There’s a specialist musician whose task it’s not well known, responsible for all the readings, musical and stage rehearsals that an opera demands before the orchestra comes to the stage. He sits on the piano and must bring to life all the sounds that the orchestra will play later. Indispensable for singers, this musician must be extremely fluent on piano, but should also be able, while playing, to sing absent solo or chorus parts to 'complete' the score, know very well how to pronounce words in any language, and guide singers in the correct way to interpret their role, not just in musical terms. They often lead rehearsals and can also be seen performing in a corner of the pit playing harpsichord continuos or demanding orchestral keyboard excerpts. The repertorists, as is the appropriate word for this type of musician, are like superheroes. They are hardly seen in performances and barely credited, but all the singers and conductors involved in the production trust them and truly appreciate their work.

I wanted to know how they prepare for this job, so I attended a workshop for repertorists as an observer held at Theater Bonn, since Germany is one of the few countries where you can study for this subject. Organized by the Dirigentforum annually, they use the theatre’s own ensemble of singers to rehearse several opera scenes. I witnessed all these capabilities of the prospective repertorists while they were jumping from the piano to the pit or to join the ensemble and sing. Renowned conductors Will Humburg and Rainer Mühlbach shared all their invaluable experiences with them, helping them with all the difficult parts they will encounter later in their jobs.

It was gratifying to see how music go beyond our instrument, and we musicians have to look further and learn about the many other things we can do for it. Repertorists are proof of this.

This trip didn’t stopped only in Bonn; I was able to enjoy opera performances in Dresden Semperoper, Theater-Chemnitz (in a magnificent reading of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet led by our Spanish conductor Diego Martín-Etxebarría) and Hamburg State Opera.