Interview - Rai Radio 3 Suite

Rai Radio 3 Suite – Magazine: Interview with Lisette Oropesa

The interview is in Italian. The quotes below are our English translations.

Ahead of her recital opening the chamber music season of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Lisette joined Guido Barbieri on Rai Radio 3 Suite to talk about her program of zarzuela, Spanish song and Cuban music. They also spoke about her years as a flutist, her family of singers, and her voice type. Thank you to Guido Barbieri and Rai Radio 3 for the conversation.

On how studying the flute shaped her singing:

“An instrument has no words to express an emotion. When you play a phrase, you have to find the colors of the instrument, not of the text. Singing without words, which I did for so many years studying music, helped me find colors in the phrase without needing words.”

On the zarzuela of Cuba:

“In Cuba there is also the tradition of Cuban zarzuela, which has instruments particular to Cuba and the Caribbean that come from Afro-Cuban rhythms. There is a big difference between Spanish zarzuela and Cuban zarzuela, and that has interested me very much.”

The interview begins about two minutes into the program. Listen to the full interview in Italian at RaiPlay Sound →