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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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