Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 6 The Three Queens

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 31 HOW DID “THE THREE QUEENS” COME ABOUT? I came to Lyric with the project. I have to give Riccardo Frizza credit for this, since it all came from his imagination. When he and I were working together on Roberto Devereux about a year and a half ago, he said, “You know what would be a great idea? Your doing the last scenes of the ‘Three Queens.’” Then I picked up the ball and ran with it! HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON DOING EXCLUSIVELY THE FINALES? It’s the best music in all three operas. Donizetti has a way of really ending with a punch! There was a theme, a thread that went through them – it’s really all about them facing death. YOU DID A LOT OF RESEARCH. WAS IT HELPFUL? It was, because I needed to differentiate these women. In a way, Donizetti generalized them – Anne and Mary become more similar. Doing the research enabled me to find the kernel of their personalities that I could play up, be it a vocal color, a movement, or just a thought in my head. I think all of that read onstage. YOU’RE PERFORMING THESE SCENES IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THE OPERAS WERE COMPOSED. DO YOU HEAR A CERTAIN DEVELOPMENT IN DONIZETTI’S STYLE? Yes, and also historically. Doing them in this order will help the audience see how all three were related. We’re trying to find how their lives affected each other, how they were bound to each other, whether they knew it or not. DO YOU AGREE THAT THE BOLENA FINAL SCENE OFFERS THE BIGGEST VOCAL CHALLENGES? It’s a tossup between that and Devereux . I think in Bolena you do take the biggest journey. WHAT IS ANNE DEALING WITH EMOTIONALLY? Her mind is slowly unraveling earlier in the opera, but I think it’s completely undone when she’s left alone, with no information, in the Tower of London. She goes back in her brain, back in time. People who lose their minds do have moments of clarity. If you’ve ever seen someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia, they’re searching – “Where am I? What am I doing?” I’m not saying she has that, but she is in a kind of stress-related dementia. WHAT MAKES MARY STUART’S SITUATION SO TRAGIC? She should have been queen, so I’ve always felt she had a chip on her shoulder, a bitterness, an inner anger. To be stripped of something that was her birthright, to be queen – it had to be gut- wrenching. Of the three of them, she for sure is the feistiest. THERE’S NO MOMENT OF FLAMBOYANT VOCALISM ANYWHERE IN MARY’S SCENE. WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN INAPPROPRIATE? Yes, because she was such a grounded, principled woman, and that shows in the music. She’s saying, “Don’t be sorry for me.” It’s her saying goodbye, in her own way and on her own terms – “God will take care of me and protect me and provide for me.” I ASSUME YOU FIND ELIZABETH THE BIGGEST DRAMATIC CHALLENGE OF THE THREE. Absolutely! Isn’t she a firecracker? BUT IN THE FINAL SCENE, WE ALSO SEE VULNERABILITY. I think she was a very vulnerable woman. More than anything else in the world, she wanted to be loved not as a queen, but as a woman. I feel such pity for her, and playing that last scene is very emotional. But having done Roberto Devereux in three productions, I’ve learned that there’s a line I can’t cross as a performer, or I can’t perform that scene. I have to find a way emotionally to project to the audience the world-weariness, the innate sadness. IN “THE THREE QUEENS,” WITHOUT PERIOD COSTUMES, MAKEUP OR PROPS, NO DOUBT POSTURE AND CARRIAGE WILL BECOME ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT. I do think each person has a different gait, a different “tick” if you like. That’s how one has to differentiate between these three women, who are also different ages. I also think there’s a private and a public gait that will be evident in Anne, Mary, and Elizabeth. They have one way of projecting themselves when they’re in the public eye, but in their private world as well. IT’S GREAT THAT YOU’RE WORKING ON THIS PROJECT WITH AN ITALIAN CONDUCTOR. Riccardo Frizza was born to this music. He also understands my voice better than almost any other conductor in this repertoire. He knows how I’m going to create a phrase even before I sing the phrase, and he knows from show to show that I’m going to do things differently. It challenges him, and he loves a challenge. AS IN YOUR PREVIOUS LYRIC PERFORMANCES, YOU’RE COLLABORATING WITH ARTISTS FROM THE RYAN OPERA CENTER. They’re so talented! And I find them so thoroughly prepared, not just in their singing but in their diction, their languages. They’ve been so well trained, and vocally they’re some of the greatest singers in North America. The queens’ voice: Sondra Radvanovsky discusses three of Donizetti’s greatest roles Sondra Radvanovsky has scored some of her greatest successes onstage in Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux. Below she discusses the challenge of portraying three of history’s most formidable women – Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart, and Queen Elizabeth I.