I was born in Madrid, but my mum is from Barcelona – we’re both Catalan – and we moved there when I was four. 

My mum loved going to the theatre, so I used to go with her to the Liceu and listened to her music. One of my first musical memories is Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture – could you imagine me listening to the Prokofiev at that age?! 

Ivan Gil-Ortega. Photo © Karine Grace

As a young dancer, I was an extra in a lot of operas. I remember being mesmerised by the sound of Ruggero Raimondi’s voice. The first time I heard him sing was when we did Andrea Chénier and I was literally a metre away from him. We also did Massenet’s Don Quichotte and Carmen, which had a huge impact on me because of Bizet’s music.

I was six or seven when I discovered Mozart because of the movie Amadeus. The Requiem was it for me – like heavy metal and rock and roll all put together. Excuse my French, but it was fucking incredible. That took me to Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, which is to die for, and from one Requiem to another,...