The Washington Post - 20.10.2019

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE E7

music

BY ANNE MIDGETTE

Russell Thomas is a single dad
to a 5-year-old son. He’s an opera
singer who was bitten by the
opera bug when he was 8 and
wanted to be a singer ever since
— “even before I knew I could
sing,” he says. He has performed
in the world’s major opera hous-
es, gradually working his way
from Mozart roles, which tend to
be on the lighter end of the
repertory, to the vocally heavier
operas of Verdi. Now, T homas, 42,
is taking on Verdi’s “Otello,” with
one of the most punishing roles
in the repertoire, which he will
perform to open Washington Na-
tional Opera’s season Oct. 26.
And suddenly, it seems that Otel-
lo is all anybody wants to hear
from him.
Thomas is black and Otello —
or Othello, the title role of the
Shakespeare play on which the
opera is based — is black, or at
least a Moor. You can debate how
dark a Moor is supposed to be in
Shakespeare’s vision, or in Ver-
di’s, but as the predominantly
white world of the performing
arts gradually opens its eyes to
the world around it, it seems
increasingly problematic to cast
white people in roles written for
and about people of color.
The problem with Otello, how-
ever, is that there are very few
tenors, white or black, who are
able to sing the role. Thomas,
now, is one of them, and the opera
world is eager to seize on him, not
only as an Otello but also as a
representative of the diversity
that the field claims to be desper-
ately seeking.
Ye t in forcing Thomas and
other black artists to be spokes-
people for diversity, the field is
essentially overlooking just what
it is that makes them such nota-
ble artists in the first place. It’s a
sign of how opera, as well as other
areas of the classical performing
arts, continues to stubbornly oth-
erize people who don’t conform
to the white template that has
been the norm for so long — and
hasn’t, in fact, come very far at a ll.
“I am not an Otello,” Thomas
says over a recent brunch at a
restaurant near Chinatown. It’s a
weekend morning that happens
to be free of rehearsals, and
Thomas is taking a break to
discuss life with his son, Austin
(who stays in Atlanta with his
grandmother now that he’s start-
ed school); his dream roles (he’d
like to sing more bel canto, the
lighter melodious operas of Belli-
ni and Donizetti); and, of course,
diversity in opera, the topic he
can’t avoid. There need, he says,
to be more black administrators
— an avenue he’s starting to
explore himself. “If you’re not
going to change the structure of
the institutions,” Thomas says,
“what’s really going to happen?”
As to his not being a true
Otello, Thomas has some people
fooled: The WNO production is
his third outing this calendar

year. (He has also sung the role

two times in concert.)

But what Thomas is saying is

rooted in a vocal self-knowledge

he has had since he was a young

singer. His voice, he says, is on the

lighter end of the spectrum of

voices capable of singing the role

at all. Otello calls for a big, loud,

dramatic voice that can pump out

sound over the orchestra. “I can

put out a lot of sound,” Thomas

says, “but my voice doesn’t thrive

on that. It thrives on the softer

moments. It thrives on the fi-

nesse.

“A fter I do it,” he adds, “I just

want to drink a whole bunch of

water and lie down. And the next

day I want to do nothing.”

As a result, Thomas is wisely

restricting future Otello perform-

ances. His next stage outing in

the work will be in 2022. Ye t the

invitations continue to pour in.

Thomas always knew that as

soon as he started doing Otello,

he would risk being pigeonholed

in the role. It’s an extension of

what has long been a problem

with “Porgy and Bess,” an opera

once again in the spotlight be-

cause of the current Metropolitan

Opera production. That opera

has traditionally been a mixed

blessing at best for talented black

singers; once you were invited to

sing in “Porgy,” opera companies

had even less incentive to cast

you in anything else. Times have

changed, though, as most of the

Met’s current “Porgy” cast have

appeared in other roles with the

company, and black male singers,

who used to have particular diffi-

culty breaking opera’s color bar-

rier, are better represented today

on international stages than ever.

Ye t there’s still quite a bit of

pigeonholing. Issachah Savage,

another black tenor who sings

Otello, says he has a similar

problem. “I don’t want to be only

Otello,” he says, “even though I

love the role.”

Savage notes that standards

may not be equal, either. “For so

many years as Otello, we have

endured Caucasian men in paint-

ed face,” he says. “Now that

they’re finally allowing African

American men to do the role, the

pressure is very steep.” Black

singers are examined under a

more exacting lens than white

ones in the same role.

Stereotyping black tenors cer-

tainly isn’t new. George Shirley,

85, was the first African Ameri-

can tenor to perform a leading

role at the Met. He recalls that in

1965, Gian Carlo Menotti asked

him to do “Otello” at the Spoleto

Festival, despite the fact that his

lyric tenor voice was more suited

to Mozart and the lighter Puccini

operas. And that was long before

houses saw any social pressure to

start casting roles with more

racial sensitivity and awareness.

But now that audiences and

companies are becoming more

aware of the cultural complica-

tions of casting white singers in

nonwhite roles like Otello, Shir-

ley is also concerned about type-

casting.

“Opera is about the singing

voice,” he says. “It doesn’t have to

do with what you look like. If it

did, most of the stars we revere

wouldn’t have been onstage in

the first place.

“That’s what costumes and

makeup are for. You can’t cos-

tume and makeup the voice.”

What you can do is add shad-

ings to it — the finesse that

Thomas describes, which he has

been working for years to attain.

When he arrived at the Metropol-

itan Opera’s prestigious Linde-

mann Program as a young artist,

James Levine promptly told him

that he should sing only Mozart

— no more Puccini. Thomas swal-

lowed and plunged into learning

Mozart roles. Eventually, he saw

the benefits. “Over time, I noticed

that my v oice was able to do more

things,” he says. “It had a bigger

range of colors.”

Thomas gradually returned to

the heavier repertoire that suits

his voice — to Levine’s chagrin.

Long after leaving the program,

after he had begun establishing

himself on the world’s stages, he

returned to the Met to perform,

and Levine asked him anxiously

why he was singing so much

Verdi. Thomas eventually gave

him an answer — by singing aria

after aria in a private vocal ses-

sion, until Levine was convinced

that Thomas had, after all, found

his vocal home.

“But don’t sing Otello!” Levine

warned him, before wheeling out

of the room.

“I had already agreed to do

Otello in concert in Atlanta,”

Thomas says with a chuckle. “But

I didn’t tell him that.”

Still, the greatest compliment

an opera company could pay

Thomas, after hearing his Otello,

would be to see him not as a black

singer, but as just a singer — in

short, to invite him to sing some-

thing else.

[email protected]

Otello Oct. 26-Nov. 16 at

Washington National Opera.

‘I am not an Otello’

Tenor Russell Thomas tackles the vocally demanding role of Verdi’s tragic

general in the WNO season opener — and black stereotypes in opera

MICHAEL COOPER/CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

Tenor Russell

Thomas as Otello in

the Canadian Opera

Company’s 2019

production of

“Otello.” Thomas will

again perform the

title role in the Verdi

tragedy to open

Washington National

Opera’s season on

Oct. 26.

SYNONYMOUS WITH GRACE,

BEAUTY AND ARTISTRY,

OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS

SOPHIA LOREN

WILL CAPTIVATE THE

ROBERT E. PARILLA

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

WITH AN EXCLUSIVE,

INTIMATE ONSTAGE

CONVERSATION

AND AUDIENCE Q & A

AN EVENING WITH

SOSOSOPHPHPHIA LORENIA LORIA LORENEN

LIMITED V.I.P MEET & GREET AND PREMIUM

SEATING PACKAGES ARE AVAILABLE

November 20 & 21 • 7:30 pm

Sophia Loren Film Festival

November 15-24

ROBERT E. PARILLA

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Box Office: 240-567-5301 • http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/pac

MONTGOMERY COLLEGE • 51 Mannakee Street • Rockville, MD 2 0850

Kennedy-Center.org

(202) 467-4600

Groups call (202) 416-8400For all other ticket-related customer

service inquiries, call the Advance

Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

Mon., Oct. 7–Fri.,

Nov. 15, Studio K

FREE, timed-entry

tickets required.

Reserve passes online

in advance, or drop in

throughout the day

and get passes onsite!

Presenting Sponsor

The NSO Music Director Chair is generously endowed by Roger and Victoria Sant.

The November 7 & 9 NSO concert week is sponsored by Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather.

The Blue Series is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation.

FREE!

Major support for this performance is provided by

John T. Beaty, Jr. and Anne Mehringer.

Additional support is provided by Ms. Cynthia Krus and Mr. George Corey,

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Moxley, The Galena-Yorktown Foundation,

and Michael Brewer and Janet Brown.

Urbański conducts

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth

De la Salle plays Chopin

October 31–November 2 | Concert Hall

Krzysztof Urbański, conductor

Lise de la Salle, piano

Bacewicz: Overture (1943)

Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

Lise de la Salle

Nurit Bar-Josef

Noseda conducts a dance-

inspired program

Bar-Josef plays Piazzolla

November 7 & 9 | Concert Hall

Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Nurit Bar-Josef, violin

J. Strauss II: Tales from the Vienna Woods

Piazzolla/L. Desyatnikov: Four Seasons

of Buenos Aires

Price/Still: Dances in the Canebrakes

Piazzolla: Libertango

Stravinsky: Circus Polka

Shchedrin: Two Tangos by Albéniz

Ellington/Strayhorn/Tyzik: Nutcracker Suite

October 25 at 8 p.m.

Howard University, Cramton Auditorium

24 55 6th St., NW

The National Symphony Orchestra

and Howard University Present:

A Community Concert Celebrating the

10 0th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage

Join us for a free concert conducted by Michelle

Merrill in a program highlighting women

composers, featuring Howard University’s own

faculty pianist Natalia Kazaryan and renowned a

cappella jazz ensemble Afro Blue.

This is a FREE event, and no tickets are

required. Seating is open to the public and

based on a first-come, first-served basis.