RSS
Home
Fred Matthews sang Porgy & Bess 756 times; two of Fred's students singing at inauguration
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Fred Matthews sang Porgy & Bess in 756 performances. He probably needs little rehearsal when Gershwin's American classic comes to San Francisco courtesy of David Gockley in June. Fred sang eight times a week for two and a half years plus concert versions and toured Germany, France and Switzerland. He sang “Jake”, the fisherman in the opening act who sings A Woman is a Sometime Thing . . . and gets killed in the first scene of Act I. Sometimes though Fred covered the role of Jim the undertaker.
Fred has been with the chorus of the San Francisco Opera since 1983. What a joy to chat with him on a sunny Sunday morning. I spoke to him for an hour over the phone in a rare quiet moment at his apartment in Burlingame. He’s in demand in the off season of the opera. Today he's contemplating giving up his only day off for yet another teaching assignment with children in San Rafael.
So the front porch or veranda life remains more of a memory to this North Carolina native. While Fred returns to visit from time to time he left for college at age fifteen and urban life suits him just fine. He can still revel in the quiet and nature on a Sunday afternoon after services at Red Hill Baptist. Church on Sunday means all day Sunday. You can’t get more down home than that he says but he can be back on that plane and heading for a lovely cocktail in the City in no time. On that note he talks with relish about the canteen in Germany where the performers would go between appearances on stage. It was a full fledged canteen he said. As in Switzerland, the canteen was like a hof brau. In contrast he said it was French fries and a little beer and wine in France.
That’s what he likes about San Francisco over North Carolina. He likes to be able to have a little cocktail after church on Sunday without being chastised. The Carolinas are very religious he continued. Southern Baptists. Heavy duty, he says. Which reminds me of Greer Grimsley, who hails from New Orleans and will actually play John the Baptist on stage in Salome in Vancouver soon. It's Oscar Wilde's tragedy . . . he rejects her, she demands his head . . .
South Carolina says Fred, where Porgy & Bess takes place on Catfish Row, is more renowned for the slave trade. South Carolina has been higher up economically. Today though North Carolina, where Fred comes from, and Porgy & Bess South Carolina are drastically different. The North says the South is backward and the North has become a banking capital with the headquarters of Bank of America. Charlotte is a huge metropolis.
Fred continues. Yet the South retains old southern charm. Wrought iron ballustrades, carriage hookups in front. Plus the music festival in South Carolina is huge, it’s the Spoletto Festival as in Italy.
Yet there’s not enough diversity. He goes back and asks them, What feeds your soul? Needlepoint, macramé, antiquing.
What about a larger impression, what makes you happy? he will persist. He does say that in North Carolina all had an orchestra, choral societies, they were arts oriented. The state’s logo is state of the arts. So when Fred goes to a museum he needs to see more than the predecessor of the tractor and an original John Deere.
So as far as parts for non-Blacks go in Porgy & Bess, Fred makes an educated guess when he says the opera will probably go to the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) for actors. A total of four to five White actors perhaps with three white males to play police and then a couple of supernumeraries to play cronies of the police. My friend Holly Greenberg asks me if the cast is going to be White. This concerns me she said. Holly lives in the Fillmore and hangs a Porgy & Bess poster from the San Francisco Opera on her wall although she has yet to see the production. No, I answered. It will be all Black, all the time. As an afterthought I said to myself, I can be Black. It's a state of mind.
Fred himself auditioned for Gockley but has not been assigned a part yet, although rehearsals will begin in April. Fred knows in passing the soprano who will play Bess in San Francisco, Laquita Mitchell, plus the soprano Karen Slack as an Adler Fellow.
Meanwhile Fred has two of his students performing at the inauguration. You will have to get up about six a.m. he says but you can go back to bed he says. The television coverage starts at four a.m. Pacific time. Two of Fred’s students Eric and John are performing with the San Francisco Boys Chorus led by Ian Robertson. Fred makes another educated guess when he says the songs will probably be patriotic and not classical. The repetoire includes a new piece for Obama based on Obama's words about change. The boys also know America the Beautiful and The Star Spangled Banner.
In February Fred will be hosting his own musical extravaganza Cavalcade of Stars III on Saturday February 28 at 7:30 pm, Marin Civic Center Showcase Theater. I’ll have details on this event and Fred’s life as a music teacher coming up but for information on the Cavalcade of Stars call (415) 499-6800.
Porgy & Bess and the Summer of Love 2009
Porgy & Bess an American classic
Photos: Courtesy of Fred Matthews
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
.jpg)
