I’m in love with the human voice – it’s such a wonderful instrument. I am so curious. Every day I listen to a tenor and it gives me a lot of happiness!’ Tenor Roberto Alagna is describing his reaction to Mario Lanza. ‘I need to listen to someone like him – it’s so spontaneous and natural, and his happiness when he sings is contagious.’

Sitting in a sun-dappled garden, a cheerful Alagna could be talking about himself but is far too modest. He’s been singing for 40 years, the last 30 as a major star on the leading opera stages. A new CD to celebrate his 60th birthday reveals some juicy nuggets he has not recorded before. ‘The idea was to do something that represents my career,’ he explains, ‘with different styles and some unknown pieces. It’s a portrait – no, more a retrospective.’ There are operatic rarities, such as arias from Adam’s Le postillon de Lonjumeau and Moniuszko’s Halka alongside more popular songs, including one by his brothers and one by Alagna himself. ‘The choice was difficult, but in the end I put in what my heart told me.’

Tenor Roberto Alagna | Photo: Ania Fedisz

I observe that his basic tone remains remarkably unchanged – Alagna’s is an instantly recognisable voice. He is disarmingly honest in his reply. ‘I had never sung the aria from Le postillon before, not even when I was young. The colour of the voice doesn’t change a lot, it’s not the voice of an old tenor. Sure, it’s not got the facility for the top notes of a young man, but there’s the weight of experience. When you are young you sometimes add too much. When you listen to old recordings people sang much more simply. Listen to tenors such as Tauber, Rosvaenge and Thill, but from the Sixties and Seventies they introduced more effects.’ Once again, modesty prevails: the ‘Adam’ aria contains a confident top D that would floor most tenors half Alagna’s age.

But it’s not just luck that has preserved Alagna’s essential tone. ‘When you listen to my old CDs you can hear that I was trying to produce a sound, but actually it’s more beautiful when you sing with your own colour and voice. Sure, when you’re young it’s easier and you can sing everything, but as you mature it’s more effective, more musical. You have more life experience and you can hear that in the voice and the phrasing.’ He laughs and adds ‘It’s like your body – you can’t be as handsome as when you were young but you are more interesting!’ Having said which, he is very aware of maintaining a lightness of touch. ‘Think of Caruso, Gigli and Bergonzi. It’s important to keep a clarity and brightness. If you try to make the voice darker you become old. Look at Pavarotti – even at 70 the voice sounded young, the colour and tessitura were still there.’ Alagna’s mantra is: ‘Keep the voice in good shape, keep curious about new repertoire – and you must be happy when you sing!’

Alagna remains fascinated by all the different sounds we can make: ‘I listen to all voices,’ he says. ‘Everyone gives you advice and you are influenced by others. Everything is easy and natural for my 10-year-old daughter and sometimes I ask her to sing a phrase to me so I can find its balance. I even feel my dog breathing with his diaphragm. Nature creates a singer and you are programmed. You can take advice and also try to imitate someone else, but the most difficult thing is to accept what nature gives you and appreciate what you have.’

We discuss the different genres that Alagna sings. ‘You must respect the style, from Mozart to crossover. You study for years to sound like a tenor and sometimes you have to forget it, but at the same time not damage what you’ve created. I don’t change tessitura a lot. It’s the same emission, but whether it’s Bohème or Lohengrin I try to sing the same way but with the right style and colour – you really must maintain your natural production otherwise it’s too dangerous for the voice.’

Alagna relishes his linguistic variety on the new album, singing in seven languages. ‘I sang Polish and it’s not easy, you really have to work at it. I didn’t ask Aleksandra (his wife, Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, with whom he performs when possible), but I taught myself. It takes longer but it’s my way of studying something. It was the same when I sang Lohengrin in Berlin. I was given two German coaches but they were happy with my pronunciation. I’m very proud of that. Of course there must be mistakes, for instance I’m never going to be a real Polish tenor, but we’re all singing in different languages and that’s the beauty of it.’ He makes a good point: ‘After all, who is Lohengrin and where does he come from? It’s interesting.’

‘I’ve never really planned my career,’ Alagna muses. ‘Everything came quite naturally. I’m actually quite shy and prefer spending time with my family. The other week I was singing “Mexico” in a concert’ (the exuberant Luis Mariano number), ‘and everyone sang along with me. It’s real contact and different from applause, which is wonderful, but this was really satisfying’. And he has some new irons in the fire, with compositions about characters as diverse as Al Capone, Houdini and boxer Marcel Cerdan in discussion. And he would love to sing Dick Johnson in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West – ‘I’m a real Western fan, I’d love to be a cowboy, a childhood dream!’ Alagna is really proud of the new CD and obviously loved recording it. ‘It’s something historic in my career. It’s music with friends, and there’s something between us.’ He remembers seeing famous tenors when he first started out, and how impressed he was. ‘It’s like building a cathedral and everyone lays his stone and adds a part. We each add something different, but it’s the same cathedral.’

Roberto Alagna 60 is out now on Aparté Records. apartemusic.com