Meet Our Singers: ELIZABETH CABALLERO, Mimì

Cuban-American soprano Elizabeth Caballero has received glowing reviews for her opening night performance as Mimì in La Bohème, from both critics and audiences. She sings again in tonight’s performance, so we thought it’d be the perfect time to catch up with her and learn more about her and what she thinks of this wonderful Puccini opera.

For more information on La Bohème, including tickets, visit seattleopera.org/laboheme. Elizabeth Caballero sings the Wednesday/Saturday performances of Bohème and alternates in the role of Mimì with Jennifer Black, who sings Sunday/Friday performances.

Welcome back to Seattle, Elizabeth! First, tell us a little about your background; we hear you have an fascinating story about moving from Cuba to Miami when you were a child.
I came to the USA when I was a child, during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift, along with my parents and sister. If you are not familiar what that part of our history, it’s when Cuba and the USA agreed that anyone who wanted to leave Cuba could—if they had family members already living in the U.S. who could come get them by boat. It was an exodus that lasted from April to September of that year, with more than 125,000 Cubans fleeing the island. Luckily for my family, my aunt was already living in the U.S. and claimed us.

The thing the Cuban government did not tell the U.S. was that, while people were being picked up by their family members, Cuba would be emptying out its jails and mental hospitals—basically to get rid of the “undesirables.” It’s really terrible when you think about it, and it must have been very difficult for my young parents to deal with all of this with two little girls. That they left everything behind and began a new life in a new country...I will be eternally grateful to them and my aunt. Today, I am who I am because of their sacrifices, and because I grew up in a free country.

Elizabeth Caballero (Mimì) and Francesco Demuro (Rodolfo) in Seattle Opera's current production of La Bohème.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

We’ve chatted with you quite a bit on Twitter, and you seem to be one of the rare opera singers who is an active tweeter! What do you like about that platform?
We live in a world today that is driven by social media, and Twitter is a great tool for that. I get to share with my family and friends behind-the-scenes moments through pictures and updates on my comings and goings. We get to chat back and forth and, at the same time, I make new fans. I also have a Facebook page where I post a lot, too, but Twitter has been more fun lately. If you’d like to get in touch, my Twitter name is @LizCaballero, and my Facebook page is facebook.com/ElizabethCaballeroSoprano.

Below, hear Elizabeth Caballero sing a phrase from "Donde lieta," the aria in which Mimì breaks up with her beloved Rodolfo but tells him to keep the pink bonnet he bought her, to remember her love. Carlo Montanaro conducts the orchestra of Seattle Opera.

Do you get many tweets from fans? And have you convinced any of the non-tweeters in this cast to get on board?
I do get lots of tweets from fans across the world. It’s really exciting. And yes, while here I got Michael Fabiano to be more active on Twitter, and Jenna [Jennifer Black] to join. I met Maestro Montanaro on Twitter before I met him here in Seattle. I found him and we started tweeting. It’s a really cool way to stay in touch with colleagues, too.

So, La Bohème is an opera every opera fan has experienced, and probably many more times than once. Why do you think it never seems to get old?
La Bohème is basically a love story with beautiful music, and the characters in the story are people who are very easy to relate with: four poor, starving, and cold student-like guys, living life to the fullest. I’m sure we’ve all been there. Yes, it’s a story with a sad ending, but at the same time I believe La Bohème is a story that reminds of us young love (and, sadly, young death). It’s very relatable in the sense that everything can be perfect, and then boom! Something happens, life happens. La Bohème is a story of real life set to the amazing music of one of opera’s most wonderful composers. In my opinion, it’s a perfect combination.

Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello), Elizabeth Caballero (Mimì), Francesco Demuro (Rodolfo), Andrew Garland (Schaunard), and Arthur Woodley (Colline) in Seattle Opera's current production of La Bohème.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

You mentioned the lively characters in this opera, and it’s true: La Bohème is a great ensemble opera. Have you worked with members of this cast before?
I have worked with Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello) before. I was his Donna Elvira to his first Don Giovanni. It was a great show, and a big success for him. I'm happy to hear he's sung a few more Dons after that one. I've also worked before with Arthur Woodley (Colline). He was Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro when I was last here in Seattle. It's so nice to sing with him again—such a fine man and a beautiful singer. I sang my first Traviata with Michael Fabiano (the Sunday/Friday Rodolfo) a few years ago. Although I don't get to sing with him this time around, it's always such a joy to hear him. Jennifer Black is his Mimì, and we go way back. We were in the Merola Opera Program together several years ago, and we trained together in the summer program for the San Francisco Opera. We actually sang La Bohème together: I sang my first Mimì while she sang her first Musetta. It's been so wonderful to hear her again. While we don't share the stage together this time around, I feel lucky to hear her beautiful Mimì. I worked with Tomer Zvulun, our director, at the Met and I've loved working with him again. He's very smart, witty, patient, and knows how to get the job done. As for my other colleagues in this cast, I've never worked with them before; I just know of them or have heard them in other shows. But it's been a true joy bringing this Bohème to life with each and every one of them.

Do you have a favorite moment in La Bohème?
My favorite act to sing and watch is Act 3. I love singing the duet with Marcello, and then the aria to Rodolfo, followed by a perfect duet that turns into a quartet and back to a duet. It's funny because I've also performed many Musettas, so during that quartet I have to stay very focused on Mimì because it is very easy to want to sing Musetta's lines in the quartet! Especially because she's arguing with Marcello there and it's very hot and flashy. While I love to sing Mimì, Musetta is a lot of fun and I love that I can sing both girls.

Elizabeth Caballero (Mimì) and Francesco Demuro (Rodolfo) in Seattle Opera's current production of La Bohème.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

What’s next for you, once you leave Seattle?
I have lots of “firsts” coming up for me. After Seattle, I go to Madison Opera to sing my first Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. I’ve sung many Don Elviras, but this will be my first crack at Anna. I later go to Santo Domingo to sing a Spanish version of The Merry Widow—or La Viuda Alegre in Spanish. I love to sing in Spanish, since it’s my first language, and this will be my first Widow. Soon after that, I go to Virginia Opera to sing my first Alice in Falstaff, I have a Traviata at Florentine Opera, and then I go to Rio di Janeiro to sing my first Anna Trulove in The Rake’s Progress. I finish next season with my first Carmina Burana and Nedda in Pagliacci as a double-bill at Hawaii Opera Theater. I’ve sung Nedda before, but I’ve never been to Hawaii, so I’m really looking forward to it. So, yeah, I’ve got my work cut out for me, finishing off this season and next!

Meet Our Artists: TOMER ZVULUN, Stage Director

La Bohème opened to great enthusiasm from critics and audiences this weekend, many of whom were discussing the use of the photos of turn-of-the-century Paris (and the photo taken by the Bohemians at the end of Act Two) and the many fresh and unusual staging moments in this traditional production. These ideas are the invention of Tomer Zvulun, who made his Seattle Opera debut directing our gripping Lucia di Lammermoor in 2010, and who was a Resident Assistant Director at Seattle Opera for many productions before that. I checked in with Tomer about his life with La Bohème, his colleagues, and his blossoming career.

Do you remember your first Bohème? What did the opera do to you?
Bohème is the show that made me realize I wanted to work in the opera world. I watched an unforgettable performance of La Bohème in Tel Aviv, and I remember being absolutely entranced. I returned for every performance and at the end of the run decided to follow a career path in the theater and opera rather than going to medical school, where I was already enrolled. I never regretted that decision, and every time I hear Bohème I have a flashback of that performance and that night.

Which characters and scenes in La Bohème do you find the most real?
Bohème is wonderfully human. Different moments from it remind me of my own experiences: the deep friendship between the guys, the moment that Mimì and Rodolfo fall in love, the devastation you feel when losing somebody you deeply love, etc. But the highlight for me is Act 3, which I find one of the most profoundly touching scenes in opera. The scene in which Mimì is breaking up with Rodolfo, or trying to break up with him and she can't. It’s so universal and emotional. Each one of us has gone through a separation, whether we were the ones leaving or the ones left behind. This scene is deeply moving. I remember that when I staged it for the first time, years ago, I got sick after the rehearsal. It was so emotionally exhausting and intense.

Michael Fabiano (Rodolfo) and Tomer Zvulun at La Bohème Rehearsal
Alan Alabastro, photo

You have so many wonderful original moments in this staging of La Bohème, things I’ve never before seen—Colline about to bash Benoit over the head with the chair, Musetta calling for a spotlight before her waltz, Marcello and Musetta kissing furiously as they quarrel, Mimì getting up from her deathbed in panic when she thinks Rodolfo has left her (to name a few). Where do these ideas come from? Do you tend to use such ideas in every Bohème you direct?
Bohème more than other shows has a very rich and distinct tradition. Puccini was very specific about the timing and the action in his operas. I have lived with Bohème for so many years, doing many productions of it and watching many performances. There are ideas that came to me while listening to the recordings, ideas that came from this rehearsal period (for example, the chair moment you mention) or from the last time I directed Bohème (Cleveland 2008). I like doing it in a certain way, but two things never fail to amaze me: how perfect Puccini's pacing is and how much you learn from the people you do it with. I am told that one day I will get tired of Bohème, but I laugh at that notion. And dread it at the same time.

Tomer Zvulun at La Bohème Rehearsal
Alan Alabastro, photo

You worked on Erhard Rom’s set in Cleveland as well. How has this production evolved since then?
Erhard and I collaborated for the first time in 2008 in Cleveland, and began finding a mutual vocabulary back then. In the past few years we’ve done quite a few shows together: Lucia both in Cleveland and Atlanta, Don Giovanni at Wolf Trap, and now we are preparing a new Falstaff for Wolf Trap. We have developed a trust and respect for each other that only great friends and collaborators have. Together with Robert Wierzel, our lighting designer, we share a similar aesthetic and a special friendship. It is really fun to return to the piece again and revisit and develop the ideas that worked and get rid of the ones that didn't. Our ideas about nostalgia and photography emerged in Cleveland, but we didn’t have the chance to develop them visually, at least not fully. Here in Seattle, with more sophisticated projections, we are able to create a much more specific world, one of memories and nostalgia.

In Zvulun's staging, Rodolfo (Francesco Demuro) and Marcello (Michael Todd Simpson) gaze at a photo, taken by the happy gang at Café Momus, as they sing their nostalgic duet in Act Four
Elise Bakketun, photo

You’ve been busily working at opera companies around the U.S. since you were a resident Assistant Director in Seattle. Are you working overseas, as well? Do you work often in your homeland of Israel?
I have been very lucky. I have directed new productions all over the U.S., but was also able to return home to Tel Aviv and direct Gianni Schicchi and Dialogue of the Carmelites at the IVAI in Tel Aviv. That was a tremendous experience, to return home. Last year I worked in Panama, and this spring I will work in South America, directing a new Lucrezia Borgia in Buenos Aires. In the near future I will make a debut in Europe in an important festival. As exciting as traveling all over the world is, it can get very exhausting. The best part of my job is collaborating with the people that I love and care for: designers, singers, musicians, and in this case the people here in Seattle Opera that have known me since I started here as a young assistant—the stage managers, the costume and scenic department, the chorus... Opera is a complicated art form that is, in its core, a collaboration and a HUGE communal effort. It takes a miracle to get all those people together and create a successful show, and if things come together well on opening night, it’s an unforgettable experience. That was exactly what I felt when I made my debut in Seattle with Lucia in 2010. It felt like a little miracle, something I will never forget. And nothing is more exciting than sharing that miracle with your colleagues and collaborators. IT IS ADDICTIVE!!!

Meet Our Singers: JENNIFER ZETLAN, Musetta

Soprano Jennifer Zetlan made her Seattle Opera debut in 2010, when she created the role of The Flier in Amelia. Now she returns to the company as Musetta in all three Sunday matinee performances of La Bohème, and will come back this summer as Woglinde and the Forest Bird in The Ring. We sat down with her in between rehearsals for Bohème and asked about her experience with this opera, what type of roles she likes to perform, and what “swimming” rehearsals for The Ring entail.

Welcome back to Seattle! Last time you were here, you were singing a brand new opera. This time, you’re singing of the classics of the art form. Why do you think La Bohème has endured the way it has?
Bohème has a little bit of everything in it, so I think you can come to it at any moment in your life, at any mood, and take away something that applies to you. It’s universal, and people never get tired of it.

Jennifer Zetlan (Musetta) and Keith Phares (Marcello) in Seattle Opera's production of La Bohème.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

How do you relate to your character, Musetta? And, have you sung this role before?
This is my second professional Musetta, and I also worked on it during my undergrad. Musetta, I think I understand her in my own way. I mean, I personally wouldn’t go to a café and break a plate and make a lot of crazy noise, but I think I understand where that comes from. I love her, because there’s something so deep and heartfelt about her, even though she puts on these airs—like how she behaves in the café. But she’s really hurting from her stormy relationship with Marcello, and you can see that in a few special moments in the opera. I love that.

Jennifer Zetlan as Musetta in Seattle Opera's production of La Bohème.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Do you have a favorite moment in this opera?
Well, that chord [when Rodolfo realizes Mimì is dead] really kills me every time, without fail. I could not see any of the opera but hear the chord and still probably weep. But my favorite moment to perform? I really love that Musetta comes to be this wonderfully caring friend in the fourth act, that suddenly she sends Marcello to sell her earrings, and then she goes and gets her muff, because she thinks this is Mimì’s last dying wish, to just have warm hands. And then when Mimì asks Rodolfo, “Did you give this to me?” he’s about to correct her and say, “No, it’s from Musetta,” and Musetta quickly says, “Yeah, he did.” And that’s it, that’s all she says, and then she walks away and lets them have their moment. I love that. I love to watch it, I love to perform it.

La Bohème is a story about a great group of friends; have you been able to spend some time outside of rehearsals, socializing with this cast of performers?
Actually, I have a fourteen-month-old daughter, so I’ve been hanging out with her! She’s here with me in Seattle.

Oh, that’s great! So, is she an opera fan?
I think right now she couldn’t care less about opera! [Laughs] But she does love to sing, and she has for a long time. She loves to warm up with me at the piano.

Tell us, what did you last perform before coming to Seattle, and what’s next for you once you wrap up La Bohème?
Juilliard has this Alice Tully Vocal Arts Recital Debut Award, which I won, so this past fall I did a recital in Alice Tully Hall in New York. And just before that, I was a bridesmaid in The Marriage of Figaro at the Met. The next thing I do is go to the Omaha Symphony for a concert, and then I do recital with guitarist Eliot Fisk and cellist Yehuda Hanani in Massachusetts. After that, I’m going to Nashville to do Pamina in The Magic Flute. It’s a jam-packed couple of months—and then I come back to Seattle, for The Ring!

You were here recently for Rhine Daughter “swim practice,” weren’t you?
[Laughs] I was. It was four days of training, and it was our second practice (we were also here last August for a week). It’s physical training and practicing being in the harnesses, so that we can get ready for the physical nature of these roles, which are pretty demanding. There’s also a lot of music and singing in the scenes we’re in, so the idea is to come early and get used to it now, so in the summer we’re not focused on the physical task, but can really focus on acting and singing.

Ring Flight Technical Director Charles T. Buck, Flyman Justin Lloyd and Jennifer Zetlan (Woglinde) at a Rhine Daughter flying rehearsal (Alan Alabastro, photo)
Photo by Elise Bakketun

You’ll also return next season as Gilda in Rigoletto. But your career hasn’t really skewed toward standard repertoire, has it?
I would say the majority of my work has been off the beaten path, which is why it’s so nice to come and do something like Bohème. It’s nice to do this very standard thing for just a while, because I do a lot of contemporary music. For example, last year in June—and also for two years prior to that—I was workshopping a new piece by Nico Muhly.

Has your focus on contemporary works been by design, or just a happy coincindence?
I’m not sure it has been by design, but I really do enjoy it. It’s just been a nice development in my career, I think, but I’m also happy to occasionally come back to Mozart and Puccini!

La Bohème: Trailer

Watch dress rehearsal footage (complete with full orchestra & chorus) showcasing the stirring performances and masterful music that make this traditional production an appealing way to warm your heart this winter.



Learn more about La Bohème on the Seattle Opera Website

Meet Our Singers: JENNIFER BLACK, Mimì

This production of La Bohème features two Mimìs and Rodolfos, who each take on five performances of Puccini’s beloved opera. If you attend a Sunday or Friday performance, you’ll hear Jennifer Black and Michael Fabiano—both making their company debuts in these roles. Today, we get to know Jennifer a little better; below, she tells us how she got her start in opera, what she thinks of Bohème, and what it was like to perform at Seattle Opera’s recent gala.

For tickets and more info about La Bohème, visit www.seattleopera.org/LaBoheme.

 
Welcome to Seattle! Could you tell us about your background, and how you became interested in opera?
I grew up in Houston and I was in theater until the middle of my junior year of high school; I really wanted to be a straight actress. And I’d auditioned for the choir teacher and she wanted me to join, but because I was in theater I just didn’t have the time. Then, in my sophomore year, the theater and choir departments got together and did a musical—so I was able to go join choir.

Do you remember your first experience with La Bohème?
My voice teacher was in the Houston Grand Opera chorus, and one of the first assignments he gave me was “Donde lieta,” which is Mimì’s second aria. Most singers start out on Schubert or Mozart, but I started out on Puccini!

This is an opera that most opera fans have seen many, many times—but it never seems to get old. Why do you think Bohème has endured the way it has?
I think Puccini has the right balance of comedy and tragedy, and it’s a story that everybody can relate to on some level. There’s camaraderie, with the four guys goofing around on stage, and there are the two love stories—one very volatile, the other tragic and ending with death. We can always identify with at least one of the characters, depending on what’s going on in our lives, so that’s why I think it doesn’t get old. Sometimes people might identify with Colline, and other times they might identify with Mimì or Marcello. It stays fresh.

In fact, I was telling one of the Artist Aides that no matter how many times I see La Bohème or perform it, there’s always something new that comes to me. When you’ve done it so many times, you become opinionated about it, and sometimes it’s hard to accept new ideas. But if you’re open to it, and you can see it from different angles, then I think the story becomes that much more powerful.

Jennifer Black (Mimì) and Michael Fabiano (Rodolfo) in rehearsal for La Bohème.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

So, do you still get choked up when watching Bohème?
Oh yeah, absolutely! I was watching it last night with the other cast and I was getting choked up. It’s just impossible not to. In Act Four, everybody is having a really great time and joking around and then BOOM, Musetta comes in and she’s like, “Mimì is really sick, you’ve got to help.” And that’s so real life. It’s just like saying, “Somebody’s in the emergency room, we have got to go now.”

Which of these characters do you relate to the most?
I identify a lot with Mimì, and I appreciate her sacrifice. But I also definitely identify with Musetta in Act Four. She gets very protective of Mimì, and I tend to become very protective of my friends when I see that they’re in a compromised position.

Jennifer Black makes her Seattle Opera debut as Mimì. Here she's pictured in staging rehearsals for La Bohème.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Have you sung Musetta before? Actually, yes. We took La Bohème on tour with Western Opera Theater, which has since been cancelled but used to be part of San Francisco Opera, and I was Musetta for like six months. It was triple cast, so when we weren’t singing the lead roles, we were in the chorus. So I got to know this opera like the back of my hand. Musetta was a big challenge for me, but she taught me a lot, because I don’t have her outsized personality. I’m more subtle.

Do you have a favorite moment in this opera?
Well, gosh, there are so many favorite moments. I love watching the guys in Acts One and Four, when they’re in the garret. I love being part of Act Two as Mimì, as an observer to what’s going on with Musetta and Marcello (I feel there are so many little things you can do there to add to the character). But my favorite moments to sing are the duet with Marcello in Act Three, and “Sono andati?” in Act Four, when everybody has left. When Mimì asks, “Have they all left? I was pretending to sleep,” that moment has got to be perfect.

L-R: Head of Coach-Accompanists David McDade, Jennifer Black, and Michael Fabiano, at Seattle Opera's 2013 gala.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

You recently performed at our 2013 gala, along with your Rodolfo, Michael Fabiano. What was that experience like, and what did you sing?
It was so glamorous! I love seeing people when they feel good about the way they look, and have gotten dressed up and fancy. Also, it’s fascinating to get to know the audience of an opera company, and every audience is different. These people that I met are so involved. It’s always nice to get a feel of the people who make the opera company thrive and succeed.

We did some not-so-standard pieces, which I think the audience was very responsive to, so that was very exciting. I sang the “potion aria” from Roméo et Juliette, which is usually cut when it’s performed, but it’s becoming more common these days because of the way Juliette is being cast. She starts out as a young girl and then matures very quickly throughout the story, so the potion aria is heavier and has a lot more weight than her first aria does. I also sang “Chi il bel sogno” from La Rondine, and that is one of the soprano national anthems—but the opera isn’t done very often. And then Michael and I did the duet from Manon, the Saint-Sulpice scene, which is very, very passionate.

What’s next for you, after you leave Seattle?
I think I have five days off, and then I go to Toulouse, France, for Don Pasquale and my first Norina. Her character is completely different from Mimì, so that’ll be fun!

Meet Our Singers: TONY DILLON, Benoit/Alcindoro

Tony Dillon made his Seattle Opera debut in 2007 in the double roles of Benoit, the Bohemians’ foolish landlord, and Alcindoro, Musetta’s elderly admirer—the two La Bohème characters who have nothing to do with tragedy. Dillon returns for these roles in this season’s La Bohème. The other day he told me a little bit about what’s different this time, about working hard and having fun in this opera, and about the nearly 100 performances he’s wracked up of Puccini’s masterpiece.

Welcome back to Seattle Opera, Tony! La Bohème is an opera every opera fan has experienced, probably many more times than once, but it doesn’t seem to get old. Why not? What is the astonishing appeal of La Bohème ?
It pulls on everybody’s heart-strings, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, no matter how many times you’ve done it. As soon as you hear those chords, in the last act, the tears start up. And for me, it’s lots of fun.

Tony Dillon as Benoit at Seattle Opera in 2007, with Ashraf Sewailam (Colline), Marcus DeLoach (Schaunard), Scott Piper (Rodolfo), and Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello)
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Right, for you it isn’t a tear-jerker, it’s a comedy. For both your parts.
Yes, and I just get to run from one to the other. It’s always new, it’s always fresh, no matter how many times, and I think this is around 80 for me, so far. With each director, with each conductor you do things differently, and that makes it new...and of course, the cast. It never gets stale; it always stays fresh. The music is always wonderful. And she never lives! [laughs]

Each night you’re all hoping, somehow, that she’ll pull through. Speaking of how this opera is different each time, you sang Alcindoro and Benoit in Seattle the last time we did Bohème, in ’07. What’s different now?
For one thing, we don’t have this huge long staircase coming down in Act Two.

Cafe Momus in 2007 at Seattle Opera
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Right, that Pier Luigi Pizzi set we used that year, from Chicago...
Carrying all those boxes, I was always terrified I was going to fall down the stairs. A different conductor gives the show a different life. Carlo [Montanaro]’s tempos are a bit crisper. He knows exactly what he wants. And we’re all pliable.

Do you go into it each time with the same basic understanding of the characters, or does that change?
The background of the characters stays the same. Whether you play them more forceful, more buffo, stupider, more normal is all up to the director, and it can take on many different shades and colors.

Now, the two characters you play are somewhat ridiculous in this opera. Is your job to make them rich, complex human beings—or to be a buffoon?
Generally, my job is to portray them as they are written. It just so happens, with these characters, that they are buffoons.

Tony Dillon in rehearsal as Alcindoro
Alan Alabastro, photo

Or a little of column A, little of column B—
You gotta live in the moment and keep everything believable. And you gotta play off the boys, ‘cause they’re bouncing you all over the stage.

You’re no match for them, in Act One...
...and I’m no match for Musetta, in Act Two. She just abuses the bejeevus out of me.

Norah Amsellem (Musetta) and Tony Dillon (Alcindoro) rehearse the shoe scene from Act Two
Alan Alabastro, photo

I suppose there isn’t really a way to play Alcindoro with any real dignity.
I’ve played him where he’s really obnoxiously virile, you know, hale and hearty. In which case she can’t wait to be rid of him, and you fall off that horse and are left with—here he’s left with a dog, and the bill.

Alcindoro is such a cliché, in many ways—we’ve seen him so often in New Yorker cartoons, for example. Trying to balance all her Christmas boxes, and her irritating little dog—
Musetta makes an excellent pair of cuff links. She’s pretty on the arm, and he’s getting what he’s paying for.

This particularly night, he ends up paying a bit extra! So you mention working with a director to create a specific inflection of the character. Is there anything in particular Tomer Zvulun has given you here?
There are a few things, Benoit will be insufferably human. In fact we’re working our butts off out there in that scene...I hope we get a laugh when he’s thrown offstage.

In rehearsal for the Benoit scene: Michael Fabiano (Rodolfo), Arthur Woodley (Colline), Tony Dillon (Benoit), Andrew Garland (Schaunard), Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello)
Alan Alabastro, photo

The moment that always gets a laugh, I’ve never known it to fail, it’s Colline’s line when he falls down the stairs, “Colline, sei morta?” “Non ancor.”
“Not quite dead yet!”

Oh, you’re right, that’s out of Monty Python! I wonder if that's why everyone always laughs there. Changing the subject a bit, Tony, where is home?
Home for me now is Clearwater, Florida. And I have a place in Illinois. The rest of the time, I’m living out of a suitcase.

Has Seattle changed much since you were last here in 2007?
The amount of construction! It’s everywhere. And people. It’s a busier place. This street out here, by the rehearsal hall [in South Lake Union], I remember from six years ago it was all mud. Seems like it’s still under the very same construction it was then. I wouldn’t want to drive around here! I’m still learning my bearings in this neighborhood because things look so different. The neighborhood near the theater, that hasn’t changed much.

Do you have a favorite moment in La Bohème, whether to perform yourself, or to watch?
My favorite musical phrase is Mimì in the last act, when she sings “Sono andati? Fingevo di dormire,” [sings], just because the music always rips my heart out.

That’s the part where you cry. You can’t not.
That whole phrase, and then, “Buon giorno, Marcello...Schaunard, Colline, buon giorno.” That’s my favorite music. It’s not my line; I’m not even usually still in the theater at that point!

Have you sung Colline?
A couple times, and I’ve also sung Marcello.

So when you say 80-some Bohèmes, you’re counting...
No, 80-some just as Benoit and Alcindoro.

Wow, so those Colline and Marcellos were bonus. Adding them, have you got to 100?
Not just yet. As a side-note, years ago when we first moved to New York, we had two cats. One of them was named “Marcello Finalmente,” what Rodolfo sings in Act 3, and the other was “Eddie Pensier” [sings the cadenza ending “La donna è mobile,” to the words “e di pensier!”] Marcello and Eddie.

I hear you’re going in now to dog auditions, to determine which dog you’re going to be lugging around as Alcindoro.
Yes, dog-staging rehearsals. We’ve already worked in the juggler and the stilt-walker. It’s going to be quite an Act Two!

Meet Our Singers: ARTHUR WOODLEY, Colline

Arthur Woodley doesn’t really need any introduction at this point to Seattle Opera’s audience—the American bass (raised in the West Indies) has been here all season, starring as the beleagured jailer Rocco in this fall’s Fidelio and the benevolent, cunning wizard Alidoro in La Cenerentola last month. But I’d never pass up an opportunity to check in with a singer I’ve admired since his 1997 Seattle Opera debut (Dr. Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro), so I grabbed him after rehearsal the other day to compare the operas we’ve done this year, find out what he thinks about La Bohème, and admire his beard, which is returning after a long absence for the ever-hirsute Colline!

Looking back on the three roles you’ve played here this season, which has been the most challenging?
Rocco is the most challenging of all three, definitely.

Which has been the most fun?
Oh...it’s Colline.

Oh, sure, because it must be a blast to be up there, horsing around with the Bohemians. Plus, the sad stuff in La Bohème mostly involves the other characters.
Yes, and with Alidoro, you’re sitting there saying, “I got this 18-page aria coming up, that has high Fs and stuff, the top of the bass range, so...yeah!”

Arthur Woodley sings Alidoro's aria "La nel ciel" in Seattle Opera's recent La Cenerentola
Alan Alabastro, photo

And Rocco, the longest role, the most complicated character...
Exactly. And it has all that dialogue, as well.

Is that challenging, to memorize all of that?
It’s difficult, to get it so that it sounds good, from the point of view of the German language. And the rhythm of getting out of the singing and into the spoken lines and then back into the singing again, that’s hard. It’s also more of a challenge because there’s that much more ‘deep’ acting. He’s a real character, and he’s hardly ever offstage, from the beginning of the opera to the end, so that’s a tough role. But I love it.

Arthur Woodley as Rocco in Fidelio last fall
Elise Bakketun, photo

Do you find the acting more a challenge in the dialogue, or in the concerted numbers? Beethoven wrote these fabulous pieces of music for that opera, but in terms of the text and the action, you end up repeating yourself a lot...
That’s the thing. And you have to work against that, you have to make it exciting and reel the audience in. Which, if you can do it, it’s a heck of a piece.

So, La Bohème. Why do you think this opera become what it is—this cultural monument? Why is it so beloved, so popular?
You really understand why, as a performer, when you get to that fourth act. But even before that—it’s about young love. I don’t care how old you are, you remember. That first time you fell in love, that first person you saw. The first time you held hands, you remember all that. So you have this beautiful story unfolding about two lovers; you got Puccini’s music over that—oh, man! It’s hot! And then at the end, after they meet and break up, and now she’s back, she’s in his room—but she’s dying. And Puccini writes, once again, the most gorgeous music. To me, the great thing about what Puccini does is, he expresses what the heart wants. And what the ear wants. I think that’s why this piece has lasted forever. To hear the expiration of this young love, the death of this woman, accompanied by heart-rending music, it’s a hit forever and ever. Amen.

What’s your favorite moment in La Bohème?
The moment that really gets me is her death...that whole 10-15 minute scene, whatever it is. You really see how all these characters are held together by their love for each other, how their experiences have brought them together...and how they’re there for each other at that point, at this death of this young, young woman. I think Colline has probably seen it before; he’s older. But for most of them, it’s probably the first time they’ve had to deal with death. And to see somebody this young die, it’s unbelievable, it’s horrible. And it’s the same thing for the audience—they experience the same thing, through their ears.

Arthur Woodley sings the "Coat Aria"

The last thing we hear in this opera is your little cadence—the end of your Coat Aria, [hums last five notes of La Bohème]. Why?
Puccini is expressing this sense of loss, which all these characters are feeling. It has accumulated. It’s given to Colline first, he’s the oldest one, to express it; but everyone at the end is feeling this death, this loss.

What about hope? The tenor makes a big deal about hope in his first aria, when he sings his great high C on the word ‘hope,’ “la speranza!” Is the Coat Aria what kills that hope?
Well, he’s talking about a coat. But he’s saying: “You’re going on to higher things,” and he’s also talking about Mimì. Schaunard has just told me, “In a half hour, she’ll be dead,” and I accept it, I say, “You’re right, she is going to die, let’s see what I can do to help, to find money for medicine or a muff or whatever,” but I think “Vecchia zimarra” is really saying goodbye to Mimì. It’s expressed through me, but it’s what everyone is feeling.

Because Colline loves her too. You think she’s hot, you say as much, making lewd jokes in Latin when Rodolfo first introduces her to you at Café Momus.
[Laughs] “Come on in!” Yeah, of course I love her—I love her through the love I have for Rodolfo, who’s my good pal. All of us, you know, are living these wretched lives, eating next to nothing, stealing from the landlord, and doing it together. I’m happy about the love of Rodolfo and Mimì. I tease them, of course, as any big brother would his younger brother, but I love all these guys. My boys.

Arthur Woodley (Colline) and Andrew Garland (Schaunard) rehearse a scene from La Bohème
Alan Alabastro, photo

You mentioned, in our recent Speight’s Corner video, that you think Colline has been bruised, and perhaps this explains his cynicism about romance.
I think so...I think he’s had his romances as well, in years past, and I think he enjoys looking at these younger guys go through the same thing. It’s like the older brother who teases you but he’s also watching over you, he wants to make sure you’re going to be okay. He relives this young love through Rodolfo...but he doesn’t want any part of it anymore. He’s happy with his books, his philosophy...

He has this monk-like thing going on...
Yes, you know, I’ll grow my beard out, and to heck with all of that. “I’ll live romance vicariously through you guys.”

Colline (Arthur Woodley) wonders if he should get a shave at a rehearsal of La Bohème
Alan Alabastro, photo

I notice you’ve been growing your beard back...we haven’t seen that in a while. That’s for your great line—
Exactly, when we’re rich and are going out on the town, “I’m going to meet my first barber.”

Are you going to have a great big shaggy beard that then comes off?
We haven’t decided yet. Joyce [Degenfelder, Hair and Makeup Designer] was talking about a goatee. I figured, might as well grow the whole thing out, so she has more to play with!

The hallmark of a good performer—give your director, or in this case designer, all the options you can! Arthur, I feel I should thank you for all you’ve given us at Seattle Opera this season. You’re part of our family, we love having you here and hearing you sing, and I hope you continue lighting up our stage for years to come.

Meet Our Singers: ANDREW GARLAND, Schaunard

We kicked off our series of La Bohème artist Q&As yesterday when we chatted with Norah Amsellem, one of our Musettas, and today we turn to baritone Andrew Garland, who will sing Schaunard in all performances of this run. The last time Garland was here, it was as a Young Artist in 2004/05, along with fellow Bohème cast-member Michael Todd Simpson. That season, Garland gave an unusual, last-minute performance in Seattle Opera’s production of Florencia en el Amazonas, and we asked him what that experience was like. We also talk to him about why Bohème tugs at his heart, and about the friendly sports rivalry between him and one of our two Rodolfos, Michael Fabiano.

In our recent Speight’s Corner video, we got to see you and Michael Fabiano butt heads a bit over your baseball allegiances: you’re a Red Sox fan, and he roots for the Yankees. Especially now that the baseball season is just around the corner, has there been any trash talk between you two in rehearsals?
Oh, it’s constant. [Laughs] It’s pretty much every time I see him! Michael and I have very different personalities, and I’m usually pretty reserved—but if something comes up where there’s a point of contention, like baseball, then yep. And it’s just like the camaraderie we have on stage, which is especially good because I’d never met him before, so we had that connection right off the bat.

We love having our Young Artists return to Seattle Opera. When you look back on your time as a Young Artist, what do you remember about the experience?
There were so many great things, like having Peter Kazaras and Stephen Wadsworth around, and getting Speight’s input on the business and how it really is. Plus, it was a good group of artists, and four of us were from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, including Michael Todd Simpson.

So, tell us about that season’s Florencia en el Amazonas experience! Well, when I found out Seattle Opera was doing Florenica on the mainstage, I borrowed a copy from the library and fell in love with the music instantly. And I said, “You know what? I’m going to coach this with [Head of Coach-Accompanists] David McDade.” I wanted to really learn it and practice it, because I just loved the music. Meanwhile, Nathan Gunn didn’t have a cover for his role as Ríolobo, and sure enough, he got sick. So Speight came and grabbed me and said, “We need you to do this!” because I just happened to know it.

The most nerve-racking part of it was up until the show started, I didn’t know exactly what they wanted me to do—because Nathan was not entirely indisposed. He didn’t want to not sing if he didn’t have to, and so just before the show started, they said, “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to sit there, and if Maestro points at you, you start singing.” [Laughs] I knew I would have to do the climactic storm scene, because Nathan didn’t feel comfortable singing that one scene, but…

…but you were basically on call for any other parts that he might need covered.
Yeah. I’ve never heard of that sort of arrangement, but it worked out and didn’t disturb the show at all. It was the best way to handle it.

Andrew Garland (kneeling, front), along with Arthur Woodley (Colline), Francesco Demuro (Rodolfo), Elizabeth Caballero (Mimì), Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello), and Norah Amsellem (Musetta), in staging rehearsals for La Bohème.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

And now you’re here for La Bohème, in which you will sing Schaunard! How many times would you guess you’ve performed La Bohème in your career?
Forty times. And I’m not sick of it.

It’s that kind of opera; people can see it over and over again and never get tired of it. Why do you think Bohème has endured the way it has?
Because we’ve all been young, struggling up-and-comers—though maybe not necessarily as artists. But we can all relate to that struggle. And we can relate to love, and to loss. And the music is exquisite.

It’s one of those operas that affects me more the more I do it. Rather than becoming desensitized, it’s just the opposite. I discover more through my own study and through the insights of others, like Maestro Carlo Montanaro here. It’s fascinating, his observations on Bohème. For example, there’s one little exchange in Act Two; when I first heard it, I thought, “This is a nice, clever, simple exchange.” It’s when everyone is finally sitting down at the tables, and Marcello is starting to get bitter and sarcastic about everything. And he says, “O bella età d'inganni e d'utopie! Si crede, spera, e tutto bello appare!“ [“O lovely state of paradise and deception! With belief and hope, all seems perfect”] and then Rodolfo takes his line, “La più divina delle poesie è quella, amico, che c'insegna amare!” [“The greatest poetry, my friend, is that which teaches us to love!”]. What Maestro pointed out is that in the first line, Marcello provides warmth (though, of course, it’s a warm color but a bitter sentiment). And then the tenor comes in and he sings the same line, but it’s just transposed up, and he provides the power. And hearing how one line moves to the other like that—well, it’s the same music, but it’s a different element that gets brought out. And that’s just one little example!

Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello), Arthur Woodley (Colline), Andrew Garland (Schaunard), Elizabeth Caballero (Mimì), and Francesco Demuro (Rodolfo) rehearsing Act Two of La Bohème.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Do you have a favorite moment in La Bohème, whether to perform yourself, or to watch from the audience?
When Colline says, “Salami!” [Laughs] No, I always joke that’s my favorite part, but gosh, to pick a favorite… OK, well, to narrow it down, this may not be my favorite moment in the opera but it’s my favorite moment I get to sing. It’s when Schaunard says—you know what, it’s not even when Schaunard is singing. It’s when he leaves Rodolfo so he can be alone with Mimì. It’s a very touching moment. And Puccini brings back Schaunard’s motif. In the beginning, when I first come in, it’s “Ba ba ba ba ba!” [snaps fingers, sings Schaunard’s entrance music], it’s a party, I got food, I got money, we’re gonna party! But later on, when I leave Rodolfo to be with his dying lover, it’s the same music, for the same person, but it’s a completely different mood. [Sings slower Schaunard motif from his Act 4 exit, before “Sono andati?”] So actually, that’s my favorite part to perform.

Do you ever get choked up, performing this opera?
Maestro said he started crying when he was silently studying the score on the plane—just by opening the book and looking at it. And that happens to me, too. But one thing I actually learned from Stephen Wadsworth, when I was a Young Artist, was that you need to find that line before you lose emotional control. You define that line as clearly as, say, a line on the floor. Once you cross over it, you lose control. So you say, “I’m going up to this point before the line, and I will keep this much distance from the line.” You can learn to do that, just like you can learn to balance on one foot.

Andrew Garland's new CD, available on Amazon.

Moving away from the opera stage, how is your career as a recitalist going? And what’s next after La Bohème wraps up?
Oh, well, thank you for asking! I actually just released a recital CD that went straight to No. 1 on Amazon.com for opera and vocal CDs. It’s of a few 21st-century American composers: Jake Heggie, Stephen Paulus, Tom Cipullo, and Lori Laitman. I enjoy a good balance of recital, concert, and opera. And after this, I’m going straight to another opera—The Marriage of Figaro—and then am doing my favorite role, Dandini from La Cenerentola.

Meet Our Singers: NORAH AMSELLEM, Musetta

It’s time now to begin meeting our singers for La bohème, which takes the stage very soon at Seattle Opera. I spoke yesterday with our remarkable Musetta, Norah Amsellem, who brings the special perspective of a Paris native to this classic story of Paris. Norah loves this opera and has lots of experience with it—and we also spoke about a new adventure for her: the triple-threat role of The Tales of Hoffmann heroines, which she’ll be singing for us next season.

First of all, Norah, what do you think is the special magic of La bohème? This is an opera that gets done very often, but people never tire of it. Why do you think it has this extraordinary power?
I think it’s because everybody can somehow identify with it. The characters are all students, they’re all poor—we’ve all been there. Everybody can relate to the love story here, because at some point in life we’ve been struggling to get somewhere, and falling in love.

Fundamental, core experiences.
It’s a very human opera.

Norah Amsellem as Elvira in I puritani at Seattle Opera
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Now you’ve sung bel canto at Seattle Opera before, when you starred in I puritani; and recently we heard you sing the French lyric soprano role of Micäela in Carmen. Do you sing a lot of Puccini, as well?
I’ve sung a lot of Bohèmes—but usually I sing Mimì.

So how did you end up singing Musetta here?
Oh, it’s because Speight [Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera] heard me sing the only Musetta I’ve done, in San Francisco a few years ago, and he loved it so much he asked me to do it here. And I’m always glad to be back in Seattle!

Did he ever hear you sing Mimì?
No, I don’t think so! [laughs]

That’s very interesting. This is one of the few situations in opera where one singer can, technically, sing two different roles in an opera; these two soprano characters, Mimì and Musetta.
Right, because in Turandot, for instance, there are two different sopranos, but they’re really two different voice types. Maybe Montserrat Caballé, who mostly sang Liù, I think at some point she may have sung Turandot.

I assume that Liù is the role you sing in that opera.
Absolutely. I’ve done a lot of Liù and Mimì...

But no other Puccini roles?
No; I would love to do La rondine.

I can see you doing that! What about Lauretta, in Gianni Schicchi?
Sure. I haven’t, yet.

In terms of Mimì vs. Musetta, do you find you have more of an affinity with one character or the other? Which one is really you?
Mimì. I think!

Not just voice, but personality?
Yes, I think my soul comes out a lot more in Mimì. Musetta is very flamboyant. She’s fun to do onstage, but in Mimì you can really put a lot of depth and drama. Musetta is a more flighty character.

When do we see the real Musetta?
In Act Four, you can see her tenderness, her caring personality. Also, depending on the staging, you can see that she really cares for Marcello. That’s why they keep coming back to each other; somehow, deep down, they care for each other. Otherwise it would just be another fling. Which she has a lot of. She wouldn’t get angry if she didn’t care for him; she wouldn’t try to get him back in Act Two. She wouldn’t care.

Do you have a backstory worked out for Musetta and Marcello? Do we know how they met and got together the first time?
She’s a courtisane, so I suppose they met in some situation where she was with someone who paid her bills, but she met somebody she actually likes. So she goes with Marcello, until she can’t pay her bills any more. But that’s not the case in Act Three—she stays with him while he’s painting the façade, and she’s giving singing lessons. So there she has made a decision to be with him.

Norah Amsellem (Musetta) and Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello) rehearse a scene from La bohème
Alan Alabastro, photo

There’s some kind of commitment there—“Let’s leave the Latin Quarter, and go out to the Barrière d’Enfer.” Their little household doesn’t last all that long—I guess it’s about the speed of Manon and Des Grieux...
[chuckles] That’s right! “Okay, I need jewelery now!”

Speaking of Manon...Paris has always been the capitol of Bohemia, and Musetta in particular is said to be a very Parisian person. You’re a native Parisienne...is there something you bring to this character or to La bohème which the rest of us might not get?
It’s a question of the real, French way a courtisane would be. It’s different than in Italy. The courtisanes were supposed to be very well-educated, well-mannered, have a lot of spirit—it took brains. Of course they were beautiful, but you had to be able to hold a conversation and be piquant, be able to tease everybody. It’s a whole package, not just having a nice body.

To be charming and entertaining.
Yes, you know, courtisanes were brought along with all the wives and people to go out on social occasions. You couldn’t invite somebody who looked pretty but was totally dumb. That’s not the courtisane way.

Norah Amsellem in La bohème rehearsal
Alan Alabastro, photo

And that’s both Musetta and Violetta in La traviata, which is a role you’ve sung often.
Absolutely. But Mimì, in the book, is also a courtisane.

That’s true, that’s interesting—in the opera we don’t notice it so much because it’s all offstage, her little affair with the Viscount.
Yes, you don’t see it in the opera, but she is a courtisane also.

In the opera you don’t really see Mimì being all witty or charming or the center of attention, like you do Musetta...
You don’t usually, but you could. The whole first act, where she’s playing with Rodolfo...it doesn’t have to be pathetic, it can be very witty and charming if you do it properly. She’s a seamstress, but she’s also a courtisane. Sometimes you lose that aspect of her, which is a shame because that’s where you can see that in some ways she’s behind it all. I think it makes it a lot more interesting.

I’ve always had the sense that she and Rodolfo know each other by sight—they’ve been passing on the staircase for weeks, smiling at each other for a while now...
Yes, of course! And that’s why she goes for it. She knocks on the door—

She’s the one who makes the move. She’s the one who’s all, “Oh, my candle blew out!” “Oh, whoops, I dropped my key!”
Exactly. You can do that in a charming, witty way. You don’t have to...

Not so helpless and pathetic...
Yes, there you go. She’s not helpless. She’s French.

Tony Dillon (Alcindoro) and Norah Amsellem (Musetta) rehearse a scene with stage director Tomer Zvulun
Alan Alabastro, photo

Is that the French element of the character, as a French woman? That you’ve always got to be one step ahead of the guys?
I think so! [laughs] In that epoch, certainly, you had to be charming in that way. And today...I think French women are more liberated. We enjoy teasing, sarcasm...you still want to have a good conversation.

Next year you’ll be singing one of the great French operas for us: Tales of Hoffmann. And you’re singing all three of Hoffmann’s lady-friends: Olympia, the robot; Antonia, the sick girl; and Giulietta, who’s another courtisane. Have you sung those roles before?
No, no. In fact, I’ve just sung my first Antonia, just before coming here, in Beijing.

At the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the beautiful new opera house in Beijing, wow.
That was my first time in Hoffmann. I sang Antonia, which was good practice for next year in Seattle.

So now you add the other two. Joan Sutherland sang all three roles here in Seattle in 1970, although I don’t know whether there are all that many people in our audience who will remember that performance! Do you have role models, vocally, for this triple play?
It’s not done all that often, actually. It’s difficult. Diana Damrau did all three recently in Munich, I think.

How did you decide to do it?
Well, Speight asked me if I would give it a try, so I sang through the Doll Aria, to see if it would be a possibility. I knew Antonia would be fine.

Yes, that’s like Micäela, which you did here...
Yes, or any lyric soprano role.

Norah Amsellem sings "Caro nome" from Rigoletto

I still remember your “Caro nome,” to this day, as being a great wake-up call to me, of what that aria is really about.
Thank you.

Hearing not just the accuracy of the coloratura, but the reason for it, the meaning. Do you do a lot of that stratospheric bouncing around up top? You sing a lot of Violettas...
Yes, I do the E-flats. I have the notes, and I can do it, but I have a lyric voice. So why not? Gilda is actually written for a lyric soprano, not a light soprano. It became a tradition, at some point, for lighter sopranos to do it...but then you can’t hear them in the storm scene, for example.

Norah Amsellem as Gilda in Act Two of Rigoletto at Seattle Opera
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Well, we look forward to hearing all of it next year. One last question: do you have a favorite moment in La bohème, whether to perform yourself, or to watch?
I think Mimì’s scene in Act Three, her duet with Marcello and the aria where she says goodbye to Rodolfo.

Good stuff. And this time, you get to relax and enjoy it, with the rest of us!

La BohèmeConnect With The Creative Team

Stage Director Tomer Zvulun and Maestro Carlo Montanaro discuss their personal and artistic connections to this appealing "slice-of-life" opera. Includes footage of principal singers in rehearsal.



Learn more about La Bohème on the Seattle Opera Website

Meet Our OUR EARTH Singers: Rachel DeShon, Alitsa/Salmon

Today, our fourth and final interview with the adults in our Heron and the Salmon Girl cast: Rachel DeShon, who plays Alitsa, the Salmon Girl of the opera's title. A Pacific Northwest native who really loves salmon--she's even shared her favorite salmon recipe with us!--DeShon remembers her days as a student with Seattle Youth Symphony, one of our partners for Our Earth, and lets us know what she's been doing more recently.

You’re new to Seattle Opera – welcome! Where did you grow up, and how did you first become involved with music?
I was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from Inglemoor High School. Even as a little girl, my life was an opera. Everything was a song, I would always sing, no matter what I was doing. My mom says that when I was about four years old I was playing in the laundry room and I climbed on the washing machine. I was always singing, so much of the time she didn't pay much attention, but this day I kept singing the same song over and over and it got progressively louder and louder. When she finally noticed the words, I was singing "I'M STUCK on the washing machine! Get me off the washing machine!" in a really big operatic voice.

I was also heavily involved in instrumental music growing up. I started playing Flute in elementary school and when I got to Junior High School I switched to French Horn and took part in the Seattle Youth Symphony's Endangered Instruments Program. It is a program that encourages music students to learn less commonly played instruments. It is exciting that things have come full circle and I am again involved with the Seattle Youth Symphony.

What do you like most about being a Seattleite?
I love the outdoors and going on adventures. If I could mix opera and camping, I'd be a happy camper! (No pun intended.)

What's a favorite experience you've had as a performer?
Two unique experiences have really molded me into the artist I am today:

When I was a senior in high school I competed in a won Marvin Hamlisch's Search for a Star Competition with the Seattle Symphony. What I took from that experience was so more important than any prize, I gained a true champion and mentor. Marvin Hamlisch helped guide my journey as an artist. He was a constant source of encouragement and I was so fortunate to work with him and be a guest artist on his national tour.

Rachel DeShon with Marvin Hamlisch
Michael Doucett, photo

Right after graduating from college and much to the dismay of my parents, I ran away with the circus! I am a recurring cast member with Teatro ZinZanni and have been nicknamed "Seattle's Littlest Diva". I have had the opportunity to collaborate with such a diverse group from contortionists and acrobats to Grammy Award winners Thelma Houston and Joan Baez, it is a place that is like none other. Teatro ZinZanni truly made me learn what it is to be a fearless performer. If anyone is looking for a roller-skating, flying opera singer - I'm your girl.

Rachel DeShon at Teatro ZinZanni
Michael Doucett, photo

Who is Alitsa, and what does she do in the opera?
Alitsa is vivacious young girl. Our characters' names come from the Lushootseed language, which is spoken by many tribes in the Puget Sound region. Alitsa is a girl that is always on the look out for an adventure. At the beginning of the opera she is tired of her surroundings and is seeking to find where she fits in. As the first act progresses she finds herself realizing the beauty that surrounds her and that she truly loves her home. She also has a magical power to transform into a Salmon. When Alitsa transforms she is able to embark on a new journey, one that will take her to an unfamiliar place. When she arrives she sees that her brother is greatly in need of her help.

What is your favorite part about the opera to sing?
While we are traveling on the boat I tell Tayil, the fisherman, of a time when "my brother and I sailed, we sailed for days on end". This is a turning point for Alitsa and she realizes how much she loves the sea and her home.

The costumes Rachel DeShon wears as Alitsa and Salmon are designed by Pete Rush

I am truly honored to be working with Seattle Opera; this has been a very unique and rewarding experience, thus far. Having the opportunity to share in the creation process with the youth of the Seattle community has brought unique life to this project. To see young people excited about creating a new work is truly gratifying. It is essential to find and establish new audiences, and this project is tailored to do just that. I hope by bringing opera to young people we will create a love for opera that will extend throughout their lives.

Are you fond of salmon? If so, what’s your favorite way to prepare them?
Being a true girl from the Northwest, I love salmon. Here's my favorite recipe:

"Salmon Girl Loves Salmon"

8 T Butter (one stick)
1/3 C Honey
1/3 C Brown Sugar
2 T Lemon Juice
1 t Liquid Smoke
3/4 t Red Pepper Flakes
1 center cut salmon fillet (about two pounds, skin on and in one piece)

1. Combine butter, honey, brown sugar, lemon juice, liquid smoke, and red pepper flakes in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until smooth, 5-7 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
2. Arrange the salmon in a dish just large enough to hold it. Poor the cooled marinade over it, and let it stand for 30 minutes, turning once.
3. Prepare the grill.
4. Oil the grill well and cook the salmon skin side up over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Then turn it over and cook until the fish flakes easily, another 5-7 minutes.
5. Transfer the fish to a platter and serve immediately.

Our friends at The Nature Conservancy posted this photo of young salmon, also known as 'parr,' earlier this week
Bridget Besaw, photo

Has playing a salmon in this opera changed your attitude toward them?
All animals from the land and sea in the Pacific Northwest have seen such a dramatic change in habitat in the last 50 years; salmon are no exception. It is crucial that we preserve and help rebuild natural habitats in the Pacific Northwest so the beauty we are able to see today will be here for future generations.

-----

Our Earth is produced by Seattle Opera in partnership with Seattle Youth Symphony and The Nature Conservancy. If you’d like to win tickets to Sunday’s performance, which also features former Seattle Opera Young Artist Adina Aaron singing Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, we’ll be giving away five pairs Friday afternoon.

Enter the drawing by heading over to Twitter and tweeting:

I want to win 2 tix to Heron & the Salmon Girl from @SeattleOpera & @Conserve_WA! http://bit.ly/Y5Hi5Q #OurEarthOpera

You can tweet once each day for additional chances to win; the drawing will happen Friday 2/8 at 3 pm.

Meet Our OUR EARTH Singers: Thomas Thompson, Turtle/Tayil

Baritone Thomas Thompson plays two roles in Heron and the Salmon Girl: Turtle, out in the open waters of the Sound, and Tayil, a fisherman whose livelihood is threatened when he can't find any salmon. Thomas, who joins Seattle Opera for the first time with Our Earth, told us a little about his two characters and about his own interesting background.

You’re new to Seattle Opera – welcome! Tell us a little about yourself. Where did you grow up?
I had a pretty nomadic childhood: I was born in South Africa and before moving to Washington State, my family lived in the U.K. and California. We moved here when I was about 11.

What do you like most about being a Seattleite?
I like being a Seattleite because Seattle feels like very much of a cultural crossroads. We have so many different and exciting influences here - our many immigrant communities speak to that, but so does our openness and tolerance for so many different ways of life. In some ways it feels like Seattle combines the diversity of a big city with the close-knit neighborhoods and constant presence of nature you find in smaller cities.

Could you share a favorite experience you’ve had as a performer?
That's a hard one... right now I would say my favorite performing experience was my first time serving as the Bass soloist in Bach's B-minor Mass. I have been very fond of the work for a long time, and getting to perform it with full orchestra/chorus was a dream come true for me.

Turtle costume by Pete Rush

In Heron and the Salmon Girl you play a fisherman, Tayil, and a turtle. Are these two characters very different? What do they have in common?
In essence they are quite similar. They are both somewhat grumpy characters and they are both very serious: neither one jokes about or goofs off. They are also both weary, Turtle from a long lifetime of experience, Tayil from a shorter lifetime at the punishing work of being a fisherman. It seems to me that the big difference is that Tayil still has some fight in him, and part of his story arc is realizing that his anger, which he initially directs toward the natural world and the ecosystem which both supplies him with work and causes him great hardship, is misplaced.

What is your favorite part of the opera to sing?
The scene in which Tayil discovers one of the other characters trespassing on his boat. He gets to act a little bit villainous for a moment and shout and stomp about. Good times!

Where is Tayil from? Why do you think his line means, in the trio, when he sings “This Sound is the only home for me”?
He says he was "born across another ocean", which to me says something like my own background, maybe Europe though instead of Africa. His hard-bitten, generally short-spoken manner has a little bit of Ingmar Bergman to it, so perhaps he is Norse!

“This Sound is the only home for me” to me is the flip side of “...the salmon cannot hide from me.” Because he is a predator in the ecosystem of the Sound, and a competent one, he has become inextricably a part of it.

-----

Our Earth is produced by Seattle Opera in partnership with Seattle Youth Symphony and The Nature Conservancy. If you’d like to win tickets to Sunday’s performance, which also features former Seattle Opera Young Artist Adina Aaron singing Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, we’ll be giving away five pairs Friday afternoon.

Enter the drawing by heading over to Twitter and tweeting:

I want to win 2 tix to Heron & the Salmon Girl from @SeattleOpera & @Conserve_WA! http://bit.ly/Y5Hi5Q #OurEarthOpera

You can tweet once each day for additional chances to win; the drawing will happen Friday 2/8 at 3 pm.