Spring Recap

After the Met Ring Cycles ended spring went in to high gear with some wonderful, incredible events. 

I had always been slated to go to the Deutsche Oper in April to sing Helmwige in two performances of Walküre.  However, as I was walking to dinner with a couple of friends, I received an email that would change that. “Our Sieglinde has withdrawn. How do you feel about singing her instead?”

Yes. The answer is yes. Of course there were nerves involved. I’m a Virgo. I like being in control of situations and this was most certainly not in control. However, Nike’s slogan always comes to mind in situations like this.  “Just do it.”  

So I did.  

One of my favorite roles in one of my favorite houses with Maestro Runnicles conducting, Torsten Kerl as Siegmund, Greer Grimsley as Wotan, Catherine Foster as Brünnhilde, Daniele Sindram as Fricka and Atilla Jun as Hunding. Boy was I a lucky lady.  

Also – I got to wear Julia Varady’s apron and Violeta Urmana’s costumes. I can say that I felt pretty dang special.

After the whirlwind that Walküre was, I headed back to Karlsruhe to stage and sing my first Marschallin in Rosenkavalier. We had less than two weeks to go from start to performance and with any piece that can prove difficult. With Rosenkavalier, it seemed impossible. I am pleased to report that we did it! Yay! “Die zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding.”. Any time that I can sing Strauss I am a happy lady, and this was no exception.

In the middle of the run of Rosenkavalier, I was able to escape to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a week and sing in the Grand Teton Music Festival. Jackson Hole is an incredibly beautiful place — raw, natural and just heavenly. Once again, Walküre was on the menu. Once again, Maestro Runnicles was at the helm and once again, I counted myself as the luckiest soprano around.  Stuart Skelton was an amazing Siegmund (so wonderful to be reunited with him after singing my first Sieglinde with him in 2009!) and Donnie Ray Albert was an incredible Wotan. The orchestra at Jackson Hole was something incredibly special. Made up of members of the top orchestras in the US, it is like a summer band camp for adults. They were incredible and played with such amazing sound. I really hope to be able to work with them again.

Photo by Ashley Wilkerson

After that, I went back to Germany to finish the run of Rosenkavalier and sing some Beethoven 9^ths.

Then vacation!! I took my first ever, real vacation this year. Hawaii. For ten days. Worth every penny.

There may have been diet coke involved.

I then went to Texas to visit my gorgeous sister and my beautiful nieces.  They are really the loves of my life.

My sister couldn’t be any more beautiful.

After that, I had planned on going to San Francisco for some study time, but received a call from my manager saying that the soprano one in Aspen’s Mahler Eight had withdrawn and he was wondering if I could learn and sing it. Again, Nike. It is such a monumental and incredible piece and I was so happy to have been able to be a part of it. It was also very special in that seven of the eight soloists were doing the piece for the first time, as was Maestro Spano. What an amazing experience and one that I will definitely treasure for the rest of my life.

The ladies of the Mahler 8. Sasha Cooke, Meredith Arwady, Amber Wagner, Heidi Melton and Esther Heideman.

Symphony of a thousand. (Or in this case 549. Whoa.)

And that takes me up to today. Rested. Relaxed and getting ready to start the 2012/2013 season next week.  Die zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding indeed.

— heidi

The New RING

I have to admit, being part of the new Metropolitan Opera Ring Cycle was a pretty cool gig. ;-) I feel that this particular blog entry needs a bullet point list of reasons why it was awesome.

(Heidi Melton, Betsy Bishop and Maria Radnor)

• Wagner at the Met. Enough said.
• Getting to explore and live in NYC for a few months. Winter in NYC is gorgeous.
• Being on a postcard. Not gonna lie.
• Amazing, awesome, kind, talented, booty-kicking colleagues.
• Working with geniuses like Robert LePage
• Being a part of the Met HD in movies and having my sweet nieces be able to see Aunty Heidi in the movie theaters. It made me feel that the little ladies were better able to understand why I have to go so long between visits.
• Making some life long friends.
• Did I mention Wagner? 

I am one heck of a lucky lady. Can’t wait to go back next year!

Amazing ladies: Maria Radnor and Karen Cargill at Chelsea Market.

— heidi

Mein lieber Fußball Feld??

What does a singer do when they have absolutely no idea how to make a production make sense to them??

This was a question I was forced to answer when I sang my first Lohengrin this spring.

I realize that Lohengrin lends itself to crazy, concept-y ideas more than most and was completely prepared (or so I thought) to be bombarded with quirkiness. That was, until I went to the concept meeting and was faced with singing Lohengrin in a soccer stadium. So, I started thinking right away... I suppose I can see Elsa as a cheerleader. Perhaps Ortrud is the vicious cheer coach! Lohengrin is obviously Captain of the Soccer team... however, I soon found out I was sorely mistaken.

Through the rehearsal period, I came to understand that this was actually a fairly standard production—gowns and all—just to be set on a soccer field. The wedding night to take place on an awards podium covered by the Polish flag. Confusion set in. I was at least hopeful that this would give me a chance to act for my life. However, when I was repeatedly told to "bleib still" for most of the action, confusion gave way to panic. I didn't want to "park and bark." I just didn't understand it all!

Up until this point in my career, I have never had a production that I just "didn't get." I have worked with directors in the past that perhaps I didn't see eye to eye with completely, but I had always before been able to be convinced. As the rehearsal process went along, I knew I wasn't going to be able to be convinced but I was determined to still attempt to convince the audience. I started seeking outside help.

In this particular case, I sought out an amazing woman, a former ballerina, who could help me find some fluidity and grace in an otherwise static environment. She was incredible and really helped to boost my confidence, come opening night, that I was effectively articulating what I needed to. She's an angel.

Then there is another friend—who I look up to greatly—she's kind, lovely, ridiculously talented and perhaps the nicest person ever. I wrote her a letter asking her if she had ever had an experience like this—she wrote me back and gave me some of the best advice I've ever received: try your hardest to find a middle ground—to make the part your own, even through the constraints—find a way to make it make sense to you. And if, after you've exhausted all possibilities, you still can't make it work, take the paycheck and die a little on the inside.

Of course this made me giggle—I had gotten myself wrapped up in a never-ending tornado of obsession over this. Sometimes (especially for me) the lines of work and life get blurred. This had become my LIFE. I was obsessed. But as one of my dearest friends says to me quite often "Heidi, you're singing. You're not solving world hunger. Figure it out." I'm a big fan of tough love. I just needed to be reminded that the world wouldn't end if I didn't have the most artistically edifying production of Lohengrin.

 

So, I'm thankful for this production. I'm thankful it forced me to think outside the box for ways to get my point across. I'm thankful that I was able to find a middle ground with a director without understanding or agreeing with things (ahhhh, growth). I'm incredibly thankful for an awesome, supportive cast. And I'm thankful to once again be reminded that singing is my job—an awesome job and one that I love dearly—but a job nonetheless.

Just like I believe in the separation of church and state, I believe also in the separation of job and Heidi. We can be two separate things that work well together, but I don't have to lose myself in it. And yes, I'm going to need reminding again and again and again...

— heidi

An American Girl in Germany

It is no surprise that after an experience like San Francisco Opera’s Ring Cycle, there would be a bit of an adjustment. A bit is a gross understatement.  

The day after I finished The Ring in San Francisco, I was on a plane headed to Germany, where I would begin Vorproben (pre-rehearsals) for a new production of Les Troyens at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. I arrived and we began work. Hot, sweaty, no air-conditioning work. In Germany, (I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but indulge me please) there are two kinds of rehearsal periods. For a new production, rehearsals are upwards of six weeks. If it is a season opening premiere then sometimes they tack on four or so weeks of Vorproben as well. However, if it is a Wiederaufnahmen (a return production), sometimes you get two weeks of rehearsal and sometimes you get two days. As Ado Annie might say, with Germany, it is all or nothing. 

One nice aspect of a long rehearsal process is that you’re able to try many things out. An even nicer aspect, however, is that you’re able to toss out the ones that don’t work, i.e. singing “Nuit d’ivresse” while the tenor makes a fruit salad...in my cleavage.

After the Vorproben ended, I was able to have five blissful, delightful weeks of vacation. I traveled to Texas, Seattle, San Francisco, Buffalo, Toronto and NYC before heading back to Germany. It was lovely and wonderful and greatly needed. 

Once back in Germany, not only was I working full-steam ahead on Les Troyens, but I was getting all of the things done that I needed to do in order to work and live in Germany for awhile. It was an absolute disaster. I would call it a comedy of errors but I still don’t quite find it all funny. Nothing went right. Nothing at all.  However, slowly...ever so slowly, things started coming together. After a week back in Germany, which included moving into an apartment, an IKEA disaster of epic proportions, mayhem at the Visa office, yelling at the internet people, being told that I would not be able to have gas or electricity and yelling at them as well and many minutes of doing the ugly cry, I had to pack up and go to Berlin to sing Gutrune in Götterdämmerung.

Gutrune at the DOB on my birthday

Being back in Berlin was a lovely respite and as always, Wagner has a way of soothing my soul. I sang Gutrune at the Deutsche Oper with Maestro Runnicles on my birthday, and I don’t’ think that I have ever had a better one. 

However, the next day I got sick. It was a horrible cold that turned into bronchitis and sinusitis. I was able to go to the doctor (hooray for German health care) and spent most of the week in bed. I sang the second performance by the skin of my teeth and then headed back to work on Les Troyens. 

After five weeks of regular rehearsal and four weeks of pre-rehearsals, we opened Les Troyens. It was an incredibly special night for me. My first leading role in Germany. My first opera in French. My first time covering myself in head to toe blue paint. Many firsts. It was a wonderful success and I’m incredibly thankful and grateful to have been a part of it. 

Now I’m singing Didon about once a week (it is hard to program a 5 hour opera on a weeknight) and preparing for my Liederabend. I then head back to the USA (land of diet cokes and Walgreens) for Götterdämmerung at the Met. It is apparently the year of Götterdämmerung. And I am just fine with that. 

The San Francisco RING

I am a Wagner Geek. I admit this. Freely. I relish any chance that I have to sing his music and completely geek out in most rehearsals. Anyone who knows me, or has read any of my previous blog entries understands just how much San Francisco Opera means to me. So, it goes without saying that singing the Third Norn and my first ever complete Sieglinde in this new production of the Ring Cycle at San Francisco Opera, all under the baton of Maestro Runnicles, is about the best possible thing that this girl could wish for.

I am pinching myself on a daily basis.

*Pinch*

We began rehearsals for the Ring the second week of April and spent a lot of time figuring out the twists and turns of the Norn scene. The Norns open Götterdämmerung and provide a unique take on the events of the opera. Want more Norn-info? Click here! An often overlooked scene, we spent quite a bit of time and energy on it; changing it from something that can often read as “previously, in the Ring Cycle” to something vital and important. We had to do all of this, however, behind a scrim, on a rake, with less than three feet of space, climbing on a pile of rubble, wearing dark goggles (that easily fog), in blinding sidelight. Who says opera singers just park and bark? It has been a challenge, but an extremely rewarding one.

Then we began work on Walküre. I don’t even know how to begin to describe my experience with this. This music is so big. This story is so big. This character is so big. It is such an honor and a challenge to be able to sing this role, and I count myself fortunate each and every day to be able to do so.

Kneeling next to Siegmund (Photo by Kristen Loken Anstey)

Then there is Brandon Jovanovich. Of course I could go on about how handsome and talented he is (and he is), but what is more incredible is that he is an amazing person and colleague and I feel blessed to be able to sing my first Sieglinde alongside his first Siegmund. It is a special thing to share a rehearsal process with someone who is also doing a role for the first time. The relationship between Siegmund and Sieglinde is so complex and can easily teeter on the line between immensely sensual to downright unpalatable. An inordinate amount of care has to go into shaping it. Fortunately, Brandon and I are lucky enough to have no previously ingrained notions or stagings to work around, and we’ve been awarded the luxury of time and a long rehearsal process. This process, thankfully, has been nothing but a complete and total joy.

*Pinch*

I have fallen in love with this production. It is dirty, sexy, vulnerable, physical and above all real. I have never been so challenged in a show – having to traverse the path of an abused wife, optimistic lover, ferocious fighter, suicidal widow and ultimately to a mother fighting for her son is an immense emotional journey to undertake. Not to mention that I’ve never before been chased around stage by 8 men, had my hair pulled, been thrown to the ground and had a knife held at my throat. No one could ever accuse this production of being the least bit boring. And that is how Wagner is to me. Full of life, love and an incredible energy which penetrates every moment of the show. 

Struggling with Supernumeraries (Photo by Kristen Loken Anstey)

So I sit here tonight, having completed the first stage orchestra rehearsal for Götterdämmerung today and counting down the days until Sunday’s premiere. (And most certainly counting the days until my June 29th performance of Sieglinde.) and I’m just so thankful to be a part of this production. At this house. With this cast. This orchestra. And this Maestro. I’m so thankful, humbled, and so very honored.

*Pinch*

much love,

— heidi