Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 6 - Sondra Radvanovsky

11 | Lyric Opera of Chicago What has kept Puccini’s music before the public for more than 130 years? The tunes he could create are spectacular. I was at a rehearsal today that was all Puccini, and I was thinking, “My gosh , this man could write music!” What do you think are the qualities that make an outstanding Puccini singer? You have to act with your voice. What I mean is you need a sob in the voice when you’re crying, but you also have to be able to show extreme happiness. It’s also not enough to sing just what’s on the page, although he did give singers a beautiful road-map in his scores — every expressive notation is there. Puccini singers have to express their emotions not just with their physical acting, but also with their voice . Puccini acting must be very real, believable, relatable. What was the first music by Puccini that you ever heard? Tosca , which I saw on television when I was eleven years old. It’s the reason I became an opera singer. I was sitting there thinking, “I’ve never heard anything like this.” And then I got this little tingle in my soul — that’s the only way I can describe it. I felt afterwards, “Whatever that’s called, I want to do that.” What prompted you to create this Puccini concert? I like a challenge! After The Three Queens Donizetti concert at Lyric in 2019, I was speaking with Anthony Freud (former General Director, President & CEO), and he asked, “What do you want to do next? The centenary of Puccini’s death is coming up — why don’t you do all the arias?” You’re beginning the concert with Le villi .What attracted you to Anna’s aria? It’s a light, lyrical piece. I like to start programs with arias where vocally I’m not taxing myself too much. Even though people aren’t familiar with it, I’m hoping they’ll come away humming this particular aria. It’s one of the most underrated of all Puccini soprano arias, so creamy and lush. You then move to La Bohème and Mimì’s Act One aria,“Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì.” It sounds like a very simple aria, but it carries a lot of information, and it so beautifully sets up the character. I’ve always thought of Mimì as a little shy, but I think she knows something’s going on with her health right from the beginning. She’s lonely, she doesn’t want to die alone, and she wants to feel love at least once in her life. The concert includes“Un bel dì.”You haven’t portrayed Butterfly onstage,but you sang Kate Pinkerton during your tenure with the Met’s young-artist program. What do you remember from the experience of observing someone play Butterfly onstage? I was fortunate to be able to watch Michele Crider — there was so much emotion in her performance! Butterfly is all bottled-up emotion, because of her culture. One can’t go over the top with emotion when playing her. Everything has to be within boundaries . I remember talking with Renata Scotto about this role, and Mirella Freni as well. They both said, “You have to walk on that stage, and while you’re there you have to think about your shopping list, or else you cannot stop crying.” Next is Tosca, one of your signature roles. What keeps you coming back to her? She is me — that’s the beauty of playing her. I’m a different person every day, and some days I feel feisty and full of fire, some days I’m angry, and some days I’m happy. This is the role where I can really use my acting chops. Emotionally speaking, what’s most important in Tosca’s aria,“Vissi d’arte”? I started out singing it like a prayer, but then I lost my mom to Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s — she suffered greatly. Why is there so much suffering in the world? That’s the same question Tosca is asking in “Vissi d’arte.” When I sing it, I have nothing else in me, I am empty, and I’m laying my soul on the stage. Manon Lescaut has been another big success for you. She has a pretty stunning character development during the opera. Manon is a girl who I think wasn’t loved enough as a child, or wasn’t loved properly, or was ignored. Then, in Des Grieux, she actually finds someone who pays attention to her, and she feels this electricity with him. Does Puccini create sympathy for her in Act Four? Yes, because Manon realizes the error of her ways, and her fear of dying. She sees her mistake [giving up Des Grieux to become the wealthy Geronte’s mistress]. It’s interesting that she doesn’t sing “Sola, perduta, abbandonata” until Des Grieux leaves to go find water for her, when she’s dying in the desert. But most ill people don’t want to die alone, and Manon is much the same. When they’re alone they’re reflecting on their lives, and that’s what she does. After the aria, she just goes into delirium. I don’t feel this is Manon anymore. It’s a woman who is mostly dead — and I say that because I saw it with my mother as she was passing on. The aria is really her last breath of life.