Danielle de Niese

REJOICE GREATLY Whether on stage at the Met or at a chic nightclub, soprano Danielle de Niese has plenty to smile about.

Photograph: Decca/Chris Dunlop

If you listen to the bonus-track iTunes versions of Danielle de Niese’s two CDs back-to-back, you’ll hear her cap off her debut CD of Handel arias with “Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion” and then open her new Mozart CD with Exsultate, jubilate. It makes for a near-perfect continuation of the ebullient and ethereal atmosphere captured on the Handel recording two years earlier. This month, the striking soprano (“If the world were looking for a cross between Halle Berry and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, she would be it,” Robert Levine wrote at ClassicsToday.com) continues her run as Susanna in the Metropolitan Opera’s Le Nozze di Figaro and also launches The Mozart Album Tuesday 6 in a concert at (Le) Poisson Rouge.

What’s it like returning to the production of Figaro in which you made your Met debut?
I cherished every moment of it the first time, so I’m cherishing every moment of it now. Sometimes I’d sneak up into the wings and watch Cecilia [Bartoli] and Bryn [Terfel] during the overture, and I would just watch them and think, What would it be like to be Susanna and have the chance to do that?

Susanna has been sort of a lucky charm for you.
I sang her at Mannes College of Music, and the Met came to that and saw Act I. I was told they said it was one of the finest Susannas they’d ever heard, which is what led to my audition. My manager called and said, “They’ve given you the Barbarina.” I thought they would allow me into the Young Artist Program as an apprentice, but never did I think I would get a performance opportunity at the same time. That they gave me both is incredible.

In a way you’ve come full circle, both with returning to this production and singing with Bryn Terfel on your CD.
It’s funny that we had to wait ten years. We’d talked about doing something together and then it never happened because of dates. To get him back on my CD for that duet was so fabulous.

What sparked the selection of “Al desio, di chi t’adora,” Susanna’s alternate aria from Figaro?
I’d sung “Al desio” a lot. It’s a great aria, I love it. It’s not “Deh, vieni,” but it was never written to be “Deh, vieni.” It was written for Adriana Ferrarese del Bene, Mozart’s first Fiordiligi. In embracing that, I’m [still] doing Susanna. I try to keep the character in, but then you have to take it a little bit out of context because it is a concert aria.

You cover a wide range of material on the CD—really well-known pieces to lesser-known gems, and all major periods in Mozart’s life. What was the selection process like?
There were certain bits on the CD I knew had to be there—Exsultate, jubilate was definitely one. I tried to pick things from roles that I’m doing and feel an affinity with, and I picked a few things that I’d not done before that I thought were incredible. It was a spiritual week for me. Even the orchestra and Sir Charles [Mackerras] were all hyperconcentrated. We were in a higher level of consciousness.

You’re doing your album-release concert at (Le) Poisson Rouge. What led you to choose that venue?
We were talking about a place where it could feel intimate, and I said something along the lines of MTV Unplugged—a place that isn’t your typical venue. If you’re inviting people who haven’t tried out classical music before, it’s nice to put them in a situation where you meet halfway rather than chucking them into a concert hall.

Certainly you’ll pull in a few neophytes after being named one of Playboy’s top ten classical artists. They called you “one hot piece of asp” in Giulio Cesare.
Oh, my jaw! Let me just pick that up.… I think that’s cool, actually. I’m not going to pose in Playboy, so if Playboy wants to put me on their top-ten list, cool. All the better for people to read about it and see that classical music is very young and dynamic. Honestly, I’ve never opened a Playboy magazine. I should open a Playboy magazine, shouldn’t I?

Danielle de Niese appears in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera Thu 1 and Mon 5, and sings at (Le) Poisson Rouge Tue 6.

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