Last week's blog was rather abbreviated so this week you will get rather more than usual (two separate and distinct parts, no less) to make up for it.

On Monday last I went to the opera master class being given at PSU by Senor Tito Capobianco and afterwards had a very brief chat with him which led to our getting together on Wednesday to chew the fat at greater length.

The first thing I must tell you about the man is that he is an out and out fraud. He apologises for his “poor English” and then displays an understanding and feeling for the nuances of the language that put my own to shame. He will tell you he is getting old. Pah! The man has a demeanour and vitality of any other man one half his chronological age. He will shake his head at you and tell you his memory is letting him down. Pshaw! I would not be surprised to hear that he gives master classes in factual recall to elephants!

I had taken with me to our meeting some paper and a pen in the hope of making notes that could be reproduced here in interview form. Some chance. In the much-too-short one hour we had together he spoke of Nietsche, Freud, Socrates, Laurence Olivier ("I saw him play Hamlet nine times. Nine times!"), Anthony Quinn, St Augustine, Disraeli, Einstein, Andre Previn, the hopes and dreams of US soccer (comparing and contrasting the European playing model with the American and South American ones), how working in Germany enabled him to cultivate discipline and how that is for him such a necessary adjunct to the passion he gets from his Mediterranean background. Oh, and opera.

Mr C. as he said I should address him, has been in Portland for five weeks and you can tell that while he has a very good time here he can’t wait to get back to his wife of 54 years “before she divorces me!” But that reunion will have to wait until next week when he has launched the Portland State University production of Verdi’s Falstaff and leaves it in the hands of the young singers he has been coaching and encouraging in his capacity as Distinguished Professor of Opera. I wondered out aloud whether Falstaff wasn’t a rather ambitious project for a college department to undertake. He would have none of that. “Except for a few moments for the baritone which are very testing, vocally this opera is well within the range of these singers. There is no 'Che gelida manina' for the tenor, no Traviata-like arias for the soprano. For the baritone, yes it is tough but Richard Zeller is wonderful and will have no problems with it.” (I wonder what Richard thinks of that!) What Mr C. obviously sees as a much harder task for the cast is everything which is not vocal – expressing the depth of emotion required by Verdi’s last masterpiece. “I tell them all the time, you must project your feelings to the audience. Unless you can do that your voice will not matter. But if you can do that you will make them yours in a moment. The catch is that all of the emotional expression begins in the voice. They have to try very hard to imagine within themselves what they are trying to convey and for young singers particularly that can be very difficult. But, as Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge.” One was able to see in his master class how Capobianco seeks to do this through a combination of humour, by being able to articulate so well what he is looking for (notwithstanding his “poor English”-hah!) and by introducing elements of surprise, taking the artists places they had not previously imagined. And clearly, the singers thrive on it.

“So, Mr C. who was the greater composer of opera – Mozart or Verdi?” Both he and I knew this to be a pretty meaningless question but we also both knew he would have an interesting take on it. “Ah!” – a pause. A smile. “I would have to lean towards Verdi.” This didn’t come as much of a shock to me. You have only to look at the man to see he is cut from Verdian cloth. “Mozart was such a genius at playing with the different aspects of humanity. He would take them and tease us with them, play with them while displaying them to us in a way only he could do. But Verdi. Verdi didn’t play – these things were very real for him and the humanity he shows us is therefore somehow more real for us as well.”

He has been to some of the Met HD transmissions (“I saw Fleming in Thais. This production was a disaster!”) and while he had much to say about them which was positive he sees dangers ahead. And one of the greatest of those dangers? Amplification! “A betrayal of all we do! The beauty of the art is that it is putting on display a real human voice. If your voice is not strong enough to thrill us without a microphone, get out! Go and do something else.” And this scourge is becoming more widespread; "All over the world they are doing it. Even at the Met, whatever they may tell you." He also fears that the movie audience will not realize what it is missing from what one would get by attending a live performance in the opera house.

What else threatens opera? Well, ego for one thing. That is what, in Mr C.’s view (and mine, for what it’s worth) has pushed Renée Fleming into what he considers massive over-exposure as well as undertaking what are, for her, the wrong roles. And who, I ask him, is to tell young singers ‘No’ when they want to do every role they are asked to do whether it is suitable for them or not? For that Mr C. has no answer of course and sadly shakes his head. “Discipline. They need patience and discipline.” One gets the impression he isn’t seeing too much of that in the ranks of today’s young professionals. And they need not expect help from opera management. As his great and long-time friend Birgit Nilsson when speaking of young artists once put it "Directors and managers don't care about their futures. They will just get another young person when this one goes bad." I am not going to harp on yet again about Rolando Villazón but that is precisely what happened to him and what is being done to other fine young singers today.

He talks very fondly of the great sopranos he worked with in the past – Beverly Sills, Birgit Nilsson, Joan Sutherland et al but does not see their like emerging today. He likes Natalie Dessay and Stephanie Blythe but the list of contemporary singers he admires is pretty limited. He likes JD Flórez but confesses that while he thinks he has a finely controlled instrument, ultimately he leaves him cold. "And that Italian/French guy - what's his name? Roberto Alagna..." My typing skills don't enable me properly to convey the snort of derision which followed the utterance of that name. No so with Bryn Terfel who Mr C. believes to be in the very top echelon of today's operatic performers.

I was delighted when Mr C. used the word ‘visceral’ to describe opera as an art form. It is the very word I have used so often in describing the effects of a great opera performance and to hear him use that same word was at the very least comforting. He laughs “Opera! The greatest psychosis invented by mankind!” Well, I hadn’t thought of putting it that way.

There was much more but alas I did not have the means to record our conversation and will have to leave you with only these few comments as my recollection of our discussion. When we parted I went to have a glass of wine and gather my thoughts. I suspect that he went to his room to watch Liverpool play Chelsea on ESPN.

‘Anonymous’. A couple of weeks ago you asked in a comment here why PSU chooses to spend money on professional singers and a professional non-faculty director and whether the money might not be better spent for the benefit of the music department. I have asked some people at the University about this but have not yet heard the party line on the topic. What I can now give you is my own opinion. For the students to have an opportunity to work with and be coached and guided by Tito Capobianco is something I have little doubt will remain with them their entire lives and for those who choose to make opera a career his advice and techniques may prove to be priceless. It has been my great pleasure in my life to have known and spoken with some remarkable people – winners of the Nobel Prize and other academics of the highest renown, composers and musicians of world class. There is no question in my mind that Tito Capobianco is one of the most intelligent, learned and yes charming men I have ever known. PSU is lucky to have him at whatever the cost or sacrifice involved. In any event, my belief is that Capobianco's chair as Distinguished Professor of Opera is entirely underwritten by a particular donor to the university's Opera Department and that the grant is given specifically to bring an established professional to Portland to direct productions such as this one. It's not as if scarce faculty funds are being spent for this purpose.

In the same vein, how can it not be to the ultimate benefit of all the young singers taking part in Falstaff to have the benefit of working with a renowned singer of the quality of Richard Zeller? It is no secret to my readers that I rate Zeller very highly, not only in terms of his vocal abilities which are beyond dispute but for his thorough professionalism. The latter is hard to teach and best acquired through imitation. As they watch the way Zeller conducts himself in rehearsal and performance the students can learn qualities which will stand them in good stead long after they have left PSU and no matter what calling they may follow.

On Saturday I shall be attending the final dress rehearsal of Falstaff and will have the chance to see how all the hard work of those involved whether locals or out-of-towners has paid off. My views will form Pt II of this week's blog.

So, read on!