Lyric Opera News - Vol 1 2015/16

11 / 31

the Met, Munich, La Scala, and Pesaro’s
prestigious Rossini Opera Festival). He
ranks among today’s most renowned bel
canto interpreters, and has performed
seven Rossini operas. “When I was 19,” he
recalls, “my teacher gave me The Barber of
Seville and it just fit. I like to think that if
I’d been born in Rossini’s time, he would
have liked to write for my voice. I say that
because the roles I sing were written for
specific tenors. I can look at one of those
roles and think, ‘Since they sang this, I
probably could sing it.’”
In portraying Ramiro, Brownlee finds
his greatest challenge is capturing what
the prince is unable to express outright.
When disguised as his own valet, “he’s
saying how upset he is, and what he
doesn’t like, but he doesn’t get to do what
his rank and power would otherwise allow
him to do until Act Two. For all of Act
One, he has to sustain that frustration of
not being able to let himself go.”
All the singing in Cinderella is
formidably difficult, but Leonard actually
doesn’t mind that Rossini saves the
heroine’s big showpiece until the very
end. “I think it’s great! There’s something
about the way the entire piece is written
that allows the role to flow very nicely
vocally.” Rossini intersperses Cinderella’s
sweetly lyrical moments with a lot of
very florid singing. “In some ways it’s
like a vocal massage throughout the
show. Whenever you change the range,
the dynamics, the rhythm, you’re also
allowing the flexibility to continue, which
is always very helpful—and by the time
you get to the end of the show, you’re
thoroughly warmed up!”
Ramiro’s big aria also comes fairly
late in the opera, when he’s declaring that
he’ll search through woods and rivers to
win the girl he loves. Here Brownlee can
lavish on his audience the remarkable
florid ability for which he’s celebrated.
But he also loves the aria’s quiet, soulful
middle verse, “where he talks about how
Cinderella is a treasure. He must find her,
he says, because of her goodness. That’s the
moment where he gets a chance to break
out and show who he is—his real colors.
It’s an emotion he’s never felt before.”
There’s a freshness and a delight in
Rossini’s version of the famous fairytale
that make Cinderella enchanting onstage.
Whether listeners are experiencing it
for the first time or the umpteenth, says
Brownlee, “they can connect with that
story and feel like they had a fulfilled
evening seeing the opera. When you see
Cinderella and the goodness she feels, you
want her to win.”
Lyric Opera presentation generously
made possible by Margot and Josef
Lakonishok, The Nelson Cornelius
Production Endowment Fund, and
PowerShares QQQ. Coproduction of
Houston Grand Opera, Welsh National
Opera, GranThéâtre del Liceu, and Grand
Theatre de Genéve.
“I think we’re all a little
cynical nowwhen we think
about hope. But there’s
something to it when
someone really perseveres
through their hope, and I
think that’s a beautiful idea.”
SCOTTSUCHMAN (WASHINGTONNATIONALOPERA)
BRETTCOOMER (WELSHNATIONALOPERA)