ONTHE
RECORD
as was the depth of the orchestra pit – but
it’s a great honor to stand on that stage.”
As a child Youn didn’t think about opera, and not
until his voice changed did he realize that he had,
as he modestly puts it, “not a normal instrument.”
After winning a vocal competition at home, he
relocated to Berlin for training. Victory in Plácido
Domingo’s Operalia competition brought him a
Berlin Staatsoper contract. He spent a decade there
building his repertoire. That period initiated his
association with Daniel Barenboim; for Youn, their
collaborations at the Met, La Scala, and Berlin have
all been “tolle Erlebnisse” – fantastic experiences.
Throughout our conversation Youn spoke
exclusively in German. His virtually native fluency
gives him justifiable pride: “I’m a foreigner, and
it’s my obligation to pronounce things properly.
When I sing, the public understands me.”
PAUL GROVES
Early in his tenure with the Met’s young-artist
program, Paul Groves sang a small role in Act One
of Parsifal. “I’d go home, so I’d never hear Acts
Two and Three! A year later I was in it again and
thought, ‘I’d better stick around and listen to this.’”
Doing the title role was unimaginable to him, but
that was then and this is now: the Louisiana-born
tenor, most recently at Lyric as Berlioz’s Faust, is
singing his first Parsifal in Lyric’s new production.
Venturing into heavier repertoire than his
celebrated Mozart portrayals prompts Groves to recall
his late friend and colleague, Swedish tenor Gösta
Winbergh, “a fantastic Mozart singer. He said to me,
‘
You can do these Wagner roles. It’s important to sing
Wagner with your own voice.’” Groves anticipates
ideal circumstances at Lyric: “Parsifal fits so well
because Andrew Davis is conducting. I sing a lot
with him, and I know he believes I can do it.”
Recent ports of call in Groves’s dizzying schedule
have included Frankfurt, Bergen, Vienna, and
Madrid. Following our conversation, he was flying to
Leipzig for his first-ever performances there. With
any long engagement, most important is “finding
out who’s going to be there with me. Starting new
friendships is one great thing about being a traveling
singer. We have this network of 50 or 60 good friends
–
every once in awhile we run into each other.”
The tenor, a New Orleans resident, tries to appear
with that city’s opera company every two years. For
the productions he’s in “I’m involved in casting, so I
have all my friends come!” In addition to helping with
publicity and fundraising, he also entertains the artists
nonstop. During the run of a recent production, two
days after everyone attended a Saints game, Groves
took cast members fishing. A lifelong devoté, he’s
lately been into giant tuna. It sounds as if landing his
prize catch – a 200-pound yellowfin – was nearly as
satisfying for Groves as singing a terrific performance!
DAVEDA KARANAS
Vocally speaking, Daveda Karanas had quite a time
growing up. The Greek-American dramatic mezzo
recalls that in school choir “they’d put me way in the
back, but you could still hear me no matter what – a
huge, loud voice from this child.” Fortunately she
had a teacher in college “who recognized that I was
a big voice, and she allowed me to be that way.”
Lyric audiences will hear that voice this fall, when
Karanas debuts as Kundry in Parsifal. She’s made
her presence felt in important Verdi and Wagner
roles, including Azucena (Michigan Opera Theatre),
Amneris (Glimmerglass Opera), and Waltraute (San
Francisco Opera). Abroad she’s been heard as Judith
in Bluebeard’s Castle at the Maggio Musicale and Saito
Kinen festivals, and as Marfa in Frankfurt Opera’s
Khovanshchina: For the Frankfurt production “they
sent me a DVD to watch, and when I got there, I
had all these questions. The revival director found
this endearing and very American, but I needed
to understand what we were doing onstage!”
Karanas spoke from Toronto, where she was
singing Brangäne with the Canadian Opera Company.
“
Halfway through the scene where Brangäne begs
Tristan to go see Isolde, I thought, ‘I’m onstage with
Ben Heppner, the ultimate Tristan of our time – how
lucky can a girl get?’” The production required her to
sing Brangäne’s all-important warning aria from the
theater’s fourth balcony. Karanas was concerned that
“
someone was going to tap me on the shoulder to tell
me I was blocking their view of Tristan and Isolde!”
Home for the Louisiana native is Fort Worth, Texas,
where Karanas’s limited leisure includes cooking
(“
It’s like making art – you can get your hands dirty”).
She’s also made time to mentor young dramatic
voices in the program run by fellow mezzo Dolora
Zajick: “I just tell them to be themselves, and not get
discouraged. I didn’t have any high notes until I was
24
or 25 years old. Looking back, I realize you have
to have patience, to know that things will happen.”
OTELLO
DVD:
Domingo, Fleming,
Morris, cond. Levine
(
Deutsche Grammophon)
DVD:
Vickers, Scotto,
MacNeil, cond. Levine (Sony)
CD:
Vinay, Nelli, Valdengo,
cond. Toscanini (RCA)
CD:
Cossutta, M. Price,
Bacquier, cond. Solti (Decca)
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
DVD:
Racette, Giordani,
Croft, cond. Summers (Sony)
CD:
Scotto, Bergonzi, Panerai,
cond. Barbirolli (EMI)
CD:
Callas, Gedda, Borriello,
cond. Karajan (EMI)
CD:
de los Angeles, Lanigan,
Evans, cond. Kempe (Royal
Opera House Heritage
Series)
PARSIFAL
DVD:
Ventris, Meier,
Hampson, Salminen,
cond. Nagano (Opus Arte)
DVD:
Jerusalem, Randova,
Weikl, Sotin, cond. Stein
(
Deutsche Grammophon)
CD:
Windgassen, Mödl,
London, Weber, cond.
Knappertsbusch (Teldec)
CD:
King, Minton, Weikl,
Moll, cond. Kubelik (Arts
Music)
lA TRAVIATA
DVD:
Fleming, Calleja,
Hampson, cond. Pappano
(
Opus Arte)
CD:
Scotto, Kraus, Bruson,
cond. Muti (EMI)
CD:
Cotrubas, Domingo,
Milnes, cond. Kleiber
(
Deutsche Grammophon)
CD:
Callas, Valletti, Zanasi,
cond. Rescigno (ICA
Classics)
Roger Pines, dramaturg at
Lyric OPera, recommends
these performances for
Lyric OPera’s 2013-14 season.
kwaNGCHUL yOUN
Gurnemanz in Parsifal
RamelLa&Giannese /Teatro Regio Torino
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