Comprimario work- what you learn.

(Eapen as Beppe, with Crystallia Spilianaki as Nedda in Chelsea Opera's production of I Pagliacci)

After spending a good bit of time doing comprimario and character tenor work, I moved to NYC to make the transition to singing leading tenor work. Chelsea Opera hired me to sing the part of Beppe in I Pagliacci in 2006. It was a chance for me to sing a smaller part that still required a legitimate sound. I had previously sung the role with Tri-Cities Opera as an apprentice, and this was a chance for me to revisit a role with a more full sound. Beppe is a great part because, even though it is technically a comprimario part, there is still an aria at the end of the show that requires some techinical singing and it's a chance for the character to show off a bit!

These kinds of smaller roles are a real challenge. Much of the time you sing small interjections against the leads and you have to find ways to bring out your character while those leads are singing their music (which is much more important to the narrative of the show). It's a trade-off: As Beppe, I have to be a person with a motive and a purpose but I have to show that in a way that is unobtrusive to the stars of the show as they do the heavy lifting.

This was the first time that I was mentioned in a review by the New York Times. It was cool because it was simply a mention-- I made it through both unscathed and unpraised. I consider that a great first step.

Repost: From the archives of the Chocolate Room.

Since Labor Day is about a month away, I thought I’d post a memory from our first one in NYC. Back in August, 2005, we moved to NYC to start seriously pursuing my opera career. Here is a post from my first blog. As I type this intro, I can’t help being reminded of Lawrence Welk and his “trips down memory lane.”

Some things to note: For these old blog entries, I don’t post people’s real names. You might some day recognize yourself, though!

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Goat in the City

My wife's friend, Peace Corps, was in town for Labor Day and invited us to check out a little parade in the heart of Brooklyn. It was great to catch up with her and we tracked them down to a nice little neighborhood near Grand Army Plaza. Peace Corps' friend SuperDave picked us up from the subway and after a second breakfast of fried eggs and plantains, we headed off on the bus.

Complete Chaos.

On the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, the entire West African population of New York City meet for a little party. We missed the early morning party that started at 4 a.m., but it was still raging at 3 p.m. The parade consisted of a semi-tractor trailer for each of the respective countries. These trailers were laden with bands, speakers and dancers in costume. The trucks moved in a circle around the blocks and were surrounded by thousands and thousands of dancing locals.-Ed. Note- I have since learned the correct route of the parade. Isn’t it cute the cute errors of a new New Yorker? The bass pounds into your chest as you dance and you can feel every organ in your body vibrate separately. I now know the precise location of my spleen and why it is differently shaped than the liver.

The floats were all decorated by country and the grand prize winners should definitely be Jamaica. Those guys parked themselves in front of us for at least 10 minutes and nobody could stop dancing. We were sad to see them go.

For a late lunch, Peace Corps recommended a roti. Being an adventurous fellow, we found ourselves a tent and I got a large paper-thin flatbread filled with curried goat (bones in). It was delicious but my wife was more than a little freaked out by it.

Some of you might know this but at any point during the day or night in New York City, one can purchase dvds of the current round of new releases for $5 on the street. My wife and I were intrigued and we decided to go out on a limb and get a copy of “Wedding Crashers.” When we popped it in, we discovered that the picture was rather grainy and the sound was awful. Also, you could hear people laughing in the theater and occasionally someone would walk in front of the camera that recorded it. All in all, it was pretty lame. After a short discussion, we decided to classify the expense as “Education” rather than “Entertainment” in Quicken.

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So, there it is, a memory from our first Labor Day as New Yorkers. We make a point to swing by every year, even if just to grab a quick bite and then head home. If you can make it, drop a line and maybe we’ll see you at the party!

Repost: Photo from Tri-Cities Opera's Cosi fan tutte

My first major role was Ferrando in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. As an apprentice at Tri-Cities, I spent most of my time doing character and comprimario work, spending a great deal of time working on my voice, diction and of course, picking up a lot of ideas about how to prepare roles. This was my first shot at singing a leading role and it was an incredible opportunity.

Here's a shot from the show. I'm joined by Hilerie Klein Rensi as Dorabella, Elisa Cordova as Despina and Mark Freiman as Don Alfonso.

Preparing a role, Step 1. Buy a pencil.

One of the most common questions I get asked is "How do you prepare for roles?" I'll be posting the steps that I take over the next few weeks. I always feel best about an upcoming gig when I do the prep work well in advance and get a chance to let the character burn in over time. It's not that I'm adverse to doing short-order roles, it happens quite a bit. I'd rather tell you about the ideal way for me to approach the work.

The first step is always the hardest. I break out a pencil and a copy of Nico Castel's Opera Libretti Books and I write the translation of every word of the opera into my score. For me, the most important thing is that I do the entire opera. When I'm in a rush, I may not always have the time to do the scenes that my character is not in. That's always a shame and I go back and correct that as quickly as possible.

If I do find that I can't go through and translate everything, I will take time to read the entire libretto's word-for-word translation and note any time that my character is mentioned in the show. (more on that in a future post)

For a brief spell, at the beginning of my career, I didn't know about the Nico Castel Libretti Books and some of them had not been printed yet. I spent hours and hours with a dictionary, trying to translated semi-archiac words that use complicated grammar. It was a painful activity for me. My only consolation is that I know the technique and now, when I do shows that have not been translated, I know how much time I must budget to do the translation correctly. In some cases, like Russian or Czech, I've got to hire somebody to help me out. They aren't part of the typical college courses but they pop up every now and again.

As it happens, I'm starting to learn the role of Count Almaviva in the Rossini's The Barber of Seville, so I will post the steps as I complete them. I've done many of the arias from the show before and a couple of scenes, so now I need to fill in and learn the bigger ensembles. This isn't a rush job, so hopefully you will get the scale of how long it takes to get these tasks accomplished. If I'm interrupted by some other gig prior, I'll have to put this particular series of posts on hold until I come back to it.

Follow-up FAQs:

You might ask, why do the entire show? Fear. Never underestimate the power of fear. I have a recurring nightmare of showing up at rehearsal- about half way through the run of a show- and having the director say, "Eapen, today we are doing Act IV" and I think to myself, Act IV? It was only supposed to have THREE ACTS! If I translate the whole show, I'll never miss out on a sentence or scene or act or anything.

Why not just do the words that your character sings? If I end up not translating what people say back, I can't time the reactions to what they say. For example, if someone insults me as they are singing, I have to time my response of anger- too soon and I step their line and ruin the scene for my colleague, too late and I look weird.


Next up: Talking the talk...

Repost: From January 2010, Bronx Opera's Die Drei Pintos

I'm reposting some old reviews and photos in an effort to update my new Facebook page.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/arts/music/19pintos.html?scp=1&sq=eapen%20leubner&st=cse

Keep your eyes on this page for more updates and "catch up work" from my past!

Cheers!

My Daughter doesn't love Strauss

This morning I started the day sipping coffee and checking out the Met Player, the online site where you can stream archive and new (and also HD!) performances that were filmed live.

I watched the three sample clips and my 19-month old daughter immediately hopped up on my lap to watch.

Juan Diego Florez singing "Ah mes amis"? She signed for "more please."
Roberto Alagna and Angela Ghiorghiu in a scene from Puccini's La Rondine? Again, "more please."
The Presentation of the Rose from Rosenkavalier? Alas... she checked out.

I'm going to give her a bit more time to grow into it.

That being said, does anyone use it? What do you think? Please post in comments or shoot me an email or message on FB!

Thanks!

New Fan Page

As I continue to expand and improve both my website, www.eapenleubner.com, and Tenor Eleven Miles Away, I've finally bit the bullet and added a Page on Facebook. You can become a fan by clicking on the link:

Facebook is a great way to keep up with my work. I've posted two clips from our recent Don Giovanni production and I've synched the blog to post on Facebook when I update.

There are some other projects coming down the pike so keep your eyes peeled!

Cheers,

Eapen

Scenes from Bronx Opera's Die Drei Pintos

Here are some clips from my recent production of Mahler/Weber's Die Drei Pintos. It was conducted by Michael Spierman and translated and directed by Ben Spierman.

Review of Don Giovanni in Fairbanks!

I'm happy to announce that the News-Miner review has been posted for last weekend's production of Don Giovanni:


http://newsminer.com/bookmark/8724737-Opera-Fairbanks-succeeds-with-

Making the donuts

It is dress rehearsal rehearsal night! So psyched!

Here is a shot of Maestro Buchalter at work:

Post Created Jul 3, 2010 1:04:09 PM

Greetings from LARS- the Large Animal Research Station.

We saw our first musk ox, a spicies that was once local to the area (prior to the ice age) and recently reintroduced from Iceland. They are some seriously cool creatures.

Hospitality

In addition to our gracious host family that has allowed us to invade their pool house for just over three weeks, their son-in-law stopped by the other day with a package of moose hot dogs for us. He had heard me raving about my first taste of moose at a cast party and thoght I might enjoy another sample. He is going to bring some moose chunks over next week!