Just Announced: Soirée des Étoiles" Gala, February 2, 2013

Seattle Opera is excited today to announce our 2012/13 Gala, “Soirée des Étoiles,” an evening of French-inspired glitz and glamour on Saturday, February 2, 2013, beginning at 6 pm. Overlooking the gorgeous Puget Sound and Seattle’s new Great Wheel from the Four Seasons Ballroom, Gala guests will be the first in Seattle to hear young opera stars Michael Fabiano and Jennifer Black, both of whom make their Seattle Opera debuts in La bohème in February and March 2013.

La bohème famously opens with a view of the Paris rooftops from the Bohemians’ apartment. Drawing upon this inspiration, Gala décor will feature the sparkly night skyline of Paris. Guests will enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, an exclusive performance by Fabiano and Black, and a gourmet dinner by Chef Kelly Sear. Dancing to Seattle’s Dudley Manlove Quartet will cap this black-tie event.

Brian Marks, Seattle Opera Trustee, and his wife Carol Maione are chairs of the 2013 Opera Gala. General Director Speight Jenkins, in his 29th year at the helm of the company, will introduce the guest artists, whom he is eager to present to Seattle audiences.

Individual tickets for this black-tie event are $500, $1,000, and $3,000 per person; tables of ten are $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000. Special benefits and recognition are determined by level.

Early reservations are suggested as seating is limited. Reservations are accepted online at www.seattleopera.org/gala or by contacting Megan Janning at megan.janning@seattleopera.org or 206.676.5535. Seattle Opera seeks a small quantity of luxury items, Parisian in flavor, for the high-end live auction. Visit www.seattleopera.org/gala for more information.

Net proceeds benefit Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program. Founded in 1998, the program has nurtured the careers of singers such as Brandon Jovanovich, Morgan Smith, Lawrence Brownlee, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and Sarah Coburn while bringing opera to communities all over Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

Last season's "A Perfect Pairing" Gala, held at Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville, WA, raised approximately $170,000 for the company. Photos from that memorable night are available HERE.

Getting to Know Maestro ASHER FISCH

We have one final performance of Fidelio, tomorrow night, after which we’ll say “See you soon!” to Principal Guest Conductor Asher Fisch (photo by Elise Bakketun), who has now led two extraordinary Seattle Opera productions in a row, Turandot and Fidelio. Next summer, Fisch conducts the four operas of Wagner’s Ring in Seattle; needless to say, we (and he) are extremely excited about that. The other day this extraordinary man shared with me a little of his perspective on Turandot, Fidelio, and the Ring, about his upcoming San Francisco Symphony debut, and about how the first act of Parsifal is really a giant meditative yoga sequence.

Thanks so much, Asher, for the wonderful readings of Turandot and Fidelio you’ve given Seattle Opera. What do you take away from this experience, from doing these two shows back-to-back?
Turandot is a great opera. It’s very well-written, and it’s amazing to conduct, because it’s so much fun and you can have so much control. But you can’t compare it with Fidelio, where I feel like I’m part of history with every bar. It’s such a joy to be able to run a smooth Fidelio performance, I can’t tell you. For Turandot, I know it’s a hit with the audience, and that’s wonderful. But I think many people can conduct Turandot very well. If you’re a good opera conductor, and you know how to maneuver things and how to deal with a big chorus, you can do a very good Turandot. But I think fewer people can conduct a good Fidelio. It is such a tricky piece. I’m happy we dealt with it the way we did, switching the overture, and with our great cast. So I’m happier with my achievement in Fidelio.

When did you start doing Fidelio? Did you hear this opera growing up as a kid in Israel?
No. I learned it when I assisted Barenboim in Berlin. He did a new production, and to work with him on this piece was amazing, because he’s such a Beethoven-man. But there were problems with the casting, and I learned then that in order to do a good Fidelio you really need singers who can maneuver in music that is really very unfriendly to the voice. That was my first, and then I was privileged to conduct it in Vienna. You don’t usually get much chance to rehearse there, but it’s amazing. The orchestra just takes off by themselves, whatever you do. When you get to “Leonore #3,” before the final scene, as a conductor you just stand there and enjoy the music. They play Fidelio as though they’d composed it.

There it really is part of history. Here it’s a different experience, with people who aren’t as familiar with the opera—
Completely. Here you can really shape it the way you want it. You might be able to do that in Vienna if you do a new production. But I don’t think I would want to do that...you might just spend your time fighting with the orchestra!

Asher Fisch
(Chris Gonz, photo)

Speaking of orchestras, I just saw a late-breaking news item about you: while you’re here on the West Coast, after conducting Fidelio for us you’ll also be making your debut with the San Francisco Symphony conducting their upcoming concert.
Yes, there was a cancellation, and luckily it worked out perfectly with our Fidelio schedule here. So much so that it seemed it was meant to be. The concert has the Prelude to Lohengrin, Mozart Piano Concerto #22 in E flat major, with David Fray playing the solo, and Brahms’ 4th. Repertory right up my alley, and stuff the orchestra already knows, so it should be good.

Prelude to Lohengrin, hmmm...they’re doing Lohengrin right next door, at San Francisco Opera, starring a former Young Artist from our Seattle Opera program, the great Brandon Jovanovich.
Yes, in fact I asked about that, and apparently they always coordinate with the opera if they’re doing a concert performance of an entire opera, so that both companies aren’t offering the same title the same season. But as it happens now, people can compare how we do the Prelude!

Your Lohengrin Prelude and that of Maestro Luisotti, who’s conducting the Lohengrin. Good. Speaking of comparing performances, I saw that you’re going to conduct Parsifal for the Met next spring. Has your reading of that opera changed since you made your Seattle Opera debut with it 10 years ago?
Yes, actually I’ve managed to prolong the first act two more minutes! [laughs] This sounds ridiculous. I never time my performances, but I do time my first act of Parsifal, because this famously slow piece is an exercise in yoga, in self-control. It’s about knowing how to pace something...to feel the variations in tempo, and not to be afraid of stretching it out. But not going too far.

Are you aiming for a certain range?
Yes. At the world premiere in Bayreuth in 1883, with Hermann Levi conducting, the first act was one hour forty-six minutes.

Wow.
Karajan holds this tempo, Barenboim holds this tempo. For years, I could get to 1:42, 1:43. Now the range, mind you, varies between Pierre Boulez or Vittorio Gui, who are one hour thirty minutes, and James Levine or Christoph Eschenbach or now Daniele Gatti, who are over two hours for the first act. It all sounds slow...but look, that’s a half-hour difference, or 25% over two hours. I want to get to 1:45 or 1:46, maintaining the tension. It’s very difficult. With the second act, it doesn’t matter, but with the first act, the goal is to hear the difference between slower, slowest, and ridiculously slow.

Asher Fisch

That’s so interesting. You’re right, that first act puts you in this otherworldy head-space. Is that question of self-discipline, of yoga true if you play just the Parsifal Prelude in a concert?
No, that’s not a problem. Let me give you an example: after the Grail scene is finished, there’s still a lot of music. Everybody, including me and the audience, is wanting to get on with it.

[Hums march of the grail knights exiting the temple]
Again we are starting with this march! To take this slow is really hard—your dramatic feeling says, “Go for it! Close it up, we’re out of here. Let’s have the Voice from Heaven and finish the act!” The thing that has changed for me—I think for the better—is that now I don’t go with my instinct of rushing the music. But on the other hand, you have to keep it under a certain limit so it doesn’t become slow for slowness’ sake. That’s what I feel with people who do it over two hours—I think they say, “It has to be slow, that’s a tradition.” Wagner was not so slow. This came later, with Cosima in Bayreuth. We have quotations from Wagner about Das Rheingold, screaming at singers in rehearsal, he said it was supposed to be two hours long! “If you were not schlepping the tempo the whole time we would have it done in two hours!” And today Rheingold is normally about two and a half hours. Or 2:45, something ridiculous like that.

And Hermann Levi, who conducted the first Parsifal at 1:46, as you point out, he would have done whatever Wagner wanted.
Levi was a great conductor, and he probably had a lot of input in the shaping of it, but Wagner was the strictest of all composers in regard to the execution of his music.

Asher Fisch greets Seattle Opera board president William T. Weyerhaueser
(Alan Alabastro, photo)

Speaking of Wagner, tell us what you’re most looking forward to about being here next summer? Or does anything makes you nervous about it?
No, by now I know the Seattle Opera orchestra can play the heck out of the Ring even without any rehearsals! We have such an understanding by now, I have no worries. Excitement? Yes, of course, to do the Ring again! This will be only my second complete cycle.

You conducted the first Ring cycle done in Australia, a few years ago, which was made into a wonderful recording...
Yes, and I’ve done operas from the Ring here and there, but for a conductor and a Wagnerian, leading a complete cycle is the pinnacle. For me the most exciting thing about the Ring is not to have to do the same piece for four weeks, because that kills me. Last year I did 11 Merry Widows in Paris, and I almost went berserk. When I lived in Vienna, I did a different opera every night. I love repertory theater, which is what the Ring is like.

Asher Fisch in a Seattle Opera video

Changing the subject a bit, some of the videos you’ve done for us have been some of the most successful we’ve had on our website. Tell us about your experience as a journalist and educator.
When I was in the army in Israel, instead of fighting in Lebanon I wanted to be doing music. I thought, I’ll be a music editor with the army radio. But I knew so much about current affairs they made me a reporter, and for four years I was a radio journalist. I interviewed Sadat when he came to Israel in ’77, I had a lot of interesting experiences there. So I learned to speak—in Hebrew, of course—and I love to teach, I love teaching conducting and coaching singers and explaining music. We have to do it. It’s important, for the future of classical music. It’s so much stronger when the performer speaks about the music, more so than an educator or musicologist. If I had my choice, I would speak to the audience in every symphonic concert that I do. Because then people listen in a completely different way. Even if you only speak for one minute, or point out one little thing, you give them a point of reference.

Meet Our Supernumeraries: ROBERT PILLITTERI

Among the dozens of supernumeraries who swarm the McCaw Hall stage at the end of Fidelio there are those new to Seattle Opera and to opera in general and also seasoned veterans of many operas. Today we speak with Robert Pillitteri, also known as “the TV reporter” because his well-dressed character interviews Don Fernando, the new Minister whose arrival brings about the deus ex machina conclusion to Fidelio. (Photo by Elise Bakketun, above, with Robert in trenchcoat in center; Fidelio supernumeraries Diane Abbey and Rosetta Greek, also seen in this photo, play reporters as well.) Robert has more than ten years of experience as a Seattle Opera supernumerary in a wide variety of operas—and he keeps coming back for more.

Now, Robert, you were a supernumerary when this production of Fidelio was first created in 2003. What’s different now, from your point of view?
In 2003 I was a TV reporter. I appeared at the same time in the opera—in fact I’m wearing the same suit! But in that production, instead of interviewing Don Fernando, I was reporting on what had transpired. The camera was on me the whole time. In this production I am asking Don Fernando questions, and the camera is on him.

Are you [and Kevin Short, who sings Don Fernando] actually saying words to each other?
Yes we are.

Do you say the same things every night? Of course we can’t hear what you say, out in the audience...
Variations on a theme.

Do you try to crack him up? Be honest.
[Chuckles] There are times, when we...yes.

And the trick is to hold a straight face, in front of the audience, I get it. So you’re wearing the same outfit, it still fits...
Yes, it does!

What is it you like the most about being a supernumerary?
It’s a wonderful opportunity to be onstage with these fabulous singers and to hear the singing all around you. A very different experience from being even in the best seats in the house. You’re part of it. And it’s always fun to pretend to be somebody else!

Were you an opera fan before you became a super?
Oh, long before.

How did you first become an opera fan?
My senior year in college. I took the second part of “Music Appreciation.”

One of those “This semester we gotta get through Romantic to Modern to Post-Modern” kind of things?
On the first day, the professor said, “We’re supposed to study music from 1850 to the present day, but instead we’re going to study three operas.” And I said, “Oh, my God, my mother played it every Saturday from the Met, I hate it,” you know...but in a rare moment for me as a 21-year-old, I thought, maybe I’ll actually learn something, and I took the class and absolutely loved Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly. For some reason I didn’t like Don Giovanni at all, although today it is one of my favorites. I’ve now been onstage twice in Don Giovanni—as a waiter, both in the 2008 mainstage and the 2011 Young Artists production.

Robert Pillitteri as a Don Giovanni waiter, right, with 2011 Young Artists David Krohn (Don Giovanni), Erik Anstine (Leporello), and Adrian Rosas (Masetto)
(Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Of all the roles you’ve played as a supernumerary, which has been the best experience?
Without a doubt playing Buoso Donati, the dead guy in Gianni Schicchi. That was one of my favorite experiences in life! [laughs] It was for the 2008 Young Artists Program production, and the Young Artists were just terrific, I love being onstage and playing with them. I wasn’t your typical Gianni Schicchi dead body—Peter Kazaras decided to stage it like Weekend at Bernie’s, so I was alive at the top of the show and dropped dead watching a soccer game. Then I was onstage, not carted off, for the entire show, being tossed around like a sack of potatoes.

Robert Pillitteri as the pummeled Buoso at the end of Gianni Schicchi, with 2008 Young Artist Joshua Jeremiah asking the audience's indulgence as Schicchi
(Rozarii Lynch, photo)

I was bruised head to toe by the end of the run, but it was a great experience to be onstage with that wonderful singing going on all around me, that fantastic music—I just really, really loved it. A close second was Don Giovanni with the Young Artists, where I had to lip sync, for the sake of the stage picture.

Is there an opera you’re hoping to do as a supernumerary?
Yes, Rigoletto, which is my absolute favorite opera, and which I’ve never done. I can’t wait for it to be done again.

All good things come to those who wait. Be patient, and we hope to see you onstage in lots more supernumerary roles!

Meet our Supernumeraries: JANA HOLLINGSWORTH

Today we get to know Jana Hollingsworth, a long-time subscriber to Seattle Opera and one of the supernumeraries in our current production of Fidelio. (Left, Jana embraces supernumerary Patrick Gerrells in the final scene of Fidelio, photo by Elise Bakketun.) A huge fan of opera, Jana is also an artist, who can frequently be found sketching rehearsals of the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society, as well as at Seattle Opera events. Below, we learn more about her fascinating background, and take a look at some of her sketches.

 

What made you want to be a super in this production of Fidelio? Do you have a favorite moment in this opera?
The opportunity arose, and what opera fan wouldn’t want a chance to be a part of the action? Also, I saw this production of Fidelio when Seattle Opera did it before, and one of the problems with being in a show is that one doesn’t get to see the show. Since I’ve seen this production before, that’s not as big an issue.

I’ve seen Fidelio twice before, both productions set in modern times, and it always strikes me how contemporary this opera is. It’s over two hundred years old, but politics and human relationships really don’t change that much. I love history—I usually read it in preference to fiction—and seeing Fidelio reminds me of how we’re still working out things that happened back in the French and American Revolutions. I don’t know that I have a favorite moment, but the Prisoners' Chorus in the first act is just thrilling.

Marcy Stonikas as Leonore in Fidelio. Stonikas sang the Sunday matinee performance on October 14.
Sketch by Jana Hollingsworth; Photo by Elise Bakketun

Has the experience of being a super changed any of your previous perspectives on opera?
Mainly it gave me a greater appreciation for how big and complicated the whole business is. I’ve been involved in a small way with Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society productions for nine years, so there wasn’t anything surprising; Fidelio was just enormously larger and more complex.

How did you first become interested in opera?
I always say that if it weren’t for Gilbert and Sullivan I wouldn’t be here. That’s what got me started on opera. I discovered G&S in a big way in college in Bellingham in the ‘70s, first by reading the libretti. I’m a words person, which is a bit strange in an opera buff. I got all the D'Oyly Carte recordings, then started looking for more opera in English; I found Purcell but not a lot else. I listened to the Texaco opera broadcasts on radio; I enjoyed them, but I wasn’t really able to follow the stories properly.

Then I moved to Seattle from Port Angeles, where my family is, in the fall of 1983 to start graduate school at the UW, and I got season tickets to Seattle Opera. This was before captions, so I went to see the opera-in-English series. I have this strange idea than an opera is a play, and there’s not much point in seeing a play if you don’t know what the people are talking about. To me, it’s about drama. If all I wanted was music, I could get more music for my money at the Symphony. For me, opera is theater pushed to the nth degree by this incredible music.

Greer Grimsley, in rehearsal for Fidelio, drawn first in pencil and then inked with Faber Castell pens.
Sketch by Jana Hollingsworth

How did you begin sketching opera rehearsals?
I’ve been a member of the Seattle G&S Society since the late ‘70s, and attend their shows faithfully every year. After I moved to Seattle I began attending their other functions, and worked as a volunteer in the front of house. At one of their events I was talking to the producer, Mike Storie, and in the course of the conversation he told me it would be all right if I came to rehearsals as a guest. I was rather shy about it, and I brought my sketchbook mainly so I would have an obvious reason for being there, if anyone wondered who I was. It’s also a good way to start conversations.

They were doing The Gondoliers that year, and had the orchestra on stage, behind the actors, and used video for the maestro, Bernie Kwiram, and singers to see one another. At the last minute, the person who was going to run the video camera from the house had to cancel, and Mike said, “Well, Jana knows the show.” I took over that job, which meant I didn’t have to give up being involved once the show moved to the theater. Since then my official job with Seattle G&S has been to assist with in-house video. And I keep on doing rehearsal sketches for my own entertainment, and to keep in practice.

Clifton Forbis as Florestan in Fidelio.
Sketch by Jana Hollingsworth; Photo by Elise Bakketun

Do you have a background in art?
The sketches from life I’ve been doing on and off since I was in high school. I wanted to be an artist, largely inspired by my hobby of comic book collecting, though my talent is actually more for writing than drawing. I took art classes in school, but I didn’t want to live the life of a freelance artist. Since I’m also a map-lover I decided to become a cartographer—making maps is an art, too!—and got my masters in geography, specializing in cartography at the UW, which was one of the three top schools for cartography in the country at the time. I worked making maps for a number of years, but that job disappeared, and I now work as a paper-pusher in the insurance business. It’s a good enough job, but I have to do something to remind myself I’m an artist, so I keep up with the sketches.

I don’t consider myself highly talented as an artist; it’s mostly hard work and practice. Drawing is a skill, after all. I took art classes at the Gage Academy back when it was called the Seattle School of Realist Art, and I’ve studied from books, but otherwise I just keep working at it. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s I did a comic strip called “Pagan Cowboy Joe” in the Neo-pagan magazine Green Egg, but despite my comic book background, I find I’m not particularly good at drawing things directly from my imagination. It’s much easier for me to draw what I see, and that’s what I mostly do these days.

Rehearsal sketches are great because they’re un-posed and spontaneous, but people keep coming back to the same positions and same expressions, so I can continue working on sketches I’ve started but have had to abandon because the person moved. The completely unsuccessful drawings, of course, get torn out of the sketchbook and thrown away. Besides G&S rehearsals, I also take my sketchbook to other places where people are gathered, particularly to meetings of the 36th District Democrats, with whom I am active. I wish the 36th District Republicans had a sketch artist, so we could have a joint show. Faces of the 36th District! As it is, all my drawings, theatrical and political, just live in my sketchbooks.

Supernumerary Patrick Gerrells, who plays Hollingsworth's prisoner husband in Fidelio. "I enjoy my three seconds or so at center-stage with him when I discover him waving the flag," she says.
Sketch by Jana Hollingsworth

Do you have any favorite productions from your almost 30 years as a Seattle Opera subscriber?
It’s hard to pick out individual shows. If I try, I’m sure to forget some of the best—most of them, in fact. After I saw Die Meistersinger, I went around for a week afterward saying to myself, “Damn, that was good!” And I still remember the version of The Barber of Seville which included the slow-motion brawl, and Figaro going around setting the action in motion at the beginning of each act. The Italian Girl in Algiers sticks in my mind, and the recent Fledermaus with the Wagnerian singers. I notice they’re all comedies. I love the tragedies, too, but everyone raves about them. I have a real fondness for comedies, partly because I started out as a G&S fan, but also because they’re less common. When one does show up, and is done well, it’s always a treat. If I could have only one opera recording, it would probably be The Marriage of Figaro, because it’s such a perfectly wonderful comedy.

Meet our Supernumeraries: ROSEMARY LEONG-MILLER

Part of what makes Seattle Opera's production of Fidelio so exciting is the participation of dozens of supernumeraries (non-singing volunteers) from our community. They storm onstage in full force at the end of the opera, when the townspeople break down the prison walls and search for their loved ones. To cast this group, Stage Director Chris Alexander held auditions earlier this fall (watch the video HERE). Today we hear from Rosemary Leong-Miller (right, with red scarf, photo by Elise Bakketun), one of the supers who was selected through that process. Rosemary is coming full circle with this production; Fidelio was her first opera, back in 1980, and Chris Alexander is one of her favorite directors. She has been a volunteer, a longtime audience member, a donor, and a staunch friend of Seattle Opera for many years.

What is your role as a supernumerary in Fidelio?
Roles were determined by gender. Men can be camp guards, prisoners, members of the press, or a townsperson, and women are members of the press or part of the town. I am a townsperson, although I think it would have been fun to be cast as a detainee, kind of like Aung San Suu Kyi.

What do you like about being a super?
I like the process of seeing the opera coming together. I've had the opportunity to watch a piano technical rehearsal, followed by a dress rehearsal, and then the performance. It's interesting to see changes between the performances. By being a super, one experiences the entire development of a scene. Of course, it's REALLY wonderful listening to this great cast and chorus perform every night in rehearsals and on stage.

Have you been a super before?
No, this is my first time. And, I must add, it's a real honor.

What did you have to do in tryouts?
Our stage director, Chris Alexander, explained the scene to those of us who came to Seattle Opera’s rehearsal studio for the auditions. While a piano accompanied us, we broke through the prison walls and ran into the courtyard to look for our loved ones who had been imprisoned. Chris randomly assigned us to either find or not find our family member. I am one who doesn't find them in the courtyard, so I search the cells, and come out a little teary-eyed.

What do you like about Beethoven’s music?
Beethoven's music is powerful, and passionate. It moves you! Especially if you contrast it with the music that came earlier, of Mozart, or Haydn. The earlier music from the Classical Era was beautiful or interesting, but as you know, Beethoven marks the transition from the Classical to Romantic Era in music. You feel his music. He can make you want to cheer, like we do when we run into the courtyard.

What do you like about opera in general?
I love opera because opera has it all, not just music, not just voice. Great opera demands a great conductor with a good orchestra and singers, but opera in recital doesn't have the same impact as a wonderfully staged production with sets and costumes. If you add singers who can act, it's a live performance that just can't be beat.

Do you remember the first production you saw at Seattle Opera?
Of course! It was Fidelio in 1980. It's a great first opera.

Do you have a favorite production?
There are two Chris Alexander productions, Ariadne auf Naxos and Tales of Hoffman, that I loved and want to see again. And even though it isn’t my favorite opera, I'd have to add this summer's Turandot. Of course, our "Green Ring," and I'll never forget the Rusalka with Ben Heppner and Renée Fleming.

-- Interview by Jessica Murphy

Meet Our Singers: RIC FURMAN, Florestan (Last Sunday Only)

Ric Furman (left, photo by Elise Bakketun) impressed Seattle Opera's audience on Sunday with his one-day only performance as Florestan. (Mr. Furman's appearance was announced HERE.) New fans of Mr. Furman include Philippa Kiraly, who wrote in The SunBreak "Another big voice of beautiful timbre, he also had no difficulty with Florestan’s vocal part" and Bernard Jacobson, who reported for Seen and Heard International that "he was thoroughly compelling in his evocation first of utter despair and eventually of exultant joy." I got a (belated!) chance to check in with him about his career and his experience with Fidelio.

Congratulations on a successful debut, Ric! Now, you just recently made the switch to heroic tenor rep. How did that come about? Tell us about your experience as a heldentenor so far.
I was singing lyric tenor roles until a couple years ago, when I sang one of the Meisters in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Some members of the cast suggested I look more seriously at Wagner and heldentenor rep in general. The suggestion was also made by my voice teacher, Mark Oswald. I can remember standing in my kitchen thinking about the advice I had been given from people I trust and respect and decided to grab a score and try it. Maybe it was a fit of arrogance, but I grabbed a score, a recording, and started singing Siegfried. I was amazed at how well it worked! I kept playing with other music of the rep and it also felt weirdly good. So, I walked into my next lesson with Mark with a whole new list of music and Florestan was the first thing I pulled out in that lesson. I have loved the experience, and being here at Seattle Opera has been a highlight in that journey.

Have you sung this role before? Or other music by Beethoven?
This is my first Florestan; my only prior experience with Beethoven has been with his choral music. Beethoven definitely has his own musical language and style which is definitely challenging and requires all your attention. It's equally as rewarding. I received some really great advice from a vocal coach, who advised that singers should listen to Beethoven's piano works and sing his music that way. It really helped!

What's the hardest part of this opera for you?
At the end there is a gorgeous number with everybody on stage singing a hymn of thanks, this soft beautiful music. Florestan’s music at that point is really challenging for me. The role requires you to get ahead of it with technique and embrace Beethoven's musical language.

Marcy Stonikas and Ric Furman singing "O Namenlose Freude"

How did Florestan end up in prison in the first place? What kind of man is he, what's his relationship like with Leonore?
I like Florestan very much. He is strong and outspoken and almost completely fearless. He's that friend we all have that always speaks their mind and frequently gets in trouble because of it. He was born into a family of influence and has devoted his life to fighting for the rights of others--that's why he and Pizarro became enemies. Pizarro is a tyrant, a bully, an oppressor and a murderer. Florestan chose to take Pizarro on and denounce him publicly. Pizarro simply abducted Florestan under cover of darkness and hid him in a remote, deep, dark part of his prison. By the time we see him in this opera, Florestan has been tortured, starved, and locked up for two years. He's barely hanging on to both life and sanity. But he has not lost his conviction or his will to fight! He only fears letting down those who depend on him, particularly Leonore. It's an amazingly perfect fit, Florestan and Leonore. They're one of the most idyllic couples in all of opera.

Speight Jenkins, Seattle Opera's General Director, likes to say you should always do Fidelio in contemporary dress. What do you think about trying to make this opera "relevant"?
That's the beauty of Fidelio, you don't have to try to make it relevant; it IS relevant. I think the contemporary setting of the show lets you hear and feel the message more directly. One of my most memorable moments in rehearsal was when Chris Alexander said to me, "The minute you try to illustrate anything we lose it. You have to be honest. I want you to be as honest as possible." There isn’t a need to illustrate the story, or distract from the pure message of the libretto. We want it to be transparent.

Meet MARCY STONIKAS, Who Sings Today's Matinee with RIC FURMAN

At today's matinee performance of Fidelio, soprano Marcy Stonikas in the title role will be joined by American tenor Ric Furman in the role of Florestan (right, photo of Stonikas and Furman by Elise Bakketun). Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera, originally engaged Furman to cover Clifton Forbis in the role. Says Jenkins, “Florestan is one of the most taxing roles ever written for tenor. But Ric Furman has proven himself up to the challenge, so I asked him to sing the role at today's performance.”

Recent roles for Furman include Don José in Carmen (Springfield Regional Opera), Tito in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (Opera Company of Brooklyn), and Camille in The Merry Widow (Muddy River Opera). A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Western Illinois University, Furman is a former young artist with Cincinnati Opera and Opera Omaha. He sang his first Wagner role in 2010, as Augustin Moser in Cincinnati Opera’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and last year sang a concert of music from Wagner’s Ring with Kentucky Symphony Orchestra.

We hope to check in with Furman this coming week. For now, let's hear from former Seattle Opera Young Artist Marcy Stonikas, who today makes her second big role debut with us this season: two months ago she sang her first Turandot on our stage.

Welcome back! Before we talk about Fidelio, let’s go back to Turandot. How was that experience for you?
It was awesome. I had a really wonderful time, and loved every minute of it. It’s not very often you get to watch an opera you’re actually in, and I got a lot of experience watching it. I think that probably informed my own performance a lot, because I got to see everybody else’s mojo going on, and then got a really good sense of the big picture, so I was able to figure out how I fit into that puzzle. Turandot was a huge, beautiful, awesome-looking thing and it was really cool to be part of it.

Marcy Stonikas sings an excerpt from Seattle Opera's Turandot

Marcy Stonikas as Turandot in Seattle Opera's production this summer.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Now, in Fidelio, you get the challenge of portraying a woman pretending to be a man. Have you ever performed a role in drag before?
I did a student-written opera when I was in undergrad at Oberlin, in which everyone was in drag. All the guys were women, and all the women were men. It was a very short and small opera, but I remember distinctly that I had even penciled on a mustache or something, and no one had any idea I was a female until I started singing, and then I watched every head go woosh!

How has the rehearsal process for Fidelio been?
It’s been great. I’ve worked with Stage Director Chris Alexander before [in 2011’s The Magic Flute], and I’ve worked with Conductor Asher Fisch because he conducted Turandot, so I felt comfortable coming into this situation.

Anya Matanovič (left) as the First Lady, Marcy Stonikas (center) as the Second Lady, Lindsey Anderson (right) as the Third Lady, and John Tessier (on the ground) as Tamino in 2011's The Magic Flute. Three of these singers are reunited in Fidelio: Matanovič sings Marzelline, Stonikas sings Leonore on October 14, and Tessier sings Jaquino.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

In some ways, Leonore is bachelor Beethoven’s fantasy of the ultimate woman/perfect wife, instead of a well-drawn fictional character. Do you find her three dimensional?
I definitely think there are realistic traits to her, but I have to agree to a certain extent with your statement, because I told my husband I feel like Fidelio is a Disney movie. It’s all sad and filled with tension and conflict and then there's a happy glowing storybook ending at the end. But as far as Leonore goes, I would hazard to guess she is what every wife wants to be. Or maybe that’s just me; I would love to be perfect. I would love to think that if my husband were gone for two years, I wouldn’t just sit back and think that he was gone or that he’d left me or that he died, and that I would go out and find him. But I don’t know. It makes me think of Castaway with Tom Hanks. Helen Hunt’s character goes on and gets married again, because he’s been gone for so long. That’s sad. You want to believe that you’d wait and have that happy reunion.

I guess you never know ‘til you’re in that sort of situation yourself.
Yeah, I mean I’ve very grateful that up to this point I haven’t been! [Laughs]

It’s often pointed out by many people that this is a tough role to sing. Have you found that to be true?
Yes, I definitely think that’s true. I have moments of panic here and there, because the second act, except for Florestan’s aria in the beginning, has Leonore on stage for the entire time. And she’s singing the entire time, pretty much. And I’ll think, “Oh my gosh, I have to make it through this song and then I have to go into this other song right after! What am I going to do?!” But it’s all about pacing yourself, and that’s something you have to do in general when you sing the kind of rep that this is. When you sing any Wagner, Verdi, Strauss, any long operas, these are things that you run into.

Ric Furman (Florestan) and Marcy Stonikas (Leonore) sing the Sunday matinee of Fidelio on October 14.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Do you have a favorite moment in Fidelio?
I really love the music in my first number, the quartet. It’s really brilliantly woven. It starts with Marzelline and then Leonore gets added in and then Rocco gets added in and then Jaquino gets added in. And it’s just really Beethoven. It’s really simple but beautiful and I think it’s touching every time. So far, that’s my favorite.

We also know you have a one-year-old son named Henry; do you ever find yourself singing to him? I do! I sing lullabies to him, predominantly, like kid songs you probably got sung as well. What’s interesting is you have to remember those songs after so many years and that’s hard! My mom came to visit and she sang a song to him that I’d forgotten she used to sing to me, and it was one of my favorites, so now it’s in my repertoire. [Laughs] We have our lullaby repertoire, and he also likes nursery rhymes.

Is he an opera fan yet?
As far as opera goes, he heard five operas in utero, because I was in five shows while I was pregnant—which is crazy when I think back on it. So he’s pretty attentive, actually, when I sing, but I think I’m really loud in general, and I think sometimes I’m shockingly loud to him. He puts his head on my chest so he’s below my mouth, and then I’ll put my hand on his other ear, so he can hear the vibrations. I think he likes that; it’s probably similar to what it was like in the womb. I was at Wolf Trap this summer and there was a bass that would carry him around and hum, and Henry would nuzzle up to him, he loved hearing the bass.

Marcy Stonikas as Leonore in Seattle Opera's current production of Fidelio.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Sounds like he might wind up being a musician himself.
I know, but I kind of hope he doesn’t. Obviously, I want him to be a good musician—but I also hope he doesn’t choose it as a career. Lord help him! It’s so hard! But I just want him to be happy. And my husband is an actor, so he’s doomed.

Maybe he’ll rebel and become a botanist.
Ooh, that would be good! Or he could be an engineer. We’re already giving him lots of science-y things, and every toy is a tool. [Laughs]

Fidelio Preview Trailer

Watch a preview of dress rehearsal footage (complete with full orchestra & chorus) featuring Maestro Asher Fisch and the talented cast bringing Beethoven's dramatic score to life.



Learn more about Fidelio on the Seattle Opera Website

Meet Our Singers: GREER GRIMSLEY, Don Pizarro

Greer Grimsley may be best known in Seattle nowadays as the King of the Gods. Since 2005, when he won “Artist of the Year” for his performance in Wagner’s Ring, the American bass-baritone has been Seattle Opera’s Wotan of choice. But Grimsley has given us plenty of other wonderful performances as well since his 1994 debut as Telramund in Lohengrin, with characters ranging from the affable (Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde) to the conflicted (Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West) to the tormented (Amfortas in Parsifal). In Fidelio, which opens Saturday, he plays the vicious overseer of the prison, Don Pizarro. I spoke with Grimsley the other day about Beethoven’s musical-political activism, about where to eat in New Orleans, and about Pizarros he has known.

Greer Grimsley sings "Abendlich strahlt" from Wagner's Das Rheingold

Thanks for your time today, Greer! Now, you’ve played many villainous characters at Seattle Opera...
Yes.

...but none with fewer redeeming qualities than Don Pizarro. Do you worry about humanizing the villain in this opera, or can you just be bad to the bone?
Actually, it’s a challenge. The way it’s written, you don’t have a lot of time to flesh out this character, so you have to be very concentrated in your approach. You try to throw in as many things as you can. “Humanize?” Yes, he does horrible things. But the thing is, people who behave this badly usually believe they’re doing the right thing. Especially when you’re talking about political prisoners: Pizarro thinks silencing Florestan is for the good of the cause. In his mind he has justified all these heinous things. It furthers his megalomania, and it stays within what he believes is the party line.

At Fidelio rehearsal, Assistant Stage Manager Thea Railey, standing in for a prison guard, listens to Greer Grimsley's roar as the angry Pizarro
Alan Alabastro, photo

You mention megalomania...is it normal psychology, with this man? For me, when I try to make a leap of sympathy, to see things from his point of view, it seems like paranoia, you know, not quite normal, to get somebody to the emotional place where they’re able to sing your big aria, “Ha, welch ein Augenblick!”
Most aberrant behavior is fear-based. Steinbeck is quoted as saying: “Absolute power doesn’t corrupt, it’s the FEAR of absolute power that corrupts.” I think that it’s fear that motivates Pizarro, and everyone in this opera. For Leonore, it’s the fear of finding Florestan dead. For poor Jaquino, it’s the fear that he won’t ever get to marry Marzelline. You can go down the line. With Pizarro—it’s like those popular shows on TV where somebody leads the police on a hundred-mile chase, and when asked why they did it, it’s because they were afraid of going back to jail. When put into a fear-situation, humans will do remarkable things.

Do you get to play that fear, in your other roles? With Scarpia in Tosca, for instance—like Pizarro, another Napoleonic-era tyrant—is he a man who’s living in terror, in this way?
No, I wouldn’t say that. Scarpia has gotten beyond that. For him, it’s hubris. And he, too, believes he is advancing a political agenda.

Greer Grimsley as Scarpia at Seattle Opera in 2008, with Lisa Daltirus as Tosca
Bill Mohn, photo

Full devotion to a political party.
The thing is, even when I’m saying the character is primarily motivated by fear, you may not see that.

No, what we see is that he uses fear. He seems to enjoy the fact that Rocco is terrified of him, and everybody else in the prison.
It’s about control: crowd-control by terror. All too well we know how that works. A small group of terrorists are able to throw the entire civilized world into acting differently. And they love seeing it—it’s like goosing a frog with an electronic probe, to see it jump. They get a big charge out of seeing people change security standards, for instance.

Just to feel, “Ooo, look at me, I had an impact.”
Yes.

Have you ever known any Pizarros?
[Laughs] The closest I came was a stage director who was given to temper tantrums at the drop of a hat. In some ways I did steal some things from that. It was completely irrational, and I was very nonplussed by it. But watching other people...it was amazing, I saw it work. It’s like the little dog who walks into a group of big dogs and goes on the aggressive—all the big dogs say, [in a placating voice] “All right...okay...” In many cases that first volley is succesful.

Let’s talk about music. Have you often sung Fidelio?
Yes, I’ve done quite a lot of them.

What about other music by Beethoven?
The 9th. Just this year I’ve done two of ‘em. And I love it: it’s like going to church, it’s incredible. You get the same sentiment at the end of both pieces—Beethoven’s desire and vision for the future of humanity, post-Napoleonic.

They’re about the same idea...
...that we’re all brothers. Beethoven was in a class with Verdi and Wagner and these other composers who wanted to effect change upon society, for the better, by means of music.

Musical activists!
Exactly. For Wagner and Verdi, it was nationalistic: they wanted to see a single country come out of it. But for Beethoven, he saw what Napoleon did to Europe—he saw what a despot can do, and he wanted to do something about it. I think that’s why he kept re-writing this: he had to get it just right, he wanted it to have the impact it needed. Whereas the 9th, unto itself, is an amazing vision of the world.

Greer Grimsley as Kurwenal in Seattle Opera's 2010 Tristan und Isolde
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Now, many sopranos and tenors will say negative things about Beethoven’s vocal writing. Do basses feel the same way?
[chuckles] Well, I think everybody finds it awkward. You have to work, and that’s where the craft of singing and bel canto comes in. It’s awkwardly written, but not ill-written. It doesn’t completely fit the instrument it’s written for, which is the voice; his frame of reference is instrumental. As a singer, you have to negotiate that in the least damaging way. It’s tricky for everybody in the cast.

What about the big bass solo that opens the vocal section of the 9th symphony? The “O Freunde!” recitative?
Oh, that’s wonderful to sing. It just sings itself! But some of the ensemble stuff, later, is very instrumental, and you have to be on your game. In that sense Beethoven demands the best out of you.

It must be a nice break to do a shorter role like this after all the extremely long Wagner roles you normally sing for us. Do you like singing this more focused kind of role?
I enjoy it. For me, Fidelio is a challenge vocally and dramatically, and something I like coming back to. It’s not about the length, it’s about the character and the music.

Greer Grimsley as Wotan in Die Walküre
Chris Bennion, photo

Speaking of long roles, we’re excited to have you back next summer for Wotan in the Ring. Now the last few times we’ve given the Ring in Seattle, your wife, mezzo soprano Luretta Bybee, and your daughter have been as involved as you. Will they be here next summer, too?
Yes, Luretta is going to do one of the Valkyries and one of the Norns, and I think she’s going to cover Stephanie [Blythe, who sings Fricka and the Götterdämmerung Waltraute]. And my daughter is going to recreate her part as the “Lady in Black” in Götterdämmerung.

You’ll also be singing the Ring at the Met next spring.
Yes, after doing the High Priest in Samson et Dalila next March in New Orleans—back in my home town.

New Orleans! Do you sing there a lot?
Not as much as I’d like to. But it’s always great to get back there—that’s where I saw my first opera, where I was in my first opera. And my family is there.

What’s your favorite place to eat in New Orleans?
Oh, God...you can’t have a favorite place. Typical New Orleans conversation is sitting at a great restaurant, eating some of the best po’ boys in the world, and talking about another place to go eat. If you want classic old New Orleans, it’s Antoine’s, which is where I worked putting myself through school. (I went to Loyola University.) Liuzza’s has just been written up, and also Parkway Bakery, I think President Obama just stopped there when he was going through. Galatoire’s, for really good French mixed with Cajun; Court of Two Sisters; all those restaurants, there’s a reason why they’re famous.

You’ll be there for a while doing this opera, so I imagine you’ll be getting some fine Cajun cuisine?
Yes, usually when I get back, first thing I do is go and get a shrimp po’ boy! People go out, of course, but people also know how to cook. Sometimes the best places to eat are private homes.

Greer Grimsley at Fidelio rehearsal
Alan Alabastro, photo

So after New Orleans, you’ll go to the Met for their Ring.
Yes, I’m very honored to be doing it. I love doing the Ring, and it’s great to be back at the Met. The production looks interesting, so that’s exciting. Stephanie Blythe is going to sing Fricka, Richard Paul Fink is going to be the Alberich, so it will be a Seattle-based team. Debbie Voigt is the Brünnhilde, we’ve sung together several times.

Did you watch all the HD Simulcasts from the Met Ring this last season?
I did, plus the Making Of special, so I know all about the times when the machine didn’t work! I wanted to see what the production was like, what direction they had gone with it. I don’t think there will be many surprises, once I get there.

Have you ever worked on a Robert Lepage production?
I have: the Bluebeard that y’all did here, I did in Montreal. That was a wonderful production.

You’ve done several Rings now... ours, Venice, Berlin, Robert Carsen’s in Köln...do you get more excited about doing some productions than others?
It’s nice doing something that is a piece of history, which was the case with the Götz Friedrich production in Berlin. I worked with his assistant, who was very good about getting the spirit of what Friedrich wanted. By looking at things a little differently, but not changing the story—he set things in the time tunnel—

The famous “Washington D.C. subway station” Ring.
Which is interesting, from a visual standpoint. And it works. There’s nothing that we do in that that doesn’t tell the story. Friedrich was of a generation of directors in Germany who wanted to reach new people, who thought it was incumbent upon them to get people who’d never seen opera before into the theater, to reach as many people as possible. Now we have a rash of directors for whom it’s become all about their interpretation. But really the answer is, any time I get to do a cycle, I’m excited.

Same here. We can’t wait for May 22, 2013—Wagner’s 200th birthday—and our first day of rehearsal! Bring it on!

Meet Our Singers: CHRISTIANE LIBOR, Leonore

Here at Seattle Opera, we're excited to welcome German soprano Christiane Libor, who stars as Leonore in Fidelio. Not only is this her company debut, it's her U.S. operatic debut! Today, we get to know Christiane and we ask her about her history with Fidelio, which is an opera she's performed several times internationally and to great acclaim. Christiane sings five of six Fidelio performances, with former Young Artist Marcy Stonikas singing Leonore on October 14. For more tickets and information, visit seattleopera.org/fidelio.

Welcome to Seattle Opera! We know this is your U.S. operatic debut, but where in this country have you sung concerts ?
The first concert was St. Matthew’s Passion in New York at Avery Fisher Hall, in 2008. And then twice I’ve gone to the Bard Music Festival.

Well, we’re excited to hear you as Leonore. Can you tell us your history with Fidelio? Was it a role you’d always wanted to sing?
Well, I think I heard it for the first time through recordings as a student. But I thought this role was so far away for me, my voice was very lyric, so I thought, “Oh, it’s not my part.” But while I was studying, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was the first to tell me, “You will become a good Leonore.” But I didn't take that seriously, at the time. [Laughs] I had never thought of [singing] it before. And my mother, it’s her favorite opera, so she would say, “Oh, would you sing it? I hope you can someday sing Leonore.” And I would say, “Mama, no!” But, amazingly, Fidelio was the second or third opera I picked up after my studies. I did it very early on.

How many productions of Fidelio have you done by now?
Six, I think.

Christiane Libor (Leonore) and Arthur Woodley (Rocco) in rehearsal for Seattle Opera's production of Fidelio.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Do you have a favorite Leonore? Someone whose performance of the role you really admire?
I don’t have a favorite, but I like Leonie Rysanek, and her recording of Fidelio conducted by Ferenc Fricsay. I also like Birgit Nilsson and Christa Ludwig.

Do you enjoy getting the opportunity to sing as a boy in Fidelio? Usually, roles like this go to mezzo-sopranos.
Yes, I like it because it’s not so often I can sing and dress in that way. But this is different from most roles, because I’m not actually a boy on stage. I play a female who plays a boy. So, sometimes I think Leonore must be overacted, to show that she is only pretending to be a boy.

This summer, we had the pleasure of a fantastic Turandot, by the team of Renaud Doucet and André Barbe. We understand you’ll soon be in their production of Die Feen! Have you sung this opera before?
Yes, I sang it in Paris, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, with Marc Minkowski conducting. It’s a little bit of a crazy opera, because you don’t really understand the story. “Uh, wait a minute, I must think about that,” you say to yourself. But to sing it’s a great challenge. It’s a very difficult part, and there’s an aria in the middle of the opera that goes on for 11 minutes. It’s coloratura, and then very dramatic, and then more coloratura, and then again very dramatic. It’s so difficult. But I like that. I like opera, or parts to sing, that are very difficult. I don’t know why!

Christiane Libor (Leonore) in rehearsal for Seattle Opera's production of Fidelio.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Then it makes sense you enjoy Fidelio. It is notorious for its difficulty.
Yes, but it’s not the vocals that are difficult for me in Fidelio, it’s the mentality of the role that’s very difficult: to be a woman playing a man, and to bring out the story of freedom and eternal love. It’s an important opera, for the heart and for the mind.

Christiane Libor singing Leonore's "Abscheulicher" from a recent performance in Berlin.

Meet Our Singers: ARTHUR WOODLEY, Rocco

In dozens of wonderful performances here over the 15 years since his 1997 debut, Arthur Woodley has given Seattle Opera beautiful singing and memorable characters in an astonishingly wide repertory, from a wicked Achilla in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, to a memorable Varlaam in Boris Godunov, to a heart-breaking Crespel in The Tales of Hoffmann. He even did a turn as Hunding in Die Walküre. He has much to do at Seattle Opera this season, appearing first as Rocco, the head jailer in Fidelio; then as Alidoro, the all-powerful tutor to Prince Ramiro in La Cenerentola; and finally he’ll weep for his coat as Colline in La bohème. I talked to him the other day about how a good man slowly erodes to become a person like Rocco—and about why basses have all the fun.

Arthur, Fidelio is the first of three operas you’re singing for us in a row. Which is your favorite one?
That’s difficult. You know, I always think that if I were in the theater I would be a character actor. The great thing about being a bass is you get a chance to explore all these different characters, all these parts of yourself—things maybe you didn’t know you had within you. And you’re able to express them. I will say, I really like playing bad guys.

Arthur Woodley sang the vengeful Dr. Bartolo in Seattle Opera's 2009 Le nozze di Figaro, with Joyce Castle as Marcellina
Rozarii Lynch, photo

In this opera, as Rocco in Fidelio, you’re not exactly a bad guy...
Right. He’s a conflicted character.

Tell us more about him. He seems like such a nice guy—but he has this job, he works for Signor Psychopath, as it were...
We could say it’s economics. He came upon this job, and he has this daughter. There’s no mother involved, but he has to take care of his daughter. So what do you do? You take the job that’s available. I think that's originally what Rocco did. He’s a man of principles; he’s always saying, “This is my duty, this is my job description, and I will do the very best I can.”

He’s proud of being good at his job.
He’s very proud. I think it’s important to him, and to show his daughter: I care about you, I will do what is necessary to keep you in clothes and money, whatever we need to survive. If you’re in a place like a jail, you have to be a survivor. And I think what has happened to Rocco, after all these years, is it is weighing heavily upon him. He’s seen the torture, he’s seen the mistreatment of these people, and he is basically a good man. He believes in the dignity of man. And he has slowly, slowly been eroded, into this man who is afraid of himself dying, of himself being taken away from his daughter, from his livelihood. He’s afraid of all of that. He’s very much afraid of Pizarro.

Greer Grimsley (Pizarro) and Arthur Woodley (Rocco) rehearse a scene from Fidelio
Alan Alabastro, photo

I love your expression there, “This man has been slowly eroded.” How long has Rocco been working at this jail?
Many years. I think his daughter Marzelline, maybe, has been there her entire life.

She doesn’t know that there’s any other way to live.
Exactly. This is all she’s ever seen her father do. And remember, Marzelline realizes how much her father is being beaten down by this. She doesn’t know everything; dad tries to keep these things away from her. But she surmises that this man is suffering mightily. Perhaps he talks in his sleep. Rocco has these physical ailments, and she tries to help him.

They’re a manifestation of what he’s been through...
I believe that when you are put upon by the forces around you, you’re going to suffer psychologically and also physically.

Because Stage Director Chris Alexander isn’t asking you to play him as an old man, physically.
No. It’s the weight of all this...

...that has you falling apart.
Yes, internally. This thing is working its way out, and he can’t take much more. He wishes there was a way out, because of what he’s seen.

Arthur Woodley as Ferrando in Seattle Opera's 2010 Il trovatore
Rozarii Lynch, photo

How long has Pizarro been at this prison?
Pizarro probably came in after.

You were already there, and suddenly you have this new boss: “Oh, here’s the new guy in charge, I guess I’ll try and work with him...”
Yes, Pizarro is ambitious, he knows if does a good job at this prison then the higher-ups are gonna say, “Hey, you’re on your way upward.” He really doesn’t care about me. He’s about his ambition and what he wants.

The libretto is quite specific that Florestan has been in prison here two years. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, compared to how long you’ve been there, slowly...dessicating, as you say.
Yes.

And in Act One, when Pizarro tells you, “I want you to go kill this guy,” you refuse: “Morden? Das ist nicht meine Pflicht,” Murder is not my job. Is that the first time anybody’s ever asked you, so boldly, outright like that?
I think it is the first time anybody has asked me to kill a prisoner myself. I’ve seen it, I’ve witnessed it. That’s one of the causes of my degradation. You can’t get it out of your mind. I drink. Watch carefully, you’ll see me taking little sips from...I call it ‘the forgetfulness juice.’

Christiane Libor (Leonore/Fidelio) and Arthur Woodley (Rocco) rehearse a scene from Fidelio
Alan Alabastro, photo

It’s heavy on him, he is being crushed by this guilt. It’s partly my fault—I lead the prisoners to this place, I feed them, tend them, only for them to be killed. What good am I? I want to break out; I want to feel validated at some point, to say, “I was courageous.” I want my child to be happy: I’m hoping to marry her off to this wonderful guy who just came into our prison and is working with me as an Assistant Jailer. Maybe there will be some happiness, that’s my hope.

Arthur Woodley leads the Seattle Opera chorus in an ensemble from Lucia di Lammermoor

What’s your favorite thing in this opera to sing?
The trio in the first scene, “Gut, Söhnchen, gut,” that’s great. And the quartet, “Mir ist so wunderbar,” the music opens up and you see all the hopes and dreams of the people laid bare by Beethoven. Absolutely gorgeous. All my hopes for my daughter, and all she hopes for herself; you have inklings of what Fidelio wants, and you know what Jaquino wants. And then we sing “Gut, Söhnchen, gut,” you know: “My gosh, I think my child is gonna be ok.” And then of course the big ending, where the governor comes in says to Pizarro: “So this is what’s been going on here, huh?” And I can freely talk, and say, “Yeah! And he did this, and he did that, and everything else...” The burden is lifted.

Sounds like the parts you really enjoy are the better parts of Rocco’s life, his more positive experiences. I notice you haven’t listed the scene where they’re in the dungeon digging up the grave...
No. Beethoven writes that all [sings], dark and deep, and—I’m digging this guy’s grave! Pizarro is going to come in and shoot him in the head, and I’m going to have to cover him! What kind of a life is that?!

Have you sung Fidelio before?
Yes, this is perhaps the fourth time I’ve sung it.

And has it always been contemporary? Have you ever done it in Beethoven’s period, late 18th century?
The first one I ever did, in San Francisco, was not contemporary at all. I did this production [by Chris Alexander] maybe four years ago, in Portland.

What about other Beethoven? Have you sung Beethoven’s 9th?
Not a lot. For a singer, what you want is to do it in good places. I sang it in Carnegie Hall, in Mexico City, places like that.

Now, sopranos and tenors who have to sing the 9th, or Fidelio for that matter, will say, “This man had no idea how to write for the voice.” As a bass, do you find that Beethoven is really hard to sing?
No, I don’t. For the bass, he wrote well. It’s not extreme in any sense, for me. In fact, it’s right smack in the middle. There are some entrances where three of us are singing together, and I might wonder, am I going to be heard?

Well, if you’re up against Greer Grimsley and Clifton Forbis...
Yeah, little voices, in there! [gestures towards rehearsal studio] Am I going to get through, because he tends to write in the lower middle part of the voice, which is not where I’m going to be able to cut. But you deal with that; you just sing, and hopefully it will flow.

Arthur Woodley as Raimondo in Seattle Opera's 2010 Lucia di Lammermoor
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Where do you live? Are you heading back home for breaks between operas?
Yes, home is Montclair, New Jersey, and I’m going home for the long break between Fidelio and La Cenerentola. But between La Cenerentola and La bohème there’s only 2 or 3 days. I’ll go home in November to prepare for those two operas.

Those are both operas you’ve done before?
I did La Cenerentola at the beginning of my career, the first or second role I ever did, and I’ve not done it again. So that’s 25 years or so...

Gotta remember how to sing it!
I was pretty young then—can I handle it now? And the last time I did La bohème was maybe 8 years ago. When it’s been that long, it’s like doing something new. I try to approach everything as a character actor, so I am always looking forward to doing something new, trying something new. I’m all in.

Meet Our Singers: CLIFTON FORBIS, Florestan

Today we get to know tenor Clifton Forbis, who was last with Seattle Opera for his turn as Tristan in 2010’s Tristan und Isolde. Now he’s the wrongfully-imprisoned Florestan in Fidelio, an opera he estimates he’s sung 10 productions of in the past 12 years. So he’s no stranger to Beethoven’s powerful music, and today we talk with him about the role’s challenges, how he prepares for it, and what he thinks of its timeless message.

Forbis sings every performance of Fidelio, which runs from October 13-27, and there’s also an opportunity for Wagner and More! members to visit with Forbis and Education Director Sue Elliott at a special event on October 18, from 6-7:30 p.m. The two will discuss what it’s like to take on the challenging roles for which Forbis is known, and light hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be provided. WAM members can RSVP for this event by e-mailing WAM@seattleopera.org. Forbis will also be back in town at the end of the year, to sing Beethoven’s Ninth with the Seattle Symphony.

So, word on the street is that this role—and, really, most of Fidelio—is practically unsingable.
Word on the street is correct! [Laughs]

So, what do you find to be the most challenging aspect?
Trying to find the legato line in the first piece and in the finale. It’s more written for the trumpet than it is the voice.

Because of that, do you prepare for this role differently than you would others?
Yes, I really do. In Wagner, for example, the legato is just innately there because of the music. Here, you have to create it through the way you treat the text. You have to use the text to create the narrative line with legato, as opposed to solely relying on the melody itself. You have to spin the voice a different way in order to accomplish that. So you kind of have to change the way you think about it.

Annalena Persson (Isolde) and Clifton Forbis (Tristan) in Seattle Opera's 2010 production of Tristan und Isolde.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

How do you know if you’ve done a good job as Florestan?
That’s a really hard question! Personally, I’m never satisfied with any performance I give, of any piece, because I know there is always the possibility to do it better, and always the possibility for discovery of new things. For me, if the audience is appreciative, I’m happy. I’m thrilled that I gave them something that they liked. If I have developed the character, if the audience feels the pain, and follows the story, and I’ve told it well, then I’m OK.

How do you get into the mindset to play extreme characters like Florestan, and Tristan?
I honestly think that, aside from the vocal issue, there’s a reason you wait to do these roles until later on in your career, because you have to draw on life to sing them. And most young people don’t have a lot of grief and pain—now, I’m not saying that applies to everybody, but as you progress through your life, you see other people going through stuff, and you go through stuff yourself. You begin to experience things so that when you look at the music and the individual character you go, “Ah, I kind of understand this, I’ve seen that happen, I’ve watched people go through this, I’ve been through parts of these things.” You’re able to draw on this to help with the character.

I think something that innately speaks to me as a singer is the tragedy that’s involved. I sing roles that I identify with emotionally, and if I can’t identify with it emotionally, then it’s not rewarding for me musically, either.

What kind of man is Florestan? What’s his relationship with his wife?
I think he and his wife are very much in love with each other—obviously so, because she goes to such extremes to find him. And his vision is of her; he calls her his angel. I think that his mental recollection of her is what sustains him down there, along with his conviction that he has done the right thing. I think he is a very principled man, I think he has a great deal of integrity, I think they probably are the kind of couple you’ll see at 80 years old walking down the street holding hands.

Clifton Forbis (Tristan) and Greer Grimsley (Kurwenal) in Seattle Opera's 2010 production of Tristan und Isolde. The two also sing in this upcoming production of Fidelio, with Grimsley as Don Pizarro.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

We don’t really know exactly what happened to land Florestan in prison. Does that even matter?
It doesn’t really matter. To me, he’s an everyman. We’re all at some point squashed for what we think or what we believe, or we’re called out or ridiculed.

General Director Speight Jenkins says one should always do Fidelio in contemporary dress.
That goes pretty much hand in hand with what I was saying. It’s every man’s life, and how he responds to the adversity. Will he remain constant in his integrity even under persecution or ridicule? It’s done in contemporary dress because it’s a contemporary issue, all the time. It’s ever-present.

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Below, hear a clip of Clifton Forbis from Seattle Opera's 2010 production of Tristan und Isolde.