Pregnant soprano Carla Cottini leads B32 double bill

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3 dias atrás

At six months pregnant, Carla Cottini stars in “La Serva Padrona” and “La Contadina” as the Brazilian Chamber Opera Company debuts at Teatro B32 in São Paulo.

Based in Berlin since 2019, the Italian-Brazilian soprano opens her 2026 season in Brazil with a symbolic artistic gesture: she takes on the two central female roles in a double bill that launches the new company at Teatro B32, on Avenida Faria Lima, in the city’s financial district.

Running on January 21, 22, 23 and 25, the program pairs two 18th-century comic intermezzi designed for small ensembles. Audiences will see Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “La Serva Padrona” alongside Johann Adolph Hasse’s “La Contadina,” presented in an adaptation described as unprecedented in the Americas, with staging that emphasizes intimacy and closeness between performers and the audience.

Comedy, power and a modern pulse

After a 2025 season shaped by demanding roles—such as Zerlina in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo and Vivie in the operatic adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” featured at Espírito Santo’s classical music festival—Cottini returns to lighter territory while keeping her vocal standards and stage precision.

Set in different worlds—the home and the countryside—the two works share a focus on women who flip power dynamics through humor, wit and desire.

“Both operas have a sense of humor I love working with. Serpina (the maid in La Serva Padrona) and Scintilla (the peasant in La Contadina) are sharp characters who speak about relationships between men and women, between the subordinate and the one in charge, always with a lot of comedy. So it will be special for me to start the year with two characters with such lightness. I also find it especially symbolic to bring opera to a theatre on Faria Lima, beyond traditional opera venues. In that sense, the Brazilian Chamber Opera Company is born with an important social role: to open the ears, the heart and the listening of an audience that may have its first contact with opera through these two shows,” says Cottini.

A new company enters the scene

The invitation came from Vitor Philomeno, who conceived the Brazilian Chamber Opera Company. A longtime vocal coach and artist representative, he says the initiative aims to reposition chamber opera in Brazil by putting performers at the center, working at a smaller scale, and maintaining high musical standards while speaking directly to contemporary audiences.

The partnership with Teatro B32, a modern 490-seat venue, supports the plan to expand opera’s territories and build new audiences. Stage direction is by Mauro Wrona, with whom Cottini recently collaborated on “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” Musical direction is led by conductor and pianist Giovanna Elias, founder and principal conductor of the SP Chamber Orchestra, whose young musicians perform the score.

Onstage, Cottini performs alongside bass-baritone Saulo Javan, a frequent collaborator. The two shared three different “Don Giovanni” productions between 2013 and 2025.

Motherhood and backstage support

The run arrives at a calm, confident time for the singer, who enters her sixth month of pregnancy during the performances. Mother to three-year-old Sofia, she recalls that performing while pregnant in the first trimester, during her daughter’s pregnancy, felt far less stable and more challenging.

She also highlights the support offered by the company as meaningful in a field that, in her view, does not always treat motherhood as a natural part of an artist’s life.

“All this support carries enormous symbolism, especially in Brazil, where women often lose work opportunities for being pregnant or having a small baby. The company is already showing humanity and solidarity, proving that a woman can work and do whatever she wants even while being a mother or about to become one. I trust Mauro a lot and I’m excited—and even open to playing with the pregnancy onstage, if that’s his idea. It will be fun and beautiful to live this moment,” Cottini says.

About the artists

Cottini has built a wide-ranging repertoire, earning attention in roles such as Giulietta (“I Capuleti e i Montecchi,” Bellini), Susanna (“Le Nozze di Figaro,” Mozart), Gilda (“Rigoletto,” Verdi) and Musetta (“La Bohème,” Puccini). She has performed at venues including Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, Teatro Regio di Parma and the Berlin Opera Academy.

Beyond opera, she appears in symphonic concerts and sacred music, singing as a soloist in works such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mozart’s “Krönungsmesse,” and Vivaldi’s “Gloria.” Her credits also include musicals like Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and Frederick Loewe’s “My Fair Lady.” More information: https://carlacottini.com/

Saulo Javan is widely recognized among Brazil’s leading opera voices, with roles across composers such as Verdi, Mozart, Rossini, Villa-Lobos, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Donizetti and Puccini. In “La Serva Padrona,” he sings Uberto; in “La Contadina,” he portrays Don Tabarrano.