KYLE KETELSEN
David Shengold
Opera Magazine, October 2016
Kyle Ketelsen was born and initially trained in Iowa. Six years in the National Guard helped pay for study at Indiana University with the great singing actor Giorgio Tozzi, and also instilled a physical discipline and perspective on the opera world different from that of many of its denizens. Because of this Midwestern bass-baritone’s background and his athletic build, he’s regularly termed ‘all-American’ by interviewers. Yet while he’s sung all over North America since his first public appearance— a Faure Requiem aged 20 at a Clinton, Iowa college—Ketelsen in many ways has forged his international career in Europe. This spring in the Met’s press lounge I asked him how this came about. ‘I did Operalia in 2000 in LA. I was just a finalist. But Domingo asked me to do Escamillo in DC, and Operalia also led to my getting management for Europe and to Covent Garden. Peter Katona was one of the judges. So when Lyric [Opera of Chicago] engaged me to sing Masetto for the 50th anniversary Don Giovanni with Bryn Terfel and flew me to Salzburg to sing ‘Ho capito’ for Peter Stein—that was kind of a window for me into the silliness of our business! — on the way I was able to audition for Peter Katona again in London, allowing him to confirm what he thought he had heard in me.’
A 2002 jump-in as Escamillo in Madrid proved his career’s turning point, raising his European visibility. Then came the Speaker in Die Zauberflote , his first ROH assignment (2005). ‘I sang through my core repertory there: I did Leporello, Escamillo, Figaro, Zoroastro in Orlando, Henrik in Maskarade and Nick Shadow in Rake’s Progress. Covent Garden was like my home theatre for five years, so much so that my schedule was full— a great problem to have! It was very much a springboard for my career in Europe.’ Until the Proms engaged the bass-baritone (for a 2006 Norrington Mozart programme) he hadn’t heard of that British institution. ‘I had a year to study up and caught one on TV. Singing there is amazing—like at the Hollywood Bowl, you think about the luminaries that have appeared there. At the Albert Hall you walk past pictures of The Beatles and Jim Morrison.’
While Ketelsen was busy in London (and in Hamburg, Aix, Barcelona and Amsterdam) he made some appearances in his native land, notably in Chicago (Faust, Figaro, Carmen and Basilio in Barbiere) but also in Washington, Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, Glimmerglass and St Louis. The Met—whose 1998 Council Auditions he won alongside Eric Cutler—proved more wary. After a 2006 debut run as
■ Ketelsen (second from 1.) as Leporello in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of ‘Don Giovanni’ at Aix in 2010
Angelotti, silence obtained until he jumped in as Leporello alongside Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni under Andrew Davis in 2012. That year also brought an impressively solid-sounding Mr Flint (Billy Budd) and a confident Toreador wooing Anita Rachvelishvili’s Carmen; he returns there in Bizet’s opera opposite Sophie Koch and Clementine Margaine this winter.
Ketelsen is a ‘go to’ singer internationally for his speciality roles. This spring he got an urgent request from Santa Fe to make his festival debut as Leporello, replacing a colleague for the entire run. To do so, he reluctantly cancelled a Beethoven Ninth with Donald Runnicles in Wyoming plus Escamillo under Charles Dutoit at Verbier, which would have involved an add-on family trip to Venice. The Ketelsen family now resides in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, a suburb of Madison. The small ‘Groundhog Capital of the World’ is the kind of place Americans mean when they say ‘a good place to raise a family’. Ketelsen is adamant about having ample time to spend there with his wife Rebecca and two children, Melanie (13) and Benjamin (11). ‘Three full months in the States —rare for me—was an added [Santa Fe] bonus: we brought the kids down for hiking, seeing the Grand Canyon and so many other sights. We look for any opportunity for travel—they’ve been to Aix, Barcelona, Zurich and Rome. These are magical trips; and we hike and swim. I don’t lock myself away, singer-style. I’ve found I sing better when I use my body and voice on days off. Santa Fe is like the American Provence, there’s always something new to discover. And the company treats you very well.’ The staging (by Ron Daniels) proved more traditional than some Ketelsen had done—not surprising when the comparison is to Calixto Bieito or Dmitri Tchernialcov — but came together well, he reported when we caught up in August. ‘It’s been a bit trying singing at 7,000 feet, with minus 10 per cent humidity, trying to get oxygen into my muscles. But I’m happy with the outcome. Leporello is a very physical role in any production: for me, you have to put in a lot— running and jumping—to get his full measure.’ Ketelsen had worked extensively with his Elvira, Ken Alkema (Anna to his
■ Ketelsen (1.) as Escamillo at the Met in 2012, with Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen; (r.) as Enrico VIII at Minnesota Opera, with Keri Alkema as Anna Bolena, also in 2012
Three Don Giovannis share their impressions Russell Braun As a colleague on stage—and off, as friend and family man—he’s a real rock, to everyone’s benefit. For Don Giovanni—which I hadn’t done in years—in Toronto he was endlessly patient, prompting me in recitatives (the key element between Leporello and the Don). He’d be an excellent Giovanni, but there are so many ways in which he identifies with Leporello: his kind of patience, very useful onstage. gives strength to the character. Rod Gilfry I first met and worked with Kyle on Don Giovanni in Aix-en-Provence in summer 2013: he was my very accomplished, masterful, athletic Leporello. I have done many Don Giovanni productions. The one I did with Kyle in Aix was the most unusual, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov and extremely challenging. Kyle’s Leporello was boyish, sprightly, troubled. playful: very modern. Kyle should absolutely sing Giovanni. He’s a rock-solid, handsome, athletic bass-baritone who sings beautifully: he could sing a myriad lyric bass and bass-baritone roles. Simon Keenlyside Kyle’s voice is one of the most beautiful bass-baritone sounds around; he wields the instrument with consummate legato and artistry to match. On stage be is everything a colleague could want. In addition to the preparation and experience he brings to Leporello he is always ‘open for play’. That’s to say, his ‘radar’ is always on and up for all eventualities—wayward colleagues who throw half-baked, unrehearsed ideas at him in the middle of a performance; badly judged physicality, which might hurt a less generous or robust singer; he takes it all with ease and grace. He is just as likely to dish it out in equal measure, having first judged whether or not his own spontaneity [befits! whomever he is playing on the stage. When I know I have Kyle alongside me as Leporello, I know I will be in safe hands. Any Giovanni with a great Leporello alongside him will be so much more than he could ever have been on his own. |
The Liceu welcomes Ketelsen back next month for Mozart’s Figaro, opposite Mojca Erdmann in Lillis Pasqual’s 2012 Cardiff staging. I saw his grounded-seeming factotum, utterly natural in sound and action, in Chicago in March 2010. He retains warm memories of that cast, which included Nicole Cabell, Mariusz Kwieciefi and—in her last Cherubino performances—Joyce DiDonato. (The mezzo also appeared as Elvira with Ketelsen in Francesca Zambello’s 2008 ROH Don Giovanni revival under Charles Mackerras, available on Opus Arte DVD.) The bass-baritone entered the Mozart-Da Ponte universe very early on; I had read that he sang Antonio at Des Moines Opera in 1995. ‘I covered Antonio! That was in my “slave labour” days. I didn’t get much love from small companies early on! I also sang the second footman in Baby Doe.’ Eventually he graduated successfully to Figaro, which he last reprised at Aix in 2012. (`Ketelsen’s dark-toned, focused Figaro stood out’, reported the Editor in September 2012, p. 1090.) He enjoys performing the opera but discusses its challenges with characteristic forthrightness. ‘Figaro is a lot of work, especially the fourth act, which just kicks my ass. By the eighth or ninth show I can relax.’ Does he have any designs on Count Almaviva? ‘You’re not the first to ask. I’m not sure I could sing his aria and then hit the F sharp. I sing F sharps, but in that context it’s harder. Gerry Finley and Mariusz Kwieciefi are great Counts. If the entire role were down a whole tone—maybe in an early music tuning—then we could talk.’ Asked why he’s done Guglielmo only once (at Costa Mesa), Ketelsen laughs. ‘The director had Eric Cutler and me running all over the place—so manic, changing beards and moustaches and clothes and everything. So it seemed a thankless role, at least without the (better) alternative aria. My mistake may also have been listening to Bryn do it … Cosi has magical stuff for the high range especially—news flash: the tenor and soprano get the headlines ! — and I signed up for another one in Barcelona, but it fell through. If it comes up, especially with “Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo” — and with the right conductor and director—I’ll take another look.’
■ Ketelsen as Golaud in Zurich earlier this year, with Corinne Winters as Melisande
The Tcherniakov Giovanni production has been laid to rest, but another Tcherniakovhelmed project—involving a new role for Ketelsen— awaits in 2021. Meanwhile, the director and bass-baritone continued their collaboration this spring with Ketelsen’s first Golaud at Oper Zurich, with what he describes as a wonderful team: Alain Altinoglu leading Corinne Winters and Jacques Imbrailo on the other corners of the triangle and Brindley Sherratt as Arkel. Golaud had long been a career goal for the singer, who professes French to be his favourite language and cherishes (as particular idols in his Fach) Gabriel Bacquier and Jose van Dam. ‘When I did Rake at the ROH, I had given myself the textbook two months to learn it and—given that text and also those rhythms—that wasn’t enough. I showed up not having totally mastered it, which I felt ashamed about: not my way. I resolved that would never happen again, least of all for Golaud.’ Every single person to whom Ketelsen mentioned the upcoming assignment asked after his French diction. ‘The first time I sang French to French people was a [Berlioz] Romeo et Juliette at the Theatre des Champs-tlysees for Colin Davis in 2006. I was petrified. But one of the choristers said afterwards he assumed I was French, so it must have been all right.’ He took pains preparing Golaud, studying the score and drilling the text for almost a year before and working productively with Denise Masse in New York.
| ■ Ketelsen as Leporello in Santa Fe this summer |
Somehow, the long text resisted imprinting for months. But finally it clicked. (Plus, Zurich’s incredible Carrie-Ann Matheson was so helpful that I handed a bouquet into her prompter’s box at the final show.’) Reviews were terrific. Alex Ross blogged, ‘Kyle Ketelsen created perhaps the most psychologically intricate and unsettling portrait of Golaud I’ve seen —one that is all the more potent for stopping short of irrevocable violence.’ Golaud offers from other theatres arrived. `I’m so interested to do it again with a different conductor and director [Louis Langree and Eric Ruff next May at the Champs-Elysees. I want this to become a signature part.’
Ketelsen extols the preparatory work with Tcherniakov anew. ‘Every day he has more to give you, more layers of motivation. Twice we had to stop rehearsals because it was just too intense for me: I was in tears. That never happened to me before—I’d see people stop rehearsals and just roll my eyes.’ He
describes a highly metaphorical staging, with Golaud and Pelleas as psychiatrists trying to get at the truth of a disturbed patient’s history. The cast and production team were so proud of their work that they agreed to waive the usual fees when BelAir proposed taping the last two performances for DVD release. ‘I’m heading back to Zurich for a Faust revival and am happy to be singing with Charlie Castronovo for the first time in a decade. It’s a fun production [by Jan Philipp Gloger] that I did when it was new, showing off Mephisto—seven complete costume changes notwithstanding.’
Another favourite score is La Damnation de Faust, which he sang just once, a decade back, with the St Louis Symphony, when quite ill. ‘Eric Owens, the Brander, sang much of my part in the rehearsals and was great. I’d love to do Damnation again, staged or not: so powerful, so well orchestrated and so ahead of its time. I had hoped to do it for Terry Gilliam, whose films I love, but he wanted an older, “Golden Age” Mephisto; I can’t wait to be old so I can do that production! Berlioz was a genius—and wrote very well for the bass-baritone.’ Ketelsen also enjoyed singing U/io with Riccardo Muti on a Chicago Symphony mini-tour that included Carnegie Hall. Heard live (April 2011) and on the subsequent CSO recording, he gave and gives the most balanced, stylish performance. One day he’ll surely get to Herode and Joseph in L’Enfance du Christ, parts Tozzi recorded wonderfully with Charles Munch. But surely someone should first cast him as Chorebe, whose remarkable music is among the high points of Troyens. Vocally, physically and interpretatively, Ketelsen seems ideal for the upstanding soldier, loyal to his loved ones and his task.
