A legendary voice

Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Mirella Freni, Dame Joan Sutherland: the legendary singer shared the stage with all of them during his five-decade career. His bass voice, which speaks volumes and fills halls with astonishing power, is still one of the most beautiful in the world. Now he is giving a solo recital at the Wiener Konzerthaus. In the first part, he sings »Vier ernste Gesänge« by Brahms and finally proves that song culture has also produced great works of art outside the German-speaking world, for example in the form of songs by Mussorgsky, full of black romanticism, and Rachmaninoff. In the second half of the concert, Furlanetto brings to life some of the operatic characters he embodies from Mozart's »Magic Flute«, »Le nozze di Figaro« and »Don Giovanni«, but also from Massenet, Mussorgsky and Verdi. Even more than on the opera stage, his unique ability to slip into roles and embody them with the full expressive range of his voice is fundamental in the solo concert: »When you're on stage with costume and make-up, it's somehow easier because the track is already set. When you're alone on stage, with a piano, dressed normally and with your own face, it's all about how you filter that music. You have to live these amazing roles, honestly and with skin and hair. That's the only way to reach the audience. The only way is to live what you sing and find the intentions and colors. If you have to suffer at that moment, you have to suffer. »When you enjoy it, you have to feel joy«, says Furlanetto, who will be accompanied by Natalia Sidorenko. The pianist has already performed at major concert halls around the world and has worked with artists such as Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo, Ekaterina Scherbachenko and Mstislav Rostropovich.