest] and I lived it as my performance. That was beautiful".
It can also happen, if the vocal characteristics of the two roles are similar, that the substitution of the main role is assumed by an artist who at the same time plays a comprimario. “It's healthy for peers to learn to take responsibility for leading roles,” says Matabosch. That was experienced by Ortega in Oviedo, for example. Instead, at La Scala, she was just a substitute, forced to wait in a small room. When she found out that at the Real it was just about being available, she thought... “not bad”.
“But it turns out that they can call you for the second part, so you keep watching your phone all the time, you review the music, you review the scene... you examine yourself all the time. And that during a long period of 17 performances in 23 days. I ended up exhausted."
There is the case of singers who agree to be substitutes if they are guaranteed one or two performances. And there are gift experiences. The soprano from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Tina Gorina, a regular at the Petit Liceu, had the opportunity to be a substitute and second cast in La Traviata that Sofia Coppola staged with Valentino at Les Arts de València. “That was a before and after. She hadn't sung it in a big theater and that was a beautiful production and very popular in the media”, she comments.
But curiously, going out to sing is not always the goal. “For many it is an opportunity to study and prepare for a role by immersing themselves in a production, but they prefer not to do any performances,” explains Matabosch. Young artists appreciate that position. “You learn a role without pressure and you already have it forever”, the young soprano Erika Baikoff pointed out these days at the Schubertíada in Vilabertran. Zerlina, for example, I worked as a cover of her and I will sing it in Houston next season. Also, if I had to sing I couldn't drink coffee, because my voice is very sensitive, but I'm not that strict about cover, haha”.
