The Magic Flute: Behind the Scenes: Vocal Acrobatics

Mozart uses the characters in The Magic Flute to sing virtually every note within human vocal range. From the deep bass of Sarastro to the extremely high coloratura of the Queen of the Night, learn from Maestro Gary Wedow (and the singers themselves) about the voice types required to portray these characters successfully.




Learn more about The Magic Flute on the Seattle Opera website.

MEET OUR SINGERS: Emily Hindrichs and Mari Moriya, Queens of the Night

Now that both our talented casts for The Magic Flute have had some time to settle into town, we've begun chatting with the singers about their roles here and their careers in general.

Today, we introduce you to our two Queens of the Night: soprano Emily Hindrichs, who performs on Saturdays and Wednesdays, and soprano Mari Moriya, who takes on the role on Sundays and Fridays. (To the right, see a Queen of the Night costume sketch by designer Zandra Rhodes.) Both are making their Seattle Opera debuts in the role, though you may recognize Hindrichs from the Young Artists Program in both 07/08 and 08/09. We asked them about the Queen's famous arias, and also find out what they've been up to lately.


The Queen’s two arias are so impressive. Do you find them really hard to sing?

Emily: The Queen's first aria, "O zittre nicht," is one of my favorites to sing. It's a lot less flash and dash compared to the more famous Vengeance Aria, but it's one of the only opportunities the Queen has to show that she can really SING. But the Vengeance Aria presents its own set of challenges, especially if the director has you dragging Pamina across the floor by the wrist (which I've done before, but not in this production!).
Mari: Yes, it is definitely something hard to sing because all the notes should be very precise. And everybody knows these arias! Singing the Queen has some unique stresses that I do not have with other roles.

Should the audience be able to read between the lines in “O zittre nicht,” even if Tamino can’t? Or are you trying to seduce us, too?

Mari: What the Queen delivers should be believable, so the goal is to seduce both Tamino and audience.
Emily: Director Chris Alexander's vision of the Queen is more faceted than most. He wants her to be real, genuinely hurt, and vulnerable when she first comes to the stage. She's trying to get her way, to be sure, but it's in the interest of saving her daughter. I think it's a rare opportunity to play her as something more than manipulative and power-hungry.

Does the Queen love her daughter?

Emily: Absolutely. Only from deep love could such incredible anger and venom spring forth. She's a woman of extremes!
Mari: Yes, I think so. Pamina is the Queen's daughter—she is hers.

Emily, your first audition for the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, in December of 2006, was the Queen’s first aria. How long have you been singing these pieces, and how have they changed?

The Queen was my first operatic role—ever. I was just discovering this crazy upper extension in my voice, and singing really high was the most fun thing I had ever been asked to do. After auditioning for doctoral programs with those arias, I knew I had to put them on the shelf for a little while.

When I returned to “O zittre nicht” in 2006, she was a lot more ready to be seen, and I was a lot more ready to sing her. Every year, the arias evolve for me—it's a very long-term relationship we have!

Emily Hindrichs as Tytania in the Young Artists Program production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2009. Also pictured is Jeffrey Madison as Bottom.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Tell us about your career as an academic. What are you researching/writing/teaching these days, when you get a chance to get off stage?

I finished my dissertation during a run of Magic Flute a few years ago. When it was finally submitted and approved, I felt this huge sense of relief, followed by incredible restlessness. Getting my doctorate was the big goal since I was in junior high school, and suddenly it was over. Since then, I've been rattling around ideas for academic papers and maybe even a book, but I have the opportunity to do some really great singing—that thing I spent so many years writing about—and I'm focusing on doing that to the very best of my ability.

Mari, does the Japanese language have more in common with German or with Italian?

Phonetically, Japanese has much more in common with Italian than with German. I always feel it’s much easier to sing in Italian—it’s such a vocally friendly language. However, I like to sing in German, as well! German has some beauty in it, too.

When you did The Magic Flute at the Met, in the Taymor production, did you sing and do the dialogue in German, or in the McClatchy English version?

I sang in English at the Met. I have had so many combinations for The Magic Flute: German singing with German dialogue, singing in German with English dialogue, and English for both of singing and dialogues.

Mari Moriya rehearses the Queen of the Night's aria "Der Hölle Rache." (Photo by Alan Alabastro)

Do you sing much in Japan these days?

I'm not singing in Japan much, but I hope to sing in my country as much as I do in America and Europe, so I can invite all my family and friends to my performances.

Checking In with Director Chris Alexander

Last week marked the start of rehearsals for The Magic Flute, which opens on May 7 and wraps up Seattle Opera’s 2010/2011 season. Director Chris Alexander (photo, left, by Rozarii Lynch) will be giving us a weekly behind-the-scenes look at the process of getting Mozart’s fantastical masterpiece to the stage, and we touched base with him to see how things have been going so far. Here's what he said, along with a couple photos from rehearsal:

What did you and the cast work on in your first week together?
We blocked Act 1, which means setting people on stage so they know where they’re standing and so we have the set up of a scene dramaturgically. For me, it’s always an adventure in the first week because I get to know everybody, and they also get to know me. (Of this cast, I only knew two of the singers—the Monostatos, Doug Jones, and then Phil Cutlip who is one of the Papagenos.) Then we go into Act 1 and find our style, which means establishing how this Magic Flute looks in comparison to others. I have a lot of singers on stage who have done their parts many times before and so they have to adjust to my ideas. I also have to have big eyes and big ears to see what’s good for them, because they have to stand on stage afterward, not me. So this first week is always trying to get to know somebody and get the part right for them so that they can present their beautiful music in the best way.

Marcy Stonikas, John Tessier, Anya Matanovic, Philip Cutlip, and Lindsey Anderson rehearse the Act 1 Quintet.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

What will you be working on in the second week of rehearsal?
The second act. We block out Act 1 in the first week, and Act 2 in the second week, and get it so that everybody knows exactly what’s going. And then in the third week, we put it all together.

Have you come across any surprises in rehearsal so far?
Well, in Magic Flute you have a lot of animals coming on stage and you have a lot magical effects. And we’ve been dealing with a lot of that magic to find out if it works or not, and the happy surprise is that what we have looks quite startling!

Director Chris Alexander and Assistant Director Jeffrey Buchman visit with one of the animal puppets appearing in The Magic Flute.
Photo by Alan Alabastro

Benjamin Richardson Reports from Rehearsal, #1

Hello, my name is Benjamin Richardson and I am the Second Spirit in the Gold Cast of Seattle Opera’s production of The Magic Flute. For the past few weeks all the Spirits, also sometimes known as Genii (six kids) have met together every Saturday at our awesome youth vocal coach's house to rehearse. Elizabeth, our youth vocal coach, first had to teach us how to say each letter in German, such as w=v and v=f, but soon we all became familiar with them. Then we went through our music, Elizabeth saying each line of German, and us repeating. Soon, we could sing all of the words, diction, rhythm, and notes of the first two movements.

A couple weeks ago I went in to the costume shop to fit my costume. I got to meet Zandra Rhodes, our costume designer, and had a picture taken with her. I tried on the costume, which was very beautiful. On top of my shoulders are little bunches of green and silver feathers. The shoes have golden buckles with silver wings coming out from the back. The costume shop was very large, with lots of sewing machines and pieces of clothing everywhere.

A sketch by Zandra Rhodes, of the costumes to be worn by the Spirits.

A few days ago we had a banquet with most of the cast. Then we all met in a room where we went around and introduced ourselves. The director talked about the opera and we watched a slide show of what the set will look like, which is very Egyptian and like an Indiana Jones movie.

That day was also our first practice at the Seattle Opera rehearsal building. After we rehearsed in a coaching room we moved into the SORS, the stage-sized room, to practice with some of the principals. It was VERY fun singing with them, and we were amazed at their voices. It is kind of cool that the Queen of the Night’s arias have some of the highest notes of any opera, and Sarastro’s arias have some of the lowest notes of any opera! Anyway, after all the principals left, we stayed awhile to work with the conductor. We switched from the Gold cast to the Silver cast for some of the music, and we worked hard to please the Maestro. But, as Max, one of the other spirits, said, we are awesome!

The next rehearsal at the SORS was one of the most fun. We did some of the blocking and were told how we enter for the first time: we come in on this ten-foot high catwalk which hovers over Tamino and Papageno. We wave to them, and Papageno goes straight below the catwalk to look up at us. Then we sprinkle some glitter at him, which disgusts him, and he runs away. We have a good laugh after that. Then we point at the direction where they are supposed to go, and start to exit. Papageno, though, takes forever to say goodbye to the Three Ladies, and when I realize this, I turn around and pull him back offstage.

The next scene was really fun. It is our first singing scene, and we enter the stage on scooters! I’m pretty sure that the scooters are going to be black, and so is the screen behind it so it looks like we are hovering. We scooter around a few towers, then we meet up in a diagonal line and we sing to Tamino. Then we scooter offstage.

Well, that was our week! I'll be back next week to give you another report from rehearsal!

In Memoriam: Daniel Catán

Seattle Opera is very saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Mexican composer Daniel Catán, whose Florencia en el Amazonas was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by major American opera companies. It was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Seattle Opera, and was first performed here in Seattle in 1998, and again in 2005. When Speight Jenkins was asked in 2005 why he chose to bring back Florencia after only a few years, he replied: "The reason simply is that I have received more audience requests to bring back Florencia by letter, by chance encounters in the theater, and in my after-opera sessions than for any other opera."

Aside from that particular audience favorite, Catán composed several other pieces, including Il Postino--based on the life of Chilean author Pablo Neruda--which had its premiere this season at LA Opera. The Los Angeles Times has more information and LA Opera has posted a tribute page on its website.

Below, we present our own tribute to this very special composer and person.



For more information on Florencia and the last time it was performed here at Seattle Opera, click here.

A Chat with Andrew Stenson

With only two performances of Don Giovanni left, let's check in with tenor Andrew Stenson, who will sing the role of Don Ottavio at Saturday night's performance. He talks about singing Mozart, his take on this curious character, and his exciting plans for next season.

Andrew, tell us a little about your background. Why are there so many fine Korean opera singers?
I was born outside Seoul, Korea and adopted by an American family. My biological father died before I was born and my mother gave up the children for adoption. I was immediately put into foster care until I was adopted by my parents December 13th 1986. I owe my musical foundation to my elementary music teacher, Dave Nasby, who got a group of 4th and 5th graders do the same exercises I learned in the first year of college Ear Training. When I picked music up again in high school it was like riding a bike. I received my musical training at Luther College and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. I've held Apprenticeships/Young Artist positions at Cedar Rapids Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, and Glimmerglass before coming to Seattle Opera. I have no idea why there are so many fine Korean opera singers...maybe it’s genetics? I’d welcome any explanation!

Andrew Stenson as Don Ottavio (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Don Ottavio might have come across as heroic two hundred years ago, but modern audiences tend to see him as a bit of a wimp. Do you play up his strengths, or his weakness?
What we have discovered about Ottavio over the course of rehearsals is that he is a man like you and I who wants to do right by his loved one. He loves Anna, he’s confused about the situation they’re all in, and he wants to make sense of everything before doing something rash. Anna can only talk of vengeance, and almost every time we see her on stage she is irate or stricken with guilt. I think by trying to beef up Ottavio, he could look ridiculous, because what rational person would immediately jump into the idea of violent revenge without knowing the full details? I remember during the final orchestra dress I noticed a big smudge of lipstick on Anna’s face (that was part of her makeup design), which got my thought process running: “What has she been doing?! What is she not telling me?!”

Stenson also had fiancee trouble when he made his mainstage debut last fall in Lucia di Lammermoor. Eric Neuville as Normanno, Andrew Stenson as Arturo, and Ljubomir Puskaric as Enrico (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Beyond this Don Ottavio, are there other Mozart roles you sing? Can we consider you a Mozart tenor, or is it more that every great singer must be able to sing Mozart?
Mozart and high music are very good for me right now, but I’m not sure if I will specialize in them. I sang Tamino in English in undergrad and that fit like a glove. I feel like I could sing either Belmonte or Pedrillo in Abduction; I’d love to try my hand at Ferrando; and I would LOOOOVE to sing Mitridate somewhere down the line (if you haven’t seen it, check out Bruce Ford singing it on YouTube). I’m prepping Orphée for next season, and as high as it is, it’s fitting me very well. I also sing some bel canto, I could sing Nemorino for the rest of my life. I really enjoy singing in English, and I’d like to eventually sing some light Verdi, Edgardo, and at the heaviest, Rodolfo.

Andrew Stenson sang the high-maintenance German tenor is last fall's YAP Viva la Mamma! (Bill Mohn, photo)

What happens to Don Ottavio after the events of the opera?
As Ottavio himself says, his happiness depends on Anna’s. A whole number of things could happen. Giovanni and Anna could have been screwing around behind Ottavio’s back...and he could realize this and leave her. Maybe this will play out exactly as Anna wants them to, and after a year they finally marry and live happily ever after. Perhaps Ottavio, being a practical (although unromantic) person, pushes Anna to marry sooner because nine months after her encounter with Giovanni it would look good for them to have been married that whole time.

Stenson as Loge in Siegfried and the Ring of Fire (Bill Mohn, photo)

Next year you’ll be busy with Seattle Opera. Tell us about some of your plans. Which of these pieces are you most looking forward to?
I am thrilled for next season because it allows me to sing a very broad range of rep. I’ll be doing three French shows: Remendado in Carmen, Werther, and covering William Burden in Orphée. Fortunately I’m covering Remendado this summer at Glimmerglass so I’ll have it ready well in advance. I’ve never done a role as heavy or as dramatically challenging as Werther before, and I’m very excited to embrace the tragedy! I’m delighted to have the opportunity to cover Bill next season. He was such a fine artist and pleasure to work with during Lucia , and I can’t wait to see him in Orphée. The role is wickedly high (it can be just as high and higher than Daughter of the Regiment). I’ve always been able to live in the stratosphere, and now I’m finally getting a chance to really dig into it and stretch myself. I think the music is absolutely gorgeous and the text is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

A Chat with David Krohn

Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program has only two performances of Don Giovanni remaining--this Thursday and Saturday--so it's about time for us to chat with Giovanni himself, a.k.a. baritone David Krohn. Although Krohn has performed in other productions of this Mozart opera, this is his first time taking on the famous lead role. We asked Krohn how he feels about his character, how this YAP production stacks up against his other Don Giovanni experiences, and--because this is Seattle, after all--if he sees any Wagner is his future.

Tell us about any other productions of Don Giovanni you’ve done. Which role(s) did you play? Were the productions similar or different to this one?
This is my third production of Don Giovanni. My first experience with the opera was understudying the role of Masetto with the New Jersey Summer Opera Theatre, when I was 19 years old. It was a wonderful chance to get to know the opera in a low-stress setting. The opera was fully staged, but performed with piano in a small space, so there was little pressure for me as a young singer.

It wasn't until this past year that I revisited the opera, when my good friend Joe Walsh, who was conducting the piece with Virginia Opera, lost his Masetto two weeks before rehearsals started. It had been a long time since New Jersey, but I was able to learn Masetto and also to understudy the title role, which, by then, I knew I would be singing here in Seattle with the Young Artists Program. We did a total of nine performances in three cities with a fantastic cast, led by director Lilian Groag. Virginia Opera has a reputation for a VERY long rehearsal period and Lilian was a tireless director, rehearsing scenes in incredible detail to help paint her vision with a fine paintbrush. Because of this, I was able to learn Don Giovanni and get a deep insight into the challenges I would face with the title role in the following season, while I performed Masetto in Virginia.

David Krohn in Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program's production of Don Giovanni.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

It's tough to compare either of the ones I've done since to the production in New Jersey, since it was the inaugural season of the company and there were minimal sets and no orchestra (I understand that in recent years the festival has upgraded to performing with orchestra in a much larger theater). But with the production in Virginia, Lilian's concept for Giovanni was much more literal than Peter Kazaras’ concept in this Young Artists production. There we used period costumes and made many traditional staging choices. Here in Seattle, Peter has taken great pains to create a different world and physical vocabulary for the characters, separating them from any other production of Giovanni I've ever seen or heard of. While this may bother some of the purists in the audience, I have great respect for what Peter has tried to do here. With the climate of opera changing so much, it is sometimes necessary to take risks to present something fresh and relevant to an audience.

Besides that, it's truly impossible to compare my experience in Virginia with Seattle. As a member of the Young Artists Program, I've been able to work closely with our conductor, Maestro Brian Garman, for the past six months leading up to this production, for Donizetti's Viva La Mamma!, our Siegfried outreach project, and the Schubert lieder recital we gave, along with countless coachings and auditions with varied repertoire. It is a huge advantage to have a conductor in the pit who fully understands your voice, and to understand your conductor's musical aesthetics. While on stage, there are times that I catch his expression out of the corner of my eye and know immediately what he is asking me to do, which is something that can only come with time and repetitive work together.

Erik Anstine (Leporello) and David Krohn (Don Giovanni) in Don Giovanni.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

In addition to being a singer, we understand you’re quite an outdoorsman. What do climbing mountains and singing operas have in common?
Well, for one, Don Giovanni is a long role and requires a lot of stamina. While it is always crucial to pace yourself in getting through the evening, it is sometimes equally important to simply put one foot in front of the other and stay focused on the terrain around you. On my drive to Seattle, I climbed Mount Whitney in California with a buddy I had just finished singing a Barber of Seville with in Aspen. The climb took over 15 hours. We started at 2 a.m. with headlamps and made it to the summit right before noon and back to the trailhead at sunset. Focus is always important on a long day of hiking and climbing, because as soon as your concentration begins to wane, the consequences can be staggering. While the dangers of a screwing up on a mountain climb are much scarier than those of screwing up on stage, neither is fun. The feeling of accomplishment after a successful performance is unbelievable. You come home after a long night of performing and should be exhausted, but for some reason, you can't sleep. Same with mountaineering.

Don Giovanni is a hero to some, a villain to others. What do you find attractive, and repellent, about this character?
Absolutely, Giovanni is a hero and a villain wrapped into one. For me, the greatest thing about Giovanni (and perhaps the most frustrating) is that he doesn't change one bit from the start of the opera to the end. He comes on stage after having tried to seduce a woman and he does the same thing in the final scene with Elvira. Even when he is faced with his own demise, he looks death in the eye and refuses to change. He has his moral code—and while nobody can honestly consider his view on life acceptable, you have to admire someone who believes so strongly in himself. It's like the man has no doubts whatsoever. AND, he's clever. It takes a supernatural occurrence to finally do him in. Masetto, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina combined can't stop him. No one can. It's almost like he's not even human, but an archetype. Of course, you have to find moments on stage to make him human, or else there is no way an actor can portray him successfully.

David Krohn (Don Giovanni) and Amanda Opuszynski (Donna Elvira) in Don Giovanni.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

You first came to Seattle as a Wagner fan, and recently got to sing some Wagner for this company. What was that like? Perhaps Mozart is better-suited to your voice right now…but should we expect to hear you singing Wagner again someday?
You're right, I was involved with the Young Artists Program's outreach production of Siegfried and the Ring of Fire. But it can't precisely be called “singing Wagner.” The roles were transposed, sung in English, shortened to less than a tenth of their actual length and separated by dialogue and performed with piano. There are no principal roles in Wagner's canon that I feel ready to take on just yet. Sure, plenty of famous lyric baritones have taken on Wagner early in their careers—Dieskau and Hampson, for example, sang Amfortas and Wolfram regularly—but I would rather take these critical years in my career to enjoy Wagner from the audience. It's tough to say what my voice will do in the coming years, but I can say this: If I do work my way into Wagnerian repertoire, there would be no more exciting place to sing these operas than here in Seattle.

Siegfried (David Krohn) converses with the dying Fafner (sung by Marcy Stonikas, among others) in Siegfried and the Ring of Fire.
Photo by Bill Mohn

As a lyric baritone, you belong to a group of singers who must both look nice and sound good. When you’re in the audience at an opera, do you find yourself judging singers in terms of voice, appearance, or both?
When I'm in the audience, I always consider the voice first, before anything. Don't get me wrong—singers need to be able to look good and act well on stage. You're selling a whole package of looks and a good voice. But there's so much more than that, too: dancing skills, acting skills, professional behavior, collegiality, preparedness, language skills, musicianship, and the list goes on forever. Modern productions are putting more and more demands on singers, asking them to do things that the Golden Age singers would never have put up with. Could you imagine someone asking Maria Callas to stage an avant-garde production of Tosca, making her ride a bicycle during "Vissi d'arte" or something like that? Directors are requiring that kind of flexibility from singers and the reality is that if singers want to have a career in this changing world, they have to be able to adapt. I'm not saying there is no validity in the avant-garde, but we have to remember that the music comes before anything. But if lyric baritones are asked to have their shirts off more and more, I'll keep hitting the gym to meet the demand.

Erik Anstine (Leporello) and David Krohn (Don Giovanni) in Don Giovanni.
Photo by Rozarii Lynch

The Magic Flute: Costumes with Zandra Rhodes

Meet Zandra Rhodes, known to the international fashion scene as a high-end designer for the rich and famous. Her unique use of bold prints, fiercely feminine patterns and theatrical use of color gives each Rhodes creation a timeless quality. Her designs will be featured in our upcoming production of The Magic Flute.



Learn more about The Magic Flute on the Seattle Opera website.

A Chat with Erik Anstine

Although many who attend Don Giovanni may fantasize about being as suave as the Don, most of us have a lot more in common with his dopey sidekick Leporello, played in our production by second-year Young Artist Erik Anstine. Anstine, who played the clownish Truffaldino in last year's YAP Ariadne auf Naxos, will make his mainstage debut very soon in a more serious role. Here he gives us his thoughts about the characters of Don G, about being a young bass, and upcoming opportunities to see him perform.

Mozart wrote some fine music for bass...the two trios for low voices in this opera, Osmin, Sarastro’s great arias in our upcoming opera. Do you find yourself singing a lot of Mozart? Tell us what you’re going to be doing in The Magic Flute.
I do find myself singing a lot of Mozart, partly because I am a young singer, and partly because Mozart's music is so popular. Young singers sing a lot of Mozart because it requires you to be very technical, while at the same time not demanding a fully mature vocal instrument.

I will be making my mainstage debut as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute, which I am looking forward to very much.

Anstine as Leporello ponders his next move during Don Giovanni's Act Two Sextet (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Do you find it easy to identify with Leporello? What does Leporello really think about working for Giovanni? Why does he keep doing it?
I do find it easy to identify with Leporello. When I was studying in London, I went out one night with a group that included a friend of a friend who was in an 'Il Divo-'like 'popera' group. We were on VIP lists to some of the big clubs in London, had champagne waiting for us in the VIP lounges, and even were stopped on the street to have our pictures taken by fans. I had never experienced anything like that before. I think Leporello gets that kind of rush by being around and attached to Giovanni.

Leporello doesn't have much of a life outside of being Giovanni's servant, and I'm not sure he really wants one. Leporello lives vicariously through Giovanni and between the women and the parties, Giovanni does live quite the life. Leporello is constantly at Giovanni's side, finding women for him to meet, keeping very diligent and precise records, providing cover so Giovanni can make yet another escape, dealing with jilted lovers, even serving food in the final scene. I think Leporello would be lost without Giovanni because it is so much of who he is. At the same time, Giovanni doesn't treat him very well and Leporello is always talking about needing to leave Giovanni, or how he disapproves of what Giovanni is doing. That conflict is what drives Leporello throughout the opera.

Leporello (Anstine) shows Donna Elvira (Amanda Opuszynski) the catalog (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Tell us what Leporello really thinks about Elvira and Zerlina.
Elvira is the latest former lover of Giovanni's to show up. She is particularly stubborn and when she turns up is delusional about Giovanni. At first, she is just one of many betrayed women demanding accountability from Giovanni. At the end of the opera, Leporello starts to side with Elvira about how Giovanni needs to change his ways, but by then it is too late.

Zerlina, on the other hand, is the latest would-be victim. Leporello doesn't really think much of her being anything special until the duet between the two of them. It's all fun and games until Zerlina, thinking Leporello beat up Masetto, gets out a knife and ties Leporello up. At that point, Leporello has no idea what to think, but then Zerlina leaves and the finale happens shortly thereafter.

Zerlina (Jacqueline Bezek) threatens Leporello (Anstine) in the duet, "Per queste tue manine" (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

You’ve obviously got a knack for comedy. But because of your voice type, you’re often going to be playing the king, or an old man, or God, or the devil, those kinds of roles. What’s your favorite thing about being a bass?
One of my favorite things about being a bass is the fact that as a bass I can sing both the comic repertoire and the more serious, 'old man' repertoire. Some voices only seldom get to sing comedic roles, or only very seldom get to sing romantic or tragic roles, but basses get to do both. This breadth of repertoire appeals to me very much, both as a singer and an actor. Obviously, I would more look the part of a character in his 20s than I would a character in his 60s. One great thing about opera is that if the singer can sound the part, you can cast him. They can do great things with makeup these days.

Last year's YAP Ariadne auf Naxos starred Anstine, Alex Mansoori, Michael Krzankowski, and Bray Wilkins as the clowns Truffaldino, Scaramuccio, Harlekin, and Brighella (Chris Bennion, photo)

Casting back over your time with YAP, what are some of the things you’ve learned or experiences you’ve valued? What are your immediate future plans?
I have learned an incredible amount here in the program. From Lieder classes and language classes to singing at a Mariners game and full-blown productions, the opportunities the YAP has provided me have been invaluable. My immediate future plans include a St. Matthew Passion with Orchestra Seattle/Seattle Chamber Singers April 17, and both Magic Flute and Porgy and Bess here on the mainstage.

A Chat with Adrian Rosas

Now that Don Giovanni is open, let's check in with bass-baritone Adrian Rosas, who does double-duty in this production as both the Commendatore AND Masetto. (Mozart himself approved this doubling; but review our recent chat with Richard Bernstein for the story of the time he ended up singing both Masetto and Leporello!) This season Rosas has played Procolo in Viva la Mamma!, the Sergeant in The Barber of Seville, and now these two roles for Seattle Opera.

We saw your brilliant comic timing in The Barber of Seville, but we’ll see a different side of you onstage in this Don Giovanni. Do you prefer doing serious roles, or comedy?
Having the opportunity to sing the Sergeant in The Barber of Seville proved to me that there are no small roles. It was a surprise to me how much of an impact a role with a total of 3 sentences could have on a production, and getting to add to the humor of the show was so much fun! I don't think I can decide whether I prefer comic or serious roles, but what I love about both is exploring the physical language that comes along with them. It's always exciting for me to play with body language, posture, and the way my character might interact with the other characters on stage, based on their personality and their text. The wonderful thing is that it is possible to do this with either comic or serious, and "small" or "large" roles.

Rosas as the Sergeant in The Barber of Seville (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

You’re playing two very different roles in this production, as happened at the first performances in 1787. Do you have to concentrate on singing them differently? Which is your favorite?
I have to say, first off, that it's been a great experience working on the 1787 "Vienna Version" of this show. Having one person sing both the Commendatore and Masetto is not the only interesting difference; there are also some great musical additions to the most commonly performed score, as well as some well-known passages that are left out. As for concentrating on the singing of the two different roles, yes, I have had to approach each one in a slightly different way. I think many of us have a specific sound that we want to hear from the Commendatore and personally I've had to concentrate on just singing it like Adrian and not trying to mimic a bigger, older, or darker sounding voice. I want the Commendatore's sound to be commanding and dark, but at the same time I have to focus on singing the role in a healthy way for me, so I hope that I can do justice to Mozart's intended sound of the character. Masetto is definitely a better fit for my voice right now. Although the roles have about the same range, Masetto requires more vocal flexibility and is more rhythmically and dynamically varied, where the Commendatore has, for the most part, longer sustained lines and a mostly forte dynamic. I like performing both of these roles (I mean, who doesn't like the Commendatore Scene in the Second Act Finale? It's one of the most famous and dramatic scenes in opera...), but overall Masetto is a better fit for me.

Rosas as Procolo in Viva la Mamma!, with Amanda Opuszynski as the Prima Donna (Alan Alabastro, photo)

We hear you’ll be singing the title character in Don Giovanni soon. Tell us a little about that, and about your vocal range—are you a bass, a bass-baritone, a baritone, or all of the above?
This summer I will be returning to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist and will be covering the role of Don Giovanni, which opens their season in late May. I describe myself as a bass-baritone, because of the color and range of my voice. I don't have the appropriate color or size of voice for most bass roles and my range isn't quite high enough for many of the higher baritone roles, so I fall into this middle category that we call bass-baritone. Although Masetto, Commendatore and Giovanni are all very different roles dramatically, they have very similar vocal ranges. It is fairly common for a lower male voice to work on Giovanni, Masetto and Leporello, though the Commendatore is often reserved for a basso profundo. It's an exciting opportunity to get to sing three of the low-voice roles in Don Giovanni within a few months and I can't wait for the chance to sing the fourth, Leporello!

Zerlina (Jacqueline Bezek) cradles the injured Masetto (Rosas) (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Do you think Masetto and Zerlina will live happily ever after?
This will be my second time performing Masetto and here the relationship between Zerlina and Masetto is slightly different than my previous experience. In this production I feel their relationship is being portrayed more realistically, more true to life, in that we don't end the show in such a "happy-go-lucky" way. The characters have a slightly explosive relationship with extreme ups and downs, but I do feel that they love each other deeply and will surely stay together after this portion of their story ends.

Zerlina and Masetto (Bezek and Rosas) celebrate their wedding (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

What keeps you busy when you aren’t onstage?
Currently, when I'm not on stage, I have been preparing three new roles for this upcomming summer. As I mentioned previously, I will be covering Don Giovanni at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and I am also working on Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream and Bernardo from West Side Story, both of which I will be performing with the Aspen Opera Theater. When I'm not working on music there are a number of things that I enjoy doing. I've made some really great friends during my time in Seattle and I often spend time with them when our schedules allow; usually cooking, going out to great Happy Hours, and even doing karaoke from time to time. I'm also a movie and TV lover, and am currently addicted to Battlestar Galactica (thank you to Andrew Stenson and Eric Neuville, two fellow Young Artists, for getting me hooked). What I like to do most though is take advantage of those few nice days that we get in Seattle. If the sun is out then I definitely try to be outdoors as much as possible, whether it's going for a bike ride or just taking a long walk. This city is beautiful when the sun is shining!