At 169 centimeters tall, Aya Wakizono stands taller than many female Japanese opera singers. But the slender singer's great stage presence probably also has something to do with her godsent voice and her love of theater.
"My voice is quite distinct," said Wakizono, who is listed as a mezzo-soprano but can also sing soprano roles because of her vocal range. "I won't define myself as a soprano or mezzo-soprano because I think my voice will change in the future."
The fast-rising singer said she had been asked whether her voice is mezzo-soprano or soprano in Italy as well.
"Until about [the time of Giuseppe] Verdi (1813-1901), there was no fixed definition of mezzo-soprano. What would be called a mezzo-soprano voice now was called a soprano then, so I'm looking for roles from those times that could be both soprano and mezzo-soprano. By doing so, I think I'll be able to see what kind of roles fit me best."
In the upcoming production of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" (The Barber of Seville) at New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT), Wakizono will sing the role of Rosina, the female lead, in five performances starting Feb. 6.
Rosina is part of Wakizono's ever-growing repertoire. She has sung the role in many opera houses in Europe, including the Italian cities of Bologna, Florence and Pesaro.
The late Alberto Zedda, a foremost Rossini scholar who presided over the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, reportedly said Wakizono's voice may be similar to that of Isabella Colbran, Rossini's muse and first wife, Wakizono said.
"Apparently, he [Zedda] said this whenever he spotted a singer who could be either soprano or mezzo-soprano, has a strong and distinct voice and can sing agilita," she said.
Agilita are fast and elaborate passages often found in Rossini opera roles.
"Since my student days, I've never had trouble singing fast notes. Perhaps it's a characteristic of my vocal cords. Rossini's music is written in such a way that I can make the most of it," said Wakizono, who turned 32 in January.
Born in Tokyo, Wakizono grew up feeling a close affinity to theater as her parents, both former actors, would often take her to theaters and cinemas.
However, as a child she aspired to become a pediatrician. She enrolled at Oin Junior & Senior High School, known as the country's top private secondary school for girls. She joined the school's English-language drama society and became increasingly interested in musicals, so much so that she started taking voice lessons.
"Musical actors who're good at dancing all started taking dance or ballet lessons when they were young. I didn't have that base so I thought I'd become a musical actress whose strength is singing because I had always liked singing. Then I thought I should study classical voice from scratch," she said.
Her dream changed course again when she saw Renee Fleming star in "La Traviata" during the Metropolitan Opera's tour of Japan. After that, she wanted to become an opera singer.
"Renee Fleming is a very dramatic person. There were many dramatic moments in her singing and her performance as a whole. I felt there's a limit to what can be done in musicals. Operas are so much larger in scale, more complete," she said.
Wakizono majored in voice at the Tokyo University of Arts and went on to specialize in opera studies at the university's graduate school, where she wrote a master's degree dissertation on Rossini. One day, she attended a master class by Mariella Devia and was immensely moved by the famous singer's voice.
"When I told her I wanted to study with her regularly, she said I could try going to her master class in Italy," she said.
After finishing graduate school, she went to Italy on a government grant, hoping to study under Devia, who has since become her mentor. While honing her skills in Parma, Pesaro and Milan, she found an agent and began receiving job offers from various opera houses. She has appeared at La Scala in Milan; the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and the Royal Opera House in Oman among other venues.
She made her debut at the NNTT last year as Elvira, a soprano role in Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Wakizono's mellifluous voice and intensely dramatic performance proved to be one of the production's highlights.
The forthcoming production of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," which is directed by Josef E. Kopplinger, will be conducted by Antonello Allemandi. The stellar cast also includes Rene Barbera as the Count Almaviva, Florian Sempey as Figaro and Paolo Bordogna as Dr. Bartolo. Wakizono has already worked with Barbera and Bordogna.
"I really look forward to the production," Wakizono said. "I'm excited to see what I can learn from it. Paolo [Bordogna] is an energetic and charismatic person, a natural-born thespian. Rene Barbera has a beautiful voice and never misses acuto [top notes]. He's very professional, too."
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