Raw, precise, elegant, body' movements a direct expression of music and lyric. What else can an audience expect but sincere bliss? Elegant respiration. Even your feet does justice to the performance. Puccini would not ignore your gift.
I directed a production of Tosca in Austria in 2018. Your beautiful interpretation made me cry! Thank you so much! I really love, how you sing Puccini... because you are one of the gifted young tenors, who can really put his feelings into his voice. In German we call that "Schmelz" ... it's a true gift!!! Be really carefull with your voice and choose your future roles wisely!!! I wish you all the best for your career and hope to see and hear you in the great opera houses of Europe one day!!!
Joven usted es toda una revelación y para mí usted pasa hacer el primer y único Tenor que con una técnica depurada y muy bien adquirida logra Cantar con impecable sabiduría e interpretación todo un repertorio hecho para voz de mujer e ahí lo grandioso e impactante de sus videos lo que usted acaba de interpretar merece todo un Óscar que bien expresado y que bien emitido cada sonido y cada intención usted sin duda alguna es todo un genio del mundo operístico mis saludos desde Madrid
I've always been interested in translating arias for the female voice to a male range whilst keeping the original instrumental in tact. It definitely sounds like a scary task, but fun too!
OMG This is so gorgeous! You break gender in Opera in the most beautiful and graceful way! You renditions are excellent! Please please keep doing this! I can't get enough!
Hi Aaron - I don't know if you read these comments, but as someone who was "in the profession" I am going to weigh in here - and I know it's unsolicited. And, you can ignore my comment if you like of course! You have an extraordinary voice. In operatic history it would be categorized as a "falcon," someone who could sing across different fachs. And you certainly do that -- like no one else, obviously!!! Putting aside the female roles for the moment, the fact that you can credibly sing both baritone and tenor roles is due to your wonderful natural vocal resources. You clearly have a great ear as well: evidenced by the fact that your tones are beautifully centered and your Italian diction is excellent (I taught diction to a few MET singers in the 1980s-90s). Your legato is superb. All of the above explains why you can produce tones all the way up to Eb. And of course, this is noteworthy. If i might make one observation: in many of your arias (from various fachs) you frequently raise your larynx slightly on notes above Ab (exception: in your Un'Aura Amorosa). I myself sang as a baritone for ten years and when I switched to dramatic tenor, I would often raise my larynx (we all do this inadvertently of course) above a G and also pushed with my diaphragm (something, happily, you don't do!). I thus made a huge sound but my highest notes, while powerful perhaps, lacked the radiance that someone like Corelli, for example, had all the way up through Db and something Domingo, by contrast, never had. Then I studied (briefly) with Nilsson in the late 80s. She explained that this would be solved by maximized breath compression. By doing this, the larynx naturally relaxes lower, and the whole upper range then takes on a wonderful radiance - something Nilsson had that none of her contemporaries could ever match although they could sing high Cs as well. I hope you are in great hands. And. I wish you a successful career; you are immensely talented. Voices like yours are not found all that often.
Hi! Could you further explain the concept of “breath compression?” At first read, this sort of sounds to me like you’re encouraging using as much breath as possible in a sort of dangerous way. I know you’re not saying this, of course, but would you care to explain it a bit more? Perhaps even an exercise that helps with this? Thank you!
@@CH-tj2ru Nilsson heard me sing "Dio mi potevi scagliar" from Otello up to a climactic Bb. I thought I had produced all the notes rather easily but knew that I didn't have the kind of ease and radiance that Corelli had in his high notes. Or like she had. Or Sutherland. I was concerned with "placement." After all, I had been studying all these years with "placement teachers." She told me that my singing was breathy; something NO ONE had, in 15 years of study, EVER told me that. So I initially didn't get what she was telling me. She then demonstrated. She told me she was going to take a very deep breath and not allow even the slightest amount of air to escape while singing a phrase, no matter what. She told me to imagine that while I was singing that the tone was flowing out but the air was flowing in the opposite direction; i.e., deeper, down into the body. Against what it was trying to do; hence "compression." I then did it. Now I understood what one of my earlier teachers meant when they told me that I should feel I that was going deeper into my body as I was singing higher. One teacher actually had me do a deep squat as I sang an ascending scale! What they were all trying to do was to simply get me to compress my breath and relax my larynx lower. When you do, your whole voice becomes freer and more "radiant." You can almost see Nilsson compressing her breath here, starting from 1:58 on: th-cam.com/video/2-kj7metTbo/w-d-xo.html Sutherland was also brilliant at breath compression and actually went as far as pursing (or cupping) her lips when she did it. People saw it as an affectation. th-cam.com/video/UAM6UXyFiag/w-d-xo.html Nilsson, by contrast would never contort her face that way. An analogy: Imagine you are swimming in the ocean. You've gone out a little farther out than you should. A huge wave is coming and you cannot turn around. So you take the deepest breath possible. You dive down and "compress" your breath as much as possible as if your life depended upon it. And in this case, it does. You can't let even the slightest amount escape; for if you do, your lungs would collapse and you would drown. So here's an exercise: Take in a ridiculous amount of breath. Much more than you need. Sing a phrase that sits in your middle. Imagine you are underwater and can't let the slightest bit of air escape. Finish and exhale. Repeat. My personal favorite? Although I was a dramatic tenor, I would use Scarpia's phrase: "Al tuo Mario, per tuo voler, non resta che un'ora di vita." Then repeat it a half tone higher. Then again, another half tone higher. Always making sure that each time I was taking way more breath than I actually needed. And never letting even the slightest amount escape. I actually got the point where I felt my abdominal muscles and lower back muscles were getting a workout. And I felt literally nothing in my chest or throat. What I did feel was the voice sort of bouncing around in the head, You'll also know you're doing it well when each time you sing the phrase your voice feels ever freer and ever more buoyant. Nilsson also talked about bringing the head (falsetto) lower and lower, strengthening it lower and lower in the voice. Any register breaks would then get lower and lower and ultimately drop out of the voice completely. But that's another discussion all together! I hope this answers your question! \
@@lugano1999 wow... this is invaluable information. What an amazing experience it must’ve been to work with La Nilsson! Thank you so much for sharing, I’ll definitely do some practice with this!
@@CH-tj2ru This was in March 1987. I will tell you a bit more if you like. I had gone to Milan for a year (1983-1984) to study with a teacher (another placement teacher) who tripled my volume but who never let me sing a note above an Ab. All she did was work the passaggio. Every lesson was Eb to Ab. Over and over again. It was all about getting these notes to "flip over." Never a word about breath. So without teling her of course I one day went and took a lesson with Gina Cigna who lived in Milan and who was 83 at the time. Cigna had been famous for Turandot, Norma and Aida (all the easy roles!). Cigna was all about breath. She immediately got me away from placing my voice and focusing instead on using the breath. She had me do scales taking me up to High Cs and Dbs. Easily. And she kept saying "This is your voice. This is your voice." I went back to NYC, wasted a couple of more years before the lesson with Nilsson and then working with a teacher she recommended. And then my on again, off again relationship with the MET. It culminated with a master class and call back auditions in 1989. I gave up singing by 1993 and did coach singers a couple of conductors would send me for a few years and then I left that world completely. So I just hope for Aaron that he is in the right hands. Over the last 40 years I have seen way too many people with great voices but who have had some technical limitations. They manage to get just so far because of their talent and then not have the kinds of break throughs they should have had simply because they didn't work with people who had the kinds of "ears" that this art form requires. //
This is amazing. Beautiful rendition, I really enjoyed it. I wish there was a way to get opera made gender reversed roles. In big theaters, I mean. Again, thank you for these videos.
Bravo! Você foi espetacular em sua interpretação! Parabéns! 👏🏾👏🏾
Raw, precise, elegant, body' movements a direct expression of music and lyric. What else can an audience expect but sincere bliss? Elegant respiration. Even your feet does justice to the performance. Puccini would not ignore your gift.
I directed a production of Tosca in Austria in 2018. Your beautiful interpretation made me cry! Thank you so much! I really love, how you sing Puccini... because you are one of the gifted young tenors, who can really put his feelings into his voice. In German we call that "Schmelz" ... it's a true gift!!! Be really carefull with your voice and choose your future roles wisely!!! I wish you all the best for your career and hope to see and hear you in the great opera houses of Europe one day!!!
Joven usted es toda una revelación y para mí usted pasa hacer el primer y único Tenor que con una técnica depurada y muy bien adquirida logra Cantar con impecable sabiduría e interpretación todo un repertorio hecho para voz de mujer e ahí lo grandioso e impactante de sus videos lo que usted acaba de interpretar merece todo un Óscar que bien expresado y que bien emitido cada sonido y cada intención usted sin duda alguna es todo un genio del mundo operístico mis saludos desde Madrid
So beautiful. Lovely breath and expressiveness at 2:40 - But all of it moved me!
I always live for this dark tenor voice ❤️🥰
I've always been interested in translating arias for the female voice to a male range whilst keeping the original instrumental in tact. It definitely sounds like a scary task, but fun too!
Bravo 👏
One of my favorite soprano arias from my favorite Opera ; Tosca
Omg! Brought tears to my eyes 😻
Beautiful!
Maravilhoso!
OMG This is so gorgeous! You break gender in Opera in the most beautiful and graceful way! You renditions are excellent! Please please keep doing this! I can't get enough!
Absolutely nice!
Hi Aaron - I don't know if you read these comments, but as someone who was "in the profession" I am going to weigh in here - and I know it's unsolicited. And, you can ignore my comment if you like of course!
You have an extraordinary voice. In operatic history it would be categorized as a "falcon," someone who could sing across different fachs. And you certainly do that -- like no one else, obviously!!!
Putting aside the female roles for the moment, the fact that you can credibly sing both baritone and tenor roles is due to your wonderful natural vocal resources.
You clearly have a great ear as well: evidenced by the fact that your tones are beautifully centered and your Italian diction is excellent (I taught diction to a few MET singers in the 1980s-90s).
Your legato is superb.
All of the above explains why you can produce tones all the way up to Eb. And of course, this is noteworthy.
If i might make one observation: in many of your arias (from various fachs) you frequently raise your larynx slightly on notes above Ab (exception: in your Un'Aura Amorosa).
I myself sang as a baritone for ten years and when I switched to dramatic tenor, I would often raise my larynx (we all do this inadvertently of course) above a G and also pushed with my diaphragm (something, happily, you don't do!). I thus made a huge sound but my highest notes, while powerful perhaps, lacked the radiance that someone like Corelli, for example, had all the way up through Db and something Domingo, by contrast, never had.
Then I studied (briefly) with Nilsson in the late 80s. She explained that this would be solved by maximized breath compression.
By doing this, the larynx naturally relaxes lower, and the whole upper range then takes on a wonderful radiance - something Nilsson had that none of her contemporaries could ever match although they could sing high Cs as well.
I hope you are in great hands. And. I wish you a successful career; you are immensely talented. Voices like yours are not found all that often.
Hi! Could you further explain the concept of “breath compression?” At first read, this sort of sounds to me like you’re encouraging using as much breath as possible in a sort of dangerous way. I know you’re not saying this, of course, but would you care to explain it a bit more? Perhaps even an exercise that helps with this? Thank you!
His vocal timbre is very similar to the great George Shirley.
@@CH-tj2ru Nilsson heard me sing "Dio mi potevi scagliar" from Otello up to a climactic Bb.
I thought I had produced all the notes rather easily but knew that I didn't have the kind of ease and radiance that Corelli had in his high notes.
Or like she had.
Or Sutherland.
I was concerned with "placement." After all, I had been studying all these years with "placement teachers."
She told me that my singing was breathy; something NO ONE had, in 15 years of study, EVER told me that. So I initially didn't get what she was telling me.
She then demonstrated. She told me she was going to take a very deep breath and not allow even the slightest amount of air to escape while singing a phrase, no matter what.
She told me to imagine that while I was singing that the tone was flowing out but the air was flowing in the opposite direction; i.e., deeper, down into the body. Against what it was trying to do; hence "compression."
I then did it.
Now I understood what one of my earlier teachers meant when they told me that I should feel I that was going deeper into my body as I was singing higher.
One teacher actually had me do a deep squat as I sang an ascending scale!
What they were all trying to do was to simply get me to compress my breath and relax my larynx lower.
When you do, your whole voice becomes freer and more "radiant."
You can almost see Nilsson compressing her breath here, starting from 1:58 on:
th-cam.com/video/2-kj7metTbo/w-d-xo.html
Sutherland was also brilliant at breath compression and actually went as far as pursing (or cupping) her lips when she did it. People saw it as an affectation.
th-cam.com/video/UAM6UXyFiag/w-d-xo.html
Nilsson, by contrast would never contort her face that way.
An analogy:
Imagine you are swimming in the ocean. You've gone out a little farther out than you should.
A huge wave is coming and you cannot turn around. So you take the deepest breath possible. You dive down and "compress" your breath as much as possible as if your life depended upon it. And in this case, it does. You can't let even the slightest amount escape; for if you do, your lungs would collapse and you would drown.
So here's an exercise:
Take in a ridiculous amount of breath. Much more than you need.
Sing a phrase that sits in your middle. Imagine you are underwater and can't let the slightest bit of air escape.
Finish and exhale.
Repeat.
My personal favorite?
Although I was a dramatic tenor, I would use Scarpia's phrase:
"Al tuo Mario, per tuo voler, non resta che un'ora di vita."
Then repeat it a half tone higher.
Then again, another half tone higher.
Always making sure that each time I was taking way more breath than I actually needed. And never letting even the slightest amount escape.
I actually got the point where I felt my abdominal muscles and lower back muscles were getting a workout.
And I felt literally nothing in my chest or throat. What I did feel was the voice sort of bouncing around in the head,
You'll also know you're doing it well when each time you sing the phrase your voice feels ever freer and ever more buoyant.
Nilsson also talked about bringing the head (falsetto) lower and lower, strengthening it lower and lower in the voice. Any register breaks would then get lower and lower and ultimately drop out of the voice completely.
But that's another discussion all together!
I hope this answers your question! \
@@lugano1999 wow... this is invaluable information. What an amazing experience it must’ve been to work with La Nilsson! Thank you so much for sharing, I’ll definitely do some practice with this!
@@CH-tj2ru This was in March 1987.
I will tell you a bit more if you like.
I had gone to Milan for a year (1983-1984) to study with a teacher (another placement teacher) who tripled my volume but who never let me sing a note above an Ab. All she did was work the passaggio. Every lesson was Eb to Ab. Over and over again.
It was all about getting these notes to "flip over." Never a word about breath.
So without teling her of course I one day went and took a lesson with Gina Cigna who lived in Milan and who was 83 at the time.
Cigna had been famous for Turandot, Norma and Aida (all the easy roles!).
Cigna was all about breath. She immediately got me away from placing my voice and focusing instead on using the breath.
She had me do scales taking me up to High Cs and Dbs. Easily. And she kept saying "This is your voice. This is your voice."
I went back to NYC, wasted a couple of more years before the lesson with Nilsson and then working with a teacher she recommended.
And then my on again, off again relationship with the MET.
It culminated with a master class and call back auditions in 1989.
I gave up singing by 1993 and did coach singers a couple of conductors would send me for a few years and then I left that world completely.
So I just hope for Aaron that he is in the right hands.
Over the last 40 years I have seen way too many people with great voices but who have had some technical limitations. They manage to get just so far because of their talent and then not have the kinds of break throughs they should have had simply because they didn't work with people who had the kinds of "ears" that this art form requires. //
So special ❤️
Bravo!!!
Top!
Bravo!
May I ask with whom you are studying these days? Thank you!
Astonishing performance.
Can you record Ebben Ne andrò lontana?
This is amazing. Beautiful rendition, I really enjoyed it. I wish there was a way to get opera made gender reversed roles. In big theaters, I mean.
Again, thank you for these videos.
It's something I've considered for themed concerts
Bravo
Singt gut!
Ur mad, but in a good way
Regards,
Your superfan from Hong Kong
Great rendition. Have you practiced landing on a trampoline?
Man, he is good...maybe a new Björling???
Beautiful black voice ♥️♥️♥️😍
i like it, but it sounds that in real life that you want to be a female soprano.