Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor

For a young opera company like Opera San Antonio, not performing live on stage for more than a year was a huge challenge. But this week, OSA will be back with a production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” starring soprano Brenda Rae, tenor Scott Quinn and San Antonio’s native son, baritone Scott Hendricks.

This return to normalcy is enthusiastically welcomed by both performers and their audiences. Though she had the opportunity to perform twice in Europe back in late fall, Rae is excited to appear in-person at the Tobin Center this week in the iconic role of Lucia, her first live experience in America after the long months of shutdown.

“It’s a very, very special moment for me,” she said. “Not only are we performing live but it’s not for a live-stream. It’s actually for a live audience. “When you sing live for a real audience, you get so much from that audience. There’s a different energy in the house when we are performing for people who are just a few feet away rather than hundreds of miles away.

“So many Americans had to depend on prerecorded or live streams of old productions,” added the internationally acclaimed soprano. “It’s a very different feeling when you get to experience live opera in the theater with good acoustics ringing all around. We are excited to be able to do this here in San Antonio.”

Not surprisingly, Lucia is one of her favorite characters. “This opera has some of my favorite music to sing. I find that I can always discover something new in it every time I come back to it,” she noted.  “And I like “going crazy,” she quipped, referring to a dramatic scene in the opera when Lucia is driven to madness by the intolerable situation, she finds herself in. “For an actress, it’s fulfilling; there’s a lot of freedom in portraying madness. The music is beautiful, lyrical. It pushes the voice to the limits of the coloratura range. It’s the kind of music I have always been drawn to.”

Composed by Gaetano Donizetti in 1835, “Lucia” was based on a story by Sir Walter Scott about feuding Scottish nobles, specifically between Lucia’s brother Enrico Ashton and his political enemy Edgardo di Ravenswood. But, of course, Lucia is in love with Edgardo and refuses to marry the man her brother wants her to marry to save the declining fortune and social position of the Ashtons. It’s pretty much the tale of “Romeo & Juliet” transposed to Scotland.

Like his co-star, San Antonio native, Scott Hendricks, who will appear in the role of Enrico, loves Donizetti’s score. “Enrico’s music is glorious; I love Enrico’s music, the music is glorious in this opera,” said the vocalist emphatically. “I don’t like who he is as a character but he thinks he is doing what he is doing for the good of his family.”

Though he has a home in San Antonio, Hendricks has spent the bulk of his career singing in European opera houses. and has never had a chance to perform at the Tobin Center until now. In addition to classical operas, such as “Lucia,” Hendricks has appeared in quite a few contemporary operas, including “Nixon in China” (title role), and originated the role of Richard III in the 2005 world premiere of the eponymous opera by Giorgio Battistelli in Antwerp, Belgium.

“In the past couple of years, I’ve gone mostly between Puccini and Verdi and contemporary operas, or 20^th century operas, to be more precise, including a few premieres. So, I have had the best of both worlds,” noted Hendricks.

Both Rae and Hendricks sing in multiple languages, she in nine – from English and the obligatory Italian to Norwegian and Russian – and he in five: English, French, Italian, Russian and German.

Do they try to give their characters in “Lucia” -and in other classical bel canto works – a bit of a contemporary twist, to make them more appealing to today’s audiences, we wondered.

Rea has given that issue some thought.

“I like it if Lucia is not just a victim who has fallen into a trap set by men. She has a certain strength. She is standing up to her brother and she refuses to marry the man that her brother wants her to marry. So, they have to trick her to make her believe that Edgardo has betrayed her. If you show that rebellious side of her, that can resonate with contemporary audiences,” explained the singer.

“Lucia” is stage-directed by OSA’s general and artistic director E. Loren Meeker, with music director Francesco Milioto in charge of the music. To keep everyone safe, there will be only seven performers on stage and a small ensemble of musicians who will also be on stage rather than in the pit. In addition to the leads, four other singers are part of the cast: Musa Ngqungwana, Andres Acosta, Claudia Chapa and Richard Novak.

Before parting, Hendricks wanted to say a few words about OSA, the producer of the show. “It’s great to see that Opera San Antonio will have a bright future under the current management, he said. “They seem to be injecting a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm into it. San Antonio deserves a first-rate company.”

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“Lucia Di Lammermoor”; May 6 and 8 at 7:30 p.m.; Tobin Center for the Performing Arts; 100 Auditorium Circle; tickets $45-$125, tickets@tobincenter.org, 210-223-8624; the May 8 performance will be livestreamed at www.operasa.org. The latter will be available through June 8.