Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 15

Left: Kelsey as Ping in Turandot in 2006, his first production with Lyric Opera outside of the Ryan Opera Center, with Patricia Racette as Liù. He would reunite with Racette in 2007 at Ravinia for Madama Butterfly . Right: Polenzani and Kelsey were led in Ravinia’s 2005 Otello by James Conlon, in his first year as Chicago Symphony Orchestra residency music director. “ I had people along the way who knew that ‘if you do this right, you can decide when you’re done, and the voice doesn’t decide for you. ’ ” Kelsey has performed three Rigolettos at Zurich Opera, in 2013, 2016 (pictured), and 2019. entire staged rehearsal. That was the first half of the equation. The second half was putting it all on a shelf for what ended up being around five years for both those roles. The Aida is a frac- tion of what Rigoletto is, despite the singing in the third act put- ting you against the wall. But Rigoletto—Joe Green doesn’t let you up from the first page to the last. Macbeth and [ Otello ’s] Iago are definitely coming soon. So, an amendment to the equation is knowing when the right time is to add these other roles on top of the current repertory. I did my first Rigoletto eight years ago. By 2011 I had already sung Trovatore and Traviata. It was very calculated. The responsibility was the rule that every time you do one, make sure you are doing it right; that nothing is hurting, nothing feels bad. Then wait. Then take the next one and do the same. You really have to, otherwise you can crash and burn. “In the beginning, I had to do much more work to get the music into my body. It is so wonderful, now, that everything I have learned I am able to apply. I can walk into rehearsal, absorb everything from the director or conductor. I don’t have to be in my mind going, oh, I have to breathe like this, I have to apply pressure this way. I have been doing it enough that my body makes it happen. I can focus on the character or the text. I can focus on the art.” DAN REST/LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO ( TURANDOT ); JIM STEERE/RAVINIA ( OTELLO ); HAND JÖRG MICHEL ( RIGOLETTO ) 18 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 26, 2019 – MAY 9, 2020