Gil: You’ve had the unique opportunity here in Madrid of participating in the world premiere of an opera composed more than a hundred years ago. Tell us something about what this experience has been like.
Eugenie: Very exciting! I have had the best time working on this. The piece is really a wonderful setting of the Arthur Legend, and Morgan le Fay is just an absolute dream character. This is a fabulous production. It was done once in concert, and a CD version was produced, but this is the world-premiere staging.
This [production] is what is going to be thought of, I think, anytime it is done in the future, which is really neat.
Dramatically speaking, I had so much fun because John Dew, the director, was just brilliant. It’s one of those dream gigs, when the conductor and the director and everything are wonderful. José De Eusebio, is a singer’s conductor and I feel like he is so tuned in to what I’m doing; and my cast is just a bunch of great people. I can’t complain.
Gil: One of your great roles is the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. Is there is a relationship between that role and Morgan le Fay?
Eugenie: Well, I am very lucky; I get to play all the bad girls. And playing bad girls is really fun! My role is sort of a cross between Ortrud [from Lohengrin], the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and Cruella de Ville from 101 Dalmatians. Yes, those are really fun roles to do!
Gil: Let’s go to the beginning. What’s your musical background, what training did you have?
Eugenie: I took piano lessons and dance lessons and all that growing up, which was always fun. I went to Ohio State University School of Music because I am from Columbus, Ohio originally, and that’s where I could afford to go. I had a wonderful teacher there by the name of Eileen Davis. She is still one of my closest and dearest friends. I finished a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance with a minor in Theater; and then I moved to New York.
Gil: Was there a teacher, a mentor who was instrumental in directing your career towards singing?
Eugenie: No, not towards singing. I knew I wanted to be some kind of performer from age 5, and it evolved into opera when my voice sort of evolved that way, which was great. But when I moved to New York, I kicked around. I studied with a few different teachers—and then I found a teacher, the teacher I am still with to this day, who is Arthur Levy. He’s just brilliant. I sing the way I do because of Arthur. He is an incredible human being and an amazing genius of a teacher.
Gil: Was it difficult finding him?
Eugenie: Yes, it was. Like I said, I tried studying with two or three other teachers in the years before finding him. I got different things from different teachers. Arthur is the first one who really put it all together for me. He really made me into the artist I had hoped I could become. To this day, he still puts all the new roles into my voice. Whenever, I’m in New York we always have a tune-up.
You never stop studying; you never ever, ever stop studying. Because of the nature of what we do, you cannot be without good ears. Preferably someone you can trust, and he is the one for me.
Gil: When, actually, did you begin to train to be a singer? At what age?
Eugenie: I started taking voice lessons in high school. I had two phenomenal teachers in junior high and high school, Carol and James Gallagher. They were married to each other, and still are. We are still very good friends. I had Carol in junior high and James in high school, and it was a phenomenal music program. He was very nurturing when he saw what kind of talent I had.
I started taking private voice lessons at about age 16. But when I was in Glimmerglass last summer they both came to see me do the “Cavalleria” there. I just saw them the last time I was home, so we stay in touch. It’s been great relationship.
Gil: Was there a point when you decided you wanted to be a singer versus an actress, since you were interested in the stage from early on?
Eugenie: I loved singing from the very beginning, so I knew it was going to be some combination of music and theater. At age 6 I didn’t particularly care for opera. I wanted to be a Broadway baby, I really did. Then the opera bug bit in college, and I started to see the way opera brings theater to life. It is just so fantastic!
Gil: Was there an opera that inspired you?
Eugenie: No, I can’t think of one. I just remember seeing different televised productions. It was very obvious that some singers were actors and some were not. When I finally hooked into the ones who were real actors, that was what got me excited about opera.
Gil: What was the relationship between your training and establishing your repertoire?
Eugenie: The repertoire comes with how your voice develops. My voice developed into a dramatic mezzo-soprano. That dictates your Fach, the range of composers and roles you do. Luckily I fell into one I really enjoy.
Gil: Which is?
Eugenie: I sing the Verdi mezzo roles, I sing the Wagnerian mezzo roles, I also sing a lot of the Bel Canto repertoire because I do have coloratura and my voice will move. Things like La Favorite, Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereaux. But then again, there are some of the quasi character things, like the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. I’ve done Mrs. Gross in Turn of the Screw. I’m dying to do Augusta Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe. I do some of the Russian repertoire, so it is quite a wide a range of things.
Gil: What about acting? How has your training helped you develop your acting skills?
Eugenie: The acting classes I took really helped me to learn to listen and “react” as well as “act.” When you’re doing scene work and you’re not worried about the music, and you really have to deal strictly from a textual standpoint, it makes you, as a performer, really flesh things out. And it’s just as important to be able to react and listen to your colleagues. I think that’s what the acting training gave me.
Gil: Of course, the big step for a student of voice is looking for your first opportunity. What was it?
Eugenie: The operatic opportunity I had came first from Opera Columbus. We all sang in the chorus there to make a little extra money. Then they gave me little extra roles, things like the Shepherd Boy in Tosca; and I did some outreach for them. I did some roles for little companies around Ohio and Illinois. Then I upped and moved to New York and started to do some auditions. I did, basically, one apprenticeship and then found some work on my own. I got into things like the Texas Opera Theater and was touring. Then I got a manager and my career kind of took off from there.
Gil: Did you have to support yourself while you were doing this? What did you do?
Eugenie: Of course. I did everything. I worked at catering and bartending. I also held a full-time job at a law firm, and squeezed the singing in between. But I tell you, it really makes you strong. If you can do that and improve as a singer, [then] when you’re just singing it’s a piece of cake, comparatively.
This business and life does have its own stresses, but it’s nothing compared to what it was when I was just starting out, trying to make a living and still pursue a singing career. Once I started getting engagements, I started temping so that I could come and go. The first three, four, or five years I was making a living maybe 50 percent singing and maybe 50 percent temping. Then that changed. But it was a very slow, gradual process.
Gil: Were you able to pick and choose your roles to a certain extent, because the great temptation for young singers is to accept whatever roles come up?
Eugenie: Luckily, everything that was offered me early on was suitable. I do tell young singers that they really do have to be careful. And now, lately, I’ve had to make some difficult decisions, as far as turning down some big offers that were totally unsuitable, and for a lot of money, unfortunately. But I knew if I took them, I would really be compromising my voice—and I won’t do that. And yes, if it happens early on, it is a very, very tough decision.
Gil: Were you made aware from the very beginning that your voice had to be protected from straining, and from taking roles that are not suited for it?
Eugenie: Yes, that doesn’t mean I always listened [laughs]. That’s the problem: When you’re young and invincible, you think you can get away with it all. Thankfully, I wised up relatively early on. Yes, it’s just two tiny little [vocal] cords; and you have to be very careful.
Gil: What was your bridge into Europe?
Eugenie: My manager in the states hooked me up with Miguel Lerin, my Spanish agent. He was in New York. I sang for him, and he was really excited about the talent. About three weeks later he called and said Albin Hänseroth, who was then running the Liceo Opera House in Barcelona, was going to be in Washington, D.C. in a couple of weeks. He was looking for a Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena. Miguel had told him about me, and he wanted to hear me.
I went down, and he pretty much hired me on the spot.
I am very grateful to Albin Hänseroth. He brought me to the Liceo Opera House of Barcelona. That was my European operatic debut. Then, when he went to Hamburg and ran that company for three years, he brought me there. I did three different productions for him. That got my foot in the door in Germany a little bit, although I don’t have a German agent right now—I am looking for someone, as a matter of fact. But I’ve worked with Miguel for 10 years now.
Gil: Do you see a great contrast between the audiences in Spain and the United States?
Eugenie: Yes, in the sense that every place [in Spain] where I have sung sells out, pretty much totally, whatever house I have ever sung in; or like the Verdi Requiem concerts, which were in these huge, beautiful cathedrals. They were packed to the rafters.
Unfortunately, in the States there is not the tradition that is instilled as much as it is here [in Spain].
Classical music in general is not as venerated, I think, as it is in Europe. It is getting more and more so, and God knows we have wonderful world-class orchestras. Our major houses are wonderful, and we’ve got some really fantastic regional houses. But, they are fighting for their lives still. They are really fighting to get audiences. In Spain, people are fighting over the tickets.
Gil: Was Europe in your mind as you were an aspiring young singer, when you were doing your first jobs? Was that part of what you thought you needed to do to become an accomplished singer?
Eugenie: I just wanted to sing any place they’d hire me! I have sung in Caracas [Venezuela] twice, I have been in China. I was in Shanghai. I did these big arena Aidas, and things like that. I pretty much am happy to go wherever anyone wants to give me a job.
There is a route to take, as a young singer. You could try to go to Germany and get a fest contract. I know young singers who do that. I didn’t pursue that route just because I didn’t feel I was ready to—and then it came to a point where I didn’t need to. But it’s a really good way for an entrée into the business.
Gil: You seem to be saying that making a career is a combination of talent, agents, opportunities, and breaks.
Eugenie: And a lot of really hard work! I tell people: “If you don’t have to sing to be happy (which I do), don’t get into this business.” It really takes that much. And it is hard! When you’re on the road a lot, it gets lonely, and you’re tired, and you get into one of those gigs where you hate the conductor and you hate the director, and you don’t have anyone to play with, and this and that. It gets tough! It really does, even once you are working. But for me, when I’m making the music it’s worth everything I’ve done. You have to be that dedicated.
Gil: What makes a brilliant performance for you?
Eugenie: Rehearsal, lots of rehearsal. I know a lot of singers who don’t like to rehearse. I like to rehearse. Anything can happen on the stage. You can’t be prepared for it all. Live performance is just that, and there is always some element that is unknown. But if it’s well rehearsed you are going to be as safe as you can be. I just don’t think that there is any substitute for it.
Gil: But what are the ingredients for a peak performance?
Eugenie: Again, there are so many people that are so wonderful to sing with or conductors that are wonderful to work with. Anytime you are getting back what you give out, then sparks start to fly. Then it is special; then it is otherworldly. When you’re in a performance in which you totally forget the other world outside the stage, it’s almost indescribable. I really have almost no words to tell you how wonderful it is. That’s why I do this. This production of Merlin with John Dew and Jose De Eusebio has created the kind of situation when special things happen on stage.
And they happen anytime I do good work with good people, and that could be in any little company. It’s amazing what casts sometimes are assembled in even some of the small regional houses in the United States, right up to my San Francisco debut or the Chicago productions or the big things I have done in Spain, or right up to this production of Albeniz’ Merlin.
This particular project has been wonderful and the Teatro Real here in Madrid is truly one of the nicest places I have ever worked, and that comes right from the top. Theater Artistic Director Emilio Sagi is just an amazing man.
Gil: To what extent do your colleagues inspire you when you perform?
Eugenie: I think you always perform better when you are with a higher caliber of singer. They bring out the best in you, and you bring out the best in them, and the whole ends up being better the sum of its parts. Truly.
Gil: How do you go about preparing for a new role? Merlin was especially interesting in this respect because you didn’t have many models. In fact, you hadn’t even heard it before. How did you go about preparing for this role?
Eugenie: Well, this was easier because it’s in English. Both Merlin and Henry Clifford by Albéniz are in English. For me it was easy going from that text. When it’s in French, German, Italian, or whatever else, I start with the language. You go through and make sure it is translated, so that you know exactly what’s happening in every moment. Then you start with the music and put the two together; and then you start coaching stylistically and things like that. Then, depending on the size of the role, [there’s] how long it takes before you feel comfortable with it.
The first time I did Ortrud, it took me almost a year to really get that into my voice. Merlin is shorter. My character, Morgan le Fay, is on stage more, but it’s only about 17 minutes of music. That took less time. But this particular piece, although it’s not atonal or anything like that, seems a bit awkward. But then again, it’s not because the piece is not written well vocally, but it doesn’t do quite what you think it’s going to. So each piece has its own funny little pitfalls like that.
Gil: What about well-known roles or operas? Do you listen to other versions? Do they affect your performance?
Eugenie: Yes, I listen to the singers that I respect or the conductors that I respect and then kind of pick and choose. Ultimately, it ends up being what you bring to the collaboration that you are hired to do with the particular conductor that you are working with. Point in fact being last season, I did the La Favorite in the Liceo of Barcelona with Richard Bonynge. I had had the good fortune to work with him 10 years before in Anna Bolena. Bel Canto is his bread and butter. I was just so blessed to be learning that from the master, so to speak.
We were doing La Favorite in French, and I didn’t know what effect that would have stylistically. I came up with some ornamentation. We did the whole aria uncut, so I ornamented the da capo.
He [Bonynge] was great! He said: “This is really spot on.” Then he gave me little suggestions, and that’s when it becomes exciting, because this man knows. He has always been so kind to me. That was a really fun collaboration, doing that with him.
Gil: Have you given master classes?
Eugenie: I do give master classes and sort of round-table seminar talks to young singers who are in young artist programs in companies I have worked with. My friend Darren Woods, who runs Fort Worth Opera, also runs the Seagle Music Colony in the summer. I give lectures to his singers up there, and I enjoy it.
If you want my opinion on how to get into the career, I’m very happy to advise young singers. I’m so excited by the amount and level of talent that’s emerging in the last few years in America. A lot of my master classes and seminars are geared toward: “How do I get into this business?” I have my five rules of auditioning and things like that. Basically, I’m telling singers how to avoid some of the pitfalls, every single one of which I have walked into at some point or another. Hopefully, by telling them that, they will at least avoid some of it.
Gil: What are these five rules?
Eugenie: The first one is learn your craft. I don’t care if you are Renata Tebaldi reincarnate, if you don’t have your technique, if you don’t know your languages, if you don’t know your styles, if you cannot create a well-put together package, don’t try to go out there and audition. You’re wasting everybody’s time. You’re going to make a lot of enemies.
That’s kind of it, in a nutshell. I’ve seen too many singers who think they have this talent from God. And yes, there is definitely a talent—but unless they do something with it and work and really learn their craft and art, they’re not going to get anywhere.
My second rule begins with: “Now that you have become this accomplished singer and you are ready to go out and face the audition world, what do you take?” I say: “You take five arias and a sixth one in English.” For most of the apprenticeship auditions and the smaller regional things you might audition for, that’s all you need.
Try to get a variance of languages if you can. If you don’t sing German, don’t put German in there. Don’t try to find something that doesn’t fit. These five arias have to be all in the same Fach. You can’t be picking and choosing. All you do is confuse people: “Well is she Brünhilde or is she Cherubino?”
All five arias have to be from a role you can sing. I don’t know how many young singers have come to me and have given me their list and I ask, “What is this aria doing here?” And they say, “Well my teacher said I could sing the aria very well.” And I’ll say, “Well, that is a waste of time; you’ll never sing the role.”
So make sure your arias are all in the same Fach. Make sure that they are coached within an inch of their lives. And don’t bring any more than that into an audition. I know young singers that go in with top ten lists. Adjudicators don’t want that much to choose from. You really have to know specifically what we fondly refer to as “your party pieces.”
These pieces have to be so well oiled, because you are going to be singing them under some really lousy conditions. You’re going to singing them with a piano that sounds like it’s been in a bar for 50 years. You’re going to be singing them in an audition room where the air conditioner is broken down and it is about 110 degrees. So that means you have the window open, and you hear all the noise from the street coming up. You’re going to be singing them at nine o’clock in the morning. You’re going to be singing at 8 at night, after they’ve heard 75 other singers.
Those arias have to be so polished, and so well put together and presented, because it’s never easy. And there are too many good singers out there who can do this.
Third rule of auditioning: Always start with your absolutely best piece. If they say they’re casting for Marriage of Figaro and you don’t sing anything from “Figaro,” don’t run around trying to work up something from Figaro. Take in your “party pieces” and always start with the best one you can. Hopefully, they are then smart enough to figure out if you are suitable for Figaro or not.
Always, always start with your best piece. If you happen to sing something from an opera they may be casting, always, always start with your first piece, even if it’s not that particular aria; but then say, “I would like to start with this, but I also have this, if you would like to hear it.” Again, if it’s not well prepared you’re just going to make a bad impression.
Fourth Rule: Always bring your own pianist, unless you are traveling to Europe or somewhere across the country where obviously you have to use the pianist that’s provided. Spend the money. Use your pianist, somebody you have rehearsed with, somebody who knows you. You can’t be throwing things like the mad scene from “Lucia” or “Composer’s Aria” in front of a pianist you’ve never worked with, because you don’t know if they can play them or not or if they can follow your ornamentation. Especially with something as difficult as those pieces, you should always bring your own pianist or have the opportunity to rehearse with the pianist provided.
It may seem to be a trivial thing but it makes a huge difference. A bad pianist can really hinder your performance and create a bad impression on the casting people.
Fifth rule, and I cannot say this enough with enough stress: Never, ever, never, ever, ever, ever, never, never, ever audition while you’re sick. Never go in and take up an adjudicator’s time if you are not in top form. First of all, you’re either going to go in and apologize for being ill, which is a horrible way to start an audition, or it’s going to become clear that you are not at 100 percent. All that it’s going to do is make the adjudicator very angry and wonder why you didn’t cancel. Plus, he could have used that slot to let somebody else come in.
I have had more people tell me: “I don’t remember the people who have canceled, but I always let them sing again next year. But the people who came in and sang sick made me so mad I didn’t want to see them again.”
It’s just not worth it. If you’re not feeling well, cancel; you can sing for them next year. It’s so hard, because as a young singer you’re thinking, “Oh no! I have to sing for them, and maybe I can get through this.” No, you can’t. There are too many good people out there auditioning, and there are six of them singing your Fach right behind you, outside the door.
Anyway, that is the Readers Digest [version] of that.
Gil: Does that mean that you have tried to audition sick or when you were not in top form?
Eugenie: I have broken every single one of these rules myself [laughs]. The upside is that even if you do [break them] you can still have a career. I am just trying to save somebody a lot of grief along the way.
[Ms. Grunewald’s website is www.EugenieGrunewald.com]
