| To: "VOCALIST" <vocalist> Subject: How old are these characters? - and a question about ages... Date sent: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 19:25:57 +0300 Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Could somebody familiar with Prince Igor and Yevgeny Onegin please give me an idea of the supposed ages of the following characters, please: - Onegin - Prince Gremin - Prince Igor (in Borodin's opera) - Kontchak (" ") - Galitzky (" ") I'm working in Moscow at the moment, and have developed an obsession with Russian opera. I've seen lots at the Bolshoy, but neither of these operas are in the repertoire this season, and I haven't had a chance to see them anywhere yet. I have bought the scores, listened to recordings and learnt many of the arias already, but I'm not sure if I'm wasting my time devoting so much energy to these roles - I may be too young to use them in auditions or performance, for all I know. (Having said that, I'm raring to sing Ni Sna and Kagda Biy to my teacher when I get back...!!!)
As an extension to this question, does anybody have any thoughts about age barriers in role-learning? If a singer is vocally up to singing an aria, or a whole role, but knows that the character is supposed to be physically mature or even elderly, is there any justification for learning the material anyway? How will jurors or an audition pannel react if a young singer presents something for which they would not be old enough to be cast on stage? Is it enough that they can vocally, musically and emotionally do the role justice?
I could continue phrasing the question in different ways, but I think it is clear what I'm asking - I'd be very interested in any thoughts or personal experiences relating to age discrepancies between singer and character.
Daniel Sumner Bass-Baritone (20 years-old)
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