A Supernumerary's View: Meet AMIT MITAL, Trustee, Picador, and Shoeshine Boy

Amit Mital (left), Corporate Vice President at Microsoft by day, transforms into another identity at night, at least for the past few weeks--he's appearing as a supernumerary, or non-singing extra, in Seattle Opera's production of Carmen. Amit has been a member of Seattle Opera's Board of Trustees since 2009 and is a veteran supernumerary. He gives us the inside scoop on the planned (and unplanned!) adventures that make being a super so rewarding.

I have been a supporter of the opera for years and being a super(numerary) in Carmen has been an exhilarating experience. Carmen is a unique opera – timeless music, an enduring story, and many strong characters. The opera evolves during the show from a light comedy to a love story to a “soap opera” to a tragedy--all in the space of a few hours. The unexpected part of my participation has been seeing how the opera has evolved from performance to performance. Perhaps it’s the intense familiarity from the many rehearsals and performances, or getting to know many of the performers personally, or perhaps it’s the performers themselves deeply filling out their roles, but every performance has a nuance, an insight, a unique moment of unexpected beauty.

Supernumeraries Amit Mital and John Smilgin in Act One of Carmen (Elise Bakketun, photo)

In Act 1, I play a shoeshine boy. My cohort John Smiglin plays a lemonade vendor, and we’ve lately been pushing our roles just a little. His on-stage hijinks and creative improvisation are lots of fun. The "Habenera" scene in Act 1 is really magical. That’s when Carmen first comes on stage, and her song "L’amour est un oiseau rebelle" is awesome to experience from feet away. Anita Rachvelishvili and Malgorzata Walewska both sing it beautifully – but also very differently. It’s fun to see their different interpretations of the scene – how they flirt with the soldiers, how they thrust the flower at Don Jose.

Amit Mital as the Shoeshine Boy (Elise Bakketun, photo)

Act 2 is my most involved scene. I play the proprietor of the tavern, and have a fair amount of interaction with the principals. One of them (I’m convinced) has decided to try to get me to lose my composure on stage by whispering absurdly funny comments onstage. Each performance is now a running challenge to keep a stern, businesslike demeanor while waiting for the next zinger.

In Act Two, Amit Mital (Lillas Pastia) plots with Andrew Stenson (Remendado) and David Krohn (Dancaïre); Elise Bakketun, photo

Last week, I had a minor wardrobe malfunction. In Act 4, the other supers and I play Picadors. We have these outstanding, elaborate costumes in which we march on stage. The other night I arrived backstage without my hat – and without enough time to retrieve it from the dressing room. In an impressive display of calm, professional quick thinking, Mike Egan, our Assistant Stage Manager, asked all Picadors to remove our hats. Fine for most of us--except John, who was experiencing a bad case of helmet head that night!

Entrance of the Picadors (with hats, the night this photo was taken!) - Elise Bakketun, photo

Participating in Carmen “from the inside” has been an outstanding experience. The cast is extraordinarily talented and we’ve had a lot of fun working together. Seattle Opera has put on a truly remarkable production, and I am very grateful for the experience.

Post by Amit Mital

David Krohn's Italian Journey

After receiving his NEA Opera Honors Award this evening, Seattle Opera General Director Speight Jenkins will be heading to New York City, where he's excited to hear Marius Kwiecien--now recovered from a dramatic injury--sing the title character in the Met's new production of Don Giovanni. Kweicien sang the Don for Seattle Opera in 2007.

David Krohn as Don Giovanni in the Young Artists Program production of Don Giovanni, last spring.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Our most recent Don Giovanni, however, was Young Artist David Krohn, who sang the role in our Young Artists production last April. Krohn is currently appearing in Carmen as Dancaïre, leader of the band of smugglers, and rehearsing the role of Albert for our fall tour of Werther (which hits the road next week). He spent the months between last spring's Don Giovanni and this fall's Carmen studying Italian the old-fashioned way--by complete and total immersion, on location in Italy! We're very grateful to David for sharing the story of his amazing summer with us today:

Last season, I decided to take a different approach to the typical summer training a singer my age might select. Digesting Giovanni’s 500-page score of complex Italian grammar and vocabulary made me realize how many gaps there were in my Italian training, and instead of taking years and years of language classes to compensate, I opted for a different approach.

While I was studying at Juilliard, I was awarded a language study grant to learn German in Germany and Austria for a month. I went to a language school that met every morning from 7 a.m. to noon, at which time we were then dismissed to head out into Munich and explore. I discovered that I was learning twice as much German outside the classroom. So this summer I chose to go to Italy without the assistance of language schools at all; instead I got an apartment in Rome and lived as the Romans do, applying for work, getting haircuts, buying groceries, paying bills, taking the subways in the morning, reading the newspapers, watching TV... In other words, complete and total immersion.

I had never been to Italy before, but somehow I made it to Piazza Crati, where I met my bed-and-breakfast hosts (neither of whom spoke more than a dozen words of English). For the next few weeks, I carried a notebook around with me everywhere, scribbling down new words, studying my vocabulary in coffee shops, testing out poorly constructed sentences with the patient and amused wait staff. Before long, I had settled into an apartment in Vitinia, a blue-collar section of town vacant of any other English speakers. I was a fifteen-minute subway ride to the Colosseum, a half hour to the Vatican City, 15 minutes to the beaches at Ostia. It was all there.

David Krohn in Bologna, in front of the famous Fountain of Neptune.

I got a job teaching English to business executives near the Trevi Fountain, and though I enjoyed every minute of working with my students, I raced over to Termini Station (Rome’s central train station) every Friday afternoon, to figure out to which Italian city I would travel for the weekend. First, I went to see the canals of Venice, where Otello played in my mind (the '76 Kleiber La Scala performance with Domingo, Freni, and Cappuccilli, of course). Then I was off to Florence, to Genoa, to Modena, and even to Verdi's hometown of Busseto, with other great operas playing in my ears.

David Krohn standing on the rampart of an old castle overlooking Naples.

I stood atop Castel Sant'Angelo, from which Tosca threw herself in Act III of her eponymous opera, visited Scarpia's Palazzo Farnese, Lodovico's Ducal Palace of Venice. It was a world of opera.

David Krohn standing in front of Milan's La Scala opera house.

After a month of this, I found myself conversing with strangers everywhere, expanding my vocabulary and making fewer and fewer mistakes. Everyone who heard that I was an opera singer insisted that I sing for them, and I couldn’t resist; Italians put up a strong fight. No matter what I decided to sing for the locals, they insisted on joining in, always knowing the words perfectly, proving that the music was in their blood.

David Krohn with Marco Corelli, Franco Corelli's only living relative.

One night, after about a month and a half of living in Italy, I was cooking a thank you dinner for my new Roman friends (consisting entirely of local dishes, such as Bucatini all'Amatriciana, Saltimbocca alla Romana, a radicchio dish "in agrodolce,” complete with antipasti and dolci) when the gas on the oven went out. I knocked on my neighbor Cosimo's door and, since all of the units in the building had a similar gas hook-up, he gave me precise instructions of how to reset things and continue cooking. On the way back into the kitchen, I began to laugh, realizing I somehow knew the words for "pilot light, knob, restart, gas, circuit breaker, burner, stovetop" in Italian. I can't tell you where I learned them, but it was starting to feel like I was reaching my goal.

The next month and a half in Italy were just as magical. Some of the many highlights included a performance of Nabucco in the legendary outdoor arena of Verona, conducted by Maestro Julian Kovatchev, who will be conducting Madama Butterfly here in Seattle this coming May; taking a trip to Ancona to visit the hometown of Franco Corelli, my favorite singer of all time, and spending a couple of days with his family and friends; eating in Pavarotti's favorite Modena restaurants; hearing Maestro Asher Fisch conduct an Aida at the famous Terme di Caracalla in Rome; and, more than anything, learning that opera and music is part of Italy’s national pride.

David Krohn atop the Duomo in Sienna, looking over the Piazza del Campo.

Leaving Rome after over three months was difficult. I missed hearing the sounds of the language every day, but that was quickly taken care of when rehearsals began for Carmen just two weeks ago, which is ironic since Carmen is a French opera. Our conductor, Maestro Pier Giorgio Morandi, comes from Lombardia in the north of Italy, and has indulged my nostalgia for Italy by delivering most of my notes during rehearsals in Italian. In fact, half of the cast is fluent or nearly fluent in Italian, making me feel right at home. Already, it seems like my summer is paying off in spades.

Sarah Larsen (Mercédès) and David Krohn (Dancaïre) in Seattle Opera's current production of Carmen.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

See you at our final performances of Carmen! A presto!

Only a few CARMEN performances left!

If you haven’t yet seen our production of Carmen, this week is your last chance! For best availability and pricing, we recommend looking into Friday’s performance, which features Polish mezzo Malgorzata Walewska as Carmen and Mexican tenor Fernando de la Mora as Don José. You can get to know both these artists better by checking out our exclusive online interviews with them (Malgorzata’s is here and Fernando’s is here), but we also wanted to share some videos of these two exciting singers in action.

Malgorzata Walewska has appeared on our stage before—most recently as Dulcinée in last season’s production of Don Quichotte. You can see a clip of her singing the role in our trailer for that production, below, beginning at the 1:10 mark.



In 2010, she sang another gypsy role—but this time, it was Azucena in Il trovatore. Watch her below at the :52 mark.


Although he's making his Seattle debut in this production, Fernando de la Mora’s opera career has taken him all over the world—but in his home country of Mexico, he’s also known as a star singer of popular music. Just days before beginning Carmen rehearsals in Seattle, Fernando was headlining an Independence Day celebration at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, where he sang some of the country’s most beloved songs. Below is a clip from that concert of Fernando singing the patriotic tunes “Mexico Lindo y Querido” (“Beautiful and Beloved Mexico”) and “Viva Mexico.”



In his long career, Fernando de la Mora has recorded nearly 30 albums, and much of his music can be found on YouTube. For example, here’s his recording of the beautiful love song “Júrame” (“Swear to Me”), and here’s a video clip of him performing the piece live, along with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, at last year’s Cultural Festival of Tequila:



And, of course, we can’t leave out opera! In the following video, Fernando performs with our opening night Micaëla, Norah Amsellem, at a concert held earlier this year in Vietnam:



Finally, have a look at our Carmen trailer, featuring Malgorzata Walewska and Fernando de la Mora. (We have two versions of this trailer; the other spotlights Anita Rachvelishvili and Luis Chapa, our Saturday/Wednesday leads.)



We hope to see you at McCaw Hall this week!

Meet Our Singers: Caitlin Lynch, Micaëla

Before we hear our Friday night cast sing their first performance of Carmen this evening, let’s chat with the Micaëla, Caitlin Lynch, like our Escamillo Michael Todd Simpson a proud graduate of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program. Caitlin (photo right by Elise Bakketun) is in the unusual situation of making her mainstage debut at Seattle Opera in a role she also sang as a Young Artist.

Caitlin, the last time Seattle Opera heard you, we were doing Falstaff in the Young Artists Program, you were singing Alice, and a young baritone named Jonathan Lasch was one of our Fords. Please fill us in on what’s happened since then!
Well, Jonathan Lasch and I met here, our romance sparked as we got to watch each other perform—we were in different casts—and we kept in touch, and we got married last December.

That’s amazing, congratulations!
Thanks.

A YAP Romance!
Yes.

Caitlin Lynch as Alice in the Young Artists production of Falstaff in 2007 (Rozarii Lynch photo)

Have you performed together since?
Yes, we were at Glimmerglass together, and then the two of us were Donna Anna and Leporello with Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit. In fact he proposed after that final performance of Don Giovanni. We just bought our first house, in Ypsilanti, Michigan...Jonathan is working on a doctorate of music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He’s a busy, busy boy...he’s actually singing Falstaff in Falstaff now at U of M, and sang Ford again this summer at Aspen, so he’s been bouncing back and forth between Ford and Falstaff.

But you haven’t yet played unhappy soprano wife and jealous baritone husband, or had occasion to murder each other onstage, or something like that?
Not yet. Still to come, I hope!

Caitlin Lynch as Fricka quarrels with David Lara as her husband Wotan in the Young Artists' Theft of the Gold in 2007 (Rozarii Lynch photo)

Upon returning to Seattle after five years, do you find it has changed dramatically?
It was amazing, it was as if I never left. I can see all the differences, but the feel of the city is what I remember, what I love so much. I don’t have a car so I walk while I’m here...giving my legs a good workout walking up Capitol Hill. I hope to get in a couple of hikes.

When you were a Young Artist, our touring show that fall was The Tragedy of Carmen.
Right, Peter Brook’s adaptation of Carmen, just an hour and a half, and only six performers. And very intense. I was just thinking about that the other night. That was the first time I ever sang the role of Micaëla. And it was in English.

Caitlin Lynch as Micaëla gives Noah Baetge (Don José) a kiss from his mother in the 2006 YAP Tragedy of Carmen (Rozarii Lynch photo)

That’s right, I remember, we used the translation by Sheldon Harnick, who wrote Fiddler on the Roof. What do you remember most about that production?
I remember there was a scene about a mango. And Anya Matanovic’s speaking role remains in my memory—androgynous and heavily accented. I thought it was great, I loved doing the tour and we had some great audiences. It was an amazing year—we had so much fun. My first big Young Artists Program, and I’m still in some touch with all those Young Artists, just a really really great group of people.

Have you sung Micaëla since then?
Once, in Princeton, New Jersey, with Bernard Uzan directing. And that time I sang it in French.

Caitlin Lynch as Micaëla with Fernando de la Mora as Don José (Elise Bakketun photo)

Does it help to have a French director...
...oh, yes. Bernard understands the language in a way that only a native speaker can. And in rehearsal a couple of weeks ago he confessed to us, he’s still learning things about Carmen. He’s directed it many, many times, he knows it in and out, but he’s still making discoveries.

Have you worked with him on other shows?
Yes, we did Così in Charlotte, NC. My third Fiordiligi.

Now, our YAP touring Carmen was modern, and vaguely American, Escamillo was a boxer. But here on the mainstage Bernard has given us a very traditional Carmen. You’re okay with that, you don’t need a director who sets Carmen on the Planet of the Apes or anything like that...
I’m up for anything, but I appreciate a true telling of the story. It’s direct and the music is able to speak so beautifully. The big dance number that starts Act Two is my favorite part--the dancers are so fantastic, and Carmen is really shining.

Let’s talk about your character, who’s often plays good girl to Carmen’s naughty girl. There’s a funny line from George Bernard Shaw, who wrote that “The success of Bizet’s opera is altogether due to the attraction, such as it is, of seeing a pretty and respectable middle-class young lady, expensively dressed, harmlessly pretending to be a wicked person.” Would you agree or disagree?
I disagree. I don’t know that she’s wicked, or even pretending to be wicked. There’s so much more to it than that.

Don José (Noah Baetge) is distracted from Micaëla (Caitlin Lynch) by Carmen (Lucia Cervoni) in the 2006 YAP Tragedy of Carmen (Rozarii Lynch photo)

And is there more to Micaëla than just a foil for Carmen?
Yes, I think Micaëla is insanely courageous. She’s not just this sweet little country girl. For lack of a better word, she’s got balls. To travel the distance she travels, to stand up to Carmen, by going in Act Three to get José to come home to his dying mother.

Now, they don’t sing a duet. You don’t actually address words to Carmen. What would Micaëla say to her? Would you say, “You’re a horrible, wicked person!”
I don’t think that’s it. In her aria, Micaëla says Carmen is beautiful and dangerous. But she doesn’t say she’s evil. It’s more that José’s change of character, because of his relationship with Carmen, that’s what frightens or devastates Micaëla. Not so much Carmen herself. I think there’s a competition, you know, “I don’t look like that, I don’t dance like that, I don’t dress like that...I don’t do the things that Carmen does.” But she still has a very different kind of courage. Micaëla’s is based on faith in God, and maybe Carmen’s is based more on her Tarot cards.

Do you ever wish you could play Carmen?
I was thinking the other night, watching Act Two, “God, I wish I could be part of this scene!” So fun!

But as a lyric soprano, you always have to play these goody-goody, suicidal girls. Never a femme fatale...
No, I’m usually trapped or imprisoned.

Or enslaved...
Yes, I just played Konstanze in Abduction from the Seraglio. I play tough women! But not dangerous tough. Of course, we always wish we could do what we don’t get to do—the grass is always greener. But I’m pretty happy with the roles I get to sing. The voice I have goes with the roles and music I’m drawn to. The truth is, if I were in Act Two, I wouldn’t get to watch it, and I really like to watch it.

The Merry Wives of Windsor in Seattle Opera's 2007 YAP Falstaff; Teresa Herold (Quickly), Anya Matanovic (Nannetta), Sasha Cooke (Meg), and Caitlin Lynch (Alice) (Rozarii Lynch photo)

Meet Heidi Zamora, Design Coordinator for our Carmen Costumes

As Costume Design Coordinator for Carmen, Heidi Zamora re-designed several costumes for Seattle Opera’s leading ladies, in addition to weighing in on details of virtually every costume in the show. We spoke about her design process, a theater piece called Robopop that she co-directed with her husband, and got a sneak peek at her costume design ideas for Orphée et Eurydice.

As the Costume Design Coordinator, you are sometimes called upon to create new costumes for a show, even if the majority of the costumes have been rented or are coming from another designer. How many new costumes did you design for Carmen?
We designed three new Carmen costumes for Carmen and one new one for Micaëla. And the cigarette women have a new look this time around. Those are the main differences that people will notice.

Tell us about the costume sketch (above) that’s in the Carmen program. Did you design that particular costume? When will Carmen wear it?
That’s Carmen’s first entrance in Act I. She’s wearing the white skirt and petticoat with her Spanish shawl around her waist. That’s what all the chorus cigarette girls wear, a really pale or white look with peasant blouses that are showing some shoulders.

Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen in the Act One look designed by Heidi Zamora (Elise Bakketun, photo)

When designing a costume for someone, where do you start? With the character, singer, or the director’s ideas for the production?
When you’re design coordinating, you hit the ground running. You’re not starting at the same point that you would if you were creating a show from the ground up. So you start at all of the places you mentioned: what does the singer look like, what are the characters’ needs, what does the director want, and then what does the existing show look like? The new costumes need to fit within the world of the production. You can’t do a totally different concept. It has to be the period. It has to work within the color palette and the overall feeling. The director this time around wanted a more sexed-up look for Carmen, so that’s where I started. Then you look at the singers you have to work with—both of which are great looking, so that made it a lot easier—and try to work within the color palette you have.

Heidi Zamora helps Youth Chorus Member Cameron Lee during a costume fitting (Bill Mohn, photo)

What other costumes did you sketch/create? And then what was your role with these particular costumes after that?
In a sense I’ve worked on them all. When the original designer isn’t here to work on the show, we still have to do fittings for dozens of people. I’m the person in the fitting room saying, “I’m not sure if that sash works; here let’s try this sash,” or “I think the sleeve hem needs to be a half an inch longer,” and “That hat doesn’t fit, so let’s give him a head scarf.” There are a million of those little choices to be made along the way even when a show has already been designed once before, and that’s a huge amount of work. In this production there are the principals that we’ve redesigned—the principal women particularly—and then we have dancers in this production that we didn’t have last time around. I had to create gypsy costumes for the male dancers and then we also gave them existing soldier costumes and matador costumes. The female dancers are cigarette girls and gypsies. We also have a Carmen double, so we needed a duplicate of Carmen’s Act IV dress that we made new for this production.

How influential is tradition in terms of creating a Carmen costume?
People have an expectation of what Carmen looks like, and while you can’t please everybody, I obviously need to please the director and Speight and the singer. So you try to find a marriage that pleases those three people and myself as the person with the design point of view in the room. Often I’ll bring sketches to Speight to say, “Is this ok?” And he’ll say, “Yes, she’s wearing red.” There are some expectations in opera that Carmen wears red or Tosca always wears red in Act II or so and so always wears white. Speight might be less apt to break those expectations than I might be...which sometimes makes for an interesting conversation.

Costume design for Micaëla by Heidi Zamora

Do you have a background in opera? You’ve probably had to learn all these expectations.
My background is in theater. I didn’t do a lot of opera until I started working here. I had to learn, for instance, that Micaëla is always blond. Speight is a great resource for this kind of thing. You can always make a choice not to do it the way it’s always been done, but you just have to know that’s what you’re doing.

When was the last time you worked on a theater project?
My husband and I directed a show called Robopop, with the Washington Ensemble Theater. It was a wordless play so it was all movement, and it was loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, flavored by Wall-E. We had a cast of robots and of humans and there was a struggle between the robots and humans and then a robot and a human fall in love. It was very design-centered. We started with the look of the show and then created the story for it. Then the actors created the characters that inhabited the story, so it was a little bit backwards. But it was a very cool way to do it. It was a ton of work and totally crazy when I was working full time and trying to plan a wedding at the time, so my husband and I, as very close collaborators, nearly killed each other but learned so much about how to be partners. That’s coming in handy now that we’re overworked and raising a kid together. I had nights where I said, “Does this make any sense? Is this going to be totally stupid? Are people going to laugh at us?” And my husband would say, “I don’t know but at this point you just have to commit to it.”

It was a ridiculous idea to begin with, but the production value was really high and the actors were really good. It was an experimental theater piece that wasn’t designed to be “Hmmm…that was thought provoking.” Everything was very clear and it was supposed to be fun. It made people happy. In a sense it was a musical because there was music from the beginning to the end, a lot of pop and techno music, sort of “robot music,” so it was kind of like going to a concert or going to a music video in the theater.

How did you first become interested in costume design?
I had always sewn as a kid. In college I started hanging out with kids in the theater department who knew that I could sew, and they said, “You should be a costume designer.” Your high school guidance counselor doesn’t offer that up as an option, so it didn’t occur to me that that was a job. So I started working in the costume shop in college and took acting and directing classes in theater and fell into it.

How long have you been working with Seattle Opera?
In my current position I’ve been here since 2007.

Are there any other costumes in Carmen that you want to say anything about?
I think that one of the most interesting costumes is Escamillo’s Act IV costume, which is his Toreader suit of lights. That was an existing costume from the last production, which we just refreshed a bit. There are many, many, many hours of handwork and beading in that costume, and it’s quite beautiful and striking. The original designer and our costume shop did a lot of research into what matadors traditionally wear. I really love that costume. It’s also so different to be able to dress one of the leading men as a peacock. It’s usually the sopranos who get to get all fancied up, so it’s fun to have a man’s costume that’s beautiful and encrusted in lace and bead and trim.

Michael Todd Simpson as Escamillo and Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen in original costumes designed by James Schuette (Elise Bakketun, photo)

Is this the first time you’ve worked in the role of Costume Design Coordinator?
I’m usually in that role once or twice a season. I was costume design coordinator for The Barber of Seville and Don Quichotte last season.

You will be the lead costume designer for Orphée et Eurydice. Can you let us in on any of your plans?
It’s going to be very cool because Orphée is this wide open world. You can do whatever you want. It’s not as traditional an opera as Carmen or Madama Butterfly, and a large portion of it is a fantasy. It’s been fun to start from the beginning with the director and other designers, and to say, “If we can do anything, what would that be?” It’s going to have echoes of the Greek world, so it’ll have a neoclassical feel with modern elements. It will feel very accessible and very real but still timeless in a sense.

In that show you will be costume designer, Phillip Lienau will be the set designer, and Connie Yun will be the lighting designer. All of you work for Seattle Opera, so it’ll be very “in house” production. Does that open up new possibilities for your collaboration?
Definitely. The fact that we’re all here means we’ve been able to get together and share images and compare sketches more often than in a typical opera design process. The director lives in San Francisco, so he isn’t always here, but we’ve gotten together for a couple of meetings, just to update each other on our separate process. I think it’s going to be very cohesive for this reason. A lot of time the set gets designed in New York and the costumes get designed in Seattle and the lighting is designed later, but Connie has been able to be a part of the process from the beginning, which I think will really enhance her work. And in terms of collaborating on color, the set designer is choosing the color of the floor partly based on the costume color for the Furies, so that’s been interesting to work closely in that way.

Do you ever make your own clothes?
I used to when I was in college and then I went to grad school and got too busy. When I was just starting out I was a stitcher in shops and the last thing you want to do when you get home is sew some more. But now that I have a son, I like to sew for him when I have the time. I made a quilt for him and I have all these projects in mind, little stuffed elephants, though I don’t know if I’ll ever get to them. But I wouldn’t make clothes for him because he’s growing so fast. That’s the thing that’s great about seeing the work done in the shop. So much time is put into these costumes. You would never do that in a clothing piece that you made for yourself. If I sewed, I’d want to do it right, but it’s time consuming and expensive to get nice fabric, which is why designer couture clothes cost so much money. It’s not cost effective.

Will you make your son’s Halloween costume?
That will be the one exception. We’ll have to do that every year. I’m sure other costume designers hate Halloween! But I have some Orphée costumes sketches due soon, and I can’t deal with Halloween until after that, so I’m going to have to turn it around pretty quickly!

What do you enjoy most about working in a costume shop?
I think it’s great to work in a shop full of people I really respect and who are essentially experts in their field. I’m constantly being inspired by the work other people are doing, so I love that. I love the people that I work with. I also love that it’s always creative, even when I’m not design coordinating on a show. There are things that come up and people will say, “Hey, do these buttons go with this jacket? Let’s ask Heidi.” I’m the go-to designer person to answer questions like that which is nice. It’s a very organized shop and that suits one side of my brain. And then I get to choose fabric and colors and do some design work on top of that. I was doing some sketches for Carmen, sitting at my desk with my colored pencils and my paints, and I said, “I’m getting paid to do this!”

Meet Our Singers: DONOVAN SINGLETARY, Zuniga

Bass-baritone Donovan Singletary made a great first impression on those who saw Porgy and Bess this summer. In that production, the Florida native played Jake; now he's back as Zuniga in Carmen. Today, we chat with him about the challenges of an opera with so much spoken dialogue, how he transitioned from pop to opera, and which Carmen character is his favorite.

Seattle audiences saw you this summer as Jake in Porgy and Bess. How have you spent your time between that production and this one? Did you go back home or stick around Seattle?
No, I had to go back home. I live in New York, in Manhattan. I went back, took care of some other business, fixed up my apartment, worked on Carmen, and now I’m back here! But I had to go back because I always miss New York when I’m away longer than two weeks. December will make it five years that I’ve been there. I moved there two weeks after I graduated from college.

Angel Blue (Clara) and Donovan Singletary (Jake) in Seattle Opera's production of Porgy and Bess.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

You moved to New York to join the Metropolitan Opera’s Young Artists Program. Can you remind us how you got started opera, and how you arrived at the Met?
Well, I actually started out singing pop music, and then I wanted to do Broadway, but I didn’t really know what Broadway was. I didn’t realize Broadway was a chain of theaters, I thought it was one huge theater they called “Broadway.” This was me being naïve, coming from a small town in Florida.

But eventually, when I got into opera, I wanted to get the best training possible, and I knew that would be at the Met. So I entered the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition, and won! And then two weeks after I graduated, I joined their Young Artist Program. I didn’t understand what was going on; I had just turned 22. It all happened really fast! I was excited because I wanted the best (whatever that was), because that would make me more confident and sure of myself. When I had entered the competition, I had been singing opera for maybe a year. And afterward, I began getting these phone calls from Italy asking, “Can you come here and sing Figaro in Barber?” And I was like, “I’m a bass-baritone, I can’t sing the Barber of Seville, what are you talking about?!” And then I thought, “Wow, wait a minute, maybe this competition was more important than I thought.” And of course, it was. It changed my life. I went to the Met for three and a half years as a young artist, and I just finished on July 31 of this year. I was in five operas at the Met last year, then I went to Fort Worth Opera for Julius Caesar, and then I came here for Porgy and Bess.

John Christopher Adams (Nelson) and Donovan Singletary (Jake) in Seattle Opera's production of Porgy and Bess.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Why did you decide to make that transition from pop music to opera?
I still remember, I was at a family reunion and we were playing volleyball, and I was singing some Stevie Wonder song, and my aunt said, “You know, you should go on Showtime at the Apollo, you have a really nice voice.” I was really young at that point, and she planted that seed. From that moment on, I was singing all the time. And I started entering pop competitions and started winning them in high school, and I joined my church choir. I was the kind of singer that could croon and do a few runs, and I was loud. I was in two pop groups that I formed. And then I went to college, which I had planned on attending for only two years, to get some foundation before leaving to pursue a pop music career. But then I started winning these opera competitions and moving in that direction and I thought maybe I should test that for a while. And after a year or so, I realized that maybe this is the type of music I was supposed to be doing. When my choir director from home first suggested it, I was like, “Opera?! What are you talking about?” But that’s why you never say never.

Let’s talk about Zuniga, your character in Carmen. In this role, you don’t have to sing too much—but you do have a lot of dialogue. Has that dialogue been challenging for you?

This is the first show where I’ve done spoken dialogue like this, so at first I was really nervous. I was worried that the flow wouldn’t be right, because recitative and spoken dialogue are completely different. I’ve done plenty of recitative, but for dialogue you really have to understand what the characters are saying if you want it to feel authentic. Yes, there’s not a lot of singing in my role, and at first I was slightly disappointed—but then I realized this would give me some time to prepare for some other things, too.

Like, perhaps, the role of Escamillo?
[Laughs] No, I haven’t worked on that much. I’ve been singing the Toreador song for years—I love it—but as for the rest of the role, no, I haven’t worked on it. If something comes up and someone says, “We want you to sing Escamillo in a year or two,” of course I’ll jump into it!

Anita Rachvelishvili (Carmen) and Donovan Singletary (Zuniga) in Seattle Opera's current production of Carmen.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

How big a role does the director—in this case, Bernard Uzan—have when it comes to finessing that dialogue? What about the conductor?

I think that having a good handle on a language is first, in order to make the dialogue easier. I studied French in Paris, at La Sorbonne, so I was excited and nervous to do this. But yes, the director plays a huge part because, though I have coaches that I work on my language with, the director is the one who determines how the lines will be delivered. For example, I had certain breaks and pauses and breaths that Bernard didn’t agree with. Since he speaks French, he has really helped me make it as authentic as I can. As for the conductor, he isn’t involved as much, unless there is music involved with that piece of dialogue.

Donovan Singletary (Zuniga), Malgorzata Walewska (Carmen), and Fernando de la Mora (Don José) in Seattle Opera's current production of Carmen.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Who is your favorite character in Carmen?
My character! [Laughs] No, of course it’s Carmen. Both of our Carmens [Anita Rachvelishvili and Malgorzata Walewska] are really great. I’ve seen the show a million times, at the Met and other places, but being in the rehearsals and watching the process of the show being put together is so interesting. I never before realized how evil Carmen is. Well, OK, not evil--but she’s very calculating, like a predator. She’s this beautiful gypsy, who, if you get the right person to play her, is a mesmerizing character people are enthralled with. And even though she does so many questionable things, you feel bad for her in the end. She’s basically so free with her love that she’ll offer it to all these guys and tease them and take it away. And then the one guy who really falls for her? She ruins his life! She makes him reject someone who is truly in love with him (Micaëla), she makes him abandon the army, and then he joins a gang! She ruins his life. This character is very interesting to me, and I love the way that both Anita and Malgorzata play it.

Young Artists in CARMEN

Amanda Opuszynski, Andrew Stenson, Anita Rachvelishvili, Sarah Larsen, and David Krohn, in Seattle Opera's current production of Carmen.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Aside from featuring familiar faces and exciting debuts, our production of Carmen also spotlights several of our talented Young Artists, who will spend the 2011/12 season preparing for a career in opera with two of their own productions (the fall Young Artists Program tour of Werther kicks off next month, and they tackle Don Pasquale in the spring), as well as select mainstage roles. Today we speak with those YAPs making their mainstage debuts: baritone David Krohn (Dancaïre), soprano Amanda Opuszynski (Frasquita), baritone Joseph Lattanzi (Moralès), and mezzo Sarah Larsen (Mercédès).

David Krohn (Don Giovanni) and Amanda Opuszynski (Donna Elvira) in the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program production of Don Giovanni last season.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Amanda, last spring you sang Donna Elvira in the YAP production of Don Giovanni. Here, you’re in a supporting role—although your high C is a prominent part of many musical numbers in Carmen. What are challenges and opportunities associated with this kind of role?

Amanda Opuszynski: One of the best parts of the Young Artists Program is that we get the opportunity to perform in both the YAP productions and the mainstage productions. While there's much to be learned in singing leading roles with the YAP (and it's certainly fun to be in the spotlight singing arias), mainstage roles give us a chance to learn from our more experienced colleagues. We can observe the way they work onstage and off, and it's very inspiring and exciting! I think we all hope to be in their shoes one day, and it's advantageous to learn now what the expectations will be. Of course, we supporting characters also have some wonderful music to sing! There are so many fantastic ensemble and individual featured moments. I suppose the challenge would be to put as much effort into character development in these supporting roles as we would if we were the leads, but with such feisty, passionate characters, that’s half the fun!

Amanda Opuszynski (Frasquita), with fellow Young Artist Andrew Stenson (Remendado) in Seattle Opera's production of Carmen. Stenson made his mainstage debut last season as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Andrew Stenson (center, as Arturo) in Seattle Opera's 2010 production of Lucia di Lammermoor.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Joseph, what kinds of things can you learn from being in a show with stars like these Carmens and Josés?

Joseph Lattanzi: There are so many things young singers can learn from seasoned professionals but first and foremost, they are just truly amazing to be around. I was sitting next to one of the Carmens on the first day of rehearsal and was immediately struck by the way that sound just emanated from her. Singing seemed so easy and so natural for her, and as a young singer that is something I aspire to—to one day have a beautiful, vibrant sound that feels like second nature to me.

These stars, in particular, seem genuinely nice and that is a great example to set for a young singer, as well. It's inspiring to see kind, hard-working people with good personalities and generous spirits having so much success in the opera world. It creates a positive atmosphere to work in and makes the whole process much more fun.

Joseph Lattanzi (Moralès) and Sarah Larsen (Mercédès) in Seattle Opera's production of Carmen.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

Sarah, are you learning Carmen’s arias? Do you hope to sing the lead role in this opera someday?

Sarah Larsen: The Seguidilla and the Card Aria are in my current repertoire, and I am working on the Habanera right now. The role of Carmen sits lower than most of my repertoire, and it allows me to really focus on creating a good technical foundation for my lower middle range, which can only help my high notes! Every mezzo aspires to sing Carmen, and I have to admit that I do as well. However, I think I still need a few more years to grow into my voice and tap into the character. She is quite complex, both musically and dramatically, and I need a bit more time to thoroughly explore her.

Sarah Larsen (Mercédès) and David Krohn (Dancaïre) in Seattle Opera's production of Carmen.
Photo by Elise Bakketun

David, in a few days we'll get to hear (and see!) more about your summer adventures. But can you whet our appetites for the story of your trip?

David Krohn: Yes, after singing my first Don Giovanni with the YAP, I decided to take a different approach to the typical summer training a singer my age might select. Digesting a five-hundred page score of complex Italian grammar and vocabulary like Giovanni made me realize how many gaps there were in my Italian training and instead of taking years and years of language classes to compensate, but never completely learning what I needed to know, I opted to head to the source of opera itself, Italy. So, after a couple of concerts, I dropped my rental car off at the local airport, checked in my big red suitcase, and scanned my one-way ticket to Rome....

Keep your eyes on our blog, because we'll hear more from David soon...with full details of his adventures in Italy!

Carmen: Preview Trailer (Friday/Sunday Cast)

Did you know that our production of Carmen has TWO amazing casts?! Preview our Friday/Sunday cast in our latest video. (You may even want to hum along.)



Learn more about Carmen on the Seattle Opera website.

Carmen: Preview Trailer

See for yourself why Carmen is irresistible, unstoppable, and completely compulsive. Preview this production - the singers, sets, and costumes that you’ll be seeing on stage - with our latest trailer.



Learn more about Carmen on the Seattle Opera website.

Meet Our Singers: FERNANDO DE LA MORA, Don José

Mexican tenor Fernando de la Mora has performed all over the world, and not just opera. De la Mora, our Sunday/Friday Don José in Carmen, is also renowned for his career as a singer of popular and traditional Mexican music. He's recorded nearly 30 albums, performed in some of the world's most important theaters, and has a career spanning more than two decades. Yet, this is his first-ever visit to Seattle. We recently chatted with De la Mora and asked him about his unique career, singing in Spanish, and what he enjoys most about playing Don José.

How did you first become involved in opera?
I became involved in opera because I wanted to educate my voice, and my teacher was involved with the National Conservatory in Mexico City. She put me into the Conservatory, and I really discovered the beauty of opera. It’s an endless field, and everything can astonish you. I was hooked immediately. But I saw a career in opera as only a dream; I had been studying business administration in college. I also married very young, and I needed to be responsible and have a job that could support my family. So I decided to go for another one of my loves, popular music. And opera became my hobby, because I didn’t think that, in Mexico, opera was ready to be a good business. So I became a popular singer in Mexico, and an actor. I made a movie, was in a soap opera, and I did commercials. But opera was still my love.

Fernando de la Mora (Don José) and Malgorzata Walewska (Carmen) in rehearsals for Seattle Opera's upcoming production of Carmen. The two perform on October 21, 23, and 28.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

How did you transition from a career in popular music to one in opera?
At the time, I hadn’t yet discovered that there were thousands of theaters outside of Mexico where I could sing opera. My sights were just in Mexico. But I had two kids from my marriage, and I felt very complete with my marriage and my kids. And then—POW!—my like suddenly broke apart; my wife and I decided to separate. At the same time, I had the opportunity to audition for Bellas Artes in Mexico and they offered me a big role outside of Mexico City, which was a big success. Suddenly, I became very important for the company. I had been famous before, but when I became an opera singer, it was like an avalanche. Then, suddenly, my teacher told me, “Explore the world outside Mexico. They will offer you everything and you will never want to leave—but you need to go.” So I stopped my career to study for two and a half years in New York, and did some wonderful coaching. And then my career really started! I had an agent right away, and I made my American debut in San Francisco, my European debut in Cologne. After that, I was in Vienna, Berlin, La Scala, Covent Garden, Liceu de Barcelona, the Met, and all these doors were opening. I also married again and had two more kids, so all four of my kids travelled all the time, all around the world with me. It was very complicated, but very beautiful!

I also decided to keep performing Mexican music, because it’s a beautiful country with beautiful music. I’ve taken Mexican music to Japan, South Korea, to Europe, many places in America and South America. It’s very popular, and people seem to like it very much. And I also became the producer of my own records (I have almost 30 in my career). So I like very much how my career has unfolded. It’s very easy to get bored because you are repeating and repeating and repeating the same things every day. But the secret is to love it. And when you love, you are attentive, and respectful. You respect the music, the colleagues. And you continue studying, growing, and revising your technique.

Fernando de la Mora (Don José) and Malgorzata Walewska (Carmen) in rehearsals for Seattle Opera's upcoming production of Carmen. The two perform on October 21, 23, and 28.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Is opera more popular in Mexico now than it was when you started your career?
Yes, the opera lovers have grown a lot—there are maybe 10 times as many! Before, it was a very closed, elitist circle. Now it’s more cultural, and less about money. You don’t need to be rich to be a part of opera, but you do need to be intelligent. You need to be sensitive. You need to have feelings. This is what we didn’t understand before. Opera is for anyone who has a soul, who has una alma inquieta (a restless soul).

I’ve done quite a lot of opera in Mexico in the past 20 years. I like very much to perform there because the Bellas Artes theater is gorgeous, and I have a lot of friends there who have known me since I was a baby singer, and have heard me grow.

Have you had the chance to sing any opera in Spanish?
Yes, a few times. I did La vida breve by Falla (his only opera—a small opera, but with gorgeous music). And I also did Rappaccini’s Daughter by Daniel Catán, for his 1994 U.S. debut in San Diego. It was a great success, and was very well-received. I’m very sad that he passed away this year, in the middle of his glory. He was really starting to be somebody very important for Mexico and outside of Mexico. We need people like him. It’s so sad. He was such a nice man, such a good friend, and…ah, we miss him. I miss him. Mexico misses him. It’s difficult to accept that he’s not here with us anymore—but his music is.

Fernando de la Mora (Don José) and Malgorzata Walewska (Carmen) in rehearsals for Seattle Opera's upcoming production of Carmen. The two perform on October 21, 23, and 28.
Photo by Bill Mohn

What is your favorite thing about performing Don José, your character in Carmen?
My favorite thing about him is he is a great opportunity to act. The character starts as a normal person—a strong man, with character. He’s strict, solid. And then when Carmen appears, he becomes a weak man. This woman destroys him; she’s like a poison, or a virus. It’s like when you’re sick—you don’t want to be sick, but you are. He becomes crazy for this woman, and he doesn’t have any time to think like a normal person. He hates this! And you, as a performer, need to show that to the audience. You have a great opportunity to make this transformation from good to bad to, at the end, evil. He becomes like an animal, almost like a monster. But, he became like that because of her. And she’s the same from beginning to end. She doesn’t change. She is arrogant, selfish, and sure of herself. She gets what she wants, and then she’s done. She only likes José because he doesn’t like her. He says in the beginning, “I don’t like these Andalusian girls.” He prefers someone like Micaëla. She’s a lady, with manners, and she reacts as a normal person does. [Laughs] But Carmen is like a cat. When you call to her, she goes away. But as soon as you are not paying attention…Meow! She’s at your leg.

CARMEN in Pop Culture

Carmen is often described as the most popular opera of all time, so it should come as no surprise that its music has been referenced by everything from the Muppets to Major League Baseball. Here we’ve compiled some of our favorite nods to Bizet’s masterpiece, and we’d love for you to comment and share any we’ve missed!

Each year, Doritos hosts a competition where viewers can vote on which ad they’d like to see during the Super Bowl. This one, featuring the “Habanera,” was one of the finalists in 2007:



We’ve heard this famous piece of music many other places, too—including The Muppets, which showcased Beaker’s incomparable vocal skills, as accompanied by the Swedish Chef. The highlight of this clip, though, may be the cameo appearance by Animal.



Sesame Street also used the “Habanera,” in a clip starring an operatic orange. Many years later, the show teamed up with Samuel Ramey for an ode to the letter “L”—sung to the tune of the “Toreador Song.” Fair warning: This will definitely get stuck in your head.



Other kids’ programs have gotten in on the fun, like Tom and Jerry, which spoofed Carmen in its 1962 short "Carmen Get It!"



Those tuned into 'toons in the ‘90s may be more likely to remember The Animaniacs’ take on Carmen, in a segment entitled "O Silly Mio." More recently, fans of the FOX show Family Guy may remember a 2002 episode in which Brian the dog bonds with an elderly woman after hearing her sing the "Habanera."

Despite the fact that Carmen is a French opera with a Spanish setting, its music has frequently been heard in pasta commercials. The logic is a little flawed—these commercials are trying to emphasize Italian culture, after all. But it adds a new level of (unintentional?) humor to something like this Bertolli spot:



For an intentionally funny bit, we can look to the Marx Brothers. In their 1929 film The Cocoanuts, a song about lost-and-found shirts, of all things, is set to some familiar music. In the time since then, tunes from Carmen have made frequent appearances in the soundtracks and trailers of other comedy films (never mind that the opera itself has a tragic ending!). Wild Hogs in 2007 and Fool’s Gold in 2008 had the music in its trailers, and 1976 baseball classic The Bad News Bears used Carmen all throughout the film, juxtaposing the beauty of Bizet's music with the awful playing of the starring baseball team.

Perhaps the most memorable of these references is the appearance of the “Habanera” in the 2009 hit Disney/Pixar film, Up:



These are just some of our favorites. What are yours?

Meet Our Singers: NORAH AMSELLEM, Micaëla

Paris-born soprano Norah Amsellem made her Seattle Opera debut in 2004 as Gilda in Rigoletto, and returned in 2008 for Elvira in I puritani. She's singing Micaëla in our opening night cast of Carmen, and we talk to her about her recent world travels, singing in her native French, and collaborating with Domingo in Carmen as a kid and as an adult.

You recently did a recital at the Hanoi Opera House with Fernando de la Mora, our Sunday/Friday Don José. What was that event for? Have you had much opportunity to travel around Asia?
It was for Moët & Chandon champagne and cognac, actually. The Moët & Chandon group have a huge concert series there, so Lang Lang played last year and we were invited to do a concert there in the series. We did duets and trios and opera scenes and arias and all that, which was great. Fernando went on a tour of Vietnam afterward and enjoyed that very much, but I couldn’t explore because I had to go back to the Vienna Staatsoper to do a Manon with Roberto Alagna.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Japan, though, and I’m going for the first time to Beijing to do a concert tour there in December. I’m looking forward to it, because it’s too far away to go just for fun—I never have time! And I’ve decided to go a little early with my fiancé, and we’re going to spend a bit of time sightseeing.

So far, the Seattle Opera audience has only heard you singing in Italian. Do you prefer singing in your mother tongue, French?
I like both. Of course, Italian is easier for the voice, but I sing a lot in French so I better not mind it!

Norah Amsellem (Elvira) and Lawrence Brownlee (Arturo) in Seattle Opera's 2008 production of I puritani.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Tell us about your character, Micaëla. For the first hundred or so years, the basic interpretation of this opera was that Micaëla was a good little girl, a foil to the naughty girl, Carmen. Is that the way you see it?
It can change based on the production. Micaëla is not who I think she is, it’s whoever she is for that production. She can be a drug addict or she can be a sister going into a convent; she can be many different things. However, this is a fairly traditional production. She’s an orphan who has been taken under the wing of José’s mother, and lives with her. She goes every day to get the water and to cook, so it’s not exactly a fun life. She’s a bit of a country girl, in a very small village taking care of an old lady. So of course when she goes to Seville to see José, she’s probably been there maybe once before, if at all. For her, it’s wonderful and it’s scary. As soon as she gets there, she hesitates to ask for directions and she gets assaulted by these men, so it’s a bit scary for her— but she’s also a tough girl, I think, because of all she’s been through in life, so she doesn’t scare easily. And later she does something not everybody would be willing to do—go up into the mountains to find José.

Mariusz Kwiecien (Riccardo) and Norah Amsellem (Elvira) in Seattle Opera's 2008 production of I puritani.
Photo by Bill Mohn

How does she feel about José toward the end of the opera?
She still of course feels something for him at that point, she still has tenderness toward him, but I think she’s given up on seeing any kind of love with him because of what happened with his relationship with Carmen. I think Micaëla realizes that José doesn’t love her in that way that she loved him. She calls him “the one I have loved before” in her aria.

You have a young son; do you ever sing to him?
Rarely. I read him a lot of stories instead. I used to sing to him when he was in my tummy, but now because I’m working, I don’t necessarily want to keep singing when I get home. Of course, he hears a lot of music and he comes to rehearsals with me when he can. He just started kindergarten last year, though, so he travels less now. But he’s coming to see me in Carmen at the end of this month. He loves opera! He sat through Traviata when he was three years old, and also Bohème, Turandot, all those big operas. It’s very cute. For Traviata he was a bit scared at the end. He was nearly crying, and he said, “What’s wrong with mamma?” So, my performance must have been convincing! [laughs]

Norah Amsellem (Gilda) with Kim Josephson (Rigoletto) in Seattle Opera's 2004 production of Rigoletto.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

At what age did you become interested in performing opera?
Beginning when I was eight or nine years old, I sang in a quite well-known children’s chorus in Paris. And, actually, I did the children’s chorus in Carmen with Placido Domingo and Julia Migenes in the movie they did. And then I sang it with Domingo in 2000 for the opening of the Met season and I told him, “I sang the children’s chorus with you!” It had always been my dream to sing with him, and it happened! So that was great.

Meet Our Singers: MICHAEL TODD SIMPSON, Escamillo

Today we catch up with baritone Michael Todd Simpson, who performs the role of Escamillo in Carmen (opening next week!). Simpson is an alum of our Young Artists Program, who made his Seattle Opera debut in 2005 as Hermann in Les contes d’Hoffmann, and followed that up in 2007 with Marcello in La bohème. Below, we ask him for his advice to our current group of Young Artists--five of whom appear in Carmen--and talk about the challenges of singing Escamillo.


The role of Escamillo is famously difficult to sing—some have gone so far as to say it isn’t really a bass-baritone part, but a part for a bass who has to transform into a baritone for certain passages. Do you find this a difficult role to sing?
Act II sits lower than Acts III and IV, and people expect a sort of beefy quality to the Toreador Song, a heavier bass-baritone quality. A bass wouldn't sing it; it’s either a bass-baritone or a baritone. I’m a high baritone, so once I get through Act II, I’m home free, whereas most bass-baritones have no problem with the aria and then Acts III and IV kill them. I have the opposite problem.

Everyone always says you either have a baritone who can’t hit the bottom, or you have a bass who can’t hit the top. But in Carmen it’s not a matter of hitting the notes as it is delivering the quality of sound that people expect to hear—just as if you would never want to hear a Heldentenor trying to sing Rodolfo in Bohème. You just wouldn’t expect that. So that’s the difficult thing about this. The danger I get into is trying to beef up my sound and, in the aria especially, that just kills you. That’s what comes across as being difficult; people listen with their eyes and when they see someone on stage struggling, that’s what makes people think it’s such a difficult role. But that’s something I’m still working on. I’m 32, and Escamillo is just one of those roles that take some maturity.

Anita Rachvelishvili (Carmen) and Michael Todd Simpson (Escamillo) rehearse for Seattle Opera's upcoming production of Carmen.
Photo by Bill Mohn

You’ve had a lot of opportunities to work on this role in the past few years, though.
Yes, this is my sixth time in three years, and my third time this year alone. I’m getting a lot of practice! This summer I did 11 performances at Glimmerglass, in a small theater in upstate New York which only seats like 800 or 900 people. So I actually felt like I could back off a little bit and not try and produce a ton of power and sound. I found that by doing that, I was able to give more, and have more fun with the role. So that’s what I’m trying to continue to do, but it’s tricky.

Michael Todd Simpson (Escamillo) and Luis Chapa (Don José) rehearse for Seattle Opera's upcoming production of Carmen.
Photo by Bill Mohn

When people play the game of “What opera character do you most want to be,” many choose Escamillo. Was that the case for you? What is it that’s so appealing about this character?
The thing that’s not appealing for me is I’m only on stage for five minutes and everyone judges me completely based on those five minutes. But I love the stature that he has, I love being able to come on stage as Escamillo—he’s a huge rock star! He’s like Bon Jovi walking out there. I just wish he was on stage more often.

Since you play a bullfighter, have you studied up on your role by exploring the world of bullfighting?
I’ve studied a bit. There’s tons of stuff on YouTube that I’ve watched. It’s pretty amazing to watch toreros move, and I did it mostly to watch them walk and stand. It’s very stiff, there’s not a lot of movement, and it’s very precise. There’s no movement that’s not intentional. And the Act IV torero costume which I wear into the bullfight is my most elaborate costume in the entire show. That’s the time where you really need to show you have a matador’s presence. At the same time, you don’t really see a lot of bullfighters outside of the ring, so how do they walk into a bar? When they walk into a room and they say, “Votre toast! Hey guys, cheers, I want to salute you!” I think they sort of relax a bit.

Margarita De Arellano (Musetta) and Michael Todd Simpson (Marcello) in Seattle Opera's 2007 production of La bohème.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

We recently wrote a blog outlining what happens at bullfights, which are very controversial events. What do you think about the topic?
I don’t really know, I don’t fall on either side. Yes, it can be seen as inhumane and cruel (though people pick and choose what they think is cruel), but to the people who have had hundreds and hundreds of years of history with it, it’s an art form and a sport. The reason people make such a stink about it, though, is because you have an animal in the ring that didn’t choose to be there. We also have crazy wrestlers and fighters who beat the bejeezus out of each other, and we call that a sport and no one stands up and says, “This is inhumane!” but that’s because they chose to be there. So I guess the fine line is whether you’re giving those in the ring a choice or not. But watching bullfighters, the skill they have is amazing.

Michael Todd Simpson (center, as Hermann) in Seattle Opera's 2005 production of Les contes d’Hoffmann.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

This production of Carmen also stars several current Young Artists. As a successful Young Artists Program alum, who’s now making a living singing all over the world, what advice do you have for these singers today?
Practice. Practice, practice, practice, a lot. A lot of this business is about word-of-mouth and the only way to get that is to get your name out there, so sing for as many people as you possibly can. Crash auditions—that’s what I did. Do as many competitions as you possible can because the judges for those competitions are the people who hire other people to sing shows. Get out there and sing.

Also, find a good teacher and stick with that person, because you’re not done. What I find with so many singers these days is they get out of grad school and they’re like, “OK, I’m done!” No, you need to be practicing with a teacher, consistently. The voice doesn’t stop changing until you’re in your mid-thirties, for most of us, so if your voice is still changing, you need someone with a good set of ears saying, “That doesn’t sound good” or “You need to change the way you’re doing this.” My voice in my late 20s compared to where I am now is just completely different. And I got consistent lessons along the way so someone could say, “You’re doing this well, but you’re not doing this well.” That would be my advice. Lots of lessons and coachings all through your 20s and into your 30s.

In case you missed Michael Todd Simpson's appearance yesterday on "New Day Northwest", CLICK HERE.