Opera superstar Jonas Kaufmann on his Hong Kong debut, the future of opera and his new goal

What do you see as being the correlation between watchmaking and opera?
[Both industries] conserve and reinterpret something that has existed for centuries. If you didn’t have the right tools, spirit, knowledge and wisdom of the past to [pursue] perfection, the craft wouldn’t have lasted until today. That’s why precision is important. But music itself is not precise, and music making is not to be measured by perfection, because otherwise AI could be much better musicians than we are. What I mean is you have to have your instruments ready and mastered to perfection in order to be able to make music and get this sensation of creative freedom. In that way, opera is very similar to watchmaking.

What inspired you to become a singer?
My parents [were always] classical music lovers. I first attended an opera when I was six years and saw Madama Butterfly. I fell for the artform completely. It is one of the most expansive and complex artforms there is: you have the orchestra, the singers, the [set design], the costumes, the lights. Everything has to fall into place, and then we have to bring it to life over and over again. It’s not like a painting that you complete [then it’s done]. It was something that that struck me from the very beginning.

How should something as enduring and traditional as opera be preserved and further developed for modern times?
It’s been challenging over the past few decades. You can find articles from the 1960s and Seventies where people were already complaining about the over-ageing of our audience. Some people think that if you modernise things in a radical way, it will attract a young generation—I’m not sure. The original idea of opera was catharsis. If you witness a murder onstage, it doesn’t mean that that you become a murderer yourself; on the contrary, it makes you reflect how far emotions like cruelty, passion or jealousy can take you. The main thing to do now is to reach more young audiences and make sure that whenever they set foot in an opera for the first time, they don’t feel stupid or uneducated, or misunderstand [what they’re experiencing]. The concept of performing music is to let our souls take flight. This isn’t something they can find anywhere else.

Read more: Lang Lang on Hong Kong’s music potential globally, and when learning music becomes a ‘waste of time’

Advice for aspiring opera singers?
I studied mathematics [at university] because I was sure that, while singing was great, I needed income. I didn’t see that in the music business. But then it turned out that there is a possibility [to earn a living]. So I always say to young people: you have to be prepared for failure, because it’s a fact that only one out of a thousand can really make a living properly out of this career. But if you love it and don’t try it, you will regret it for the rest of your life.

What are you working on next?
I just started [as artistic director of Austria’s music event Tyrolean Festival Erl], and this is a very good [opportunity to prepare] the next generation. I make sure that I don’t only showcase obvious choices of singers, those who are the best of the best, but also put onstage the unknown ones who may be our future stars. When [some lesser-known singers] did La Boheme last winter, everyone told me they got tonnes of offers for new projects afterwards. This is very nice to see, and I’m happy [plans for] my new goal seems to be working—and I’m just getting started.

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