The soprano is a ballerina. The mezzo wants to sing Escamillo, the toreador in Carmen.
The tenor has already “died” onstage.
The bass-baritone doesn’t mind roles that call for him to be evil, but he loves to be funny.
Call it the circle of life at an opera company: Every year, in September, five artists arrive at the Toledo Opera Association for an eight-month residency: a soprano, a mezzo-soprano, a tenor, a baritone or bass-baritone, and an accompanist.
In May, the group says addio, farewell. Sometimes it’s only ciao, or see you later; it’s not unheard of for a resident artist or two to re-up.
This month, the TOA welcomes five fresh faces: soprano Jenna Grissom, mezzo-soprano Caroline Friend, tenor Jeremy Do, bass-baritone Timothy Krueger and accompanist Charles Ligus.
Toledo must compete with much larger, better-funded companies for applicants, said James M. Norman, general manager.
“We’re very happy that we have been able to attract such great talent over the years to come and perform for Toledo Opera,” Norman said.
From Ballet Shoes to Superpowers
Jenna Grissom, 28, from Arkansas, began performing at 4 and started voice lessons at 7. At 11, she played the Pirate King in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance at Opera Memphis.
“My mom actually took me to see a Broadway traveling troupe of Annie, and we left and I was mad. I was furious,” Grissom recalled. “I said, ‘Why do they get to be up there and not me?’”
“It turned out I was only good at ballet, because I never really learned that you can’t run in tap shoes without falling,” Grissom said.
But she could dance on her toes. Trained in the Russian style and technique of ballet, Grissom performed with Memphis Ballet Theater, Ohio Light Opera and several other companies.
“I was in my first opera before I saw my first opera,” she said. The role was the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors when she was 16 or 17.
“I love when people are just so enthusiastic about art and the gifts that we have to give, and that they want to take time out of their busy schedule to just come and hear me sing in a hotel conference room or in a park,” Grissom said. “I’m so excited to be on a stage.”
Caroline Friend has a superpower: her voice.
“It’s just this amazing feeling that you have this crazy power inside of you,” Friend, 24, a Pittsburgh native, said.
Opera singers are not bitten by radioactive spiders.
“It’s training, it’s time, and it’s about consistency and discipline,” she said.
She’s studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music and has sung several roles there and at music festivals in Prague.
“Usually the mezzo roles are either a villain, a young boy, or you’re a witch, or something like that,” Friend said.
In Bizet’s Carmen, however, a mezzo can play a fiery and sexy woman. Friend said she may never get the chance to sing Carmen, but never say never. She would also love to sing the toreador Escamillo.
Exploring roles is “like diving into a sea of characters,” Friend said. “The best part is that you’re meeting different people when you’re going into these librettos. And when you put it with music, all of a sudden the color comes in, and you can see them in real time.”
Sword Fights and Villains
Jeremy Do, 27, has sung many roles in educational settings and at regional companies such as Shreveport Opera.
He also knows how to fight with swords and how to die onstage.
“I got to play Tybalt in a production of Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette,” Do said. “I got to do a sword fight and die onstage.”
But he wants to sing Romeo.
“I really fell in love with just all of that music, and Romeo gets a lot more of it,” Do said. In the scene where Tybalt dies, Romeo sings a solo that the chorus joins. From his place onstage, Do said he had “the best seat in the house.”
Do said programs like the one at Shreveport help singers improve. His time there helped him develop a better routine and remain consistently in performance mode.
Timothy Krueger, 28, is a Findlay native who earned his music education degree at Bowling Green State University. His instructors urged him to perform. He wanted to do both.
“I got my education degree as more of a safe option,” Krueger said.
After BGSU, he studied at Roosevelt University in Chicago and participated in resident artist programs in the United States and abroad.
resident artist programs in the United States and abroad. He has been a villainous henchman in Puccini’s Tosca. He craves the chance to sing the nasty Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), including the tough but hilarious aria “La calunnia.”
Krueger recalled watching another artist perform the aria at Sarasota Opera. “I was just backstage watching everything onstage, making little notes, what I liked, what I didn’t like, what I would do, and I’d love to get the opportunity to do that role someday,” he said.
“Each artist brings a unique set of skills, personalities, experiences to the stage.”
The High-Wire Act Behind the Music
Charles Ligus, who goes by Charlie, performs a high-wire act on the piano.
The Cleveland native has just finished at BGSU and is ready to accompany the singers at rehearsal, on the road, in the community and with Opera on Wheels.
“We’re both there to hold each other accountable,” Ligus said.
“In an event where a vocalist gets ahead, I know where they jump to. Or if a vocalist or I repeat a section, or if I were to get off timing-wise, they know to just keep going. It’s almost as if it’s planned.
“It’s really just the preparation that goes into it that makes it less scary,” he said.
Kevin Bylsma, the opera’s artistic director, said the TOA never knows what each class is going to be like.
The artists were chosen from among 150 to 200 applicants in the vocal and pianist categories. “Each artist brings a unique set of skills, personalities, experiences to the stage,” Bylsma said. “We look for performers who aren’t afraid to challenge themselves with daring artistic choices.”
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