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Anyone familiar
with these pages, or with today's opera world at all, should know of the lovely
Lisette Oropesa. She was member of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Program at
21, is a veteran of over 100 Metropolitan Opera performances in the not-very-many
years since, including appearances in eight HD broadcasts, and is now an
international star appearing in leading opera houses all over the world.
She is currently
killing as Lucia at the Teatro Real in Madrid (see what I did there?). Fernando
Remiro wrote in Bachtrack.com, "...it was Lisette Oropesa who brought the
house down with her candidness on stage and her total match with the production’s concept."
I myself wrote of
two live performances I was fortunate to see:
Lisette
Oropesa's Sophie was adorable, her singing completely beautiful and her
characterization of the bubbly young girl believable. (Werther, Metropolitan Opera, 2014)
I
was surprised to learn Lisette Oropesa, who sings delicious Nanettas and
Susannas and Maries (Fille
du Regiment) all over the world, would sing Violetta. But I was
delighted with the result....Best of all, we believed her as a young woman who
knows her days are numbered and makes choices with that in mind. (La Traviata, Opera Philadelphia, 2015)
Lisette and I recently had a delightful chat on Skype, and following are a few excerpts.
On repertoire, her early association with high
and light roles:
When I was doing Nannetta and Sophie in Werther,
I was fresh out of the [Lindemann] Young Artist Program. I was young, and they wanted to take care of
me. Those roles were huge opportunities,
and performing those roles led to other opportunities.
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| As Violetta at Opera Philadelphia Photo: Steven Harris |
At the same time I was performing Nannetta and
Sophie, I was coaching Lucia and Violetta, the types of roles that I would sing
in a few years—but not necessarily at the Met.
I think the Met can be hard on singers, because of the size of the
house. People aren’t heard the same way,
and larger voice types are generally preferable. Singers might come across differently in a
house the size of the Met than they do in other houses.
I did La Traviata in Philly when I was 32. I hemmed
and hawed with the decision when it was offered to me. I didn’t know if I was
ready. I had coached the role with Renata Scotto, along with many others, and
she asked me why I would wait. She said the role calls for an interpreter, and
she thought I would do it well. It doesn’t
matter if you’re on the dramatic side or the coloratura side—every singer has a
stake in the role. Violetta is for a
singer who knows how to interpret a role.
The tragedy of La Traviata
is that Violetta dies too young. I did it in Philly, and it went very
well. I’m doing it again this fall. I will do it again a few times in the coming
years. I want to keep growing into
it.
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| Photo: Steven Harris |
It’s certainly not an easy role. I can't sing the high
notes in Sempre libera the way I sing
them in Ah, non guinge or Caro nome or any of the lighter coloratura
roles. Because of what the aria is about:
First there's Ah, fors'é lui, which in my opinion requires a different
color altogether. Even the coloratura in Sempre libera is musically dramatic--accented high
notes, powerful scales, and tons of emotion, and it comes at the end of the
demanding first act. So it isn’t just a
floaty, dream-like aria, it’s the first moment of authenticity for the
character. For me the first act is the hardest because it's when you
establish who Violetta is. Then by the time I get to the third act, it
feels easier to just let go.
I love the roles I’m singing now. I’m not ready
to leave this rep. There are still roles
I haven’t performed. I haven’t done I
Puritani, and there are French roles I haven’t done—including some things
that I have coming up that I’m very excited about. I’m hoping my voice doesn’t plateau on me, doesn’t stop growing and changing. I don’t want to age out of some roles before I have had a chance to sing them.
On challenges along the path:
I started the Lindemann Young Artist Program
straight out of college, so I didn’t get a transition period—no programs at smaller opera companies, no
graduate school. I was only 21 when I
came to New York, and had never lived anywhere outside of Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. It was all new and
overwhelming. I had to sink or swim and start doing what I needed to do very
early. I was singing more and studying a
lot more rep, and my voice began to change. It took a while to find the right
teacher in New York. At first it was a
little bit difficult.
There’s always a new challenge. Every time I sing a new engagement, every
time I go to a new city. It feels like
even after a dozen years in “the circuit” I think I know what to expect, but
even then my body is always changing, my voice is always changing.
On running:
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| Lucia at Teatro Real Photo: Javier del Real |
Losing weight was a big thing for me. When I was in the Young Artist Program, I
thought, here I am in New York, in this prestigious program. They’re paying me
to be here, investing time and money in my future. I’m not going to mess this
up now, I’ve got to make the most of this opportunity. The time was right to take action. Overall I lost about 75 pounds, but it took about
five years. I did it the slow, careful,
painful way. Running became a part of that, and now it’s become a part of my
life. It’s become part of who I am. I’ve done half marathons and full marathons,
although I haven’t done any in a long time because my schedule has been so full
with engagements I haven’t been able to devote the time to training. But I still run 5 days a week! (Lisette loves the Yonkers Half
Marathon. Funny how Yonkers comes up in
every discussion. Yonkers or Norma. Ideally both.)
Is there a role that will never fit you that you
want to sing, possibly in the bathtub?
Tosca.
Many years from now, if it becomes fashionable to do a light lyric
Tosca, I might perform it. I just love
listening to Tosca and thinking about
getting to kill a baritone. (As a tenor,
I had to agree.)
Any roles from your fach you don’t want to sing, or to sing again?
In the past I’ve been offered the role of
Despina, but I am not interested in it.
I don’t really care for the role, and even though the opera has some sublime moments, I just don’t love it,
so I have never agreed to do it.
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| As Susanna opposite Zachary Nelson Santa Fe Opera Photo: Ken Howard |
But I do love Nozze and have had nothing
but joy as Susanna. My calendar has been
filling up with other things, though, and I don’t have any more planned. I probably won’t do it any more. I might sing
the Countess one day, but I’m not flying toward lyric-land. Another Mozart role I would love to sing is Ilia. I’m singing the aria in a concert this
summer. I would love for someone to hear
it and cast me as Ilia.
I have been offered Blonde before and I have
turned it down because it sits too high for me.
Same goes for several other higher roles like Zerbinetta and Lakmé. I just don’t have a solid high E. My voice is more suited to Konstanze; I’ve
done it several times, and will continue to keep singing it, fortunately. It’s one of my most performed roles and I
think the opera is a total masterpiece.
In your Q&A videos on YouTube, you speak so
eloquently and clearly about vocal technique.
Do you teach?
Thank you!
My mom is a music teacher, and she has always had voice students. She was a tremendous influence on me, so I
kind of have the bug. From my mom I learned how to talk to people about
singing, and I learned from figuring out a few technical things on my own. I’ve also gotten some great tips from
coaches. So many coaches have known the one thing to say in the moment that
made a huge difference in my singing. My technique has become very solid. I feel like I know what I’m doing. I have given masterclasses and private
lessons and coachings, but I don’t have a private studio. However I think eventually I will.
I enjoy listening to other singers because I can
hear what they’re doing, and can talk to them about it. Although you can’t
teach every student the same way; the dialogue
has to vary. Some need to know which
muscles are moving and when. Some need
musical ideas more than technical advice.
I don’t tend to use pedagogy or technical terms when teaching because I
have found that even though we learn all of that in school, in practice all of
those muscles are involuntary. You can’t
control them. In fact there’s very
little you can control, such as the tongue, but even that works independently
sometimes. I instead try to focus on
breath, vowels, placement, and where it “feels”
like the air is going.
On reviews:
People ask me whether I read reviews. I do.
I’ve gotten some wonderful reviews, and sometimes I get negative ones
too. Most often negative comments have
to do with my voice being light or the reviewer preferring a bigger voice in
the role being reviewed. That’s fine, to me that’s a matter of taste.
I think most singers do read reviews. It’s only natural that we want to know what
is being said about our work. And bad
ones are hard to swallow. I am still
trying to learn how to put them into context, or how to let them go. The trouble
is, I put equal weight on the negative and the positive. If I dismiss that one nasty review or that
one comment, then I have to dismiss the positive reviews, I have to dismiss the
people who tell me I moved them.
However I don’t let reviews affect my
performances. I try to sing every
performance like it is my last one. With
every performance, I try to be authentic, to sing honestly, organically, because
in the end, I can go home knowing I gave it my all.
On social media and her public persona:
I’m usually a very open person. I maintain a very personal connection with my
friends and fans, although I’m not sure
I like the word fans—puts too much distance between me others. I’ve been
working on my presence in social media. For a long time I resisted hiring
publicity agents--people to arrange interviews and public appearances and get
my name in the news--and I still don’t have publicity agents in the US. I thought it would all happen organically,
but I learned it doesn’t. My husband is
a web developer, and he does my web site and handles most of the publicity,
like a “post of the day” or sharing photos or news about a performance on
social media. I do all the personal interaction with people on social
media. When people write to me, they are
writing to me.
On the sad fact that she has so few performances
in the US on her calendar in the coming years:
I don’t have as much coming up in the US as I do
in Europe. I’m not at the Met this
season, but I will be there the season after, and the following seasons. I’m doing Santa Fe next summer. I have something in Houston a few years down
the road, plus I have some concerts.
For me it’s just naturally happened that I have
most of my engagements here in Europe, which has made me very happy, because
these theatres and audiences are wonderful.
My husband travels with me—he can work wherever
he is. We have a lot of
flexibility. We’re very happy, very
fortunate.
Photo at the top: Steven Harris
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