Secure instinct
Bo Skovhus talks about his infallible feeling
“I was twenty-five and had never stood on stage before”, recalls Bo Skovhus, “but I thought to myself, ‘why not simply try?’ If it had been a huge fiasco then I would probably be a doctor now.” It was not a fiasco: the young “stand-in” at the Volksoper was one of the best Don Giovannis in recent years, wrote critics in Vienna in rare unanimity. The world has possibly been robbed of a kind family doctor or brilliant surgeon but instead has been given a versatile singer of opera and lied. Besides appearing at major opera houses Bo Skovhus devotes a large part of his time to lied singing. “Song recitals are very important for me because I alone am responsible for everything.”
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| In the coming Festival season Bo Skovhus sings the roles of Frank and Fritz in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt. |
In an interview recorded by Walter Gellert (ORF) Bo Skovhus talked about his early appearances on stage, “Nothing could be modern enough for me. I could not have cared less about what happened on stage. Nowadays, however, there are many stage-directors who have absolutely no idea about music. A director should not arrive with a pocket edition of the opera and ask me why I sing something so often because it is written only once in his version. I’ve experienced all that.”
In 1997 Bo Skovhus was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersänger. In the coming festival summer Bo Skovhus can be heard in Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s opera Die tote Stadt, staged by Willy Decker who directed the sensational production of Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd at the Vienna State Opera with Bo Skovhus in the title role. “The older you get, the more reflective you become. However, I have arrived at the conclusion that reflection is not necessary for any role. The first instinct is always the right one. Nevertheless, the more opera you do, the more damaged you become. It does help of course to work together with such a fantastic stage director as Willy Decker. For me he is absolutely world class.”
Heidemarie Klabacher