Ten Questions with…
John Arnold, bass-baritone
Count de Horn in A Masked Ball
1. My favorite thing about being a singer is:
I was and still am really drawn to the complexity of being an operatic singing actor. I am fascinated by the music and the primal aspect of being up there on stage making that kind of sound with my voice, without amplification. But I am also in love with the dramatic element in opera and hate that so often the opportunity to make real music drama is discounted. I relish the challenge of marrying the music to the drama and finding ways to make characters interesting. This is all of course just a long-winded way of saying I love getting to play make believe all day.
2. The greatest challenge in being a singer is:
I see more and more how difficult the nomadic life of the professional musician is on my family and friends. Not seeing folks for months at a time is tough.
3. A live music performance I’ve attended that I will never forget is:
I will never forget seeing Bon Iver in Chicago last year. It was one of the greatest and most satisfying musical experiences of my life. Also, seeing and hearing Ferruccio Furlanetto perform Boris Godunov at the Lyric was about as inspiring as you can hope for.
4. A few of my favorite films are:
Oh man, I love movies so much. A few favorites, and in no particular order, are: Hot Fuzz, The Royal Tenenbaums, Casablanca, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Ben-Hur, Unforgiven, The Seventh Seal, The Empire Strikes Back, Raising Arizona. This list could go on indefinitely.
5. Three things I can’t live without are:
If forced, I’m sure I could learn to live without most anything, but I show extreme partiality toward good books, Atlanta Braves baseball, and microbrews.
6. My number one hobby is:
I am an avid reader. I read the first five books of the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin over the last three months. Good stuff.
7. If you could perform with any singer, retired or deceased, who would it be?
There are many, but I think it’d be a riot to sing with Sir Thomas Allen.
8. If you weren’t a singer, what profession would you be in?
I would probably have chosen something else with just as low a success rate as professional singing, like acting.
9. What role do you wish you could sing that you could never sing because it’s the wrong voice type / gender?
Canio in Pagliacci. I think he’s one of the most amazing characters in the repertoire.
10. Describe your favorite moment on stage.
I’m horrible at picking favorites, but the finale of Don Giovanni figures prominently amongst some my favorite moments on stage, both as Leporello and Giovanni. I’ve performed both roles and getting to really give everything you’ve got with that incredible music underneath and around you is both astounding and extremely gratifying. That’s about as perfect a musical moment as has ever been created.
Bonus: One question you wish someone would ask you (and the answer).
“What is some good advice you’ve received for a career as a singer?”
The three pieces of advice that have made the biggest impact on me personally in carving out a career as a singer are: 1) Always be the most prepared. 2) Try your best to cut out all the negativity in your life that you have control over. 3) Eat everyday. Literally, just stay alive and keep singing and let age and experience do the rest.
See John in Madison Opera’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera) October 26 and 28 at Overture Hall. Tickets start at just $18!
Ten Questions with…
Caitlin Cisler, soprano
Oscar in A Masked Ball
1. My favorite thing about being a singer is:
No two days on the job are the same. Every day presents a new aria to learn, a new scene to stage, new people to meet, a new city to visit. It’s a very dynamic profession; so full of life and creativity, and certainly never boring!
2. The greatest challenge in being a singer is:
Realizing that I will never be done learning. Some days, I wish I could just snap my fingers and be a perfect singer, but I do enjoy the challenge. I always look forward to those days when all the hard work has paid off and I do feel like the perfect singer… for at least a little while, until something new to learn comes along.
3. A live music performance I’ve attended that I will never forget is:
Tosca at the Vienna State Opera. I was with my mother and stepfather. First of all, it was a stunning performance, but mostly it was my stepfather’s reaction to the opera. He’s not really an opera sort of guy, but during intermission he turned to me and said, his voice full of excitement and wonder: “What do you think is going to happen?!” I was just as enthralled as he was, but his reaction really showed me what this art form can do when it is done with passion. It made me want to become an opera singer.
4. A few of my favorite films are:
The Princess Bride, Zoolander, Amadeus – I love films that make me laugh.
5. Three things I can’t live without are:
My morning coffee, a good book, and every once in a while, a lazy morning.
6. My number one hobby is:
Hiking.
7. If you could perform with any singer, retired or deceased, who would it be?
Beverly Sills.
8. If you weren’t a singer, what profession would you be in?
Probably scientific research. I studied biology in college and I really enjoy figuring out how to answer some of life’s mysteries. Until recently, I’ve worked in research labs to help fund my singing habit.
9. What role do you wish you could sing that you could never sing because it’s the wrong voice type / gender?
Salome, hands down. That is my favorite opera score, and her music is just phenomenal. The way that Strauss uses tonality to expose her instability is genius, and it is so beautiful! A girl can dream…
10. Describe your favorite moment on stage.
This is a tough one, but most recently: Fresco Opera Theatre’s production of “The Good, The Bad, The Divas” ends with an old fashioned shoot-out. My character, Bonny Jo Loco, is the first to be shot and then the action shifts immediately into slow-motion. On opening night, I was totally unprepared for the audience’s reaction. They started laughing. Dying in slow motion is such hard muscle work that I never considered it was funny looking. I almost started laughing right along with the audience that opening night, but thankfully I was able to maintain a look of agony throughout all 2 or 3 minutes of my “instant” death. Each subsequent performance got the same reaction – but this time I was ready for it.
See Caitlin in Madison Opera’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera) October 26 and 28 at Overture Hall. Tickets start at just $18!Ten Questions with…
Hyung Yun, baritone
Anckarstöm in A Masked Ball
1. My favorite thing about being a singer is:
When I was young, I was mesmerized by the beautiful melody and feeling which were created from singing Italian canzones. Growing up in Seoul, Korea, Italian was a very foreign language. Back then, I sang the lyrics and melodies without fully understanding what the words meant, literally and figuratively. But when I sang for people, they loved my singing and praised me for interpreting the meaning of words with my timbre and dynamics. It was fun for me to create my own sounds with only melodies and the fact that I was still able to impress my audience.
But as I studied music as my profession, I realized the crucial importance of completely understanding the words before I even start singing. The melody and words were like body and soul, inseparable. As I matured as an opera singer, it gives me much excitement to study and understand the composer’s intention and relation between the lyric, melody and harmony. It fascinates me and inspires me to put these three elements together to make my own voice. My favorite part about being a singer is to be able to feel this fascination and thrill with every new role I sing.
2. The greatest challenge in being a singer is:
To be constantly living away from my family and living life alone. I missed 11 of my daughter’s birthdays out of 15. My daughter is pretty cool about it, but I always feel guilty and that I’m missing out. Since her birthday is in December, I was always singing Messiah somewhere.
3. A live music performance I’ve attended that I will never forget is:
In 1991, Placido Domingo came to Korea to do a solo recital in the biggest concert hall. At the time, I was serving in the army and was given a few days’ break to leave training, so I chose to attend his recital. I was so touched and moved, I kept the ticket to this concert until I entered Domingo Young Artist program and had Domingo sign my concert ticket from 1991.
4. A few of my favorite films are:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Ben-Hur and Notebook.
5. Three things I can’t live without are:
My daughter, my wife and my mother.
6. My number one hobby is:
Washing dishes after a family meal together.
7. If you could perform with any singer, retired or deceased, who would it be?
Giuseppe Di Stefano
8. If you weren’t a singer, what profession would you be in?
Probably I would be a dentist, since my mother wanted me to be a dentist. My father was a famous baritone in Korea and my mother always thought it was a tough profession for the family. She always encouraged me to be a dentist. Thank God, I wasn’t typical obedient child!
9. What role do you wish you could sing that you could never sing because it’s the wrong voice type / gender?
Calaf from Turandot would be fun.
10. Describe your favorite moment on stage.
It has to be the moment when I finish singing my perfect aria and hear the cheering audiences with bravo.
Bonus: One question you wish someone would ask you (and the answer).
Do you come from a musical family?
Yes, my father was a legendary baritone in Korea. He never had a chance to study overseas, so no one really knows who he is outside of Korea. I always had a strong urge to continue with that part of my father’s dream and through my singing let the world know what a great singer and musician my father really was. His name was Chiho Yun. And my aunt was the very first Carmen in Korea.
See Hyung in Madison Opera’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera) October 26 and 28 at Overture Hall. Tickets start at just $18!Ten Questions with…
Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek, baritone
Christiano in A Masked Ball
1. My favorite thing about being a singer is:
I get to make people’s days better in such a simple and creative way.
2. The greatest challenge in being a singer is:
Striving for perfection while maintaining spontaneity.
3. A live music performance I’ve attended that I will never forget is:
It occurred on the Boston subway at Government Center station when three performers got on the train and began singing in three-part harmony, passed their hats around, and got off at the next stop. It blew my mind that they were having so much fun singing for us, and their performance really improved the mood of everyone on the train. Coming from a small town in Wisconsin, it really struck me that they seemed to be more focused on improving the mood of the passengers, and I think that’s what I’ve always wanted to achieve with my music – to show people.
Another performance I will never forget was seeing Bob Dylan sing “All Along the Watchtower” in October 2002 in Green Bay. I had listened to the Jimi Hendrix version so many times, and I had learned his guitar solo for my band and played that song with them many times as well. It meant so much to see the originator of that song, now in his seventies, scratch his voice through it for us that it moved me to tears. Somehow, it made me feel closer to Hendrix to think that Dylan had written and lived with the song before Hendrix made his iconic version of it, and I felt the pain of the loss of Hendrix even more because of the raggedness of Dylan’s voice. The fact that Dylan was still here playing his song made Hendrix’s genius and absence even more poignant, I think.
4. A few of my favorite films are:
North by Northwest, Aladdin, Toy Story, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Training Day, Shooter, and the Dark Night series.
5. Three things I can’t live without are:
Cars, exercise, and lots of carbs.
6. My number one hobby is:
High intensity interval training.
7. If you could perform with any singer, retired or deceased, who would it be?
Robert Merrill. His tone quality is incredible.
8. If you weren’t a singer, what profession would you be in?
I would work somewhere in the renewable energy transportation industry.
9. What role do you wish you could sing that you could never sing because it’s the wrong voice type / gender?
If I had to pick an aria I wish I could sing, it would be “La fleur que tu m’avais jettée” from Carmen or any of Don Ottavio’s pieces from Don Giovanni – they’re just so gorgeous.
10. Describe your favorite moment on stage.
My favorite moments on stage are when I get to do things that have an extra physical aspect to them. I really like doing parkour and jumping over things in real life, so when I got to jump over a couch as Count Robinson in Il matrimonio segreto, or do a backwards somersault after being thrown out of Tamino’s arms as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, or do a parkour cat leap and pull myself up onto a balcony as Booth in Assassins, those are some of my favorite moments on stage.
Bonus: One question you wish someone would ask you (and the answer).
What is the most interesting thing you did in Madison as a Badger undergrad?
I put together a jazz/rock bar band that opened for Obama’s October 2007 campaign speech at the Monona Terrace.
See Christiaan in Madison Opera’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera) October 26 and 28 at Overture Hall. Tickets start at just $18!Ten Questions with…
Thomas Forde, bass-baritone
Count Ribbing in A Masked Ball
1. My favorite thing about being a singer is:
I always knew I wanted to be a performer, so the fact that I can sustain a life by singing is one of the greatest privileges I could imagine in my life.
2. The greatest challenge in being a singer is:
The time spent away from family and friends is always a struggle, but it also makes the time that we do have a lot more special.
3. A live music performance I’ve attended that I will never forget is:
The first time I went to a Broadway show. I saw the original cast of “Ragtime” when I was in high school. It was my first time in New York, and I remember walking out of the performance in a state of awe.
4. A few of my favorite films are:
V for Vendetta, Waiting for Guffman, Jerry Maguire, Father of the Bride, The Hunger Games
5. Three things I can’t live without are:
IPad, gym membership, and great food.
6. My number one hobby is:
Traveling. I can’t get enough of seeing this world while I am here.
7. If you could perform with any singer, retired or deceased, who would it be?
I’ve gotten the chance to perform with a lot of idols at Opernhaus Zürich, but a duet with Maria Callas would have been pretty cool.
8. If you weren’t a singer, what profession would you be in?
I would be in the arts in some capacity. I could see myself as a stage actor.
9. What role do you wish you could sing that you could never sing because it’s the wrong voice type / gender?
Rodolfo in La Bohème
10. Describe your favorite moment on stage.
The first time I did Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, we received the biggest stage laugh I had ever personally heard in the Act IV finale. It was the most fun I had ever had to date on a stage. It involved being hit with my own shoe and having Susanna jump on my back and ride horseback style across the stage.
Bonus: One question you wish someone would ask you (and the answer).
Who has been the biggest inspiration in your life to become a performer?
My Mom and Dad….they never questioned my choice of profession, and are the most encouraging audience I will have in my lifetime.
See Tom in Madison Opera’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera) October 26 and 28 at Overture Hall. Tickets start at just $18!
