San Francisco Opera's Merolini: Newest young opera talent and one concert free Sunday July 12

June 19, 3:47 PMSF Opera ExaminerCindy Warner

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Benjamin LeClair (bass) and Maya Lahyani (mezzo) await thier turn for questioning

Merolini 2009, exhibiting personality and intelligence and billed by SFO as the newest young opera talent, quipped and laughed their way through a Q & A session last night. What would Merolini sing regardless of range? How much do Merolini differ from the roles they will play? The Merolini will stage two romantic comedies this summer and two concerts.  L'Amico Fritz and Cosí fan tutte.  The free Schwabacher recital is Sunday, July 12 at 2:00 at Yerba Buena Gardens. 

Romantic comedy seems befitting for a group of 29 young and talented singers from all over the country, Canada, Mexico, Korea, a few from China; the Republic of Georgia; Ukraine; and one from Israel.

The ones from the Midwest cited a good work ethic rather than coming from a special farm run by Sherri Greenawald, the artistic force of nature behind the Merola program and herself from the Midwest. Several had to explain the change in their range for example from tenor to baritone or vice versa; contralto to mezzo; the counter tenor tried to explain himself by saying he sang Mimi in La Bohème.

The gathering took place in the elegant and multiple-chandeliered Green Room of the Veterans Memorial Building next to the opera house.

Painted minty green with the grand deck opening onto Van Ness with a direct view of City Hall.  Here are the writer and colleague Steve Smoliar.

Similarly, Tamara Sanikidze from the Republic of Georgia told of fracturing her tailbone after she bounced down the stairs at the White House. She had to sit in a doughnut cushion while the tailbone healed after her recital there. She had put on her Jimmy Choos heels for the occasion. She said she walked in and saw an enormous portrait of Hillary Clinton.

Tamara started to descend the stairs only to teeter off her Jimmy Choos and bounce down on her derriere. Unfortunately her pleasant piano piece didn’t knock the audience off their chairs. So she slammed out some Bartok and got the job done. Then Bush himself took 45 minutes showing her about the grounds as she stood in her high heeled Jimmy Choos with her tailbone fractured in seven places. Tamara is an apprentice coach Merolini.

By way of introductions, here’s a fractured tale from each of the Merolini.

Ryan Belongie the counter tenor said he heard David Daniels for example, who had voluptuous, beautiful and rounded sounds. So Ryan cut it loose in La Bohème when Mimi was sick.

Susannah Biller saw her aunt killed as Carmen when Susannah was four years old. Aunt Wendy. After kicking up a fuss and being removed she realized “so she lives . . . this could work . . . “ “Grace is my middle name” she says. Now Susannah has a ballet and dance background that helps her navigate the stage.  Happy Birthday Susannah.

Alexsey Bogdanov was asked where his voice is going. “I don’t know, I sing what they tell me to sing”.

How about villains, in Hoffman and Don Giovanni? “Funny cause I’m such a nice guy in real life. It’s good being bad. I tried good roles but being bad is just so good.”

Evan Boyer, who speaks with a very deep voice. He became a singer to get girls and met his wife on Eugene Onegin. He wanted to be a writer but got rejected from “Singing on a Whim”. Yet Fitzgerald bores this Kentucky native. He likes Hemingway for his unspoken, manly qualities. 

Pictured below:  Sherri Greenawald (Director of the Opera Center), Patrick Wilken (President of the Board of Directors) and Jayne Davis (Chairman of the Board of Directors) question Evan Boyer (bass). 

Gregory Carroll. Billed as a Merolini tenor, Greg had his first baritone gig 14 months ago and has taken the Wagnerian Prize. He’s singing Der fliegende Hollander or The Flying Dutchman at Merola. He loves Wagner, it resonates with his soul. Jane Eaglen thought the walls were coming down when he sang with her in class, says Sherri Grenniwald.

John Chest. He works in Leider and opera. Opera is tied to character but Leider poetry can go a thousand ways and mean something different tomorrow than it does today. He has a body conscious approach to performing that comes from his childhood playing clarinet. The clarinet is a part of your body. Singing is different, more thrilling than other musical endeavors.

Lara Ciekiewicz (pronounced Chur kev itch) says she finds Cosí very human. Humans make mistakes and do the best with what they have. Did one Cosí from the 1960s, expressing humanity and vulnerability. Yet the ending of Cosí remains a mystery. Do they stay together? Lara was asked. Without Donatela, would she have stuck to her guns? Still Donatela’s choice in the end. About singing Fiordiligi. Difficult to sing as it runs the gamut. So she gets uber involved in what she sings, let’s the music be the teenager and lets emotions speak through the music and lets her be her.

Merolini at the War Memorial Opera House.  Photo:  Kristen Loken Anstey

Kate Crist. Blanche whispered to me this is Kate’s second year. They don’t bring them back unless they are bringing them along. Big Wagnerian?

Sara Gartland. I came into the world screaming—lung capacity comes from that. She grew up on Elvis. Nobody in the family sings. She would calm down and go to sleep though to the sound of the vacuum cleaner running so her parents put a tape recording of the vacuum running under her crib.

Is it liberating to perform lesser known roles since there are fewer pre-conceptions? She says Freni sang Suzel in L’Amico Fritz though.

Margaret Gawrysiak. Sang along with Whitney and Michael Jackson as a child. Studied with comedic mezzo Joyce Castle, who had to be Orlovsky. Joyce was her mentor; she performed with Joyce when Joyce was “public opinion” at Glimmerglass.

Lori Guilbeau with the French name and from Louisiana. She debuted in France at a festival on a small island as the mother of Antonia in Hoffman. To this day she needs to be assured there are no lizards where she goes.

Suzanne Hendrix, contralto. Once you’ve gone contralto, you can never go back.

Brian Jagde, a tenor who was a bass baritone. Where there any bass baritone roles he wanted before he switched to tenor? He answered his speaking voice is high so tenor was assumed and he went along but the school switched him to baritone for ten years. He did Onegin but he’s learning Lensky for Merola. Wanted to be Don Giovanni. “He was such a jerk”.

“What are your three can’t miss tv shows?” and he answered he follows 24 shows. He needs a twelve step program. The first step is to acknowledge you have a program he said and so he made his issue known that night. He has also played baseball and basketball.

Ellie Jarrett. A Presbyterian music minister from Texas. Chose her teacher Stephen King since the author of the same name is her favorite. She’s been Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and likes eating hot wings. She mentioned to me seeing a street person hitting up Anna Netrebko for spare change when Anna was getting into a car.  Anna is a former Merolini.

Maya Lahyani. Served in the Israeli military for the mandatory two years, her father was in the military. She was in a small unit of special musicians. She’s performed in the dust, the desert, when freezing, when the alarm was going off, when the audience leaves in a second . . . so her work ethic got better. She also has seven years dance training.

Benjamin LeClair. Although he has played the diplomat Gremin in Eugene Onegin who marries Tatyana; and he has played Colline in La Bohème, the one who sells his coat to get money to warm up the dying Mimi, he will play Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte.

Is Don Alfonso a cynic or a realist, he was asked. Highly cynical . . . something happened in his past . . . Sherri asked if those are Ben’s size fifteens left in room 509? Statistically if there is a size fifteen around, they are mine, he answered.

Keun-A Lee. Another apprentice coach, she’s from Korea and likes cooking.

Alex Mansoori. The tenor likes Britton, whose greatest works are for a tenor. His dream opera is Billy Budd. The most raw, visceral and musical experience of his life was singing Captain Veer at Santa Fe.

He’s singing Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte though. He says sure, he would accept Don Alfonso’s wager in real life. “I don’t have a girlfriend” he says.

Caitlin Mathes. She had an Italian boyfriend. In Italy. There was no angst when the relationship ended, just appreciation. So she hopes it’s in Cosí when she sings Despina.

Fernando Parra Bortí. Would rather work with singers than actors. The audience of opera supporters laughed.

Nathaniel Peake. When he was a baritone he was a lot heavier so looked the part. He has done counter tenor though. What would the audience expect to hear from somebody who looks as he does? It’s genetics. Tenor roles are closer to who he is.

Stephanie Rhodes, another apprentice coach. She saw Manon Lescaut at the Met and Massigny changed her life.

Does she start with the score or recordings? Combination. Keeps the full score on hand since her primary job is to be the orchestra. She listens to recordings to get used to sounds of the orchestra and tries to reproduce that.

Eleazar Rodríguez. Doesn’t like drama queens as the older singers were hyper critical of him and made a big fuss when he made mistakes. Now he just does his job. He’s a big fan of the Buena Vista Social Club. Emotions, feelings recreated. He praises a particular singer this way: If he were to sing a burger, you would want to eat that burger. Tasteful singing.

Paul Scholten. Formerly a nationally ranked tennis player, in the top 150 nationally.

Suzy Smith, apprentice coach. Her coaching experience includes Too Many Sopranos.

Michael Sumuel. Would you like to sing Don Giovanni? Most of my roles have been comic. Don Giovanni is so daring, the way he treats women. I don’t agree with how he treats women, he said dutifully. Operatic stage is not about what you would do, you have to dig in.

Miaomiao Wang (pronounced meow meow). What was her exposure to western opera growing up in China? She’s performed a lot of western opera but Sherri Grenniwald said Sherri was addicted to Chinese opera when she was in China and would watch it on tv. That was probably the Beijing Opera, Miaomiao answered. They are traditional and use traditional Chinese instruments. She never did that.

Yohan Yi. He’s going to sing Mustafa in L’Italiana in Algeri for Merola.

I am always last whether it’s by first name or last name. He has perfect pitch so when others sing off key does he sing off key to match? He was in the military so learned to do the job and let it go. Will he sing the correct key though? Yes, and let the others rise to it. He also likes bargain priced fashion and has a tuxedo he bought for ten dollars.

Blanche whispered to me, the board of directors used to have approval of Merolini attire but now the costume department handles approvals.

After the Q & A everybody mingled at the reception in the back of the room. Champagne or wine; Warm chicken kabobs with peanut sauce; skewers of cherry tomatoes and goat cheese; baguette slices with marinated red pepper and squash; a platter of cheese, crackers and fruit.

Schwabacher/Merola from SFO (click link)
Schwabacher Summer Concert
War Memorial Veterans Building
Herbst Theatre
Friday, July 10, 2009, 7:30 pm
 

Yerba Buena Gardens
Sunday, July 12, 2009, 2 pm
FREE Concert
 

L'Amico Fritz
By Pietro Mascagni
Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center
Friday, July 24, 2009, 8 pm
Sunday, July 26, 2009, 2 pm
 

Così fan tutte
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center
Friday, August 7, 2009, 8 pm
Sunday, August 9, 2009, 2 pm
 

Merola Grand Finale
War Memorial Opera House
Saturday, August 22, at 7:30 pm

7/10/2009 Schwabacher Summer Concert
7/12/2009 Schwabacher Summer Concert
7/24/2009 L'Amico Fritz
7/26/2009 L'Amico Fritz
8/7/2009 Cosi fan tutte
8/9/2009 Cosi fan tutte
8/22/2009 Merola Grand Finale

Above, home is where you hang your hat.  Merolini stay eleven weeks.  Casting for concerts:

For more info:   www.SFOpera.com

Photos:  Cindy Warner

Photos Merolini at War Memorial, Panel questioning Evan Boyer, LeClair and Lahyani: 

Kristen Loken Anstey of SFO

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