The visceral feeling of the sound cascading downstage towards the audience at the end of Act I in the 'Te Deum' is one I’ll never forget.
The production is fabulous, the cast were a joy to work with, and the orchestra and chorus have never sounded better. Whether it’s murdering kings and children (as Macbeth), having people burnt at the stake ('Il Conte di Luna'), hiring assassins who kill my daughter (Rigoletto), or slaughtering my brother in front of my wife (Golaud), I’m happiest on stage when the blood is flowing and the tenor is being mercilessly tortured.įor these reasons, Scottish Opera’s Tosca in 2019 was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. I spend my life playing sociopaths and lunatics.
I always give the same reply: for a baritone, it’s just another day at the office… 'People often ask me what it’s like to play Scarpia, possibly the biggest baddie in the operatic canon. In between his new-found teaching duties, here he looks back on the pleasures of singing a villain. He is still due to be singing Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus at the Opera Theatre of St Louis over the Summer, but for now he is taking on what he calls his ‘biggest villain role yet’ – home-schooling. We caught up with Roland, who’s recently returned home from Toronto, Canada where he was due to be singing Amonasro in Aida with the Canadian Opera Company, before the production was cancelled. Tosca was famously dubbed Puccini's ‘shabby little shocker’ by critic Joseph Kerman, partly because of the appalling actions of sadistic chief of police Baron Scarpia, sung by baritone Roland Wood in last October’s staging. BARITONE ROLAND WOOD ON PLAYING TOSCA'S NOTORIOUS VILLIAN, SCARPIA
0 kommentar(er)
