Sopranos Inés Lorans Millán and Anna Kabrera Eliseeva are the voice of Elvira, King Mustafa’s wife in The Italian in Algiers, the comic masterpiece by Rossini which opens Ópera de Tenerife’s  2018-2019 season and is on at Auditorio de Tenerife from 25 to 28 October. Both singers are excited about their debut on the Island in an opera they think is “brilliant and energetic”.

Inés Lorans is a French-Spanish soprano who trained at the Conservatoire de Rennes and at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. She has never been to Tenerife, but has heard about Auditorio de Tenerife productions, particularly about the Opera (e)Studio scheme “through sopranos Inés Ballesteros and Leonor Bonilla”, who have performed in previous Ópera de Tenerife seasons and who were finalists in the 2018 Tenor Viñas competition.

Anna Eliseeva was born in Russia and has lived in Madrid since 2016. Her training started at Moscow Children School to then go on to Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid. She has not been to the island either but knows about the work being done here as she says that “there are very good productions and I know many singers who have performed in Ópera de Tenerife”.

Both singers have great expectations of the training programme starting in September at Auditorio de Tenerife. In Lorans’s case, “when I finished my musical studies in London, I decided to prepare for the auditions”, in order to “improve my training of the scene”. Eliseeva expects “to learn as much as she can from the Ópera de Tenerife team and her fellow singers”. Inés Lorans values this concept of “comprehensive training” with other artists.

Lorans and Eliseeva will add the role of Elvira to their repertoire. About this debut, Eliseeva points out that The Italian in Algiers deals with “important and complex social issues in a funny, light manner”. Lorans Millán, for her part, believes it is a composition whose “vocal and musical agility is so lively that it is a good chance for singers to show off their voices, not only in the arias but also in the ensembles”, which makes it a “perfect opportunity to make progress in my Rossini repertoire”.

Regarding the possible technical difficulties involved in the role of Elvira, Lorans says that “although it does not have a solo aria, there are many ensembles in a high G-A-B”. For her, “these notes are between high and very high, and as I am a coloratura soprano passing from one register to the other easily, involves technical work”; as she is currently working on it, she believes “this role will allow me to put this into practice and enjoy myself on the stage”. Eliseeva thinks that the most complex aspect of the character is “not to allow Elvira to show just one trait”. To achieve this, she aims at “finding her strength”, otherwise, “the role of the King of Algiers’s wife would be weak and languid”. 

Regarding her future, Lorans Millán recognises that “being part of this project in Tenerife is a goal achieved” and she is certain that “singing and being on stage” is what makes her happy.  As for characters, she hopes to be “lucky enough to play the role of Lakmé or The Queen of the Night”, but she highlights her leading role in Lucia di Lammermoor, by Donizetti, which she thinks is “very complete and difficult both in vocal and dramatic terms”. Anna Eliseeva would also like to play this role in the future, but she must first finish her studies at Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid, although she is combining her training with her first professional experiences, like “the opportunity granted by Ópera de Tenerife”.

Both singers are arriving in Tenerife on 7 September to take part in the sixth Opera (e)Studio. Eleven other singers are also taking part in the course which is a process of comprehensive artistic improvement, under the direction of Giulio Zappa, and that ends with four performances –two for Lorans and two for Eliseeva- of The Italian in Algiers, to be held at Sala Sinfónica of Auditorio de Tenerife from 25 to 28 October.

This new coproduction of Auditorio de Tenerife and Teatro Comunale di Bologna will have Nikolas Maximilian Nägele as musical director while the stage management is in the hands of Giorgia Guerra, who has set the scene in a 1980’s spa in Algiers.