The characters, though, are complex –
especially the title character, to whom
Giuseppe Verdi in his opera Otello assigned
an Everest of a role. “My singing teacher
always said, ‘If you can sing Pagliacci three
times in a row in one evening, then you
can sing Otello,’” declares South African
tenor Johan Botha, who portrays the
conflicted Moor in Lyric’s season opener.
Botha, Walther von Stolzing in Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Lyric (2012-
13),
has starred in Otello at the Metropolitan
Opera, San Francisco Opera, and several
major German houses. Cast opposite him
in the Lyric production is soprano Ana
María Martínez, in her eagerly awaited
role debut. “Desdemona is such a gorgeous
role,” she says. “I remember being an
undergraduate and not yet having a grasp
on vocal technique, but wanting so much
to perform this music. It’s so incredibly
wonderful to sing, and to have it vibrating
within you is a balm to the soul.”
Martínez, Lyric’s Mimì in the company’s
initial series of Bohème performances
(2012-13),
laughingly notes that all the
ladies she’s played at Lyric die. “That’s
one of the reasons my son has not seen
me do those roles. He’s six, so he now
understands that mommy is only pretending
to be these characters. If he’d seen me
do Pagliacci at age two, forget it – he’d
have years of therapy ahead of him!”
The soprano sees a message in
Otello: “It shows us the power that love
has in our lives. And while love is a
life force that at times can drive us to
tremendous despair and madness, it
remains our greatest fulfillment.”
Heightening Otello’s conflict and drama
is Verdi’s orchestration, which is far more
subtle than in his middle-period operas.
Verdi’s potent brew of love and murder returns
Boiled down to its basics, Shakespeare’s drama
Othello
is a simple one:
a heroicMoorish general is driven by jealousy tomurder his young wife.
Dan Rest
TerRence McCarthy (San Francisco Opera)
By Jack Zimmerman
Ana María Martínez
Desdemona
johan botha
Otello
6
