A Turbulent Opening Night of “Giulio Cesare” with Lucile Richardot

What is the daily life of an opera singer immersed for several weeks into rehearsals for Giulio Cesare in Salzburg? In her Austrian diary, French mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot recounts, day by day, what a performer really lives through: bursts of energy, onstage mishaps, discoveries and exhaustion. An artist with an instantly recognizable voice, capable of combining emotional depth, precision of expression and a unique boldness on stage, she reveals here the third instalment of a diary that offers an intimate glimpse into the making of a production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. The final chapter in an extraordinary opera adventure!

Salzburg, July 19

1:30 p.m.: It’s the last day of “scenes/orchestra” before Monday’s pre-dress rehearsal… it’s break time. Outside, the outdoor festival opening is in full swing, you can clearly hear brass in the streets, right into our dressing rooms, sometimes even backstage or inside the hall! These first three days (the festival was officially launched yesterday, Friday) also offer the public the chance to attend a few final rehearsal sessions free of charge, with reservation on the festival website. So, we had 130 people in the hall, up in the balcony, from noon to 1 p.m. during our mainly musical corrections, but on stage, with some action and elements of our costumes. I also started the day at 10:45 with a make-up test for facial injuries, with the make-up running, and the second wig in a slightly more damaged version for the second part of the show. Then a short break at the little market right in front of our stage door, held on Saturday mornings; I picked up some good bread and fruit, and above all ran into French colleagues from Le Concert d’Astrée: cellist Julien Hainsworth, then Christophe Dumaux, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Christophe Brand [production manager of Le Concert d’Astrée], who were also arriving and taking the opportunity to stock up a bit…

This morning, Justin Kim invited me to join him for a video requested by the festival’s communications team for social media, tomorrow, in a cargo bike… we’ll see how it goes… and IF it even happens! The slavery of social media, especially when you have to do everything yourself in selfie mode, can quickly annoy me, especially that feeling of doing the communications team’s job for them… and damn it, tomorrow is my day off! Yes, I love to complain. It feels good.

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