ARTISTS PROFILE: Tenor Heath Huberg

ARTISTS CORNER:  Tenor Heath Huberg made his Sarasota Opera debut while a Studio Artist singing the roles of Peppe in Pagliacci and Delil in Giovanna d'Arco in 2010.  Mr. Huberg has since returned each season to perform such roles as Giles Corey in The Crucible, Cassio in Verdi's Otello and this season as a principal artist making his role debut as Nadir in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.  We asked Mr. Huberg to answer a few questions about his life as a singer, what he learned as a Studio Artist with Sarasota Opera, and what he is looking forward to this season with Sarasota Opera.



Tenor Heath Huberg



Q.  What drew you to become a singer?

A.  I was involved with local community theater, high school musicals, other theater projects, choir, and band. I had a lot of success growing up as a musician and thought that music may be the way to go. However, college is where opera took hold of my career path. 

Q.  Did you have other aspirations besides music?

A.  A few.  I was relatively gifted in science and math and thought that may a possible career path.  Also, growing up in a farming community presented other opportunities along with family businesses. I also contemplated going into the Navy out of high school, but decided that I wanted to go to university instead.

Heath Huberg as Nadir in
Sarasota Opera's The Pearl Fishers. 
Photo by Rod Millington

Q.  What are you looking forward to in performing this role?

A.  I think the opera The Pearl Fishers is radically under appreciated.  It has stunning moments of the most beautiful music and very thrilling moments that brings an audience to the edge of their seat.  Besides being able to perform this piece with exceptionally talented colleagues, I have the opportunity to help bring the drama to life.  To explore and divulge the intricacies of a character and a culture that is far detached from our normal, and to get to do this on a stage that has many happy memories for me, is what I am looking forward to most.

Q.  Is there something unique about the process you go through when preparing a role?

A.  I don't think so.  I begin by translating every part.  Then I speak the text to find the correct inflection, emphasis...etc. Only after that do I put the words to the rhythm and notes.  I do like listening to several different singers approach to the role.  I believe that by cultivating other ideas and approaches, I am able to inspire and refine my performance.

Q.  What other preparation/research work do you include?

A.  I try to read as much as possible, whether it be historical documents, books, or online resources.  Also, in some cases, I find it useful to watch movies with historical contexts or period set pieces.  

Tenor Heath Huberg as Cassio in Sarasota Opera's production of Verdi's Otello.  Photo by Rod Millington

Q.  How does preparation process differ between a new role and one that you have already performed?

A.  Having already performed a role makes life so much easier.  It is a case of intense reviewing of the text, story, characterization, historical context, music and preparing mentally as well as vocally.  While it is ultimately easier to prepare an all ready performed role, it does still require a lot of preparation and time.

Q.  Before you were a principal artist you were a studio artist. Did this help you prepare you for you role as a principal artist?

A.  Most definitely.  The Sarasota Opera Studio Artist program gave me valuable performance experience, both in concert/outreach and on stage.  It has also helped me refine my preparation process and general performance practices.

Q.  What is the most bizarre experience you have had in a rehearsal and/or performance?

A.  I was in Santa Fe Opera's Young Artist program and had the opportunity to be in a world premiere opera: The Letter.  Santa Fe Opera is famous for not only some wonderful productions and singing, but for its open air theater with beautiful vistas and brilliant enchanting sunsets. On two seperate occasions mother nature had her way during a couple of performances.  The first was a dense layer of fog that rolled in covering the stage, pit, and audience as the ghost of the protagonist's lover appeared to confront his killer: the protagonist.  The second, mother nature kicked up a wicked thunderstorm with high winds that threatened to bring down the set around us (stage hands held the set in place as the performance neared its end). Also, the wind sent dishes and other props flying.  It even made the roll-out stage cover churn like waves on the gulf.  Needless to say, the performance ended shortly there after and the bows were cut short.   

Tenor Heath Huberg as Giles Corey in
the 2011 production of The Crucible.
Photo by Rod Millington

Q.  Do you have any pre-performance rituals?

A.  Nope, just resting up and reviewing music.

Q.  How do you relax between performances? Any hobbies?

A.  While in Sarasota I like to spend time on the beach and go to Baltimore Orioles games.  I like to golf, read, and spend time with family and friends.

Q.  How do you stay connected with family and friends while you are on the road?

A.  I skype and call my family and friends in order to stay in touch with them. Also, I maintain a facebook account to share my experiences with people while on the road.

Q.  We have patrons that travel from all over the United States to see productions at Sarasota Opera.  Do you have strong connections with any particular towns our patons might have in common?

A.  I am originally from Milford, Des Moines.  I did my undergraduate work at Simpson College in Indianola, IA and my graduate work at New England Conservatory in Boston, MA.  I also spent a good amount of time in Salt Lake City, UT as a resident artist with Utah Opera.

Look for tenor Heath Huberg in upcoming productions at Sarasota Opera.  Subscriptions for the 2013-2014 Sarasota Opera Season are now available online at www.sarasotaopera.org or by calling the box office at (941) 328-1300. 

ARTISTS CORNER: Baritone Lee Poulis

ARTISTS CORNER:  Baritone Lee Poulis, who made his Sarasota Opera debut as Don Giovanni in 2011 and returned to sing Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor last season, will make his Sarasota Opera debut as Zurga in this season's opening production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.  Mr. Poulis has sung all over the United States and for many years was based in Germany.  We asked Mr. Poulis to answer a few questions about his life as a singer, the difference between being an opera singer in the United States versus Europe, and what he is looking forward to this season with Sarasota Opera. 



Baritone Lee Poulis

Q.  What drew you to become a singer?  Was there a specific “Aha!” moment of clarity?

A.  I actually began in music as a trumpet player in the 4th grade.  Pretty soon I realized I enjoyed hearing the trumpet being played in an orchestra rather than in the band, which was where I played.  I began listening to the classical station and heard some opera in the mix.  I was immediately drawn to it and wanted to hear and know more about it.  I began renting opera videos from Blockbuster at the age of 12 and saw my first opera at the Metropolitan Opera in that same year.  As years passed and I buried myself in recordings and videos from the public library, I could sing along with many of the operas while reading the libretto.  I also did my first Pavarotti impression pretty early on, handkerchief and all.  When I was 15 after some long-term nudging from my parents, who knew nothing about opera but apparently had an ear, I sang for my high school chorus teacher.  The rest is history.

Q.  What are you looking forward to most about performing this particular role?

A.  I like that I’m playing the leader of everyone else in the opera.  Sounds like a lot of power.  So far it’s one fishing village, but I hope to expand my sphere of influence as soon and as widely as possible and take over all of Sri Lanka, where this opera takes place.

Lee Poulis as Zurga in Sarasota Opera's 2013 production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers 

Q.  Is there something unique about your process when preparing a role for performance?

A.  I don’t know if it’s unique, but it’s how I do it!  It’s a process of singing through, translating, feeling, putting myself in the character’s shoes, singing it through with a pianist, working on it with my voice teacher, and raising the stakes dramatically and vocally wherever it’s called for in the story and the music.  Almost all of these facets of preparation are occurring all the time and in no particular order from day one of my role preparation until the last performance is over and sometimes beyond that too!

Lee Poulis as Papageno in Mozart's
The Magic Flute at Washington National Opera

Q.  Beyond the musical work, what other kind of preparation/research work do you incorporate in the learning process?  Historical?  Character study?  What sources have you relied on? 

A.  Normally I would go to the place where the opera is set but Sri Lanka is a bit far and bit expensive for that!  In lieu of that, I’ve watched movies set there, researched its culture, eaten at a Sri Lankan restaurant (I live in New York City so this was not hard), and I continue to read or do anything interesting related to Sri Lanka that I come across.  I’m currently absorbing a lot of cultural information from a memoir about Sri Lanka called Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje, the author of The English Patient.

Q.  This will be a role debut for you, correct?  How does your preparation process differ between a role you have performed before and a role you are doing for the first time? 

A.  Yes, this is a role debut and I’m very excited about it!  If I already know the role, the preparation is much quicker; I just have to reawaken the character and sing the role back into my voice.  For a new role, I have to develop the character completely anew and figure out how to sing it from square one.  In one sense doing a role I have already done before can be a more complete and developed performance for the audience whereas in a role debut, there are many unknowns that reveal themselves only in performance.  This can perhaps make performances in a new role feel somewhat experimental but always exciting!



Q.  You have performed extensively all around Europe, particularly in Germany.  How does life as an opera singer differ in Europe than the United States? 

A.  In Germany, singing felt more like a full time job, if that is even possible to feel as an opera singer.  I had a multi-year contract with Opera Bonn, a theater funded by the city.  I earned a monthly salary, received health insurance, and all the other benefits full time employees would normally get.  After successful auditions, I was often engaged simultaneously as a guest singer by other theaters in Germany and abroad.  Anytime a theater was holding auditions, I would have to go to that actual theater to sing for a specific part or position.  Rehearsal periods in Germany were much longer, sometimes two months, and performances were often spread out over the course of two seasons, with performances of a specific opera occurring anywhere from 1-4 times a month in rotation with other operas.



Lee Poulis as Enrico in the 2012 Sarasota Opera
production of Lucia di Lammermoor



In the US, I think there are only a handful of opera singers that have anything that looks like a full time job.  It’s almost completely freelance and without benefits.  You’re on your own!  There is also a lot less work in the US than there is in Europe.  Thankfully American companies will come to NYC to hear their auditions, so at least travel isn’t necessary.  But I have to say, I didn’t mind gallivanting around beautiful Europe for auditions and then writing it off!  Also auditions in the US tend to be of a more general nature, so you can find out if you got “the part,” whatever that may be, in 1 day to five years.  Rehearsal periods in the US are much more concentrated, usually two to three weeks, and the run of performances is also more highly concentrated, usually within 1-5 weeks.

Q.  Thus far, what is the most bizarre experience you have had during a rehearsal?  During a performance?

A.  I had a director one time who upon the first rehearsal told us five guys involved in a scene to get on a truck, drive the truck on stage, and do the scene.  We naturally thought: Do what scene?  We haven’t been directed yet. Well, off we went and drove the truck on stage and made up a scene out of thin air.  The director laughed, said it was very good, wished us a good afternoon and that he would see us tomorrow.  We left stunned.  What had just happened?  The scene was never really developed and remained basically the same through opening night!  The audience loved it though!

Another event in the same production: I had a small dog with me in one scene.  It kept yanking me aside during my singing and I couldn’t imagine why.  Normally it was well behaved.  My colleagues began laughing during their singing to me.  What thousands of audience members and my cast-mates saw that I did not because I was busy singing was that my dog had just pooped and peed onstage!

Q.  Do you have any pre-performance rituals?  Performance superstitions?  Good luck charms?  If yes, why?

A.  I just try to take it easy and check the voice every now and then.  I like to take a good walk, hydrate, and eat well.

Q.  How do you relax in between performances?  What hobbies do you enjoy at home and “on the road”?

A.  I like to go to the gym regularly where I lift weights and do cardio exercise.  I also love spending time at the beach and going to movies.  I try to get reading done and to work on the next role!



Lee Poulis in the title role of the 2011
Sarasota Opera production of Don Giovanni

Q.  How do you stay connected to family and friends when you are “on the road”?  Do you keep a blog?  Website? Facebook?  Twitter?

A.  I have a Fan Page on Facebook and I personally maintain my webpage at www.leepoulis.com.  I always love to hear from those who love to see me perform!  The internet is a great thing to keep in touch with friends and family when you are on the road.  I have video calls when it’s been too long since I’ve seen someone’s face.  I have yet to keep a blog but you never know.  It could happen!

           

Q.  As we have people that travel from around the United States to attend performances at Sarasota Opera, are there any towns or cities that you have a strong connection with whether from growing up or attending school?

A.  I have a strong connection with Cambridge, MA (college), Santa Barbara, CA (training) Washington DC (young artist program), and Cologne (where I spent my three years in Germany).  I’m orginally from Greenlawn, NY on Long Island and currently live in New York City. 

Don't miss Mr. Poulis' performance as Zurga in this season's production of The Pearl Fishers running now through March 22nd.  Tickets are available online at www.sarasotaopera.org or by calling the box office at (941) 328-1300. 

 

Sarasota Opera 2012-2013 Season will feature Regional and World Premieres!

Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce its 2012 – 2013 Fall and Winter Seasons!

2012 Fall Season
The 2012 Fall Sarasota Opera Season will open with Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto [rih-go-leht-to], based off of Victor Hugo’s play “Le Roi s’Amuse” and the opera chosen to be the first performed in the newly renovated opera house when it re-opened in 2008. The story follows a hunchbacked jester as he tries to shield his daughter Gilda from the evils of the world only to have it unveiled that she is in love with the lascivious Duke of Mantua who has deceived her to win her heart. Rigoletto will open on October 26, 2012 and run through November 12, 2012.

In addition, the fall season will include the world premiere performance of Sarasota Youth Opera’s newest commission, Little Nemo in Slumberland, music by Daron Hagen and libretto by J.D. McClatchy.

Little Nemo in Slumberland will be a Co-Production with the University of Kentucky Opera Theater and will utilize a new leading edge, innovative theater technology, SCRIBE (Self-Contained Rapidly Integratable Background Environment), that was piloted at the University of Kentucky. This technology, which has been successfully used in productions at the University of Kentucky Opera Theater and The Atlanta Opera, will help meet the creative challenge presented by bringing such a fantasy based story to life. There will be two performances on November 10 and 11, 2012.

2013 Winter Festival
The 2013 Sarasota Opera Winter Festival will open with the Sarasota Opera premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s vocally extravagant final opera Turandot [too-ran-dough] which features some of the composers most glorious music including the famous tenor aria “Nessum Dorma” (None shall sleep). Set in Ancient China, Turandot is based off an ancient Persian fairy tale which tells the story of a beautiful princess who men travelled all over the world to win the heart of by solving three riddles. Answer incorrectly and lose your head. Answer correctly and melt the heart of the ice princess Turandot.

Following Turandot will be much in demand return of Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers (Les Pêcheurs de perles [lay peh-share deh peh-rl]), a proven favorite of Sarasota Opera audiences. Last seen in 2003, The Pearl Fishers features the famously infectious Act I duet for tenor and baritone “Au fond du temple saint”, in which our two heroes, Nadir and Zurga, reaffirm their pact of eternal friendship despite their mutual love for the priestess Leila.

Sarasota Opera will present the world premiere of a new critical edition (transcribed directly from Verdi’s manuscript) of Giuseppe Verdi’s second opera A King for a Day (Un giorno di regno) [oon jor-no di ray-no]), Verdi’s first comic opera (his only other comedy was his final opera Falstaff). A King for a Day is based on the play Le faux Stanislas by Alexandre Vincent Pineu-Duval. A true Verdi rarity, A King for a Day will be the 29th installment in the company’s continuing Verdi Cycle.

Of this production, Maestro DeRenzi says, “It is part of our artistic vision to present all of Verdi’s rarely performed works along with the more mainstream pieces. Our audience has come to recognize and appreciate the artistic value of these early works, and we are proud to be one of the only opera companies in the United States to present them.” 2013 will also mark the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth.

Finally, Sarasota Opera will present Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men as a continuation of the American Classics Series. Premiered in 1969 at Seattle Opera, Floyd adapted the opera from the novella by John Steinbeck and wrote both the music and libretto himself. The opera stays faithful to Steinbeck’s story of two workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, struggling for work during the depression era as they pursue their hopes to achieve the American dream of owning their own farm one day. However, when a hard and cruel world forces them down a different path, George and Lennie are forced to say goodbye to the bright horizon they had envisioned for themselves.

As was done with the first two American Classics Series Operas, the 2011 production of The Crucible and the 2012 production of Vanessa, Sarasota Opera will design a series of education events around this production Of Mice and Men to help familiarize and educate the Sarasota Opera audience about this important work.

The four productions will run in rotation from February 9 through March 24, 2013.

Artists Corner - Stage Director Martha Collins speaks on "Carmen"

Martha Collins, Stage Director for the upcoming production of Bizet's 'Carmen', opening this Saturday, February 11th, offers some thoughts on the process she went through in approaching the complext and exciting challenge of directing an opera like this.

MARTHA COLLINS - Stage Director for Carmen

As I look forward to the opening night of Carmen in a few days, it is interesting to look back on the journey that got me to this point. Carmen is an opera I have known for so long, that I knew wanted to take the time to go back to the basics and explore it with fresh eyes and ears.

To start, I re-read the novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée on which the librettists based the opera, and the poem The Gypsies by Pushkin which inspired the novella.

Then I delved into researching life in Spain in 1820. I explored the different social classes and how they related to one another; the peasants, upper class, the military and, of course, the gypsies. In particular, it was gypsy life I focused on - their history, religion, music and dance.

To understand Escamillo, I learned about the art and ritual of the bullfight. To have sets and costumes that would bring this society to life visually, I researched the architecture of the time, the styles of dress, the climate, and the geography of Spain.

Ultimately, of course, it is the words and music of Bizet’s brilliant opera that tell the story, and I have reveled in immersing myself in each of the character's thoughts and emotions.