Cliff Zammit StevensSooner or later I would have caught up with tenor Cliff Zammit Stevens. In order to interview him of course. The opportunity came when last month, by sheer coincidence, he spotted me waiting for a train in London. Some days later we had a very long chat at his place.
As so often happens, some opera singers do not come from a particularly musical background. Zammit Stevens’s is a similar case. Born in August 1988, he was always fascinated by music: pop music and the musical theatre.
One of his first appearances was in Drama Troupe’s production of Bernstein’s West Side Story and Masquerade’s original production of Malcolm Galea’s and Paul Abela’s 1565. He sang lead roles in both.
An important break was when soprano Gillian Zammit noticed him and he started taking lessons with her.
Zammit Stevens says that Zammit gave him a good grounding in technique and interpretation which he wants to consolidate.
“Besides, I also have a wonderful mentor and advisor in soprano Juliette Bisazza whom I met when she was auditioning for new young singers.”
My earliest experience of Zammit Stevens’s lovely voice goes back very early in his career.
The first was a sort of marathon which took a troupe of very promising and enterprising young singers working closely with pianist Rosetta de Battista and Denise Mulholland.
The other occasion was his first recital at St James’s Cavalier with soprano Claudia Tabone and pianist Rosetta de Battista.
One event confirmed the other in revealing a very promising new voice in the field.
Did he imagine he would go as far as he has come at this point, and does he realise that hard work will have to continue being the order of the day?
“I had hopes,” he says, “and have no illusions as to how hard the path is to establish oneself in this highly competitive field”.
The singer does come across as a very committed and serious artist who allows for no complacency and who has registered increasingly successful performances.
One recalls a recital at the Auberge de Castille courtyard some summers ago with pianists Laila Barnat and Nicholas McCarthy and a duo recital at Mdina, again with Barnat and soprano Louis Adler.
He was described as showing exceptional promise by Opera Magazine
This was a continuous spiral of artistic improvement and achievement. Meanwhile, Zammit Stevens made his local opera debut when he sang the minor role of Flavio in Bellini’s Norma at Gozo’s Astra Opera House, followed by that of Goro in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, also at the Astra.
His stature grew in such a way that the same opera house offered him the role of Cassio in Verdi’s Othello.
He was described as “showing exceptional promise” by Opera Magazine; “a revelation” by the Daily Express; “The voice and quality of a nascent and even more engaging Pavarotti. Every note, every moment is etched with clarity and conviction...” by Reviewsgate.
“After finishing college, one wants to go out into the world, which is brutally and horribly competitive,” Zammit Stevens says.
“Strange as this may sound, I could thrive upon negativity. Once, an examiner renowned for his sharp, even cruel bluntness, described me as ‘a bundle of inconsistencies and limitations’.
“It hurt, because I disagreed with that assessment, which was like a gauntlet thrown at my feet. I felt challenged and wanted to prove that judgement wrong.”
Such judgement could destroy a weaker character but one has to be tough in this business and get on with it. Things have now certainly looked up for the hard working such as Zammit Stevens.
Together with a number of young Maltese opera singers, he has been nominated by tenor Joseph Calleja to pursue two-weeks of Master Classes and eventual recitals at Salzburg’s Mozarteum.
Later this year, Zammit Stevens intends to audition for admission to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden’s Young Artists’ Programme and a similar programme at Munich’s Staatsoper, both for the 2015-16 season.
I asked Zammit Stevens whe-ther he prefers opera performances to recitals or vice-versa, to which he replied with a convincing preference for the former.
“In opera you get into a role interpreting a particular character. The character may change in the course of the performance, but it remains the same character inter-acting with the same group of fellow singers.”
In recitals, on the other hand, there is that certain greater intimacy with an audience or with just one or two other singers sharing the stage.
“However, it remains more difficult because of change of style or character,” he concludes.
Cliff Zammit Stevens will give a recital with Swedish mezzo-soprano Annie Frederiksson and British pianist Ian Tindale on August 28 at 8pm, at Archbishop Square Mdina.
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