Tag Archives: Baritone

#HOTSpeaks: The HOT Chorus, Continued

Though they are often in the backdrop of a production, the Hawaii Opera Theatre Chorus is at the forefront of what makes HOT’s productions world-class. Time and time again, visiting artists are impressed with the dedication, the diversity, and the deep bonds that make up the local, volunteer-based chorus. In this month’s and last month’s #HOTSpeaks, we share their stories.

Oaklea Rowe: Soprano

Oaklea Rowe joined the HOT Chorus and Mae Z. Orvis Opera Studio earlier this year. Her first opera as a chorister with HOT was last season’s production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. But before the production, she was no stranger to opera. For nearly a decade, Oaklea lived in New York and sang opera professionally – even touring to companies in South America and Italy. But before moving to Hawaii, she stopped singing for a few years.

“I had stopped singing, because I just got burnt out or something. Then I heard about the studio,” Oaklea, 39, said. “I didn’t know much about it, but I felt like it was something I wanted to be involved in.”

Since then, Oaklea said she’s made a couple of really good friends in the chorus and studio. Along with music, she also loves fashion. When she’s not singing, she’s working at a boutique in Honolulu. Bizet’s Carmen will be Oaklea’s next production with HOT, and she said she’s excited for it.

“It’s about making music together and making the production the best it can be,” she said.

David Del Rocco: Baritone

David Del Rocco still vividly remembers his first opera with the HOT Chorus, although it was 12 years ago. He had always been a singer, but he never imagined he’d be singing in an opera chorus. It wasn’t until a couple of David’s friends from his church choir auditioned for the chorus that he considered trying out himself.

“I thought, ‘Well, if they can do it, I can do it!’” He said. “I realized that, you know, regular people can do this, too. You have to be a good singer, but, you don’t have to be a full-on opera singer to be in the chorus.”

Since then, David has been a part of many operas, from Puccini’s Turandot to Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. The upcoming production of Bizet’s Carmen will be his second time performing in the opera as a chorister. The opera has brought David several opportunities and friends, he said, but he has also brought something new and special to the opera. Outside of the chorus, David teaches Hawaiian Studies and dances hula. A few years ago, he decided to teach the opera singers in that production’s principle roles to dance hula after the show, alongside other choristers who play Hawaiian music. Now it’s a tradition.

“The vast majority of the principles who come over from elsewhere are so down to earth and so willing to party and learn new stuff,” David said. “And the chorus is great for that.”

Larry Whitson: Bass

Larry Whitson wanted to be in the chorus as soon as he knew it existed. But he never believed he could really do it. Classical music had been his passion since childhood, and singing in an opera was a dream of his long before he joined the chorus 12 years ago.

“When I read that the chorus was a volunteer chorus and I could do it, I just knew right away that I wanted to do it,” Larry said. “The first time I didn’t get in. But the next time I did. The biggest excitement for me was the first time I stood on that stage in the Blaisdell and looked out over that grand, empty concert hall and realized I was going to be able to perform there.”

Larry has also been a part of several HOT productions in the chorus, including Camille Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah and, most recently, the 2017 production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. The next time he will perform onstage with HOT will be for this season’s February production of Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in April.

“Each year – not even just the first time – every time I get up on that stage, it’s just a magnificent thing,” he said.

Diane Koshi: Mezzo

Diane Koshi doesn’t entirely share Larry’s enthusiasm for opera, but she does have a love for music and music education. Diane worked with the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus for 20 years and taught music with a number of other organizations before retiring. Now she directs the music department at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church.

“I sing in the opera because I teach,” Diane said. “I think my students need to see that their director is involved and can do what she’s asking them to do. I’ve never fallen for opera, but I appreciate it as an art form because it encompasses all the arts.”

Despite not having fallen for opera, Diane has been in the HOT chorus for almost 25 years. Her upcoming performance with the choir in Bizet’s Carmen will be her fourth time singing the opera’s music. A few of the HOT productions that she especially enjoyed being a part of were Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado. Even as a seasoned music educator, Diane said she still learns new things in the chorus.

“What I enjoy most about working in the opera is the opportunity to hear different musical ideas from the maestro,” she said. “It’s a different philosophy. They share different techniques than what we usually hear.”

Bonnie Chock Burke: Alto

Surprisingly, another chorister has been part of the chorus even longer than Diane. Bonnie Chock Burke joined the HOT Chorus in 1992. And she has been a volunteer with HOT even longer – since the late 1970s. She’s worked in the box office, she’s been assistant stage director, she’s worked with costumes, she’s picked artists up from the airport, and more. And she doesn’t even currently live on Oahu. Bonnie has flown in from the Big Island for each of the many productions she’s been a part of.

“Some people think I’m crazy. They’ll say, ‘Why do you do it?’” Bonnie said. “And I say, ‘Every time there’s a rehearsal and an opera, there I am with my $500 seat.’ I can see the singers spitting. It’s worth it. Being backstage, you get to hear these professionals sing and practice. It’s just incredible to me to have that opportunity for free.”

On the Big Island, Bonnie enjoys hiking and bird-watching. But she’ll soon be moving back to Oahu, and she said she plans to be in all three of this year’s choral productions with HOT.

“All the people who come to perform for HOT say it’s incredible to see all these volunteers in such huge numbers,” Bonnie said. “I’m so proud. I know without all the volunteers we would never have opera in Hawaii.”

#HOTSpeaks: The HOT Chorus

Marcia Wright: Mezzo

Chorister Marcia Wright has been singing for and working with the HOT Chorus for more than 15 years. The first HOT production she sang in was Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma. Since then, she has sung in about a dozen other productions, including Puccini’s Tosca, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Verdi’s Aida. When asked what the HOT Chorus means to her, she answered, “singing with people of excellence.”

“I remember my very first rehearsal at Kawaiahao Chuch. We opened the book and we launched right in, which is very different from any church choir I’d ever been in. And the sound was so glorious that I burst into tears just sitting in the middle of all those incredible voices and kind of wondering what I was doing there. It really just opened up my world and my social life.”

Marcia is retired, and while she’s not working with HOT on a production, she spends a lot of time with her church in Kaneohe. It was at the church where HOT’s Head of Music Beebe Freitas had originally recommended Marcia for the HOT choir. Though the most recent production she sang in was four years ago, Marcia remains active with HOT in the wardrobe department.

“I always look forward to the opera season rolling around,” Marcia said. “I enjoy encouraging a number of people I know through church.”

Falefia Jr. Brandon Fuamatu: Baritone

Falefia Jr. Brandon Fuamatu, 24, hadn’t discovered opera until he began studying music at UH Manoa. But once he found it, he came in swinging – literally. During Brandon’s first production with HOT – Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman – he sang while swinging from a rope. The experience, along with singing for HOT’S Orvis Opera Studio, helped influence Brandon’s decision to pursue opera as a career.

“I think the HOT Chorus is such a great example of what Hawaii has to offer to the arts, because the chorus is in itself a melting pot within Hawaii of different people who come together for music and for the love of opera,” Brandon said. “You always hear people saying, ‘There’s no chorus like our chorus.’ They’re so amazed by how diverse our chorus is ethnically and culturally, and even with our backgrounds. It’s a volunteer chorus, so I’ve sang along with lawyers, teachers – people with all kinds of different professions and backgrounds.”

Brandon recently moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he will be continuing his pursuit of music study at Westminster Choir College. But the HOT Chorus will always have a special place in his heart, he said.

“It’s never going to be the same singing with any other chorus,” he said. “There’s such a specific way we treat each other and respect each other. It’s more of a family than it is a chorus.”

But that’s not all Brandon will miss.

“Our cookouts are pretty world famous for all of the singers who come to Hawaii from the mainland. We don’t fool around with food here in Hawaii,” he said.

Jaime Craycroft: Soprano

Jaime Craycroft also didn’t discover opera until college. Growing up in the North Shore, Jaime said she was removed from the opera scene HOT had created in Honolulu. But when her professors shared opera with her in college, she found it came natural to her. Her first opera with HOT was Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado in 2014. Since then, she has sung with the chorus in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and, most recently, in last season’s production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. The chorus, for Jaime, has brought many opportunities in her career.

“What I really appreciate with the HOT chorus is the professionalism,” said Jaime, 38. “Your first rehearsal you need to have everything learned already. We don‘t spend much time correcting notes or language, and I appreciate that. I am thankful for being able to be myself vocally and being able to be with such fun and vocal people. Everyone there is a lot of fun.”

When Jaime isn’t singing with the choir or with the HOT Orvis Opera Studio, she enjoys Flamenco dancing and spending time with her husband and two daughters. She recently graduated from UH Manoa and plans to teach music and generate her own choir for youth in Wailua.

“I want to inspire and motivate other mothers and students to continue to follow their aspirations to sing on that glorious stage,” she said.

Angeliki Scordilis: Soprano

At 17 years old, Angeliki Scordilis is the youngest member of the HOT chorus, but her entire life has been surrounded with opera. She was only 6 months old when her father brought her to see a HOT production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. The first opera Angeliki remembers listening to and enjoying, however, was a Metropolitan Opera recording of Mozart’s The Magic Flute when she was about 5 years old. Her combined experience in the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus, which she joined at 4 years old, and the HOT Chorus have brought her onstage for quite a few productions, including Pagliacci’s Carmina Burana, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and, most recently, Puccini’s La Boheme – her favorite opera.

“It’s a little strange being the youngest member of the adult chorus, because I grew up with everyone,” she said. “And so all the people, they’re like my aunties and uncles. And now instead of watching them, I’m singing with them. The HOT Chorus is like a family. Being able to sing with them– it’s just, like, a very powerful experience.”

When she’s not singing opera, Angeliki is often studying Greek culture and music. She traveled to Greece for the first time this past summer. In the coming year she will leave her home where she grew up in Honolulu and travel to Colorado for college. She dreams of being an English teacher, but she said she’ll always enjoy opera singing.

“I’ll miss being a part of HOT productions,” she said. “It’s been something that I’ve been a part of since I was really small.”

Chris Walsh: Alto

Chris Walsh has been an alto singer with the HOT Choir since 1984, when she sang in her first production of Verdi’s La Traviata. She has since sung in nearly all of the “ABCs” of opera, she said, from Verdi’s Aida to Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress. As one of the most the most experienced choristers, Chris said she’s now reached “Kupuna status” within the choir. The productions she’s been a part of have taken her through every emotion – from feeling like her heart was “torn out of her chest, thrown on the floor, and stomped on” after singing in Puccini’s Turandot to laughing hysterically after a wall fell over unexpectedly on the set of a production of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah, revealing a group of sheepish and embarrassed choristers. But as a child, Chris hated opera. It wasn’t until she sang with HOT that she began to enjoy the art form.

“I’ve really gone through the whole spectrum of despising opera to having it be a critical part of my life,” she said. “I have met a great deal of wonderful people, have had incredible life experiences, made lifetime friends – the chorus means an awful lot to me. And it’s a joy having so many diverse people come together for a common goal.”

Off the stage, Chris works for a commercial diving company. She also enjoys cooking, weaving lauhala, and gardening in her yard in Aiea.

“I plan to keep with the chorus,” she said. “I’ll keep singing and supporting these efforts and enjoying watching new singers launch into careers.”

The Tales of Henry Act III, Epilogue

A true love for music has guided Henry Akina, Hawaii Opera Theatre’s first Hawaiian director, through more than 120 operas over a 30-year career.

Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann will be the last opera that Henry directs for HOT, before retiring from his role as Artistic Director, which he has held for 20 years. The production will be performed on April 21, 23, and 25 at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

In a 2002 HOT concert program Henry wrote: “The opera is but one art form where we can go beyond everyday life to look at some of its mythologies and gain insight into the lives of other characters, and thus into our own.”

With this in mind, the Tales of Henry will look back on Henry’s life and career.

Read The Tales of Henry Act II: Hawaii

Leaving a Legacy

In the mid-1990s, the Hawaii representative from the Arthur and Mae Orvis Foundation was speaking with local arts organizations to try to find ideas for initiatives to fund. The representative reached out to Henry and HOT’s education team. Henry had an idea for a HOT “studio” that could do more for its community, and the funding presented an opportunity to bring his idea to fruition.

“I was envisioning a professional company of Hawaiian people that were talented operatically,” Henry said.

Henry, HOT Director of Education Erik Haines, and HOT Head of Music Beebe Freitas, assembled to plan the direction of the studio. The three determined that the main goal would be to provide opportunities and connections for young local singers to interact with professionals in the opera world. The prospect was granted funding and was named the Mae Z. Orvis Opera Studio.

“I think that the opera studio is one of my great accomplishments,” Henry said.

Because the studio was fully funded, participants who auditioned could take part free of charge. Studio members ranged from college age to slightly older. It quickly gained popularity, with around 10 to 20 members every year since its inception.

“Henry saw that there was all this raw talent here in Hawaii, but the singers needed more skills,” said Malia Ka’ai-Barrett, who was a member of the original studio class. “So the studio created a way to foster some skills.”

When Malia started with the studio, she was a perfect example of someone who had the talent, but needed further instruction to open more doors in the industry. She had studied music, taken part in several choirs, and had sung in front of plenty of audiences. But like many singers, she had yet to master all of the elements of performance.

“[The studio] is not just about singing, it’s about performing,” Erik said. “That includes what do you do physically in terms of making the sound and what do you in terms of creating the world of what you are singing, whether it’s a Broadway piece or an art song or an aria.”

In the first few years of the studio, Henry served as an expert who could offer studio members feedback in their staging, acting, auditioning, and performance.

“We want to create a full performance,” Henry told PBS in a 2015 interview, “and I’ve usually had very collaborative relationships with singers to try and get that out of them.”

As the studio was able to bring in more clinicians to instruct members over the years – from pianists to directors to dancers – Henry stopped instructing classes. Renowned opera experts, such as conductor and pianist Mark Morash, conductor Tim Shaindlin, and singers Jake and Jill Gardner, have taken his place. The studio has also been visited by well known names in opera, such as Frederica von Stade and Sylvia McNair.

The studio usually brings in anywhere from two to six clinicians for master classes each year. Malia says she is consciously aware of how much she improves after each.

“I’m always thankful for what HOT has done, and it really has been because of Henry having the thought and the willingness to commit to it,” she said.

But the studio has also provided benefits for HOT. Although studio members don’t have to pay any fees, they are expected to participate in the chorus for at least one of the season’s opera productions. Erik said this helps provide a stable core for the HOT chorus and introduces new, young members. The company has also gained enough confidence in some of the studio members to present them as live performers at some of its most prestigious events, such as the annual opera ball.

And though Henry is retiring, the studio will remain a priority for HOT. Erik said that in the coming years he plans to expand the singers’ meeting schedules to include more workshops where they can listen to, evaluate, and assist each other in moving forward.

“The studio has been important for me personally, but I think for so many, in helping turn us from singers who enjoy singing into singing performers and singing actors,” Malia said. “And that’s really what opera is about.”

Many of the studio’s members have taken the instruction and networking a step further and translated it into a career.

Becoming Professionals

Most of the professional opera singers who have come out of Hawaii in the last few decades, in fact, can trace their roots back to the HOT studio, Malia said. And Henry was a big inspiration to some of the singers who made it big.

“I think for island kids – local kids – in particular, it’s really scary to go outside of Hawaii,” Malia said. “It was inspiring to have somebody who had gone away, had success, and then came home telling us, ‘you’re more than capable of doing this, but you need some skills, so let’s get you ready.’”

Trying to get started in an opera career took more than just talent, Malia and others learned. A singer needed to have established a polished repertoire of pieces they could perform in an audition, they needed to know how to audition, they needed to be able to perform, and they needed head shots. But above all else, they needed to have the guts to put themselves out there. And the fact that Henry had faith in the community that he grew up in made a difference, Malia said.

One young baritone singer who had the talent and the guts was Quinn Kelsey. He was a member of the original studio class, along with Malia.

“Quinn was this guy who was really of international stature, who was really quite good,” Henry remembered.

Quinn took what he learned in the studio and ran with it. With support from HOT, he started an opera career and quickly gained notoriety. Since then he has sung around the world, including in roles for the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, and Opéra National de Paris. In 2016, he returned home to sing the title role of Rigoletto in Concert with HOT.

“The Orvis Opera Studio, in essence, allowed me a huge leg up as I finished college and began to move into the ever growing pool of young artists searching for the direction in which to take the next step in their budding careers,” Quinn said. “I gained so much insight into an operatic career, as well as honing the many tools I would later use to hitting the ground running as a full-fledged artist. I don’t know that I would be as successful as I am today if not for all that the Orvis Opera Studio gave me all those years ago.”

Other former studio singers who have now made a career out of opera include baritone Jordan Shanahan and tenor Jeremy Blossey. Several others have gone on to pursue music master’s degrees or work in musical theatre. Malia now serves as the General Manager of the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus.

Henry is happy with all of the outcomes, he said, as long as he was able to contribute to helping people learn more about opera.

“I would always like them to be world stars,” he said, “but I would also be happy with them staying here in Hawaii.”

The Tales of Henry Epilogue:

Henry’s retirement has come as a surprise to many, including himself.

His decision, he said, is in response to a recent diagnosis with a progressive neurological disorder, which he feels will soon make it difficult to direct.

“I’m leaving the company in good hands,” Henry said. “I hope that in the future, even more people see opera as a form of theatre that really is emotional.”

Henry has certainly done his part in exposing others to opera. And his experiences in theater and music have touched many in Hawaii and all over the world. He brought opera premieres to Germany and Hawaii, he gave young directors the confidence to stage their own productions, and he helped transform raw talent in Hawaii into a company of professional performers. But Henry said he’s not done.

“The fat lady hasn’t sung yet,” Henry said with his signature laugh. “There’s more to come. That’s up to the world.”

Henry will be named Artistic Director Emeritus upon leaving HOT. The Henry Akina fund has also been created in his honor, and donations will provide support for at least one production each year or for visiting directors.

After directing his last production, Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, HOT’s singers sent him off with hoards of leis and a performance of Queen Lili’uokalani’s song “Aloha ‘oe.”

Not long before, in the last act of The Tales of Hoffmann, Hoffmann had realized that his three great failed loves all resembled the primadonna Stella. When Stella returned to the bar where he was drinking, he had drank too much to even realize she was there. With no one left to distract Hoffmann, the angelic Muse of Poetry presented herself and proclaimed that Hoffmann could finally fulfill his destiny as a poet.

“From the embers of your heart we kindle your genius,” she sang.

For Henry, the great tales of his life – from Germany to his living legacy in Hawaii – have also left embers in his heart. They all resemble his original fondness for theatre, but it was the Muse of Music that truly kindled his genius.

“I’ve always found inspiration in music,” Henry said. “I will always look to music as a source of possible inspiration.”

By: Allison Kronberg

#HOTSpeaks: Baritone Sings to Honor His Father

“If I sing, you are the music.
If I fly, you’re why I’m good.
If my hands can find some magic,
you’re the one who said they could.”

Leslie “Buz” Tennent sat in the Hawaii Opera Theatre rehearsal hall and read aloud the lyrics to “If I sing” from the musical Closer than Ever. The song inspired the name of the November, 2016 concert event with Hawaiʻi Public Radio.

The sold-out tribute concert commemorated the centennial of Buz’s late father and mentor, Arthur Tennent (1916 – 2004). Due to the concert’s popularity, Buz performed a reprise last week at the Mystic Rose Oratory as a benefit for the Hawai’i Vocal Arts Ensemble.

Arthur was an accomplished lieder and artsong singer, and a renowned choral conductor, voice teacher, actor, and author. “He generously shared with me his abundant gifts,” Buz said of his father. “I just thought it would be worthy to give back what he gave to me.”

At both concerts, Buz sang songs his father used to sing and that his father taught him, accompanied on the piano by HOT Education Assistant Eric Schank. Buz was also featured as a soloist at the HOT Opera Ball last year.

As a professor of voice at Chaminade and a private voice teacher, Buz’s life currently revolves around performing and teaching, but that might not have been the case if his father had never pegged him as a baritone and encouraged him to sing an aria in front of a crowd with his high school orchestra.

“He wanted me to sing,” Buz said. “And he was a tremendous teacher.”

Arthur humorously helped his son navigate the complexities of music theory, like the difference between “bel canto” and “can belt-oh,” while gracefully addressing more serious life issues, like coping with rejection.

“He taught me the idea of never giving up, to persevere and persist, and that it’s how we react to circumstances that matters – not that we get discouraged or knocked down, but that we stand up and just keep at it,” Buz said.

As a supportive father, Arthur went to all of Buz’s opera performances, he said, though he wasn’t particularly an opera lover, himself.

But while Buz was pursuing a Master’s in Voice at Manhattan School of Music in New York, Arthur joined Buz for a father-son debut concert at Carnegie Hall, where the two performed “The Pearl Fishers” duet from Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles.

“We had a great time singing together,” Buz said. “We blended well together, and our voices were somewhat similar, albeit mine a little deeper.”

After leaving New York, Buz spent 12 years singing opera in Germany. But he returned to Hawaii in 2003 when he learned that his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer to care for his parents and place his father in hospice care.

That year, Buz decided to follow further in his father’s footsteps and start teaching. Until then, he had felt reluctant about pursuing voice teaching, even though his father called it a “noble art.”

“I think he was gratified that I did take up teaching, because I resisted it for a while,” Buz said.
In the last several months of Arthur’s life, he was able to see Buz take up his love of teaching.

“I think that meant a lot to him,” Buz said. “All of these things that I put into practice now as a teacher, I learned initially from him.”

The last time Arthur saw Buz sing live was at a Diamond Head Theatre production of the musical Ragtime in late 2003. He passed away in May of 2004, and Buz’s Mother died of cancer four years later.

“I don’t believe in closure. I just believe in acceptance,” Buz said. “There’s always that hole there, but you just learn to live with it. And you honor their memory.”

When he sings, Buz finds that acceptance. He continued to read the lyrics of “If I sing”:

“I never told you.
It took time ‘till I could see
that if I sing you are the music,
and you’ll always sing in me.”

Buz paused. Though his eyes began to well up, he smiled as he read the last lyric:

“Yes you’ll always live in me.”

Use the audio player below to listen to a recording of the Buz and Arthur Tennent singing “O Mimi, tu piu non torni,” Marcello and Rodolfo’s Act 4 duet from Puccini’s La Bohème.