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| Soprano Shannon Mercer, left, and mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah will display their sining talents for Opera Lyra's Menotti double bill./Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen |
They are about to perform their first starring roles for their hometown opera company, and they know that friends, family, voice teachers and long-time supporters will all show up at Centrepointe Theatre over the next week to cheer them on.
So it's understandable that mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah and soprano Shannon Mercer are in a bubbly mood as they talk about Opera Lyra Ottawa's productions of The Telephone and The Old Maid and the Thief, comic one-act pieces by American composer Gian Carlo Menotti that open tomorrow for four performances through Jan. 22.
Nesrallah, who has a warm, dark-chocolate voice, has sung supporting roles for Opera Lyra and has performed regularly with Vancouver Opera and Pacific Opera Victory. She has sung with the Montreal Symphony and the NACO, Thirteen Strings and the Ottawa Symphoney, among others.
Mercer, a silvery-voiced lyric soprano, has sung with Les Violons du Roy and has sung several roles for the Canadian Opera Company, including a production she repeated at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. Both siingers have new CDs, and their careers across Canada are busy.
"My family and friends in town don't get to hear me that often, and it's wonderful to have them hear pieces like these that are so fun and accessible. They're in English and they're very theatrical," says Mercer, who will perform in both operas. Nesrallah stars in The Old Maid and the Thief.
"It's the first time Julie and I have done a staged opera together, but we've known each other for years, so we're having a great time," says Mercer, who sang a concert version of Carmen with Nesrallah and the Kingston Symphony last year.
Directed by Opera Lyra general manager Michael Dobbin and conducted by artistic directory Tyrone Paterson, the Menotti pieces will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra and feature sets and costuems by Art Penson.
Following the two operas, Nesrallah will present a cabaret performance with pianist Judith Ginsburg, with songs by Kurt Weill, William Bolcom and Friedrich Hollander. To mark Opera Lyra's 20th anniversary, soprano Diana Gilchrist, the company's founding directory, will also be featured, performing Leonard Bernstein's coloratura showpiece Glitter and be Gay.
Menotti, best known for the 1951 opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, is known for accessible music that borders on musical theatre. Several of his pieces, including The Telephone, played on Braodway as well as in opera houses.
The Old Maid and the Thief, from 1939, is an hour-long piece that tells the story of Miss Todd (Nesrallah) and her servant (Mercer), who allow a stranger (baritone Doug MacNaughton) to stay with them. Discovering that the man is an escaped thief doesn't stop them from competing for his romantic attentions. They even start to steal for him. Complications result.
Nesrallah describes it as "very tonal and lyrical, with some funky harmonies and word settings and rhythms that keep you on your toes as a singer. It's challenging to learn, but I loved it right away."
While Menotti didn't give Miss Todd a big show-stopping aria, "I have definite moments with big dramatic vocal flair, and I get to ham it up all over the place, which is always fun."
Mercer has the best-known aria from the opera, the soaring Steal Me, Sweet Thief, a piece that soprano Renée Felming has called one of her favourites.
"Every soprano likes to sing that aria because it's so beautiful and has long, lyric, almost Verdian lines," says Mercer.
The Telephone, from 1947, is a charming, 20-minute piece of fluff that would have been at home in an episode of I Love Lucy. Mercer sings the role of a young woman who can't stop gabbing on the phone. Her boyfriend (MacNaughton) wants to ask her something important, and has to resort to desperate measures to get her attention.
"It's really well written for the voice and it has a nice flow from beginning to end," Mercer says.
The singers praise Dobbin and Paterson.
"It's tricky music to sing, and Ty has been great in helping us with that and in watching our diction, since this is sung in English and it's important that we're clear," says Nesrallah.
Dobbin, she says, "is really bringing the comedy out and is so much fun to work with. He's also been really patient with us as we've tried to master some of the trickier passages in the music."
Nesrallah says she's looking forward to the cabaret songs, which have been a regular part of her recital programs. She performs them with theatrical flair and sharp comic timing.
"They designed me a gold lamé dress," she says excitedly. "I just tried it on, and it's going to be perfect with a black boa."
The singers, both former winners of the Brian Law Oepra Scholarship presented by the National Capital Opera Association, have exciting schedules in the coming months.
Nesrallah will star in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda for her debut with Toronto's Opera in Concert in April and will tour western Canada with her partner, guitarist Daniel Bolshoy, in a concert of Spanish songs. The couple are especially excited to have released their first CD, featuring songs by Granados and others and the Habanera from Carmen. Produced by Canadian guitarist Norbert Kraft, the disc will be available at Centrepointe during the run of the oepra and is available through www.danelbolshoy.com.
Nesrallah and Bolshoy will also perform together in a national broadcast of CBC Radios' OnStage program from the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto in March.
Mercer, meanwhile, can be heard on English Fancy, a CD from the Analekta Label featuring the Montreal early-music group Masques, in music by Purcell and others. Mercer has been particularly praised for her performances of baroque music.
On Jan. 29, she will sing a recital as part of this year's Brian Law Scholarship Competition at the Unitarian Church. After that, she heads to Austria, where she plans to spend several months studying German operatic roles. She is travelling with help from a Canada Council Emerging Artist Grant of $20,000. Mercer also received the council's $5,000 Bernard Diamant Prize, awarded annually to help a promising singer under 35 with career development. She expects to audition for presenters while she's in Austria.
"It's sort of a transition time for me. I've worked mostly in North America so far, so this could be a stepping stone to mroe international performances. I'm also just looking forward to learning a lot. It's exciting."