A cup of coffee to warm up the body, some stretching exercises followed by different breathing exercises, and Nicolas Agius Darmanin is ready to step on stage and fill the opera house with his resonant voice.
On Thursday, the 29-year-old Maltese tenor made his Royal Opera House debut at London’s Covent Garden playing the role of Daniéli in Verdi’s magnificent Les Vêpres Siciliennes.
Mr Agius Darmanin tells The Sunday Times of Malta that singing opera is like training to be an athlete and describes his long, arduous journey in the quest to become a success.
It is a very competitive industry. I have been through a gruelling number of auditions
“It is a very competitive industry, especially with the pressure of always being at your best and matching what is produced in recordings. I have been through a gruelling number of auditions – in fact, you must develop a thick skin and a lot of nerve, as there will be rejections along the way. One must develop psychologically and develop stronger self-confidence.”
He feels lucky to have performed the smaller role of Daniéli at the Royal Opera House, as it gave him the time and opportunity to experiment and observe the big stars around him and the way they deal with daily pressures.
Mr Agius Darmanin, who has a bachelor of laws, is also one of five Maltese opera singers to be nominated by tenor Joseph Calleja to join a prestigious summer academy in Salzburg, Austria.
He cites Mr Calleja as one of his two idols for “his beautiful voice and wonderful colours in his interpretation”, together with Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez.
What does it take to be an opera singer?
Mr Agius Darmanin believes that apart from a good voice, a singer must possess intellect.
“The voice might possibly be one of the hardest instruments to study. It takes years to find the sensations which give you the maximum efficiency to use all the resonances of the voice.
“It’s important to remember that opera singers don’t use microphones in opera houses – you must find a technique that projects in the big spaces over the orchestra.”
He also compares the task of an opera singer to that of a linguist, as they must be able to sing in a number of different languages. Learning the language gives the singer a better understanding of the character, allowing him to access the right emotions.
He cites the role of Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff as his favourite to date, yet he dreams of the day when he would sing the role of Almaviva in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in a major international theatre.
“As my voice matures in a few years, I would love to sing either Duca in Rigoletto or Alfredo in La Traviata . However, neither of these roles is suitable for me at the moment. I am a Rossini tenor at this point in my life so I need to sing this type of repertoire to keep my voice healthy.”
And what’s in the pipeline for this up-and-coming tenor?
“Among several concerts, I will be singing the Italian Tenor in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in Belgium and in Luxembourg – a little role Luciano Pavarotti very much enjoyed!”