Sondra Kelly's first rehearsal day

I'm Sondra Kelly and I am singing the role of the Principessa in Suor Angelica. This is my first time to Alabama and my first time singing the Principessa. I have, however, sung other roles in Suor. I sang the Monitor at the Met and the Abbess for Hawaii Opera Theater when they did Il Trittico. 

I arrived Wednesday night to Birmingham. Yesterday afternoon I met Inna, our Suor, and the production team for a musical and staging. It's very interesting to have a mezzo-soprano, Kathleen Clawson, staging this opera.We, of course, had an immediate repour, as mezzos always do. The big question would be, exactly how old my portrayal should be. We both agreed that she is older, but not feeble. In a turn of the century production around 60.

Then on to the maestro, Giovanni, who has an interesting take on the articulation of her music. I had been working diligently making the lines as legato as possible. He said, let's think of it in a different way. The beginning and end are all about the text. The aria molto legato. That way she has the "bite" that she is supposed to have. Vocally it has changed my thought process completely for the better.

And lastly, last night was the sitzprobe for Suor. This is always one of my favorite rehearsals. The melding of the orchestra and the voice is a natural high. My voice teacher has always told me how much easier everything is to sing with orchestra and that is always the case.

Now onto day two for me. I rehearsal with the complete cast tonight.

Can someone please tell me how to explain North and South to my  GPS which keeps taking me in the wrong direction?

The creative masterminds and artistic forces of "I Pagliacci/Suor Angelica" give exclusive insights to the upcoming performances in this interview with The Birmingham News and al.com! Click the link below for full article!

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/03/opera_birmingham_clowns_nuns_w.html

Check out Fine Arts Critic Mike Hueber's recent review of "Rigoletto!"

"For seasoned opera fans and first-timers alike, this is high entertainment...“Rigoletto” may have topped them all. This was fine opera by any standard, whether it's in the idyllic rolling hills of Santa Fe or the hallowed halls of Covent Garden."

FIVE STARS!
Thank you to all who made this production a success!

Read the full review below:

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/01/opera_birminghams_rigoletto_to.html

Welcome to our implausible world of opera

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood assassin, Sparafucile. As Mantua's market for hired homicide grows, I'm here to assist with your every murderous whim. 

Welcome to the opera. 

After Eleanor Parker invitedmy wife Jan Cornelius and I to contribute to the Opera Birmingham blog, I was pretty excited. I've never been one to write much, but after Jan and I wrote and exchanged our own vows in November (with general director John Jones in attendance!) I was keen to make another foray into the world of English language prose. First off, apologies that this isn't coming sooner-I arrived from Europe late and left one completely hectic schedule behind and found myself smack in the middle of staging Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece, Rigoletto. This is my third experience with the piece and the intrigue for me grows. I have to say that the synopsis of the famous story reads like one of the most improbable I can think of, right down to my character Sparafucile, (spoiler alert...) who always seems to comment on the weather, is apparently the baddest assassin in Mantua, and although he is successful at selling his services to Rigoletto, he unfortunately seems unable to complete the task: even when he chooses instead to assassinate Rigoletto's teenage daughter Gilda, he falls dreadfully short. she is somehow able to sing a glorious duet with Rigoletto complete with long, floating high notes even though she's been stabbed twice in the the chest cavity.  What a lack of professionalism this hired hitman displays! 

Recently, I was contemplating what it is that keeps people coming back to the opera, season after season, especially when you consider the sometimes humorous minutiae of these all too well-known stories. It's odd, isn't it? That when you come to the opera, before you watch and listen, you read the synopsis, which inevitably sounds a bit trite and in effect spoils the end.  Distilling the story of Rigoletto down to a paragraph or two seems unfair in that way: the idea that we expect our audience to familiarize themselves with the story before we as performers tell it. Why then do we do this whenever we go to the opera?

You may be surprised to learn that as a singer and actor on the stage during this spectacle we call operatic performance (and I mean spectacle in the best sense of the word), I am not only projecting my voice into the 2000-some seat Wright Center, I am projecting my convictions and my inner most thoughts. I have a pretty keen sense of when an audience is getting the message that I'm sending and whether that message is peaking their interest. In this way, I believe in the idea that opera is a sort of communion which we partake of as a congregation. You swallow the wafer that I place on your tongue only if you so choose, and you do so as a sign of faith. In fact, we all do this whenever we are well-entertained. We watch opera, movies, television, live theater, etc. because we believe in, wait for it- CHARACTERS. That's right, we believe in Walter White from Breaking Bad, not because we like evil, but because we see a tiny bit of ourselves in him. We believe in Jillian Darmity from HBO's Boardwalk Empire because we understand her plight. [As a side note, I think she's the one of the most interesting characters I've seen and I think she deserves an Emmy for her performance the last two seasons. In operatic style, she sleeps with her only son, then after he's killed, she kills someone else who looks like him in order to prove he's dead so that she can maintain custody of his son, and does so in a completely believable fashion.  Still think operas are ridiculous?]

As a character in this weekend's performance of Rigoletto, my job is not only to be a believable Sparafucile, it's to convey something that moves you.  Yes, I'm hoping you're impressed by my singing, the costumes, the orchestra, the music making, etc.; but what I really want is for you to be transported to another world. A world where "right" and "wrong" aren't so clear, where murder might seem justifiable, where class and status rule.  A world very much like, well, our own! It's that funny place you go to when you're watching a truly great performance, either at home on the couch or a seat in a movie theater, or any place where you momentarily sort of just "forget" everything else and give over to the moment.  So, this weekend when you're sitting down to Rigoletto, don't forget that I need you to go there. So go ahead, sit back, swallow the wafer and  get ready to ascend to another world. 

-I welcome your comments in the space below. Please feel free to comment and share with friends. 

Benjamin LeClair

Sparafucile

Iowa farm boy.  Luckily and happily married to soprano Jan Cornelius. 

Living in Germany, working worldwide in opera, concert, and oratorio. 

Please follow me on Twitter. My handle is singerleclair

So close...

Hi everyone! Finally we arrive at the final few days before the show opens! It has been so wonderful this whole time, despite my lingering flu symptoms! I must agree with Maestro White, when he said a few nights ago, that this truly has been one of the most enjoyable shows to work on in a very long time. Nancy and I agree that it must have something to do with John Jones really knowing how to hire good GOOD people. And it makes the drama ON the stage so much more compelling. Everyone sings and acts and performs their parts so well, from the WALL of sound and fun that is the men's chorus, to the amazing courtiers, Borsa, Marullo, Ceprano, etc. and our fellow leads, we think this is going to be a wonderful and well-sung and dramatic/fun show to see!
Today we all got to try out our costumes! We think they look great! Here's me, Marc, and Dustin!

Tomorrow we go to stage for the first time with sets and props and a costumes and things, and we get to sit around while Marc and everyone adjusts lighting and yells at us to adjust our stage positions to be IN said light! Can't wait! Fun to had by all! Whoo-hoo!!! Keep your fingers chai'ed!!!

Filakia polla, Michael

RIGOLETTO Moves to the Stage!

Hi Everyone!
Yesterday we had a terrific final run-through of the entire opera, our last in the rehearsal space.  Afterward we celebrated with a cast dinner at George Sarris' The Fish Market - delicious!  This afternoon I'll be at costume fittings with the principals cast members and tonight is our first rehearsal in the theater, on the set.  Really looking forward to it!
All the best!
Marc

Week II - Act IV

Hi Everyone,
We had a great first week of RIGOLETTO rehearsals last week and I'm extremely happy with the way things are going. This cast is incredible, so much pleasure to work with and just BE with!  Steven White, our conductor, is such an incredible musician and a true collaborator.  We staged the first three acts last week and jump into the fourth and final act this week.  Act IV of this opera is one of the greatest of all time and I'm really looking forward to it!  Hard to believe that in two weeks it will all be over...
I hope you can make it to the show, I think it's really going to be something special!
-Marc