Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 6 - Sondra Radvanovsky

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 12 How would you describe Minnie in La fanciulla del West , in terms of her “American-ness”? I’m thinking of how she protects her men, when she talks about the miners’ money that the bandit “Mr. Johnson” is actually there to steal. She says in their duet, “These men work so hard, this is their life, and I’m in charge of protecting them.” That’s very American, her taking care of the whole. Americans are very “I’ve got your back”— isn’t that a great American phrase? In Minnie’s aria,“Laggiù nel Soledad,” she’s sweet and she’s longing for love. She’s going through a huge awakening throughout the opera, which causes her to question her beliefs, her values, and her femininity. This is a very simple woman — she says that: “I’m a simple woman, I don’t have an education, but I do know right from wrong.” I find this so beautiful in her, because she does fall in love with this man who’s wrong! I’ve seen words like “miraculous” and “revelatory” used to describe your Suor Angelica at LA Opera. Do you view the role as an important career milestone? Yes, it’s when I found who I am as an artist. Billy Friedkin, the director, gave me probably the greatest thing I’ve ever learned about stagecraft, which is stillness . One day, as I was about to sing [the nun Suor Angelica’s aria] “Senza mamma,” Billy said to me, “Don’t move, and think of your dad,” because my dad died when I was seventeen. I did that my very first day onstage in the role. When I looked around, everyone was crying. Billy said, “The power of stillness, Sondra, is incredible.” I found it in that character, discovering that Suor Angelica was a woman who was very inner . It was a huge turning point in me because I trusted that stillness. “Addio,mio dolce amor!” from Edgar is sung by Fidelia, who’s your basic nice, sweet Puccini heroine. How can you make her three-dimensional? She’s actually a bit of a conundrum. I don’t know what Puccini was thinking when he wrote the opera, besides really beautiful arias. I’m thinking, “OK, this is just a girl in love and singing pretty!” Like Verdi’s Violetta, Magda in La rondine is a courtesan in Paris. Does having played Violetta help you in thinking about Magda? Yes, definitely. Although I’d love to play Magda onstage, I don’t know how I could relate to her. Life is short, and when we’re onstage, we should have fun and really feel the characters we’re playing. If not, leave it to someone else who does feel it. But Magda’s “Ch’il bel sogno” is a beautiful aria! In an opera, you’re not asked to change midway from one voice category to another, but in the concert you’re singing Magda, written for a “full lyric” voice, and one minute later you’re Turandot, generally associated with dramatic sopranos. Singing “In questa reggia” and the rest of Turandot’s music is actually easy for me. It “sits” where I have a lot of power, in the upper part of my voice. “Ch’il bel sogno” [famous for its soaring high notes] sets me up, in a way, for “In questa reggia.” I’m singing Turandot with my voice; I don’t want to try and pretend I’m Birgit Nilsson or anyone else who sang it before. I’ve been able to bring my bel canto background and my Verdi background into it, adding all the pianissimi and not screaming her. It makes her more human. Turandot can certainly be portrayed with vulnerability, not just the usual steeliness. I think of Turandot as very similar to Queen Elizabeth I [Radvanovsky’s role in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux ], whose life was chosen for her. Turandot, being a princess, has no choice either — everything was handed down to her. She talks about her ancestor, Princess Lo-u-Ling, who was abducted and raped — and how tormented Turandot has been her whole life, thinking about her and hearing her story year in, year out. I love playing Turandot, with that human aspect of her that you don’t see very often. She’s a young girl — of course, she wants to feel love — but I assume her mother is dead and that she was raised by a single father who was probably bitter about love, passing that on to her. What do you hope listeners will take away from this concert? I want people to see what a pivotal composer Puccini was, and how he changed opera. I also want people to come away saying, “What beautiful music, what great storytelling.” Puccini pulls on the heartstrings as no other composer does, so it’s a great concert for bringing someone you love. Even just listening to the music without words — it drips passion! ROGER PINES writes frequently for Opera (U.K.), programs of opera companies internationally, and major recording labels. A faculty member of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, he has also been a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts’ “Opera Quiz” since 2006.