Meet Our Singers: JENNIFER ZETLAN, Woglinde the Rhine Daughter & ForestBird

American soprano Jennifer Zetlan made her Seattle Opera debut in 2010 as The Flier in Amelia, a dream-version of a well-known missing-in-action 1930s aviatrix. This summer she flies again at Seattle Opera—both as a Bird and as one of three singers who appear, suspended above the stage in this production’s now-famous Rhine Daughter harnesses. I spoke to this remarkable soprano, whose crystal-clear diction even in the highest tessitura is a god-send for composers writing in English, about the trajectory of her career in Seattle so far, about her two fascinating roles in the Ring, and about what she’s learned about her characters from her young daughter.

Jennifer Zetlan as The Flier in Amelia

Jennifer, you’re doing so much traditional rep for Seattle this year – Puccini (Musetta in La bohème), Wagner, Verdi (Gilda in Rigoletto next January). Is that usual for you?
No, not at all. Mostly I do new music, or off-the-beaten path things. It's nice to get to do lots of standard stuff in Seattle!

Well, you started here with new music, with Amelia. How did your affinity for singing new music come about? Was it your choice?
I wouldn’t say it was exactly my choice...I really like new music, I gravitate towards it. And I think I’m lucky that it has gravitated toward me, as well. I’ve been offered plenty of interesting and varied work.

Is it also that you have a proven track record—that you can deal with new scores written full of esoteric harmonies, or with strange time signatures, that you actually sing them right?
Right...or at least, with conviction! [laughs] Yes, I’m a pretty quick study, which is helpful when you’re doing new music, because you’re constantly always having new pages thrown at you, with “Can you just memorize this new passage for today...in six minutes?”

I imagine some performers can roll with that, while others might quickly grow cross-eyed...
Sure. But then it’s nice to come to Wagner, where no one is going to throw new pages at me. It’s like vacation!

What languages do you sing?
English, Italian, French (once even dialogue in French), German, Russian, Portuguese, and one time I did a whole opera on "ah!"

Speaking of singing in unusual languages—your character of Woglinde the Rhine Daughter gets the first line in the Ring, “Weia, waga, woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege, wagalaweia, wallala weiala weia!” What language is that?
Wagnerese. [laughs]

We’ll return to Woglinde and her crazy opening line in a second. Tell us what Rhine Daughter flying has been like!
It’s great! It’s difficult to rehearse, because we aren’t in the exact place doing everything all at once—we’ve had to rehearse it in pieces, to deconstruct it.

Rhine Daughter Rehearsal: Jennifer Zetlan (Woglinde), Renee Tatum (Flosshilde), and Cecelia Hall (Wellgunde) seen from the ground by photographer Alan Alabastro

Because you can’t rehearse in the exact spatial relationships to each other which you will be onstage.
Yes, and there are so many types of movements happening: both our horizontal and vertical traveling, plus our pivoting, all of which are controlled offstage by members of the crew, and then our flipping and turning somersaults, which we control, not to mention the swimming motions we make with our arms and legs.

Right, and that swimming has to be done knowing exactly how you’re ABOUT to move.
Yes, it has to look like we’re starting each movement. Even though we control almost none of it, we have to look like we’re in control of the staging!

Flight Technical Coordinator Tim Buck designed the flying harness that suspends Rhine Daughter Jennifer Zetlan in mid-air
Alan Alabastro, photo

How weird. Have you ever done anything like this before, in your career?
Yes, in the Met’s Ariadne, the three nymphs are moved about in these enormous, beautiful cages. And again, we had to learn where we were going, so that it looked like we initiated each movement.

The nymphs in the Metropolitan Opera's Ariadne
Marty Sohl, photo

The character has to appear to have one complete thought, even though multiple people are responsible for the movement. It must be like animation—how many people worked on getting that cartoon mouse’s arm to move just right. And...do you like being up there?
Wearing a harness and flying twenty feet above the floor is...well, I wouldn’t call it comfortable...can’t say I don’t have any bruises! But you get used to it, like anything. We began rehearsing early, so we had plenty of time to figure it out. It’s certainly worth it—it looks really, really cool.

Scene One of Das Rheingold in Seattle Opera's production
Rozarii Lynch, photo

So, let’s talk about your character, Woglinde the Rhine Daughter, and perhaps we should start with that weird opening line, whatever language that’s in.
It’s sort of German. It’s German-ish. It’s like a playful lullaby, like something she’s sung for a million years.

What does it mean?
It doesn’t mean anything. It means whatever I want it to mean! It’s just so joyful. It’s about unmitigated joy, the freedom of swimming, and this wonderful life.

She’s so happy, it just explodes out of her in this “Wallala leia” gibberish.
Yes, all three of us, we often break into that kind of thing, with lots of “Va” and “La.”

Wonderful nonsense. Speaking of not having much sense...why do you spill the beans to your friend Alberich there? You’re the one, Woglinde tells him all about how to steal the Rhinegold from the river by forsaking love.
Yes, I start it, I tip the can. I think it’s just this wonderful...innocence. I have to think that way, otherwise I would HATE Woglinde, all the hours of suffering and agony we have to endure because of her! [laughs] She doesn’t think it’s possible that anything could be different than it is now. Can’t imagine that life could be different. So she’s just sort of talking, like her nonsense of “Weia, waga, woge du Welle,” these words just spill out of her.

But her music becomes much more sad, when she explains about rejecting love: “Nur wer der Minne Macht entsagt...”
Right, it’s so sad, to think that somebody could do that.

So can she imagine it? Or is that something she’s been told? You know, it’s like when a child loses their pet goldfish, and processes death and loss for the first time: “What do you mean, it’s dead? I don’t get it.” Trying to figure that out, how that changes the whole world. Has that happened to Woglinde yet?
It seems to me that “Father,” Father Rhine, whoever he may be, he must have said it to them like this. That he felt a sadness when he explained this to his daughters, and that made an impression on her.

Aha, so she’s singing the tune he sang when he first told her about it.
Yes, and she understands that there’s a sadness to the idea that someone might ever do this.

But has no ability to connect that idea with...how mean she’s being to lovesick little Alberich, here.
Right, these girls are a little clueless!

Jennifer Zetlan played a much more intelligent flirt when she sang Musetta in Seattle Opera's La bohème earlier this year
Elise Bakketun, photo

What’s it like to sing all the close harmony you have with your sisters?
Oh, it’s so great! We’ve known each other for a long time, we were all in school together. Cecelia [Hall, who sings Wellgunde] and I first did a summer program together in 2004.

Is it hard to get the voices to blend properly?
It’s been very natural. We’ve had to discuss breathing and phrasing, of course...

And in Götterdämmerung, the three of you sing some complicated harmonies...
Thorny.

I was going to say, “Jazzy,” but “Thorny” is good too!
Yes, that’s actually closer to the music I normally sing! I have a weird fondness for singing twelve-tone roles...I know, it’s a quirk! I don’t have time to get in my own head when I have to think about intervallic singing. Götterdämmerung certainly isn’t tone rows...but the harmony is suddenly very different, and I think it captures the anger and frustration they have, with Siegfried in that scene. It shows how they’ve grown, from Rheingold to Götterdämmerung.

Oh, that’s interesting...in Rheingold, when you sing that beautiful “Rheingold! Rheingold!” trio, the harmony is pre-Tristan, let’s say.
There’s Wagner in there... Rheingold isn’t all Mozart or Haydn. But for that moment in Götterdämmerung, when they’re all agitated, he turns on this amazing thing in the harmony. It’s an outpouring of frustration.

Yes, they’ve been frustrated for a very long time now. Their world is not the beautiful place it once was.
It’s been dark, for so many years.

And with that, all these new harmonies are available to them. Now, we were talking a moment ago about the blend of voices—are the Rhine Daughters separate characters, with individual voices, or is this one character with three heads?
Good question. When we sing together, I wouldn’t say we are trying to blend. You sing with your distinct, individual solo voices, and you get a special sound, instead of changing how you sing when you sing together. Wagner highlighted the differences, so we don’t really have to do anything special to make the three characters distinct.

How are they different?
So Flosshilde is the older sister, Wellgunde is the middle sister, and Woglinde is the little kid. Flosshilde is always bossy, always reminding us: “Father told us, watch that gold!”

Now, in addition to being a Rhine Daughter, you’re also a bird.
Right. It’s all about flight, this summer!

I’ve always been struck that the bird sings basically the same tune as Woglinde, in that opening line...but the rhythms are different. [Hums to demonstrate]
Huh! You’re right—but I hadn’t thought about that.

Oh, yes! And what rivers of ink have been spilt trying to explain that...although I like the theory that Wagner just couldn’t come up with a new melody, so he re-used your old one! [laughs] No, the intervals, for Woglinde’s motif and the Bird’s motif are the same—the Bird starts a little higher—but the rhythms are different. The Rhine Daughters sing in this bouncy 9/8, but the Bird...the rhythm for the Bird’s version is really perplexing.
Wagner notates the rhythm in different ways. As I do it, you sing 9 notes where you would ordinarily fit 6. The orchestra is in 9/8 there, whereas the voice is in 4/4, and we have to meet on the third beat of each measure. But when Siegfried quotes the Bird’s line, when he’s telling the story in Götterdämmerung, he uses a slight variation of the rhythm. Basically, I think Wagner was going for the freedom of an actual bird. It shouldn’t be metered—it should sound improvisatory, like a bird call. That’s how I understand that melody, [hums tune of “Hei! Siegfried gehört nun der Nibelung Hort.”] But for the other one—[hums clarinet tune from “Forest Murmurs”]—that’s an actual bird call, a wood thrush.

Really!
Yes, Messiaen notated that, and there’s a song by John Duke, “The Bird,” full of that.

A real sound made by a real, Planet Earth bird...I love the idea of all these composers out birding, jotting down in musical notation sounds they hear in nature. That’s amazing. And as you sing it, you’ve got lots of syllables.
Lots of syllables.

Harder than the Rhine Daughter’s alliterative tongue-twisters?
The alliteration helps! I can think “this is the W-line, the T-line, the F-line!” The Forest Bird is divulging information in an improvisatory but efficient manner, and it’s quite tricky.

Right, she has so much plot information. You only have four supratitles, or so, but each of them is crucial. Say, why are you giving Siegfried all this information? What’s in it for you?
I think it’s just something that nature knows, and Siegfried is connected to nature in this special way. He’s innocent and fearless—I think perhaps the birds have been saying this to him all along, but he didn’t understand it until he tasted the dragon’s blood.

Yes, the clarinet keeps chirping throughout that scene, even before he can understand...that’s the Bird TRYING to speak to him.
But I think even his whole life...

Are you guys Disney birds, you know, like all the non-speaking sidekick birds who hang out with Snow White?
I think Siegfried is this child of nature, and they’ve always been talking to him. He just hasn’t been clued in in the right way.

Yes, it’s sort of a flash of genius, on his part. In that scene where he’s trying to learn bird-language he says, basically, “If I make the same sound as the bird, maybe I’ll be able to figure out what it means.” Which is exactly how a little kid learns language—you start by imitating, mimicking what you hear.
It’s true, my daughter is learning to speak right now, and we’re constantly doing that. It’s just that with the dragon’s blood, Siegfried gets the fast track.

Siegfried (Stig Anderson) prepares a reed in an attempt to communicate with the Forest Bird in Seattle Opera's Siegfried
Chris Bennion, photo

Well, he tries, first, with his silly reed, but that doesn’t work very well. So you give him all this information...you must perceive that he’s somehow on the side of nature. I notice you don’t give Mime any help!
Yes, because Siegfried is this friend of nature. And then I think the bird gets excited that he can understand: “Now I can tell you everything!”

Right, why does she tell him about the sleeping woman on the rock?
If I didn’t, how could we possibly get to the next opera?! It’s a little bit like the scene in Götterdämmerung, where the Rhine Daughters have been begging Siegfried to give him the ring, and when he offers it to us, we insist on giving him the information about the curse. It’s the same with the bird—it’s what is fated to happen, the Norns wove it into their web. The bird is leading him to the next step: “Here’s where you have to go next.”

Handy bird to have around! Although I suppose birds have always been associated with fate, reading omens in birds, that kind of thing. Now, do you do anything, vocally, to sound more birdlike?
No. He wrote it really well, and it’s well-suited to my voice. I think of it like a trumpet: like I’m heralding this news.

How come your characters—both the Rhine Daughter and the Bird—are so well-informed? How is it that you know so much?
I don’t know, it’s in the waters, in the river...we have this curious psychic connection with the Norns, who know everything. Maybe they come for a dip in the river every once in a while!

Jennifer Zetlan singing Musetta's Waltz

Aidan Lang To Become Seattle Opera’s Third General Director

Today Seattle Opera announced that Aidan Lang will succeed Speight Jenkins as General Director.

Aidan Lang
Photo by Rick Dahms

Respected in the world of opera for leadership positions with New Zealand Opera, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, the Buxton Festival and Opera Zuid, Lang will join Seattle Opera full-time in March 2014, and will then become the company’s third General Director when Speight Jenkins steps down on September 1, 2014.

John Nesholm, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, announced the appointment: “On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the search committee, I want to welcome Aidan Lang to Seattle Opera. All of us are extremely confident that Aidan is the right choice to lead the Company into a new era, building on the incredible artistic successes of predecessors Speight Jenkins and Glynn Ross. Aidan’s exciting combination of artistic, theatrical and business experience, matched with the enormous potential of our company and its people, suggest a very exciting future for Seattle Opera.”

“Seattle Opera has been my life for the last thirty years,” said Speight Jenkins. “As we head into the 50th anniversary season, my focus will be on the future – working closely with Aidan to transfer leadership of Seattle Opera in a seamless manner. I commend the search committee on their hard work and excellent decision. I embrace and celebrate their choice. I know that Aidan’s breadth and depth of experience, from the artistic to the business side of leadership, will be an unbeatable combination and an invaluable asset to Seattle Opera going forward.”

“Seattle is an international city known for both its leading edge technology and world-class arts institutions,” said Aidan Lang. “Seattle Opera is one of the world’s most respected opera companies and Speight Jenkins is, quite simply, a legend in our business. I am honored, energized, excited and definitely humbled by the opportunity to lead the company in this next chapter.”

Since 2006, Lang has served as General Director of New Zealand Opera, with a goal of ensuring that every production is theatrically stimulating and musically ambitious. Working collaboratively is a top priority for Lang, and during his tenure New Zealand Opera implemented a series of collaborations with such companies as Glyndebourne, Opera North, and Welsh National Opera, bringing exciting productions from directors Nikolaus Lehnhoff (Jenůfa) Tim Albery (Macbeth) and Christopher Alden (Turandot) to New Zealand. In addition to bringing productions in, Lang made it a priority to develop the capacity to build productions in the country, establishing New Zealand’s first ever opera production workshop. This achievement has resulted in international co-productions with Scottish Opera (L’italiana in Algeri), Victorian Opera (Serse), and this year’s Der Fliegende Holländer with Opera Queensland in Australia. Future international co-productions are also underway with Cape Town Opera, West Australian Opera, Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and Victorian Opera. Lang’s collaborative approach has also reaped significant rewards in the business area. With the expansion of the company’s reach to include Christchurch, in addition to its performing centers in Auckland and Wellington, Lang has rebranded New Zealand Opera as a truly national company, one that serves the entire country. The Company’s success over the past few years has been noticed, and the partnership Lang spearheaded with Creative New Zealand (the country’s national arts development agency) resulted in significant increases to its core grant funding, securing long-term financial stability for the company.

Prior to leading New Zealand Opera, Aidan Lang held artistic leadership positions at Buxton Festival, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Opera Zuid in the Netherlands. Concurrent with these leadership positions, Lang was a sought-after freelance director working around the world. Among other productions, he directed the first Brazilian production of Wagner’s Ring at the historic Teatro Amazonas in Manaus. Other noted productions include Le Comte Ory (Welsh National Opera), Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Lisbon), The Turn of the Screw (Salzburg) and the British premieres of The Magic Fountain by Frederick Delius (Scottish Opera) and Cornet Christoph Rolke’s Song of Love and Death by Siegfried Matthus (Glyndebourne). As Artistic Director of the Buxton Festival, Lang expanded the Festival to include Baroque and contemporary music, tripled its audience attendance and delivered significant operating surpluses in each year. He was a key part of the triumvirate senior management team at Glyndebourne, where he held dual positions for nine years; he succeeded in developing a unique identity for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, distinct from the larger Glyndebourne Festival, and continuing the company’s tradition of nurturing young singers. Concurrent with his positions at Glyndebourne, he was appointed the inaugural Artistic Director of Opera Zuid, a newly-created touring company based in the Netherlands. During his leadership, Opera Zuid’s impact and the quality of its work were such that the company received national funding and is now a permanent fixture of operatic life in the Netherlands.

Born in 1957 in the UK, Lang is a graduate of The Tiffin School and the University of Birmingham. He will relocate to Seattle with his wife of 23 years, the former soprano Linda Kitchen, and their 16 year old daughter Eleanor. In addition to his operatic leadership skills and international directing experience, Lang is an accomplished musician, having studied clarinet since the age of 8.

Meet Our Singers: MARGARET JANE WRAY, Sieglinde & Third Norn

Margaret Jane Wray has been a part of this particular Ring production since it began in 2000, singing the roles of Sieglinde and the Third Norn. She relishes the opportunity to return to these roles that have been changed and shaped by her time in Seattle, and to sing what she believes is the most beautiful music in the entire Ring.

What do you like about this production and the opportunity to come back to it?
It’s such a beautiful production. When the curtain opens, the scenery takes your breath away. The second thing would be Stephen Wadsworth, who is a wonderful director, very detail-oriented and positive. He’s friends with the singers and he cares about us and he works with us to be the best that we can be. It’s also Seattle Opera, it’s Speight, who always assembles a wonderful cast. Even though the cast has changed a bit over the years, it’s like a family. Also, Seattle is a wonderful place to work, especially during the summer.

You’re not the first to say it’s like a family. Why would you say that about this particular production?
As Wagnerians we’ve worked together in other cities. Lots of us have just come from New York for their Ring and we see each other around the world, so there’s a Wagnerian family. And we spend a long time in Seattle. Three and a half months for some people. You get to know people. We bring our children and husbands and wives and that’s part of the charm of it, too.

What kind of impact does the long rehearsal period have on the final production?
We’re so well rehearsed by the first dress rehearsal that we’re ready to go. You might not have had as much time with the orchestra as you’d want but you’re ready to go. With what’s happening in opera and in the world, rehearsing is now a luxury. I just did a production of a huge role, one of the biggest roles in the soprano repertoire, and I got one run-through in a room before I went onstage.

This Ring is incredibly detail-oriented, and that’s why it’s so successful. There is a lot of meaning between the characters, lots of tension on the stage, and you don’t see that in every Ring. I’ll go out on a limb and say this is the best Ring I’ve ever been in and I’ve been in many.

Margaret Jane Wray as Sieglinde
Chris Bennion, photo

Why is Sieglinde a character that many can sympathize with?
Probably because she’s an innocent. She’s been taken advantage of and abused, breaks out of a terrible situation and gives birth to a hero. She’s not a god, she’s human. For me, musically, she easily has the most beautiful music in the Ring. It’s just glorious music and it’s very satisfying. I’ve never gotten sick of singing it, and I feel like she’s a part of me. Her music comes back at the end of Götterdämmerung and people remember.

To some of the Ring's best music, Margaret Jane Wray (Sieglinde) thanks Brünnhilde (Janice Baird) and prophecies that Siegfried will someday thank her in person
Chris Bennion, photo

Can you characterize how the role has evolved over the years?
I had sung Sieglinde only once before I did the first Seattle production in 2000, so I was still a newbie. Until you get 10-15 performances under your belt on a particular role, it’s still considered new. Especially a big Wagnerian role. In my first production I did not have the detailed direction that I got from Stephen, so in some ways I felt like Seattle was my first time through. He really dug into it much more deeply, which was eye opening to me. Over the years we continue to dig and continue to layer the character, and as a singer I think my voice is stronger. I’m more confident as a singer.

Luretta Bybee, Margaret Jane Wray, and Stephanie Blythe as Norns #1, #3, and #2
Rozarii Lynch, photo

You are also a Norn in the first scene of Götterdämmerung. How do you shift gears?
It’s a totally different thing. It’s a short scene, but it’s extremely important because it sets up the whole of Götterdämmerung. It’s always fun to rehearse with Stephanie Blythe and Luretta Bybee. We have a sisterly rapport, so when we get to sing together, it’s always a warm and fun time.

Do you have a favorite Ring memory?
It was the second year. We drove out to Seattle, and I could not stay awake in the car. One of my colleagues, Lori Phillips (she’s covering Brünnhilde this summer) was pregnant at the time, and we were having a chat and she said, “I think you’re pregnant.” I said, “Don’t be silly!” And so, of course, I went and I took a test and I was pregnant. I remember my husband and my young son, who is now 17, jumping up in the air and saying, “Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic.” I was thinking, “I’m going to have morning sickness while I’m trying to rehearse Sieglinde!” I didn’t have morning sickness, but I remember I could not stand the smell of salmon.

Given that this is Speight’s last Ring, could you offer any thoughts on his influence on your career?
I owe a lot to Speight. I can’t imagine him retiring for one; he’s such a force of nature and he has built something so special out here in Seattle. He has kept me each year and that has meant a lot to me. He has been steadfast for me and one of the most important people as far as my career is concerned. I have been very humbled by his faithfulness. My pledge this year to him is just to have the best possible Ring we can have and enjoy every minute of it and thank him for being such a great General Director.

Meet Our Singers: RICHARD PAUL FINK, Alberich the Nibelung

With our focus this week on the Nibelungs, let’s chat with THE Nibelung of “Ring of the Nibelung,” Alberich. Played by Richard Paul Fink at every Seattle Ring performance since 2000, Alberich is the tragic antihero of Das Rheingold and also appears in important scenes in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. American baritone Richard Paul Fink first appeared at Seattle Opera as Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chenier in 1996. His other Italian role here has been Amonasro in Aida (in 2008); in Seattle he sings more often in German, including (in addition to Alberich) Klingsor in Parsifal, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, and Jochanaan in Salome. Fink spoke with Jessica Murphy about balancing comedy with tragedy for this remarkable character, the wild physicality of the role, and Alberich’s love for alliteration.

Could you describe Alberich for a Ring newbie?
I basically describe him as being Sméagol, the Gollum character in The Lord of the Rings, with the physical activity but without the voice. Alberich is the person who takes the gold from the bottom of the Rhine River. He starts as this Joe Sixpack, and the power of the ring, of money and control, start to possess him. The strength of that drug becomes all-consuming.

Alberich (Richard Paul Fink) vocalizes his agony when Wotan (Greer Grimsley) rips the ring away from his hand
Rozarii Lynch, photo

When Wotan takes the ring, I let out this primordial scream. My angst is over the loss of that drug; I’m in withdrawal after that. My constant question to directors is “Does Alberich evolve or devolve over the course of the Ring? Does he become more human, or do you want Alberich to become a bug on the wall?

How does Stephen [Wadsworth, director of Seattle’s production] answer that question?
Here he evolves a little bit, becoming more human over the course of the cycle. Stephen is very much into the human emotions.

Richard Paul Fink sings Alberich's curse in 2009

Has your interpretation changed over the years?
Yes. When to go, playfully, over the top...and when to focus. There is comedy with Alberich. Wagner included comedy in the Ring: slapstick, a pie in the face still works. Watching Alberich slip and slide while he chases the three Rhine Daughters is just as funny now as it was forever. The duet between Mime and Alberich is so much fun in the Seattle production. We are throwing little bean bags (we call them “dragon scat”) back and forth across the valley at each other. You need moments of levity because it makes what follows more serious. If all you have is serious and intense, you lose intensity. I also really love the stillness and the simplicity of what we’ve done with Alberich in Götterdämmerung.

Alberich (Richard Paul Fink, left) and Mime (Dennis Peterson, right) squabble over the corpse of Fafner while Siegfried is in the dragon's lair
Chris Bennion, photo

What do you like about coming back to the Seattle production?
The naturalism. Seattle has one of the last naturalistic Rings. And the people in the cast and crew are all old friends. A lot of our children have grown up together. When we first started staging this, our children's big question was, “Whose house is the sleepover going to be at tonight?”

You do a back flip, right?
I’m 58 years old and I plan on doing it again.

How did this tradition get started?
In the Seattle Rhine set, what I call “Old Smokey,” there are all these pigeon holes so you can get handholds and footholds to climb it. But they hadn’t figured out how I would get down. I asked for a crash pad back so I could do a back flip off the back platform. Then the tech crew mounted a special handle on the back of the central rock in the first scene, so I can hang on it and let myself down. They reinforced all the pigeon holes—really, the tech staff was so nice and supportive, doing everything and following through with my quirky little requests. We spray my seat with silicone so that I slide down faster.

The swimming Rhine Daughter Flosshilde (Jennifer Hines) taunts Alberich (Richard Paul Fink) in one of his most acrobatic scenes
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Are you that physical in other productions?
Being agile and as physical as possible makes you more confident as a performer. When I’m asked to enter on the prow of the Dutchman’s ship, I feel better about standing up there because I know I can handle even more extreme situations. I was just singing Rigoletto in Kansas City, and one night the heel of my shoe caught on a step as I was entering and I rolled down eight steps, into the middle of the stage by accident. But, being trained to do pratfalls, I knew I could handle it as soon as I felt myself falling. And then I got up and sang “Cortigiani!” In the Met Nixon in China, which is now on DVD, I did backflips and falls as the girls kicked me and punched me and knocked me around.

It goes back to being mascot for my high school for two and a half years...and even before that. In my neighborhood, growing up in Ohio, the kids would play “fight the invisible man,” and we’d judge each other on who fought the best: who took better punches, better pratfalls. Around that same time, with mom and dad I did a lot of camping, at a little Ohio Indian campsite there was a bullwhip on the wall and we bought it and I practiced with it–I’d go out in the yard and snap the tops off dandelions. I learned how to climb a tree with it, Daniel Boone-style. It’s that same training that has evolved over the years; I use a whip quite extensively in Das Rheingold. I give a little whip lesson to the Nibelungs because you have all these children, and it’s really loud, so I tell them, “I am in control of this, it’s going to make a loud sound but it’s not going to hurt you. If you want to cover your ears, great! That’s what we want.”

Alberich (Richard Paul Fink) threatens Mime (Dennis Peterson) with his whip when the craftsman is delinquent in delivering the magic helmet Alberich had him forge
Rozarii Lynch, photo

How do you want the audience to feel about Alberich?
Please don’t look at Alberich as being evil or malevolent from the very beginning. He’s not. His life experiences make him what he is. I always approach any character, especially villains, as multi-dimensional characters. So don’t think about him as a cardboard cutout. I have to believe what he is saying, or else the audience won’t either. Honesty, that’s what it’s all about.

What about how Alberich sounds?
In the beginning Alberich uses alliterations. Wagner really loves alliterations and the dotted rhythmic figure that infects his speech pattern. After the curse, he moves away from that, and by the time you get into Siegfried, you have these much, much longer vocal lines. I always I love the way we stage Siegfried in Seattle—Alberich is just sitting on the rock, in total darkness, like he’s been there forever, waiting for something to die.

Meet our RING Singers: LURETTA BYBEE, Valkyrie and Norn

As this summer’s festival performances of Wagner’s Ring approach, we’ll be introducing Seattle Opera’s fantastic singers, Wagner’s memorable characters, and production elements such as the music, the costumes, and the sets on this blog and on our social networks. Let’s begin, today, by checking in with one of our singers, Luretta Bybee, who—like many in the cast—plays multiple roles in different Ring operas. Luretta made her Seattle Opera debut in 1990 as several characters in another epic opera, War and Peace. She has also been a memorable Carmen, Dame Quickly in Falstaff, and Klytämnestra in Elektra for the company; she made us laugh, as Wowkle in La fanciulla del West, and cry, as Paula in Florencia en el Amazonas and Amanda in Amelia. 2013 marks the fourth summer that Luretta, and her family, spend in Seattle working on our Ring. When she’s not in Seattle Luretta, who is Chair of Vocal Arts at New England Conservatory of Music, plays a major role in the development of the next generation of opera talent.

Luretta Bybee gave a powerful performance creating the role of Amelia's mother Amanda in Amelia in 2010
Rozarii Lynch, photo

You’ve been a Valkyrie in this production of the Ring for many years.
Yes, the first time I was involved was in the 2001 Die Walküre, I sang Schwertleite. I sang that role again in 2005, and switched to Waltraute (in Die Walküre) last time, in 2009. This summer I’m back to Schwertleite again.

What do you remember from that first experience, in 2001? What were the headlines?
That may have been my first time working with Stephen [Wadsworth, the stage director], and I was a bit overwhelmed by the detail of the staging. And I remember the amazing camaraderie of the people involved. And another thing—my husband, Greer Grimsley, who is singing Wotan now. But he sang Donner and Gunther that summer. And it was a different experience living with a Donner-Gunther than a Wotan!

How so?
For Greer, singing Gunther was a little bit like wearing the wrong size clothes. Mentally and emotionally, he was already heading towards Wotan...he was a good team player, that summer, but I think he was itching to tackle the bigger role. It took him two years to learn it, during which I coined the phrase "Wagner widow."

Eight of the Valkyries are surprised to see Brünnhilde approaching, not with a dead man, but with a live woman
Chris Bennion, photo

When I remember Ring summers gone by, it seems like the nine of you are ALWAYS rehearsing that Valkyrie scene. Is there any scene, in any opera, more dense in terms of the staging—the thousands of tiny details that add up to make it so entertaining?
The only thing I’ve ever done that compares was the Peter Brook Tragedy of Carmen. I did that in 1987, and I can still remember the staging—it was that detailed, that specific. Within a very tight framework, Brook convinced us that in fact we had a great deal of artistic leeway as performers. And though the challenge was much greater as an actor, he was absolutely right. The same is the case with this Valkyrie scene.

Does Stephen Wadsworth’s staging of the Valkyrie scene change from year to year, as the cast changes?
No, in fact, another singer had done my part, Schwertleite, in 2000, when Seattle Opera did a half-Ring with just Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. So in 2001, I was put into the part and followed her blocking. In the years since, I’ve helped other women who were new to the scene. We share this swashbuckling, swaggering attitude; that’s the tone for the scene—at least until Brünnhilde enters.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell all the Valkyries apart. Could you remind us: which one is Schwertleite?
She has a great sense of humor, and is always trying to evoke a response with her sisters.

Luretta Bybee (Schwertleite) amuses her sisters in 2005
Chris Bennion, photo

You like getting a rise out of them...like in that moment when you kiss the severed head.
Yes, I think they appreciate my sense of humor. The thing is, Schwertleite is grounded. If she’s laughing, everything is okay.

How did you and Stephen develop this personality for your Valkyrie?
Stephen is so empathetic. There was a framework, but he gave me the leeway to improvise a little bit, and as soon as I started playing with these body part props we had for the scene, he loved it and said, “Go with it!”

And is Waltraute, the Valkyrie you sang in 2009, very different?
Yes, she’s more serious, more of a stoic personality. She has a leadership role among the sisters—that much is written in the music and text.

Luretta Bybee (First Norn), Margaret Jane Wray (Second Norn), and Stephanie Blythe (Third Norn)
Chris Bennion, photo

Now, many of these years you’ve performed both as a Valkyrie and a Norn.
Yes, I sang the First Norn in 2001 and 2009, and I sing it again this summer. The Norn scene is incredibly detailed, too, but it’s easier than the Valkryie scene. Probably because the three of us—Stephanie [Blythe, the Second Norn] and Margaret Jane [Wray, the Third Norn] and I are incredibly close. We know each other so well, that makes it very easy.

Can you compare the Norns’ scene to the Valkyries’?
The Valkyries tend to be very outward-looking; they’re aware of everything external. The Norns are the opposite—all reflective, inward-looking, remembering. The Valkyries are looking to conquer and move forward, while the Norns want to go back to a better time. They sense that the end of something great and important is at hand.

Luretta, put on your voice teacher hat for a moment and let me ask you: what does it take to be a great Wagner singer?
To be perfectly honest, what it takes is, you have to be born with a great Wagner voice. You can’t train someone to sing Wagner. In my opinion we have a lot of ersatz Wagner singers, people who are trying to be Wagner singers. Particularly with this push in today’s world, to have opera singers who look like Hollywood stars. [Stage Director] Giancarlo Del Monaco once said, “If you have no horses in the stable, a donkey becomes your best horse.” What’s exciting to me about many of the Seattle Ring cast who are returning—Greer, Stephanie Blythe, Richard Paul Fink, Daniel Sumegi—is that they’re thoroughbred Wagner singers. The real deal.

Luretta Bybee, left, sang Mary in 2007 in a Seattle Opera Flying Dutchman which starred Jay Hunter Morris as Erik and Greer Grimsley (painting, at back) as the Dutchman
Chris Bennion, photo

Do you sing much Wagner?
Not a lot. I sang a small role in Flying Dutchman, and I’ve sung Fricka in Das Rheingold. I have a strong lower voice, which is necessary for Wagner, ‘cause you can get lost in the orchestra.

One thing I find that separates Wagner singers from others is the ability to sustain a longer phrase. Wagner requires stamina. They’re so long—both his vocal lines and his operas!

The story of the Ring is a family affair, and your own family has long been involved with this production. Could you tell us a little about how the three of you participate in the Seattle Ring?
Well, it’s changed over the years. In 2001, Greer sang Donner and Gunther, and our daughter Emma, who was 9 that summer, was a Nibelung. The next time we did it in Seattle, Greer switched over to Wotan and Emma...I remember one thing from that summer, Emma will kill me for telling this story, but it was so amazing to watch her start to understand what it was all about. She’d never heard Wotan’s Farewell, and the first time she heard it, in rehearsal, she started to cry—who doesn’t, at that music?—but she was a teenager with her friends, and so tried to hide the fact that she was crying! Later, she said to me, “Mom, that’s the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard, I want Daddy to sing that at my wedding!” But Greer’s response was: “No, I couldn’t possibly get through it.”

And then in 2009, Emma was 17, and Stephen invented a supernumerary character for her, the “Lady in Black” in Götterdämmerung. She appeared in Stephen’s Dutchman, too, in ’07: this punk kid with an attitude.

Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to about this summer?
We’re looking forward to all being together and being home. Seattle is home, and the Ring is like a family reunion for us, being together with all these people we love. We’re feeling so grateful that we’re here, and healthy, and able to be together.