Gil Carbajal

Taking Inspiration from the Past to Make a Powerful Voice in the Present: : Leonardo Capalbo

Tenor Leonardo Capalbo’s obsession with history and opera started long before his formal musical education at Juilliard. As a young boy growing up on two continents, Capalbo took an interest first in Pavarotti and then any and all singers from the past, researching and listening at his local library. He now applies that same passion to every role he undertakes—new and old—from his Verdi favorites (Macduff in Macbeth, Alfredo in La traviata, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, and Jacopo Foscari in I due Foscari) to roles like Mario Ruoppolo in Il postino and Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress. Read why Capalbo feels that such a varied repertoire keeps his mind and voice fresh and much more in this exclusive Classical Singer interview.

From Opry to Opera

Baritone Michael Mayes is enjoying a busy career in contemporary and traditional opera roles in the United States and abroad. In recent years, he has become the go-to guy for the challenging role of Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, performing the role throughout the U.S. and most recently in Madrid and London. Mayes shares how his own personal journey has drawn him to roles like De Rocher and how he sees a new genre of American opera taking shape that is impacting artists and audience members in life-changing ways.

A Family on the Move : Eglise Gutiérrez, Burak Bilgili, and Baby Lucia

With a home base in Philadelphia and two thriving international careers, Eglise Gutiérrez and Burak Bilgili are incessant and nomadic travelers. Married for nearly four years, each accompanies the other during engagements whenever their schedules permit. And now, with a 16-month-old baby girl to care for, the two—now three—continue to find joy in the journey.

Danielle de Niese : A Diva for the Digital Age

Soprano Danielle de Niese fell in love with performing at age eight and has really never left the stage since. Supportive parents who moved from Australia to Los Angeles so she could pursue her dreams also helped pave the way. Now some 10-plus years into a professional singing career, de Niese has established herself as a prominent player in both the U.S. and international opera scenes. Find out what makes her tick, why communication is key, and how she has learned what she’s made of.

A Voice in Bloom : Charles Workman

Tenor Charles Workman, after launching a career in the U.S. and Canada, has established himself in Europe as a leading interpreter of Mozart, Rossini, and French opera. CS first interviewed Workman for this article while he was in Madrid to sing in a production of Janáček’s The Makropulos Case, and he shared an exciting new development in his singing that has enabled him to transcend from a technically brilliant to a brilliantly beautiful sound. Then, to trace the progress of this development, CS traveled to Barcelona more than a year later for a second interview while the tenor was performing at the Liceu Opera House. Workman has continued to deepen the appreciation of his voice’s possibilities thanks to the insightful input of a new friend who has also become his teacher. And, employing the latest technology, he can even sing for her over Skype.

Richard Margison : All in the Family

For tenor Richard Margison, music has become a family trade. He has been married since 1989 to Valerie Kuinka, a violist who has made a successful transition to opera director and is now on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera. Their daughter, Lauren, has begun a singing career while still in her teens. While Margison was in Madrid performing in a production of I pagliacci, Margison sat down with CS to discuss his lengthy career, how he has managed to carry on a family life at the same time, and how he and his wife are reaching out to the next generation of singers.

Eric Cutler : A Tenor for All Season

A small-town farm boy from Iowa, tenor Eric Cutler is fast making his name in major cities around the globe. Ten years after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Cutler’s career continues to flourish. Here Cutler shares how he paces himself in the type and frequency of roles he takes on, how he and his college voice teacher set out to win the Met auditions, what the Lindemann Young Artist Program offered his early artistic development, and gives two pieces of advice for up-and-coming singers.

Luanna DeVol : An Unconventional Career

During her performances as the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten and as Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung at Madrid’s Teatro Real, soprano Luana DeVol sat down with Gil Carbajal to talk about her unusual career:

20 years as chorister, amateur soloist, and secretary followed by another 20 years as a prima donna in major European opera houses.

Here she shares anecdotes of a quest that forced her to go to Europe to receive the recognition her voice and talent merited.

The Power of Singing Now

Great singers are globetrotters— it isn’t easy to pin them down, but Gil Carbajal managed to sit down with Eric Halfvarson while the bass was in Madrid to perform Hagen in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung at the Teatro Real opera house. Halfvarson discusses everything from the need to learn patience as a bass, the challenges of singing the “big voice” repertoire, and lessons he’s learned for tackling new roles.

On the Fast Track to Fame

Classical Singer first featured Lawrence Brownlee in an interview with David Kubiak in March 2002. We caught up with him again last year during his performance as Count Almaviva in a Teatro de Madrid production of Barber of Seville. The late CJ Williamson, who had been observing with great interest the meteoric beginnings of what promises to be a brilliant career, commissioned this interview. She was especially interested in the technical aspects of the development of Mr. Brownlee’s extraordinary voice and prompted some of the questions in the interview.

Lord of “The Ring” : The Making of an Artistic Athlete

Alan Titus was just 25 years old and still enrolled at Juilliard when he sang the lead role in the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, beating his breast and intoning a hip “mea culpa, culpa, mea maxima culpa.”

Eugenie Grunewald : A Down-to-Earth Diva's Ingredients for Greatness

Despite having soared in the upper reaches of some of the great operatic Valhallas of the world, Eugenie Grunewald is a diva who speaks in down-to-earth terms. Classical Singer caught up with Grunewald in Madrid’s Teatro Real, where she sang the role of Morgan le Fay in what she called a “dream gig,” the world premiere of the long-lost opera Merlin. Isaac Albéniz, known mostly for his piano compositions, composed the work in 1898.