“I’m told I might die and probably never sing again“, says opera singer Marina Viotti, interpreter of Carmen at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games. The mezzo-soprano has just released a new album, “Melankhôlia”, based on the work of the English Renaissance composer John Dowland. On the occasion of this outing, she reveals that she had cancer that she never talked about.
In 2019, at the age of 33, Marina Viotti was already working on this project around John Dowland, when she was told that she had been diagnosed with lymphoma. “The tumor is very close to my larynx and vocal cords“, says the singer. “It oppresses me a lot, I no longer have any breath. It was very hard at first and I cried a lot. It was violent, I no longer had my voice at all.“
“I’m afraid of losing my contracts“
Marina Viotti is at the beginning of her career, so she decides to hide her illness. She confides: “I don’t tell anyone because I tell myself that I don’t want to live with a label ‘cancer, potential relapse’ as soon as I cough.” Marina Viotti was to sing a few months later at La Scala in Milan. “I’m afraid of losing my contracts so I don’t say anything. It’s very hard and I think it’s not normal in our time. On the contrary, we should be able to be surrounded, encouraged, supported rather than being afraid of hiding and isolating ourselves.”
After several months of chemotherapy, recovery arrived at the beginning of this year. Marina Viotti then continues the successes and delivers this sumptuous album, that of the fight for lifefrom an artist who breaks musical boundaries.
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