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So often when you meet opera singers and you ask them how they are, they tell you about their calendar or schedule, and I find that really ridiculous. I always say then, ‘I ask you how you are, not where you sing.'
The way a lot of singers do it, and the way I decided to do it as well, is to come over here, sing bigger roles in a smaller house and increase my repertoire.
As a younger man I was aiming for the now. I auditioned for the Met, LaScala, Chicago. Now, it's not as important that I do that. For me, it's important that in my life and in my work, I have affected people.
I did opera. I did operetta. I did dinner theater. I did straight theater. I did choruses. I did choirs. I did whatever I could do to get on stage.
There are so very few people who have reached the International level that haven’t struggled. Everybody struggles.
I know every singer in our operas. I know exactly what they sound like what they are capable and not capable of, and I care about the quality of every show. I want the show to be a success for the theaters.
The first time I started being a featured singer was when Louis invited me to become one of the studio artists at Opera North. I had no concept at the time that this was sort of an elite thing I was invited to do. I don’t think I had the concept at the time that most of the people I was working with were on a clear path toward a career, or were already established in their career.
I love becoming the character I am portraying, thinking his thoughts, feeling what he feels, loving what he loves, hating what he hates, and fearing what he fears.
But a few of the opera singers who heard me sing encouraged me to take voice lessons. I guess if there was an epiphany that was it. That was the moment when I thought I could make a career out of this.
I fell in love with the drama and dynamics of the performance. Musical theater is one thing, but for someone to get up on stage in front of thousands of people and be able to sing and project without a microphone was an amazing concept to me.
I enjoy traveling, being in different parts of the country, and meeting and working with a lot of different people, but sometimes I miss my family and close friends.
I discovered the drama, the acting and the passion of opera. I decided at that point, that opera is what I wanted to do, even if it took four more years of college. I chose opera, ecause I couldn’t sing what I heard on the radio, otherwise I would have pursued popular music.
His idea for Café Vivaldi is to have the best presentations of all kinds of musical genre: jazz, classical, pop. So, I proposed this idea, where we would have a rotating cast where we would have opera singers come and perform in that setting.
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I remember sitting in the Green Room at Seattle Opera as a young artist when my manager called me and asked if I was sitting down; I wasn't, but I did sit then. He proceeded to tell me that a very important theater wanted to hear me.
I am aware that I have a gift,” he concluded, “and am grateful, but it’s not in me to get caught up in that. I’m just another guy named Larry, who sings opera.
Nobody – not a manager, not a teacher, not a maestro – nobody is going to hand you a career, and even if they do, they won’t be there to hold your hand through it. The only ones who can make a career happen are the artists themselves
She heard me sing and heard certain things in my voice and offered me an opportunity to work with her. I told her ‘this is how I warm up. I sing all these great baritone arias just to get my voice to where it will perform as a tenor where it will really open up.’ So she said, ‘Let me hear those arias.’ And I sang all those baritone arias, and she said: ‘Well, here’s the deal: you’re a baritone.’ It took someone like Phyllis Curtin whom I have enormous respect for – and still do – to sort of give me permission, you might say, to let the tenor thing go. And I said, ‘okay that’s it’!”
I was terrified during the rehearsal process, because I really didn’t have any stage experience other than the musical theater I had performed in high school, and here I was in a leading role with a real opera company. I would study my staging before and after rehearsals, practicing as much as possible so that they wouldn’t get wise to the fact that I had no idea what I was doing.
When you’re a little kid, you’re so naïve and innocent, so dreaming of being a Broadway star doesn’t seem crazy at all. I went to so many shows as a kid and I really believed that I was good enough to do that. I think I just knew my voice was special. . . I never doubted for a moment that this was what I was meant to do.
“it’s about the honor of being able to say I did it. That’s what I can take home from this, what I can learn from this. I was a finalist in a competition that has the name Metropolitan Opera Company attached to it, and it’s wonderful.
“As much as I treasure all of this, I treasure more the gifts of giving, loving, receiving . . . It’s far more important to me that when I die, I am remembered as one who loved deeply and generously, than being remembered as one with a lovely voice.”
