Finland’s soprano on call

Päivi Nisula shuttles back and forth between Tammisaari, Oulu, and Turku

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By Vesa Sirén in Tammisaari
     
      The demand for soprano Päivi Nisula’s services is quite overwhelming during these summer months.
      She just finished singing two different programmes as soloist for the Finnish Chamber Orchestra in Tammisaari. Today she is practicing Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman by the river Aurajoki in Turku, together with Matti Salminen and Juha Uusitalo. And in September, the premiere of Olli Kortekangas’s new opera Messenius and Lucia awaits her in Oulu.
      "It is a terrible autumn, considering how busy I am. But then again, why did I switch from mezzo soprano to soprano. Sopranos need to work much harder. Oops. Now I made all the mezzos angry", she laughs.
     
Nisula will perform on the river Aurajoki beginning on August 17th, because the grandiose Turku production of The Flying Dutchman will be performed with the singers on two old wooden vessels in the river, and with the orchestra playing on a barge between the ships.
      "You can only see the conductor from a monitor, and each singer has two microphones in case the other one is broken", Nisula explains.
      The audience will be on the banks of the river, and the need for electric amplification will be immense.
      "It will work if it does not rain. But if it rains, we will see."
     
In addition to all of the above, Nisula gets her monthly pay check from the Finnish National Opera, and works half-time teaching at the Sibelius Academy. Her autumn schedule contains the new production of Umberto Giordano’s opera Andrea Chenier at the National Opera, and her spring will see the return of Wagner’s Parsifal. In fact, Nisula rose to a new level as an actress as Kundry in Parsifal.
      "It was heaven. Harry Kupfer’s directing showed what it should be like to make musical theatre, and what the National Opera has sometimes lacked. Oops. Now I made the heads of the National Opera angry", she laughs again.
     
But Nisula immediately sings praise for the National Opera as a high-quality ensemble.
      "You must be proud to have singers such as Lilli Paasikivi, Juha Uusitalo, Ritva-Liisa Korhonen, and myself in the house. I decided not to sign an agreement with Leipzig in the past because I wanted to stay in Finland, and we have such an excellent opera here."
      So is Nisula now Finland’s soprano on call? She was asked to step in for the autumn of 2006 as well when Karita Mattila decided that Mikko Heiniö’s opera Käärmeen hetki (The Hour of the Snake) was too deep for her voice, and cancelled her participation.
      "That will be an interesting premiere. The libretto is fantastic and the music is excellent material, at least for a former mezzo soprano like myself."
     
Nisula switched to a higher note over the years 2001 and 2002. She has found herself more and more work since then.
      "I am by no means an Aida, but a relatively high female voice. For example, in Wagner’s Tannhäuser I would be more suitable for Venus than for the more bright-voiced Elisabeth", she compares.
      The switch of voice also led to a change in Nisula’s personality.
      "As a mezzo you needed to be smart and sing those intermediate notes. Now you can just be a soprano, like a dumb blond. Oops. Now I made all the sopranos angry", she continues.
     
Nisula is not a fan of being a diva, but comes up with an instant opera diva parody as soon as she hears that Juha Uusitalo was allocated a suite in Tammisaari, and she had to settle for a small regular room.
      "What, no, I will not stand for it! Write down that the soprano had a fit when she did not get a suite!"
      The joke turns into reality when Risto Roto, the operational head of the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, puts on his suit, brings Nisula a rose, and arranges for her to receive a bigger room.
      "You need to understand artists", Roto sighs.
     
The life of a soprano is not always rosy. Two years ago, Nisula experienced a crisis with her voice and turned to colleague Uusitalo for help.
      "We went into the rehearsal room, I showed him what the situation was, and asked what I should do about it."
      Uusitalo is famed as a preacher for the Orfeo technique. The singing circles are divided by the doctrine that was created in Finland, but applies widely-recognised singing ideals as well.
      "It worked for me. I got rid of a forceful way of producing sound and found a new freedom. Everything starts from the music and the text now, not from technical tricks."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.8.2005


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Karita Mattila turns down role in new Finnish opera (15.6.2005)

VESA SIRÉN / Helsingin Sanomat
vesa.siren@hs.fi