Edgardo and Lucia pledge undying love to each other. Is that model for love at all realistic?
People nowadays want to savour a whole string of dreams, not just one. If they are in a relationship, they’re already doubting it’ll last and already keeping an eye out for other options. The simple fact is that we’re spoilt for opportunities! That kind of deals a death blow to the idea of everlasting love.

When Edgardo learns that Lucia has married someone else, he loses it. What would your advice to him be?
Anyone in love will do what he wants. I know that from looking at my own character. I’ve always asked friends what they would do in my shoes and then done the exact opposite.

What’s your advice to couples today? How do love pairings endure nowadays?
Romeo and Juliet, Tosca, and all the rest of them… they fall in love and want it to last forever, but that’s not how it works now. I only have one piece of advice, and that is: find a person that you feel warm and tender towards and let love and desire develop between you.

Is being faithful to your partner still a thing?
Love is only everlasting in opera. In real life everyone wants to fall in love, but no one wants to commit. We’re living in another age, a more hectic age. Young people are no longer shown how to fight for something they want and how to be content with what they have. It’s sad, because without love to spur us on we never push ourselves to the limit. It gives us supernatural powers.

How do you deal with unfaithfulness? Are you a forgiving person or do you want blood?
Unfaithfulness means that one of the two people is not getting what they need from the relationship. Good can come from talking about the problem constructively. But talking about it takes courage.

And how do you deal with your own unfaithfulness? Do you talk about it or clam up?
Always talk about it. Infidelity is like an espresso machine: if you increase the pressure, coffee comes out. You need a valve to ease the pressure. You have to talk and know who you are and articulate your wishes. It’s like the relationship between artist and audience: you have to be constantly changing if the audience is going to keep liking you. You’re always growing in some way, singing a familiar role in a different way, too.

In what way is Edgardo similar to you?
I like his heroism and his courage. I like his feelings. I have a close affinity to him and very much identify with the part, which is why I’ve been singing it for fifteen years. This’ll be my last Edgardo in Berlin. I’ve got to move on. I’m letting him go, even though I love him. I want it to be a kind of ‘last hurrah’.

And what things about Edgardo can you not relate to?
Many things, actually. I don’t think you ever really get to the bottom of a character. With him it’s special. Why does he choose the path he does? Why doesn’t he compromise? If he wanted to, he could get things off his chest to his brother. I’m a very diplomatic person; he isn’t. But at the end of the day that what makes for great drama.

In the big final scene for the tenor in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR he sings of “beautiful death”. How can death be beautiful?
I’m a Christian, so I understand what he means. Our life on earth is not the end of the story. A higher form of justice awaits. That’s why Edgardo wishes death on himself, because it’s his door to redemption. When he’s about to die and he cries out, part of it is a cry of joy at the prospect of being reunited with Lucia.