Baritone, Peter Kálmán, and Marie Ross chat at the Salzburg Festival in part 2 of their interview.

Peter discusses the opera characters that he creates on stage and how he gets his inspiration from real life experiences.

Theater and acting in opera is about gestures that make up character traits and the slightest color or how an emotion plays through the voice, and Peter Kalman is a master of these qualities.

On stage, Peter is like a fish in water. He got his education and training back stage, watching from the wings, learning by doing, experiencing in theater and in life. You’ll get a chance now to hear him talk about it.

To see videos of some of the roles that Peter has created on stage, or to hear clips from his audio recordings, visit his website: peterkalman.com

Internationally renowned baritone, Peter Kálmán, joins the podcast from the Salzburg Festival where he was singing Schubert's opera, Fierrabras, with Ingo Metzmacher and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Peter chats with Marie about how he came to opera through his love of acting and the theater. He is the bass-baritone of choice for Cecilia Bartoli – the one she insists on singing next to when she does an opera production or makes a recording. Peter has sung all over the world. He was a member of the Zurich Opera Company, and since then has been singing in all the biggest opera houses and most prestigious festivals – Paris, Vienna, Salzburg – just to name a few. 

He loves to play character roles – the buffo or the bösewicht – two common operatic characters, the comic relief or the villain. He talks with me about his favorite roles, life in the opera world today, and how he gets inspiration for characters through real life experiences – good or bad – and by simply watching people.

It is an experience to play 4 different Rossini operas in one season. Marie talks about the four different productions that Ensemble Matheus played this season throughout Europe on historical instruments - and what the culture of theater life was like in Rossini's 19th century Italy when these works were first performed.

She talks about how Rossini was the first superstar composer and how he was at the center of the chaos and excitement of 19th century theater life. That adrenaline rush is still quite prevalent in his works, and easily becomes part of the lives of performers of his music even today, 200 years later.

With Cecilia Bartoli and casts of today's best opera stars, Ensemble Matheus and conductor, Jean-Christophe Spinosi played Rossini in the Théâtre du Châtelet and Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, in Dortmund, Beaune, and the Haus für Mozart and Grossesfestspielhaus in Salzburg.

In part 2 of the conversation with opera star, Barry Banks, he talks openly about the issues that all performers and artists deal with: confidence, nerves, the dedication it takes to be a musician, and how important it is for him to have a life outside of singing. He talks about the balance that he has struggled to achieve in his life and how he's learned how to not be too effected when things do not go as perfectly as he would like in a performance.

Barry and Marie compare notes and discuss music from the different perspectives of a singer and an instrumentalist. They talk about the barriers between singers and instrumentalists and how Barry has learned to approach colleagues, instrumentalists and conductors alike.

To hear some videos of Barry Banks' singing in various opera productions, visit The Fidelio Podcast's facebook page.

International opera star, tenor, Barry Banks, talks with Marie in Salzburg, Austria, during their production of Rossini's Otello at the Pfingstfestspiele in June. Barry chats about his early life as a trumpet player, and how his experience as an instrumentalist and love for the trumpet and brass bands have influenced him as a singer.

Barry discusses his favorite operatic roles, how he creates them on stage, and what it's like to play the villain. He reminisces about his past productions in Salzburg, and the few isolated moments that have built his career and how they have defined him as a singer.

Barry Banks lives in New York and sings regularly in leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and the English National Opera amongst many other opera houses. He has recorded prolifically for Chandos Records. As well as being a recognized bel canto specialist, Barry Banks regularly sings a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach, Handel, and Mozart to Stravinsky, Britten, and Berg.