The sopranil barometer of the Empordà summer rarely fails. Even Peralada, who in his condensed 2023 edition included tenors, was aware that the nights are illuminated by sopranos and also brought Diana Damrau, Núria Rial or Serena Sáenz. On the other hand, if any voice deserves to be discovered –or rediscovered–, it will probably be seen opening the Schubertíada de Vilabertran, the lied festival that starts today precisely with the young and very promising American of Russian origin Erika Baikoff (8:30 p.m.). Or it will be scheduled in Torroella, where the charismatic Trinidadian Jeanine De Bique sang a few days ago and today the Italian Erika Grimaldi will do so in homage to Victoria de los Ángeles (8:30 p.m.), a name that shone a decade ago – Peralada inaugurated at the 2014– and that, after a maternity period, has been rescued in the Spanish market by Ibermúsica Artists.
Why is it that for a summer night there is nothing better than a voice full of fantasy, brilliance or poetic intimacy like that of a soprano? Porta Ferrada has even asked Tina Gorina, the local soprano from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, to sing Puccini today in the Monastery church (8 p.m.).
“The soprano voice has the effect of being direct, celestial and enveloping like the sound of birds,” says Ibermúsica's voice agent, Aleix Palau. She has the magic of being able to sing high pitches on the piano or do bass with a chest voice creating almost the sound of a man's voice. The great composers have been fascinated by that type of voice, Händel, Mozart, Verdi or Strauss dedicated their best arias to it”.
Erika Baikoff, the daughter of Russians who emigrated to New York when the USSR fell, discovered singing somewhat late, although at her current 29 she has already gone through two Opera Studios –in Lyon and at the Met– and has revealed itself as a promise in her rope. As a teenager she was convinced that she was going to be a dancer: every Christmas she, without fail, was part of the Nutcracker, and she got to receive a class from Barishnikov and Kolpakova. Perhaps if the first opera she heard as a child had not been as long as War and Peace, she would have been seduced by singing. However, when she left the ballet, her mother confessed that when she was pregnant she dreamed that she would be an opera singer. Erika now resides in London with her pianist husband.
“My parents studied Russian poetry, but they are no longer completely Russian”, he begins by saying about the romances by Rimski-Kórsakov, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov with which he is making his debut in Catalonia today, in the Vilabertran canonical. His understanding of the text and his diction will be unbeatable, because, even though he was born in the United States, he had Russian as his first language.
“When we went to Russia, my great-aunt, who was a doctor at the Mariinsky, would take me to the theater and I would see myself surrounded by the best dancers and singers. She was fascinating. We also have family in the Ukraine and Belarus, and it is hard to understand the reason for the war. Within the family there is a lot of pressure, my parents are now the American part of the family, ”she explains. Baikoff feels that, not having been raised in the Russian school, there are many traditions that she is unaware of, “but that's okay, because over time the Soviets stopped paying attention to the score, the original was lost and I have studied it for years. my account and I have drawn my conclusions”.
A free-spirited artist, he knows that what distinguishes a student from a professional is what they have explored on their own. “Barishnikov, for example, danced in such a free way... but to the rhythm of the music. In the end, the best musicians are the ones who can play with the tempos and rules without being distracting or incoherent."
Contrary to labeling her voice, her teachers were confused: was she mezzo or soprano?, coloratura or lyrical? “As long as you can sing well and it's convincing, there's no reason to define your voice. The good thing about mine is that she is versatile, a chameleon, she adapts. And I hope it's unique too." Of course, a lot of the Russian repertoire is for a dramatic soprano and she knows that she is not, she does not have that power. “In the poetic song the characters are often young people who discover life, I don't see that there is so much drama. Sometimes it's okay to be a little more simple and rational."
Erika Grimaldi returns, an eminently Verdian and Puccinian voice that motherhood has temporarily removed from the scene and has endowed her with more body and capacity, ready for a heavier and darker repertoire. "My whole body has undergone a change, I feel more complete, it's a beautiful transformation," she says on the phone, ready for the tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles that she will do today in Torroella by the composer who was her last pianist, Albert Guinovart.
Grimaldi did not come from a musical family, but there was a piano at home and at the age of four he felt the need to study it. At 21 he already had careers in singing and piano and was beginning to act at his beloved Regio di Torino theater, where he would later play dozens of roles. There she has been the Michaela of Carmen, for example, in the successful production by Calixto Bieito, and she also collaborated with Àlex Ollé in the modern Bohème. “Yes, that Carmen, not so conceptual but realistic, at times vulgar and at times gentle, but that highlights everyday reality. And that Bohème of poor suburban skyscrapers where, instead of a candle, they light up with a battery. I remember that she was pregnant ”.
Upon her return to the stages of the Peninsula, she has chosen the most beautiful arias that Victoria sang for the tribute: “Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, Leoncavallo... The ones I knew and know I can do well. This is the easy part. The second, with songs and lieder, has been a challenge. I wanted to insert languages: Spanish, German, French... Although the difficulty is not so much the language, but the style. It is a repertoire to dream of, of intimate moments that move, although there are lively songs to scherzar ”.
What would be the secret to singing Verdi? “If you want to sing Verdi you need a good technique to do everything in the score, because he is very precise and punctual, he puts everything in writing: very delicate and difficult music. He writes very piano, something very difficult for the voice, and it goes to a crescendo, and then demands that you go to a piano from a forte... It's complex, but you just have to study. And it is what I have done in the pandemic. Now I reap the fruits."
The trigger for the career of this daughter from Sant Feliu de Guíxols was winning the Jaume Aragall in Girona two decades ago. That made him think that she could be a professional as well as a brilliant conservatory student. From there, she participated in a contest, a contest that she won as a light soprano. She sang with Aragall, and with Carreras, who presided over the Gayarre contest. And she won a Viñas.
"I have done important things but I consider that I have not entered the wheel of the opera, I have never had a powerful performance." But he entered the Liceu through the door of the Petit Liceu, which in the last two decades has served as the Opera Studio in the Barcelona hall. “In 2003 I called to do a children's production of Seville's Superbarber, produced by Tricicle, and it has been one of the most beautiful things I've ever done. We were active for 15 seasons at the Liceu, and we went to theaters all over the State, in Spanish, in Catalan, for families and schools...”.
He has recently participated in the opera-circus La torre dels somnis, whose advance party was seen at Christmas in Plaza Catalunya. And by chance, in the last season of Òpera de Sabadell, she sang not only in Don Giovanni, but also made her debut in a leading role by Puccini, in Madama Butterfly. First as a substitute and finally singing half of the performances of the Òpera a Catalunya Season.
As a result of that, they have invited her to talks and finally to design a recital with the arias of Puccini's women: Manon, La bohème, Tosca, Butterfly, Turandot… “There are suffering mothers and spoiled adolescents, it has a lot of feeling and interest. It's beautiful music." At the piano, Stanis Angelov. And be careful, on Saturday in Girona she also has a concert with Broadway tunes.
