June 25, 2024 • 43 mins
While it may have taken a few detours for Jonathan Tetelman to become the opera star he is today, the journey has been well worth it. Tetelman initially found success with his voice quite young, singing in the American Boychoir School and recording with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Yet following years of vocal study, Tetelman stepped away from the arias to become a nightclub DJ in New York City. It was only upon realizing that opera was indeed his passion that Tetelman returned to the genre and found incredible success in the great music halls and houses across the globe. Tetelman now captivates audiences with performances in Madama Butterfly, Carmen, and La Bohéme – and with his albums “Arias” and “The Great Puccini.” Jonathan Tetelman speaks with host Alec Baldwin about the challenging transition from baritone to tenor, the work he puts in behind-the-scenes to understand his characters and how he navigates the physical demands of his career.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the
Thing from iHeart Radios.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Vers Oohio gebers a lot of sly.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This is, of course nessun dorma from Puccini's Torndo, featuring
the breathtaking voice of my guest today, Jonathan Tedeleman. Born
a naturally gifted singer, Tedleman was recording with the Trans
Siberian Orchestra by the eighth grade. He started as a
baritone before transitioning to his true calling as a tenor.
(01:11):
After training at the Manhattan School of Music and Manis College,
Jonathan Teedleman walked away from opera briefly. Following a stint
working as a DJ in Manhattan nightclubs, Teedleman attended an
open call audition that would ultimately be the springboard for
his opera career. He won first prize in the twenty
(01:33):
seventeen New York Lyric Opera Competition and was the recipient
of the Classic Award for twenty twenty three Breakout Artist
of the Year. Teedleman travels the world performing works like
La Boem, Madam, Butterfly, and La Traviata in world class
opera halls across Europe and the Americas. I wanted to
(01:54):
know what his routine is like backstage before a performance.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So it actually kind of depends on the day. Regularly,
I eat everything, but leading up to a performance, I
really kind of have a stricter diet. I try to
find things that are not going to give me reflux
or you know, any sort of like spicy foods and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Avoid religiously dairy region exactly that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
And also alcohol. I don't drink two days before performance
nothing zero Wow, and you feel the difference. I could
feel the difference, but or I might, you know, I
think it's just not worth the risk. I've had incidences where,
you know, I have felt it and I was like,
you know what, if I can just take out that variable,
then that's way better.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Someone recognized that you had a singing was you're growing
up in Princeton and someone were you either your parents
taught at the university Nope, So you someone recognized when
you were eight that you had a voice. It was unique.
What does the eight year old sound like? You know?
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It was in a summer program. It was called Camp
College at the Mercer County Community College and there was
somebody there. You could take different courses and all these
different things, and I took the choral course and the
director there was like, oh, you know, you have a
nice you have a nice voice. And he told my
parents and they were like, well, exactly what does that mean?
What does he have a nice voice? He was like, oh, no,
he he could actually maybe do something with that. And
(03:14):
they're like, well, you're on key, and yeah, exactly. It
was very natural talent to be able to like the
fundamentals exactly. All those things came very naturally without any training.
So he said, you know, you should check out this school,
the American Boy Choir School, which is in Princeton. And
I went over there and I was like, oh, this
is this is right up my alley. I could do
choral singing every day of my life. That's awesome. And
(03:34):
as a kid, you know, it's kind of my parents
are like, that's a little weird. Why does our kid,
why does our eight year old want to be in
a choir? But you know, they they saw the value
in the school, and they saw the value in investing
in me and the things that I loved, and so
it took off from there.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Now, when you're young, when you get pulled into this
world and invited into this world to sing on a
serious level, and eventually you record this Christmas thing, what
does the Trans Siberian Orchestra find you?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It's so strange. I actually was just listening to that
album the other day and I was like, this is
probably the strangest album to ever go gold, I think
in classical Ish music, you know, I think that they
just wanted to have a variety because they're kind of
this more variety type of group. And they have this
one track with the boys. I think there was only
five or six of us, and we came into a
(04:24):
little recording studio like this and we sang this, remember
whatever track it was, and then we went home. I
mean it was really really clean and easy, and I
was probably fourteen years old, so it was, you know,
very exciting to come to a New York city and
you know, singing a recording studio.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
You didn't spend much time in the city when you
were growing.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Up, not so much, you know, being in school in
Princeton all the time. I think we had we had
school basically Monday to Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So Princeton's just for people who don't know the area. Princeton.
I've always said it is just far enough away from
New York for to be a pain in the ass
to come in. That's true, the specially in New Jersey.
Transit right from that margin, just a little too far.
Now you go because you want to meet girls, and
you want to meet girls who you join a band? Right,
do you sing in the band or you completely give
(05:09):
up singing? You just play the guitar?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, you sing rock and roll? Yeah, yeah, I mean
I taught myself the guitar. You know, actually all of
us in high school were kind of like teaching ourselves
the guitar. I went to kind of like a hippie
kind of schooling as well. Exactly, you're self taught in
many ways, self taught, self taught, but you know, I
got a lot of good guidance. So that's really the
only way you can develop skills. I mean, talent only
goes so far. So I think that, yeah, I want.
(05:34):
I was interested in some girls. I felt like the
guitar is an easy way to their hearts, and I
already had the voice, so you know, it was it
was an easy pairing. And yeah, I started a rock band.
I would sing, I'd play guitar, and I wrote a
lot of the songs. I probably wrote maybe twenty songs
while we were together.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It was what was the name of the band, Big Talk,
Big Talk, Big to love It? Now? When you you
go all through high school? Yes, singing publicly? Yeah? Any
of the professional Were you singing professionally at all? When
you were in high school?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I was with the Westminster Youth Corral and we did
sing a couple of professional things, But mostly I was
kind of deciding do I want to be a rock
and roll singer? Do I want to be a classical
music singer?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
And I made you choose the way you choose.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
You know, I felt like having some sort of degree
in music and having real training in New York City
would benefit me in the long run if I wanted
to make that choice. So I think you could always
pivot exactly. You know. I think that having taking the
chance and actually, you know, getting the formal training and
getting and making the connections is a lot more valuable
(06:39):
than kind of just going off my own and really
rolling the dice.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Now, I must say that you on YouTube books ten
years older than you do now, because in person. You're
much more boyish looking, and on YouTube you look powerful.
What do you do emotionally, if anything, to get out
there and sing like that?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Well, luckily I have a soundtrack, you know, I have
the music to really pump me up. And that's all
been within me, you know, that kind of that feeling
of connecting myself to music has always been there. So
it's a very natural thing for me to kind of
feel the strength when I'm on the stage. But if
I don't feel the strength necessarily that day, you know,
I I'll do a couple of push ups, a couple
you know, calisthenics backstage, get myself ready, pump myself up.
(07:19):
Red Bull never hurts. Also, like Jin Saying and B twelve,
you know, I'll do whatever whatever's there. You know, if
I need it, I gotta get it now. When you
but you then when you finish high school, you went
to study where first Manhattan School music and you were
there for how long? Four years underground?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Four years, four years hard time time? Did you enjoy it?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
I did?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I did it. It's a great school.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
It was I wish I actually waited to go and
went for masters. I think it was would be a
little bit more valuable, but I still really enjoyed the school.
I took everything I could.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
But you took the Masters of manas took the mesters
of Manis where's manising on the Upper west Side?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Upper west Side? Well it used to be. I think
it's all down in the new school. The affiliate with
the new school they are, I don't know, it's the
same school.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I didn't know. Yeah, So when you finish that, you
go on to have a private mentor correct a private
teacher for a while.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well, I kind of took a little a little segue
before my private study, I started DJing in the city.
I started club promoting. You know, I was a young
twenty three, twenty four, decently with personality. It was it was,
it was, it was.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It was an easy career. Was your doing? That's right,
that's right. It was officially a New Yorker, So I
had they can't do it anymore out there and go clubbing?
Is you a DJ for how long?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
So? I finished school twenty thirteen, so around then twenty
thirteen to twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
To just hang out, have some fun, make some money.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I was going through a transition. I was actually a
baritone at MSM, and I was starting to move into
tenor repertoire, and I just felt like I wasn't ready
for it physically, emotionally, everything, and I just didn't have
the focus.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I kind of kind of burned out, and I didn't
want to burn out completely. So I was like, you
know what, let me try something else for a little while,
and I'll come back to opera lea at some point.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So for people who don't understand, to move from singing
in baritone to tenor is a tremendous amount of work.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
It is, it is.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I mean I was always kind of a tenor, but
just a lazy tenor. I didn't really have the facility
to do it. So it just took it took me
some time, you know, and I had to I had
to recalibrate my brain to accept that I was a tenor.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I couldn't go back to being a baritone that I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
And when you and when you go from one to
the other, is that the typical goal of many people
who are a male singers tenor is where you ultimately
want to be. There's more opportunities and more great roles there.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
You know I would say, yes, there are, but you
don't really have a choice. You know, the voice is
the voice, and you have to develop the voice as
far as you can go. And if you're a tenor,
you need to develop your voice to be a tenor.
If you're a baritone, you need to develop it that way.
It's I call it the Harry Potter sorting hat. You know,
you just don't You don't get to choose. The voice
chooses you.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Now, this piece Remini Francesca, Yes, and and the piece
you you took a year to prepare for that piece,
over a year, right, and over a year. So this
is this during that phase when you were doing all
your nightclub work and stuff and like that. The I
had already committed.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I've already committed. I've already been a tenor. I'd done
a couple of tenor roles, but this one was really
starting to reach into the tenor.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Depths of technique and ability.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I got the role kind of early on when I
was when I was getting my new work as a tenor,
and I was a little hesitant to take it because
it's a really it's a really dramatic piece and for
a young guy, it's it's tough, but it's strange because
it's it's written for a young singer but with a
veteran technique, so it's very difficult to cast. But I
was ambitious and I was like, you know what, I
(10:46):
could do it, no problem. I was preparing the role,
and then I had started to have my doubts, and
right at that moment, COVID hit and I had six months,
seven months to just sit in my place and prepare
the role. And thank goodness, I actually had that time.
So I took advantage of it, and I really really
prepared that role. I've never prepared any other role before.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
What do you do for a year or more to
study your rolling? What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I mean, first of all, you know reading the story.
I read the Dante, I read the libretto many times.
I really got to understand the other characters in the story,
not just mine. I usually only have time to learn
my character, and then in rehearsals I learn everybody else's characters. So,
you know, putting that all together on top of the
technical difficulties of the role, which is which can take
(11:33):
I mean, it could take a year, it could take
five years, could take ten years. I mean, you just
don't know the voice is. You only know what you
can accomplish with the voice when you do it. And
luckily I had a lot of time to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
You have to find out if you can do it.
I had to find out, yeah right now. When you
are young, I mean a lot of people they start
to track roles or if they don't necessarily want to
play it. I just really love and enjoy that role.
When do you start to track the roles you wanted
to play? How old are you?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I think I'm in that right now. I mean that's
that's kind of I'm getting it in itself now exactly.
I'm kind of getting to the level where I can
decide these are the things that I really want to
take on, and then these other things maybe not so much.
And then there's a really like do not fly list.
It just takes a lot of experience because opera you
kind of just get shoved into it. You get pushed
onto the stage and you just got to do it.
(12:24):
And even with this last role at the Met, you know,
I didn't think that necessarily I would love the role,
but I ended up really not enjoying it at all
because I felt like the character itself just doesn't have
enough character. Puccini didn't right enough for the character to
have gravitas and intensity. And I learned that, you know,
I learned that this is just I will do it
(12:46):
here and then goodbye.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Some of these roles, I'm assuming every one of these roles,
but some more so than others, are very physically demanding
on you. Physically. Yes, I know you look an athlete
in terms of training for that as well.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Or I'm in the gym maybe twice a week, not
too much, but I have a two year old daughter,
so you know, I'm constantly doing dead lists, ready for.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
The Olympics, ready for you're going to Paris, that's right,
But you're tracking those roles. I'm wondering how much acting
is involved in what you do.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
It depends on each person. Some singers take it very seriously,
and you know, you will see some actual professional actors
on stage. But the majority, I would say, of opera
singers are not so attuned with the acting component of
the opera because it's on such a big scale. You know,
most most of the operas are not on TV. You know,
(13:37):
most of them are not even in a small vaudeville theater.
You know, they're in a huge four thousand seat arena
size building and you can't really see the acting. You
don't really you don't notice it. For me, I mean,
I try to really balance it out. I really try
to focus mostly on my voice, of course, because that's
the thing that you know, tells the story in the room.
But the acting part is something actually that I think
(14:00):
helps the colleagues. You know, when I give things and
i'm and I'm working with somebody and I'm feeling emotions,
it not only heightens the intensity between the characters, but
also my own character. And I think that there's a
huge value to that. That's kind of an It's unfortunate,
but it's not such an unnecessary component in the in
the opera preparation process anymore. So.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I'm assuming all these roles are challenging, but of the
ones you've done thus far, and then in a separate
category ones you hope to do, what's one of the
most challenging ones you've done so far?
Speaker 5 (14:31):
And why?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know, they're all very challenging in different ways and
sometimes unexpected ways. I'll give you an example. The last
stoper I did at the MET, I didn't think it
was going to be challenging, you know. I learned the role,
I learned the character everything, I was like, wow, this
is this is going to be a walk in the park.
But really, the way that Puccini designed the role is
it's kind of boring and it's a challenge to play
a boring character with a lot of boring music. And
(14:55):
it's a lot of a lot of dialogue and not
a lot of melody. It's it was a ch in
its own way, lad And it's more, it's not really
an opera. It's more of an opera atta kind of
mixed with a play. It it doesn't really have this
operatic moment that you're that you expect from Puccini until
the very end. There's a beautiful duet at the end,
which thank god it's there. But the rest of the opera,
(15:18):
especially for my character, is is very dialogue based. It's
not it's not so, it's not so Puccinies.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
What do they tell you to try to motivate you?
What does the director say?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I found my own motivation really, yeah, came to work
with the director sometimes interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
That's interesting now when you're there. Obviously, the met is
considered one of the Great Lascala in all these legendary places,
and the Meta is considered one of the great houses
to sing an opera. But is the met still the
temple of opera that people view it as?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
It certainly is the United States, if not the world.
I mean it's it's the it's top three, top.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Five opera house. You know, the thing you enjoy performing there?
I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I mean, it's a wonderful acoustic it's a it's a
it's a barn. I mean, it's the Colosseum. I mean really,
I feel like, you know, Russell Crowe, you know, Gladiator
in there, but uh, you know, and that that's its
own challenge. But I think it's it's very well designed
and it's very well run, so it works. It's a
machine that I would not want to operate myself, but
I'm glad that I could be, you know, a fly
(16:19):
on the wall and see what's going on.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Is that world constricting a little bit like classical music
in terms of the audience.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
And I think in the United States, yeah, a lot,
because you know, it's all privately funded, you know, and
the money it's it's hard to get now, I think,
you know, it only gets harder with the with the
arts and the way that in politics we portray the
arts unfortunately. I think in Europe. That's why we're mostly
over in Europe. You know, I have a lot more states.
(16:46):
I mean, every little city, every little town in Germany
has an opera house and they're all at a reasonable level.
And then you have places like Berlin and Munich and
Hamburg and Frankfurt, and you know, they you can make
an easy living over there, and then you could just
fly one hour to Vienna or two hours to Milan
and sing internationally.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
How would you describe the difference between audiences in the
United States and Europe.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You know, there is a difference. I would say the
typical United States audience, I would say, you know, you
probably have twenty twenty five percent of the people are
regular opera goers that really know the.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Peace in Europe.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
In the United States, I would say about twenty percent
they know the piece, you know, they go all the time.
And then the rest is kind of people that are
going there because they like opera and or first timers
and stuff like that. So I think the enthusiasm for
the opera in the United States is always pretty good,
you know, unless it's a real train wreck. You know,
(17:46):
you never, You're never. I basically say the met you know,
you always see a standing ovation at the end of
the night because they're always very happy place New York exactly,
you know. And but I would say in Europe you
got to really work for that, especially places like London.
You know, I think that the personality of the people
is a little different. So to get people on their
feet in Covent Garden or at the Colisseum, it's it's
(18:07):
much more difficult. And then in Italy, well then we'll
keep going. Well, actually we'll go to Germany next. Germany,
you know, I think even getting an applause after an
Aria is extremely difficult. You know, they're much more reserved.
But if they really like the show, they'll applaud for
twenty thirty forty minutes after just for bows. I mean,
it's a completely different thing. Then, and then we head
(18:28):
to Italy. There's nothing, there's nothing good in it, especially
if you're American. Should they A lot of them think, oh,
he's an American, he should be paying to sing on
this stage. God and you I mean they you know,
the mafia kind of still exists there in terms of
the opera. You got to pay off certain people to
give you applause or not give you boot in the
(18:50):
equipment exactly. So it's it's the wild, wild South down there,
I think. Still, but that's really the I think that's
the authentic opera culture. And I think that they're right.
I think that they're totally right to have this, because
that's really what you want. You want this excitement. You know,
you have no idea what the hell's going to happen,
and anything can just go wrong at any moments. Notice,
(19:11):
somebody could just start screaming, booze or throwing things that
you Also, the theaters are very different. All of the
American theaters are very new, I mean nineteen sixties, but
you know they're not from the seventeen eighteen hundreds. You know,
there's a very big difference in the acoustics and the
way that they smell and they feel. And when you
walk into an Italian theater, you this history kind of
(19:34):
just like flows over you. You always feel it when
you're in there, even as an audience member, you're like, wow,
you know, this is this is something else.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
The met is very historical, of course, but it's a
relatively new opera theater compared to something like Vienna or Lascala,
any of these places.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
You lot, Jonathan Tedelman. If you enjoy conversations with powerful
operatic voices, check out my episode with five time Grammy
Award winner soprano Renee Fleming.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
So when I sing Tayis, for instance, at the met
some years ago and had these spectacular costumes from Christian Lacroix,
you just thought the stars have aligned to make this
role suit me perfectly. Right now.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I love singing in French.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
I love Massona the way it lies, the character, the
fact that you know, the psychological drama, and this opera
where these two people completely change places with each other.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
To hear more of my conversation with Renee Fleming, go
to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break, Jonathan
Tedleman shares the story of meeting his wife on a
dating app. Hi'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's
(21:30):
the Thing.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Man on Me, demnd.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Sae Mobby Lady.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Love Money Money.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
See this is Jonathan Tedelman performing Donna nonvidi mai from
Puccini's Mano Let's Go. Tedeleman has worked with some of
the best conductors in the world. Yet he is clear
to make the distinction between your average maestro and the
(22:16):
conductors who can conduct opera.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I think there's very few great, great opera conductors. I
think that there's probably a handful of them in the world.
We have a lot of good conductors, but really top
people that know these operas so well, that know the
voice so well.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
This is really rare now.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I think that it's also become difficult I think for
a lot of a lot of singers, because you know,
you never really know what you're going to get with
a conductor nowadays, because there's there's just so many of them,
and a lot of them are kind of learning this
art as they go as well, like the singers are well.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Levine, who I loved and wanted him to do this
show with us, and who obviously had a controversial to
his career and then died recently. Yes, Levine was somebody
who wherever I would see him, without becoming silly and
without becoming excessive. He had this wonderful level of enthusiasm
when he was conducting. He was like you could see
(23:14):
him feeling it in a way other people are keeping time.
The old maestrows, don't get too emotional. Some of them
are going to fly off the podium they're wound up.
And he was somebody who just had to was just right.
The level of passion right that he was imbuing with
his motions and his movements and things like that. I
loved Lemon. Is there someone you can mention that you
dream of working with his or conductor ether you're thinking, God,
(23:36):
you know that? Would we don't insult all the other
ones you already worked with.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You know, I could say that I've I've already worked
with one of my favorite conductors, Daniel Orrin, and I
think that this is he's a rare breed.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know, he grew up as a singer. Actually it
was discovered by Leonard Bernstein. His talent, and he's also Jewish.
He's part of my tribe, so I appreciate that. But
you know, he's really old school Italian kind of conductor.
You know, all of his training was in Italy, and
he knows the pieces better than I think almost anyone.
I mean, he's an unbelievable and unbelievable maestro. He's a
(24:09):
little temperamental, but I think that that actually comes in
your favor when you get on stage and you have
somebody to support you and and help you deliver when
you need it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Now, you were born in Chile, yes, and you left
there when six months old and your parents took you
or you were, well, they adopted me, but they were
they didn't take me. So you never met your birth parents, never,
and you know any about their history. No, your adoptive
parents are Jewish. Yes, you want you know, Chilean Catholic
or something. Probably was it was.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I mean, I'm sure I was from Castro and that's
like the Catholic the capital of Chile.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So right, But you were raised Jewish, I was by
your parents, So no connection to Chile, no feelings about Chile.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
No, No, I mean I will actually be doing some
sort of South American tour next year. I am planning
to go to my place of birth. There's actually a
beautiful theater nearby called Teatro de Lago, and it's this
theater on the lake obviously, and and then I'll maybe
sing in San Diego, Buenos Aires, Peru, Monte Video, just
(25:15):
kind of re enter my South American Harris South American
circuit exactly exactly. But I really wanted to do this,
and I've been waiting to do it. I was planning
actually doing it this summer, but unfortunately my wife's visas
issues we cannot be from. She's Romanian. That's why the
Romanian connection, and that's the Romaining connection. And they won't
let her leave the country until she has her green card.
(25:37):
So here we are stuck in the US of A.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
If anybody can sing their way to their wife's green card,
I have faith, amen, I have faith to the White House. Probably,
I'm sure I'm not the first one. Anything I can
do for you there, Jonathan, you like, as a matter
of fact, mister President, that's right. They were in a
little favor you could do for me. Now, what's one
of the strange I mean, opera is so complain I
(26:00):
watched that documentary about the Ring and Levine conducted that
and they showed those big big paddles, those seaws and
the whole crazy thing. Yeah, and they showed the rehearsals.
They would they would stop and go sliding down park
like they were in Washington Square Park. You'd be like,
zip off the stage. What's the craziest thing that ever
(26:21):
happened to you during a show that any like wacky
things ever happening when you were doing a show.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Well, I've definitely injured myself a few times. I've done
the opera Tosca, and always in that opera there's the
death of Covered Dulcie where he gets killed by firing squad.
And before I really actually knew how to fall, I
was falling and falling and falling, and then eventually I
had this enormous bruise across my entire leg and up
my back. And I kept because I just kept falling
on my hip every night, and by the last show,
(26:46):
I was like hobbling the entire opera.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It was horrible.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
But then I learned, you know how to actually do
it correctly.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I did a play once and I'm banging my hand
on a table. I'm punching him. I'm doing street car
named Desiron Broadway. On the line is remember what Ui
Long said? Every man is a king and I am
the king around here. I bashed the team. It was
a hickory table out with the hardest fucking wood. With
the wood they made like Washington's coffin out back hard.
I heard the wood exactly. The table hit me and
(27:15):
I literally get I crushed my knuckle. I kill my
nerve from in between my pinky finger and the next
finger of it. I crushed the nerve wrapping up in
behind my through my forearm, wrapping up in like the
saiattica of your upper front, and it goes wraps around
my bicyle. And I couldn't do one push up. I
went down. I just and my chest muscle just died.
(27:35):
Well and it comes out of the air down anyway,
like if you do push ups. Yeah, you're you know,
exerting the same system. And this happened to me, and
my hands are turned black, not blue black.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
My goodness.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
No he's your wife an opera singer.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
No she's not.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
We actually met on Tinder in London. She was working
for the Soho House. She was a manager of a
restaurant at the ned.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I can't believe you're so desperate, you're you know, I
was just I just was there to make.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
You know. It was It's like one of those tender
stories that actually out hotel.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Am I swiping?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Am I that I don't know super swiping? Actually you
met her? We met, Yeah, we met.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
What's it like for you when when you're on Tinder
and you meet the person either there what you hope
they would be or they're not.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I mean, I think she was more the person that
I expected than I was the person that she expected.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
What does she expect?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Well, you know I had some nice pictures and all
these things. You know, you've seen me on on on
the camera and you see me in the real life.
You know that there is difference. So I think that
it's slight different, a slight different the guy.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I also had a.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Little bit more weight at that time, so you know,
it was a little bit more powerful, a little power.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
Yeah, I like that powerful play. You look like you
could be playing defense event for the Cowboys. I don't
know on video video. In person, you look you could
be playing tennis and Yale or something.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
That's good. That's good.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yes, I get I got a lot of I got
a lot of federer.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Actually, that's that's that's my that's my So we get
the woman, your wife, who the woman who're gonna actually
partner with and have a baby, And are you married? Married?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We just got married as we went. We got off
the plane at JFK, drove down to West Virginia and
got married the next morning. Why West Virginia because you
can get a marriage licensed day of and we wanted
to submit everything as fast as we could to get
the green carts.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Ordinially raised in Princeton with my wife from Romania, get
married in West Virginia.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
That's right, And now we're gonna we're gonna be moving
back to Berlin next year. So yeah, that's where we'll be.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Love that to be home for now. Why a lot
of work, Yeah, it's the work.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
It's it's just the it's simple. It's more simple there.
We can go to her family very easily. It's only
two hours. I can go to basically anywhere in Europe
within three hours. And you know, it's just that's where
the opera really is. You have three major opera houses
right in that city. Then you have obviously the Berlin Philharmonic,
and then also universal music is there. So for me,
(29:56):
it's it's almost a no brainer. And the education is
very good and free.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Do you see yourself doing this for the rest of
your life? I mean, like in my own case, I
did this for forty something years and now I'd rather
stay home more than work. Well, I'm happier staying home
than working. I used to go to work. I was
very enthusiastic and work rather than let one off the other.
You know, for a twenty year period in all I
cared about really was work, right, but I cared about
my family and so but I really didn't hesitate to
(30:22):
go out and grab the jobs while they were there.
And now I'm just not as interested.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
I understand, you know, I think I would like to
do other things eventually, I would I would like to
do a lot of things. I'm interested in actually acting itself.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, we were going to say my producers that were like,
what about acting? When are you going to go into that?
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I am interested, you know, and I'm kind of a
big fan of Mariolnza and this kind of tradition of
these great singers in film. I think that that's kind
of a missing element to the world right now. I
think that that's there could be a draw for an
inspirational thing for a lot of young people to really
connect with music that is so meaningful and.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
So so you should develop an NETNA series for like
a Netflix or Apple or one of these people are
of Amazon Prime where it's about the world of opera
and it's a narrative. You play a character. I mean,
it's a cooler world.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
And most people know, you know, most people think opera okay,
they they're just talented. They just get on that stage,
they sing, they you know, they make they do that,
they do that thing. I don't want to know really
about that, but yeah, it's that thing. But actually it's
it's a kind of normal life mixed with this life
of just like going from job to job, place to place,
person to person and roll to role. You know, everything,
(31:34):
every new place is a new experience. It's it's actually
very exciting.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Well, I mean, as you probably can guess, if we
did the TV series with you and the lead as
the opera singer, you'd be this incredibly handsome, gifted opera singer,
but in behind the scenes you'd be completely fucked up
and messed up, completely exactly on TV you gotta be
messed I'd have to ask your buddy to take me
to the clubs and you have to really wind down,
you know, add just can't. You got to pull it
together for one more.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
You know, this is no longer reality show.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
This is a drama. Yeah, exactly, this is a documentary.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
This is actually Mario Lonza.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Chess tenor Jonathan Tedtleman if you're enjoying this episode, don't
keep it to yourself. Tell a friend and be sure
to follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back, Jonathan
Tedleman shares what happens behind the scenes before an opera
(32:36):
can be staged. M I'm Alec Baldwin and this is
(33:16):
here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Jelly Lamony, son of.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Shame John.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
With on set.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
From Puccini's La Ba M. This is Jonathan Tedleman with
k Jalida Manina.
Speaker 5 (33:46):
Mama, you do not know.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Me.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Tittleman may be a young man, but he's been singing
for two decades. I wanted to know his advice for
the next generation of opera singers.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
You know, to be an opera singer, you have to
have the most open mind. You know, you really and
you really can't think that you know you know everything.
You really have to always second guess a little bit.
You have to really be ready to change things about
who you are and your voice and and your perspective
and everything like that, because you know, all the time
your instrument is in your body, and your body is
(34:36):
always changing and you you can't really take it for
granted to be like, oh I know how to sing,
I can just sing. You know, every day is a
different day, so you have to have a plan for
anything to happen and everything to happen, because it will happen.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
When you come to work. When you're performing like a
big role, yeah some you know, it's a real serious
gig for you with some heavy venue. What's your day like?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It depends on the opera house I met. They like
to rehearse, I'll say, you know they have a saying
the same day. No, no, I mean we rehearse. We
don't have to we don't have to sing.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Luckily, what's an opera rehearsal with no singing? What do
they do? Well?
Speaker 3 (35:12):
We just do staging, I mean staging and logistics, choreography.
If if you're lucky, you have a good director and
you have a good collaborative team of people that can act,
then you can develop things even more. You know, it
just just depends on who you get. And that's the
thing about operator is you don't really know who you
get until you get there.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
What do you like to do with your spare time?
Do you feel that you can go clubbing and enjoy life?
To the fullest story. You have to really really, are
you like Jake Lamada asking him for a piece of ice?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
You know, I never I never need to go to
another club. I think I'm I think I'm all set
right now. You know, we're preparing our wedding reception because
you know we've got married.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
We're hired to sing there.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Actually, you have an open piano cocktail hour, so all
of my buddies and whoever wants to get up will
have a so they could just get up and do
their thing. Are most of your friends in the business, Yeah,
I would say, or or there's in some way interested
in singing, which is really weird. My whole, my whole
wedding party. I'd realize that every one of them is
an opera singer or wants to be one.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
So what do you do?
Speaker 1 (36:17):
What do you like to do on a night off?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
I mean, we don't take many nights off. You know,
we're mostly at home, just like hanging with the kid
and playing with her. You know, it's a it's an
important time right now. You know, we really enjoy spending
time with our daughter. But you know, when we're on tour,
you know, we have actually we don't really want to
stay home. You know, we want to see the cities.
So when we're in Italy, you know, we want to
see all the churches, we want to see all the museums.
We just want to walk around. We were in Palermo recently,
(36:40):
and you know, we would go to the market every
day and get get fresh fish, fresh groceries everything. You
know that that's like it's a different type of life.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
European life.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Very cool actually, because you know, and get the practice
a little Italian or any of your.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Parents or either your parents willing to go on the
road with you for these luxurious trips. You can have
the kids and take care of the kids.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
They're a bit too willing. That's their retire may my
son like, son, where are we going? We're gonna go
to They'll find us. They'll find us, you're kidding, that's
where you go. They usually come and they spend maybe
three to three to five weeks with us at a time,
which is really nice.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah. Easy.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
You know, I don't have them forever, so it's it's
wonderful to have them.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
At any moment, what are you doing next? Well, I'm
doing Butterfly at the met now you're rehearsing. Now, we're rehearsing.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Actually I'm I'm supposed to sing tomorrow, but I'm not
feeling well, So I think I'm not going to sing tomorrow.
And when you make that call with them, it's a
tough call, you know. I think I think it's they
appreciate it. And I think that a lot of singers
struggle making that call because they feel like, oh, if
I cancel, you know, they'll they won't hire me again.
They'll think I'm unreliable. But I actually think it's an important.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Order for everybody else to move forward during the rehearsal right,
not be held up by you, even though it's say, well.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Now we're in the performances, so oh you're running. Oh
we're running. We're running tomorrow opening night. But you know,
tomorrow's the opening night, opening night, and and I'm not there.
You know, I just know that I'm not going to
be at.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I usually have an understudy.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Obviously, we have an understudy. And if I'm not ninety percent,
I don't sing. Actually saying that HD broadcast last week,
completely sick, I had no voice, and luckily I had
a great doctor who prescribed me some wonderful Western medication
to get me through the show, but otherwise I would
have had nothing.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Now, watches, What is your thing about collecting watches?
Speaker 3 (38:32):
You know, I kind of mostly collect Omega watches. I
actually really like the Omega history of Omega. There's so
many different types of Omegas, probably one of the more
interesting brands, I think, because they didn't really set out
to be like, oh, this is a luxury brand or whatever.
You know, there are really a lot of them. A
lot of them I have are like officer watches or
kind of daily wear watches. And then they kind of
(38:53):
they did the James Bond stuff. So their history is
very interesting. I think it's very rooted into like people
that want collect watches. They don't make them fifty thousand dollars,
you know, they make them under ten grand typically, So
I think it's a it's a good brand to connect
myself too. I wish they'd give me a.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Call, you know, hello Omega at Hello Swatch watches and
sing Madama Butterfly. That's right, Well you're running at the
met in Madam Butterfly for how.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Long until May eleventh? That's the HD broadcast actually, so
that's that show. Will be that will be broadcast, yes, live,
it'll be a live broadcast.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
And when you do that show typically, because this is
something I'm rather ignorant about, it typically runs how many performances.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Typically I would say a run is anywhere between five
and twelve shows. It depends. So my my Rondine was
eight and the Butterfly's five.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
No, yes, only five shows.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Well, if it's in May labor of love, you can't
sing every night. You can't.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
You have to sing, I mean, at the most once
every other night, but you really need two days off
to rest the voice. That what you have now, I
have that now at the met that's what they give you.
And it's really it's a luxury in Europe. You don't
always get that. It's a lifestyle. You know, you have
you come to expect it that this is what you do.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Special thanks to Deutsche Gramophone for the beautiful recordings in
this episode. My thanks to Jonathan Tedeleman. I'll leave you
with his rendition of a look of that lustelle from
Puccini's Tosca. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the thing, is brought
to you by iHeart Radio.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Little. It's a.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
I would bus so still enough for Inta, I didn't
not feel like a hunting.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Me cut the not even that charm. Oh word.
Speaker 6 (41:44):
Love me.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Crt intre of love. Never laugh, for.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
Smarty had sent the son your NEDO to lit my
(42:34):
Sten
This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the
Thing from iHeart Radios.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Vers Oohio gebers a lot of sly.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This is, of course nessun dorma from Puccini's Torndo, featuring
the breathtaking voice of my guest today, Jonathan Tedeleman. Born
a naturally gifted singer, Tedleman was recording with the Trans
Siberian Orchestra by the eighth grade. He started as a
baritone before transitioning to his true calling as a tenor.
(01:11):
After training at the Manhattan School of Music and Manis College,
Jonathan Teedleman walked away from opera briefly. Following a stint
working as a DJ in Manhattan nightclubs, Teedleman attended an
open call audition that would ultimately be the springboard for
his opera career. He won first prize in the twenty
(01:33):
seventeen New York Lyric Opera Competition and was the recipient
of the Classic Award for twenty twenty three Breakout Artist
of the Year. Teedleman travels the world performing works like
La Boem, Madam, Butterfly, and La Traviata in world class
opera halls across Europe and the Americas. I wanted to
(01:54):
know what his routine is like backstage before a performance.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
So it actually kind of depends on the day. Regularly,
I eat everything, but leading up to a performance, I
really kind of have a stricter diet. I try to
find things that are not going to give me reflux
or you know, any sort of like spicy foods and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Avoid religiously dairy region exactly that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
And also alcohol. I don't drink two days before performance
nothing zero Wow, and you feel the difference. I could
feel the difference, but or I might, you know, I
think it's just not worth the risk. I've had incidences where,
you know, I have felt it and I was like,
you know what, if I can just take out that variable,
then that's way better.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Someone recognized that you had a singing was you're growing
up in Princeton and someone were you either your parents
taught at the university Nope, So you someone recognized when
you were eight that you had a voice. It was unique.
What does the eight year old sound like? You know?
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It was in a summer program. It was called Camp
College at the Mercer County Community College and there was
somebody there. You could take different courses and all these
different things, and I took the choral course and the
director there was like, oh, you know, you have a
nice you have a nice voice. And he told my
parents and they were like, well, exactly what does that mean?
What does he have a nice voice? He was like, oh, no,
he he could actually maybe do something with that. And
(03:14):
they're like, well, you're on key, and yeah, exactly. It
was very natural talent to be able to like the
fundamentals exactly. All those things came very naturally without any training.
So he said, you know, you should check out this school,
the American Boy Choir School, which is in Princeton. And
I went over there and I was like, oh, this
is this is right up my alley. I could do
choral singing every day of my life. That's awesome. And
(03:34):
as a kid, you know, it's kind of my parents
are like, that's a little weird. Why does our kid,
why does our eight year old want to be in
a choir? But you know, they they saw the value
in the school, and they saw the value in investing
in me and the things that I loved, and so
it took off from there.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Now, when you're young, when you get pulled into this
world and invited into this world to sing on a
serious level, and eventually you record this Christmas thing, what
does the Trans Siberian Orchestra find you?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It's so strange. I actually was just listening to that
album the other day and I was like, this is
probably the strangest album to ever go gold, I think
in classical Ish music, you know, I think that they
just wanted to have a variety because they're kind of
this more variety type of group. And they have this
one track with the boys. I think there was only
five or six of us, and we came into a
(04:24):
little recording studio like this and we sang this, remember
whatever track it was, and then we went home. I
mean it was really really clean and easy, and I
was probably fourteen years old, so it was, you know,
very exciting to come to a New York city and
you know, singing a recording studio.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
You didn't spend much time in the city when you
were growing.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Up, not so much, you know, being in school in
Princeton all the time. I think we had we had
school basically Monday to Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So Princeton's just for people who don't know the area. Princeton.
I've always said it is just far enough away from
New York for to be a pain in the ass
to come in. That's true, the specially in New Jersey.
Transit right from that margin, just a little too far.
Now you go because you want to meet girls, and
you want to meet girls who you join a band? Right,
do you sing in the band or you completely give
(05:09):
up singing? You just play the guitar?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, you sing rock and roll? Yeah, yeah, I mean
I taught myself the guitar. You know, actually all of
us in high school were kind of like teaching ourselves
the guitar. I went to kind of like a hippie
kind of schooling as well. Exactly, you're self taught in
many ways, self taught, self taught, but you know, I
got a lot of good guidance. So that's really the
only way you can develop skills. I mean, talent only
goes so far. So I think that, yeah, I want.
(05:34):
I was interested in some girls. I felt like the
guitar is an easy way to their hearts, and I
already had the voice, so you know, it was it
was an easy pairing. And yeah, I started a rock band.
I would sing, I'd play guitar, and I wrote a
lot of the songs. I probably wrote maybe twenty songs
while we were together.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It was what was the name of the band, Big Talk,
Big Talk, Big to love It? Now? When you you
go all through high school? Yes, singing publicly? Yeah? Any
of the professional Were you singing professionally at all? When
you were in high school?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I was with the Westminster Youth Corral and we did
sing a couple of professional things, But mostly I was
kind of deciding do I want to be a rock
and roll singer? Do I want to be a classical
music singer?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
And I made you choose the way you choose.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
You know, I felt like having some sort of degree
in music and having real training in New York City
would benefit me in the long run if I wanted
to make that choice. So I think you could always
pivot exactly. You know. I think that having taking the
chance and actually, you know, getting the formal training and
getting and making the connections is a lot more valuable
(06:39):
than kind of just going off my own and really
rolling the dice.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Now, I must say that you on YouTube books ten
years older than you do now, because in person. You're
much more boyish looking, and on YouTube you look powerful.
What do you do emotionally, if anything, to get out
there and sing like that?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Well, luckily I have a soundtrack, you know, I have
the music to really pump me up. And that's all
been within me, you know, that kind of that feeling
of connecting myself to music has always been there. So
it's a very natural thing for me to kind of
feel the strength when I'm on the stage. But if
I don't feel the strength necessarily that day, you know,
I I'll do a couple of push ups, a couple
you know, calisthenics backstage, get myself ready, pump myself up.
(07:19):
Red Bull never hurts. Also, like Jin Saying and B twelve,
you know, I'll do whatever whatever's there. You know, if
I need it, I gotta get it now. When you
but you then when you finish high school, you went
to study where first Manhattan School music and you were
there for how long? Four years underground?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Four years, four years hard time time? Did you enjoy it?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
I did?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I did it. It's a great school.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
It was I wish I actually waited to go and
went for masters. I think it was would be a
little bit more valuable, but I still really enjoyed the school.
I took everything I could.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
But you took the Masters of manas took the mesters
of Manis where's manising on the Upper west Side?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Upper west Side? Well it used to be. I think
it's all down in the new school. The affiliate with
the new school they are, I don't know, it's the
same school.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I didn't know. Yeah, So when you finish that, you
go on to have a private mentor correct a private
teacher for a while.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well, I kind of took a little a little segue
before my private study, I started DJing in the city.
I started club promoting. You know, I was a young
twenty three, twenty four, decently with personality. It was it was,
it was, it was.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It was an easy career. Was your doing? That's right,
that's right. It was officially a New Yorker, So I
had they can't do it anymore out there and go clubbing?
Is you a DJ for how long?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
So? I finished school twenty thirteen, so around then twenty
thirteen to twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
To just hang out, have some fun, make some money.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I was going through a transition. I was actually a
baritone at MSM, and I was starting to move into
tenor repertoire, and I just felt like I wasn't ready
for it physically, emotionally, everything, and I just didn't have
the focus.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I kind of kind of burned out, and I didn't
want to burn out completely. So I was like, you
know what, let me try something else for a little while,
and I'll come back to opera lea at some point.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So for people who don't understand, to move from singing
in baritone to tenor is a tremendous amount of work.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
It is, it is.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I mean I was always kind of a tenor, but
just a lazy tenor. I didn't really have the facility
to do it. So it just took it took me
some time, you know, and I had to I had
to recalibrate my brain to accept that I was a tenor.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I couldn't go back to being a baritone that I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
And when you and when you go from one to
the other, is that the typical goal of many people
who are a male singers tenor is where you ultimately
want to be. There's more opportunities and more great roles there.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
You know I would say, yes, there are, but you
don't really have a choice. You know, the voice is
the voice, and you have to develop the voice as
far as you can go. And if you're a tenor,
you need to develop your voice to be a tenor.
If you're a baritone, you need to develop it that way.
It's I call it the Harry Potter sorting hat. You know,
you just don't You don't get to choose. The voice
chooses you.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Now, this piece Remini Francesca, Yes, and and the piece
you you took a year to prepare for that piece,
over a year, right, and over a year. So this
is this during that phase when you were doing all
your nightclub work and stuff and like that. The I
had already committed.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I've already committed. I've already been a tenor. I'd done
a couple of tenor roles, but this one was really
starting to reach into the tenor.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Depths of technique and ability.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I got the role kind of early on when I
was when I was getting my new work as a tenor,
and I was a little hesitant to take it because
it's a really it's a really dramatic piece and for
a young guy, it's it's tough, but it's strange because
it's it's written for a young singer but with a
veteran technique, so it's very difficult to cast. But I
was ambitious and I was like, you know what, I
(10:46):
could do it, no problem. I was preparing the role,
and then I had started to have my doubts, and
right at that moment, COVID hit and I had six months,
seven months to just sit in my place and prepare
the role. And thank goodness, I actually had that time.
So I took advantage of it, and I really really
prepared that role. I've never prepared any other role before.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
What do you do for a year or more to
study your rolling? What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I mean, first of all, you know reading the story.
I read the Dante, I read the libretto many times.
I really got to understand the other characters in the story,
not just mine. I usually only have time to learn
my character, and then in rehearsals I learn everybody else's characters. So,
you know, putting that all together on top of the
technical difficulties of the role, which is which can take
(11:33):
I mean, it could take a year, it could take
five years, could take ten years. I mean, you just
don't know the voice is. You only know what you
can accomplish with the voice when you do it. And
luckily I had a lot of time to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
You have to find out if you can do it.
I had to find out, yeah right now. When you
are young, I mean a lot of people they start
to track roles or if they don't necessarily want to
play it. I just really love and enjoy that role.
When do you start to track the roles you wanted
to play? How old are you?
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I think I'm in that right now. I mean that's
that's kind of I'm getting it in itself now exactly.
I'm kind of getting to the level where I can
decide these are the things that I really want to
take on, and then these other things maybe not so much.
And then there's a really like do not fly list.
It just takes a lot of experience because opera you
kind of just get shoved into it. You get pushed
onto the stage and you just got to do it.
(12:24):
And even with this last role at the Met, you know,
I didn't think that necessarily I would love the role,
but I ended up really not enjoying it at all
because I felt like the character itself just doesn't have
enough character. Puccini didn't right enough for the character to
have gravitas and intensity. And I learned that, you know,
I learned that this is just I will do it
(12:46):
here and then goodbye.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Some of these roles, I'm assuming every one of these roles,
but some more so than others, are very physically demanding
on you. Physically. Yes, I know you look an athlete
in terms of training for that as well.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Or I'm in the gym maybe twice a week, not
too much, but I have a two year old daughter,
so you know, I'm constantly doing dead lists, ready for.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
The Olympics, ready for you're going to Paris, that's right,
But you're tracking those roles. I'm wondering how much acting
is involved in what you do.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
It depends on each person. Some singers take it very seriously,
and you know, you will see some actual professional actors
on stage. But the majority, I would say, of opera
singers are not so attuned with the acting component of
the opera because it's on such a big scale. You know,
most most of the operas are not on TV. You know,
(13:37):
most of them are not even in a small vaudeville theater.
You know, they're in a huge four thousand seat arena
size building and you can't really see the acting. You
don't really you don't notice it. For me, I mean,
I try to really balance it out. I really try
to focus mostly on my voice, of course, because that's
the thing that you know, tells the story in the room.
But the acting part is something actually that I think
(14:00):
helps the colleagues. You know, when I give things and
i'm and I'm working with somebody and I'm feeling emotions,
it not only heightens the intensity between the characters, but
also my own character. And I think that there's a
huge value to that. That's kind of an It's unfortunate,
but it's not such an unnecessary component in the in
the opera preparation process anymore. So.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I'm assuming all these roles are challenging, but of the
ones you've done thus far, and then in a separate
category ones you hope to do, what's one of the
most challenging ones you've done so far?
Speaker 5 (14:31):
And why?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You know, they're all very challenging in different ways and
sometimes unexpected ways. I'll give you an example. The last
stoper I did at the MET, I didn't think it
was going to be challenging, you know. I learned the role,
I learned the character everything, I was like, wow, this
is this is going to be a walk in the park.
But really, the way that Puccini designed the role is
it's kind of boring and it's a challenge to play
a boring character with a lot of boring music. And
(14:55):
it's a lot of a lot of dialogue and not
a lot of melody. It's it was a ch in
its own way, lad And it's more, it's not really
an opera. It's more of an opera atta kind of
mixed with a play. It it doesn't really have this
operatic moment that you're that you expect from Puccini until
the very end. There's a beautiful duet at the end,
which thank god it's there. But the rest of the opera,
(15:18):
especially for my character, is is very dialogue based. It's
not it's not so, it's not so Puccinies.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
What do they tell you to try to motivate you?
What does the director say?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I found my own motivation really, yeah, came to work
with the director sometimes interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
That's interesting now when you're there. Obviously, the met is
considered one of the Great Lascala in all these legendary places,
and the Meta is considered one of the great houses
to sing an opera. But is the met still the
temple of opera that people view it as?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
It certainly is the United States, if not the world.
I mean it's it's the it's top three, top.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Five opera house. You know, the thing you enjoy performing there?
I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I mean, it's a wonderful acoustic it's a it's a
it's a barn. I mean, it's the Colosseum. I mean really,
I feel like, you know, Russell Crowe, you know, Gladiator
in there, but uh, you know, and that that's its
own challenge. But I think it's it's very well designed
and it's very well run, so it works. It's a
machine that I would not want to operate myself, but
I'm glad that I could be, you know, a fly
(16:19):
on the wall and see what's going on.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Is that world constricting a little bit like classical music
in terms of the audience.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
And I think in the United States, yeah, a lot,
because you know, it's all privately funded, you know, and
the money it's it's hard to get now, I think,
you know, it only gets harder with the with the
arts and the way that in politics we portray the
arts unfortunately. I think in Europe. That's why we're mostly
over in Europe. You know, I have a lot more states.
(16:46):
I mean, every little city, every little town in Germany
has an opera house and they're all at a reasonable level.
And then you have places like Berlin and Munich and
Hamburg and Frankfurt, and you know, they you can make
an easy living over there, and then you could just
fly one hour to Vienna or two hours to Milan
and sing internationally.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
How would you describe the difference between audiences in the
United States and Europe.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You know, there is a difference. I would say the
typical United States audience, I would say, you know, you
probably have twenty twenty five percent of the people are
regular opera goers that really know the.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Peace in Europe.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
In the United States, I would say about twenty percent
they know the piece, you know, they go all the time.
And then the rest is kind of people that are
going there because they like opera and or first timers
and stuff like that. So I think the enthusiasm for
the opera in the United States is always pretty good,
you know, unless it's a real train wreck. You know,
(17:46):
you never, You're never. I basically say the met you know,
you always see a standing ovation at the end of
the night because they're always very happy place New York exactly,
you know. And but I would say in Europe you
got to really work for that, especially places like London.
You know, I think that the personality of the people
is a little different. So to get people on their
feet in Covent Garden or at the Colisseum, it's it's
(18:07):
much more difficult. And then in Italy, well then we'll
keep going. Well, actually we'll go to Germany next. Germany,
you know, I think even getting an applause after an
Aria is extremely difficult. You know, they're much more reserved.
But if they really like the show, they'll applaud for
twenty thirty forty minutes after just for bows. I mean,
it's a completely different thing. Then, and then we head
(18:28):
to Italy. There's nothing, there's nothing good in it, especially
if you're American. Should they A lot of them think, oh,
he's an American, he should be paying to sing on
this stage. God and you I mean they you know,
the mafia kind of still exists there in terms of
the opera. You got to pay off certain people to
give you applause or not give you boot in the
(18:50):
equipment exactly. So it's it's the wild, wild South down there,
I think. Still, but that's really the I think that's
the authentic opera culture. And I think that they're right.
I think that they're totally right to have this, because
that's really what you want. You want this excitement. You know,
you have no idea what the hell's going to happen,
and anything can just go wrong at any moments. Notice,
(19:11):
somebody could just start screaming, booze or throwing things that
you Also, the theaters are very different. All of the
American theaters are very new, I mean nineteen sixties, but
you know they're not from the seventeen eighteen hundreds. You know,
there's a very big difference in the acoustics and the
way that they smell and they feel. And when you
walk into an Italian theater, you this history kind of
(19:34):
just like flows over you. You always feel it when
you're in there, even as an audience member, you're like, wow,
you know, this is this is something else.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
The met is very historical, of course, but it's a
relatively new opera theater compared to something like Vienna or Lascala,
any of these places.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
You lot, Jonathan Tedelman. If you enjoy conversations with powerful
operatic voices, check out my episode with five time Grammy
Award winner soprano Renee Fleming.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
So when I sing Tayis, for instance, at the met
some years ago and had these spectacular costumes from Christian Lacroix,
you just thought the stars have aligned to make this
role suit me perfectly. Right now.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
I love singing in French.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
I love Massona the way it lies, the character, the
fact that you know, the psychological drama, and this opera
where these two people completely change places with each other.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
To hear more of my conversation with Renee Fleming, go
to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break, Jonathan
Tedleman shares the story of meeting his wife on a
dating app. Hi'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's
(21:30):
the Thing.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Man on Me, demnd.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Sae Mobby Lady.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Love Money Money.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
See this is Jonathan Tedelman performing Donna nonvidi mai from
Puccini's Mano Let's Go. Tedeleman has worked with some of
the best conductors in the world. Yet he is clear
to make the distinction between your average maestro and the
(22:16):
conductors who can conduct opera.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I think there's very few great, great opera conductors. I
think that there's probably a handful of them in the world.
We have a lot of good conductors, but really top
people that know these operas so well, that know the
voice so well.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
This is really rare now.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I think that it's also become difficult I think for
a lot of a lot of singers, because you know,
you never really know what you're going to get with
a conductor nowadays, because there's there's just so many of them,
and a lot of them are kind of learning this
art as they go as well, like the singers are well.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Levine, who I loved and wanted him to do this
show with us, and who obviously had a controversial to
his career and then died recently. Yes, Levine was somebody
who wherever I would see him, without becoming silly and
without becoming excessive. He had this wonderful level of enthusiasm
when he was conducting. He was like you could see
(23:14):
him feeling it in a way other people are keeping time.
The old maestrows, don't get too emotional. Some of them
are going to fly off the podium they're wound up.
And he was somebody who just had to was just right.
The level of passion right that he was imbuing with
his motions and his movements and things like that. I
loved Lemon. Is there someone you can mention that you
dream of working with his or conductor ether you're thinking, God,
(23:36):
you know that? Would we don't insult all the other
ones you already worked with.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You know, I could say that I've I've already worked
with one of my favorite conductors, Daniel Orrin, and I
think that this is he's a rare breed.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know, he grew up as a singer. Actually it
was discovered by Leonard Bernstein. His talent, and he's also Jewish.
He's part of my tribe, so I appreciate that. But
you know, he's really old school Italian kind of conductor.
You know, all of his training was in Italy, and
he knows the pieces better than I think almost anyone.
I mean, he's an unbelievable and unbelievable maestro. He's a
(24:09):
little temperamental, but I think that that actually comes in
your favor when you get on stage and you have
somebody to support you and and help you deliver when
you need it.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Now, you were born in Chile, yes, and you left
there when six months old and your parents took you
or you were, well, they adopted me, but they were
they didn't take me. So you never met your birth parents, never,
and you know any about their history. No, your adoptive
parents are Jewish. Yes, you want you know, Chilean Catholic
or something. Probably was it was.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
I mean, I'm sure I was from Castro and that's
like the Catholic the capital of Chile.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So right, But you were raised Jewish, I was by
your parents, So no connection to Chile, no feelings about Chile.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
No, No, I mean I will actually be doing some
sort of South American tour next year. I am planning
to go to my place of birth. There's actually a
beautiful theater nearby called Teatro de Lago, and it's this
theater on the lake obviously, and and then I'll maybe
sing in San Diego, Buenos Aires, Peru, Monte Video, just
(25:15):
kind of re enter my South American Harris South American
circuit exactly exactly. But I really wanted to do this,
and I've been waiting to do it. I was planning
actually doing it this summer, but unfortunately my wife's visas
issues we cannot be from. She's Romanian. That's why the
Romanian connection, and that's the Romaining connection. And they won't
let her leave the country until she has her green card.
(25:37):
So here we are stuck in the US of A.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
If anybody can sing their way to their wife's green card,
I have faith, amen, I have faith to the White House. Probably,
I'm sure I'm not the first one. Anything I can
do for you there, Jonathan, you like, as a matter
of fact, mister President, that's right. They were in a
little favor you could do for me. Now, what's one
of the strange I mean, opera is so complain I
(26:00):
watched that documentary about the Ring and Levine conducted that
and they showed those big big paddles, those seaws and
the whole crazy thing. Yeah, and they showed the rehearsals.
They would they would stop and go sliding down park
like they were in Washington Square Park. You'd be like,
zip off the stage. What's the craziest thing that ever
(26:21):
happened to you during a show that any like wacky
things ever happening when you were doing a show.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Well, I've definitely injured myself a few times. I've done
the opera Tosca, and always in that opera there's the
death of Covered Dulcie where he gets killed by firing squad.
And before I really actually knew how to fall, I
was falling and falling and falling, and then eventually I
had this enormous bruise across my entire leg and up
my back. And I kept because I just kept falling
on my hip every night, and by the last show,
(26:46):
I was like hobbling the entire opera.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It was horrible.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
But then I learned, you know how to actually do
it correctly.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I did a play once and I'm banging my hand
on a table. I'm punching him. I'm doing street car
named Desiron Broadway. On the line is remember what Ui
Long said? Every man is a king and I am
the king around here. I bashed the team. It was
a hickory table out with the hardest fucking wood. With
the wood they made like Washington's coffin out back hard.
I heard the wood exactly. The table hit me and
(27:15):
I literally get I crushed my knuckle. I kill my
nerve from in between my pinky finger and the next
finger of it. I crushed the nerve wrapping up in
behind my through my forearm, wrapping up in like the
saiattica of your upper front, and it goes wraps around
my bicyle. And I couldn't do one push up. I
went down. I just and my chest muscle just died.
(27:35):
Well and it comes out of the air down anyway,
like if you do push ups. Yeah, you're you know,
exerting the same system. And this happened to me, and
my hands are turned black, not blue black.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
My goodness.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
No he's your wife an opera singer.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
No she's not.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
We actually met on Tinder in London. She was working
for the Soho House. She was a manager of a
restaurant at the ned.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I can't believe you're so desperate, you're you know, I
was just I just was there to make.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
You know. It was It's like one of those tender
stories that actually out hotel.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Am I swiping?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Am I that I don't know super swiping? Actually you
met her? We met, Yeah, we met.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
What's it like for you when when you're on Tinder
and you meet the person either there what you hope
they would be or they're not.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I mean, I think she was more the person that
I expected than I was the person that she expected.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
What does she expect?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Well, you know I had some nice pictures and all
these things. You know, you've seen me on on on
the camera and you see me in the real life.
You know that there is difference. So I think that
it's slight different, a slight different the guy.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I also had a.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Little bit more weight at that time, so you know,
it was a little bit more powerful, a little power.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
Yeah, I like that powerful play. You look like you
could be playing defense event for the Cowboys. I don't
know on video video. In person, you look you could
be playing tennis and Yale or something.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
That's good. That's good.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yes, I get I got a lot of I got
a lot of federer.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Actually, that's that's that's my that's my So we get
the woman, your wife, who the woman who're gonna actually
partner with and have a baby, And are you married? Married?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We just got married as we went. We got off
the plane at JFK, drove down to West Virginia and
got married the next morning. Why West Virginia because you
can get a marriage licensed day of and we wanted
to submit everything as fast as we could to get
the green carts.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Ordinially raised in Princeton with my wife from Romania, get
married in West Virginia.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
That's right, And now we're gonna we're gonna be moving
back to Berlin next year. So yeah, that's where we'll be.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Love that to be home for now. Why a lot
of work, Yeah, it's the work.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
It's it's just the it's simple. It's more simple there.
We can go to her family very easily. It's only
two hours. I can go to basically anywhere in Europe
within three hours. And you know, it's just that's where
the opera really is. You have three major opera houses
right in that city. Then you have obviously the Berlin Philharmonic,
and then also universal music is there. So for me,
(29:56):
it's it's almost a no brainer. And the education is
very good and free.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Do you see yourself doing this for the rest of
your life? I mean, like in my own case, I
did this for forty something years and now I'd rather
stay home more than work. Well, I'm happier staying home
than working. I used to go to work. I was
very enthusiastic and work rather than let one off the other.
You know, for a twenty year period in all I
cared about really was work, right, but I cared about
my family and so but I really didn't hesitate to
(30:22):
go out and grab the jobs while they were there.
And now I'm just not as interested.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
I understand, you know, I think I would like to
do other things eventually, I would I would like to
do a lot of things. I'm interested in actually acting itself.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, we were going to say my producers that were like,
what about acting? When are you going to go into that?
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I am interested, you know, and I'm kind of a
big fan of Mariolnza and this kind of tradition of
these great singers in film. I think that that's kind
of a missing element to the world right now. I
think that that's there could be a draw for an
inspirational thing for a lot of young people to really
connect with music that is so meaningful and.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
So so you should develop an NETNA series for like
a Netflix or Apple or one of these people are
of Amazon Prime where it's about the world of opera
and it's a narrative. You play a character. I mean,
it's a cooler world.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
And most people know, you know, most people think opera okay,
they they're just talented. They just get on that stage,
they sing, they you know, they make they do that,
they do that thing. I don't want to know really
about that, but yeah, it's that thing. But actually it's
it's a kind of normal life mixed with this life
of just like going from job to job, place to place,
person to person and roll to role. You know, everything,
(31:34):
every new place is a new experience. It's it's actually
very exciting.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Well, I mean, as you probably can guess, if we
did the TV series with you and the lead as
the opera singer, you'd be this incredibly handsome, gifted opera singer,
but in behind the scenes you'd be completely fucked up
and messed up, completely exactly on TV you gotta be
messed I'd have to ask your buddy to take me
to the clubs and you have to really wind down,
you know, add just can't. You got to pull it
together for one more.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
You know, this is no longer reality show.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
This is a drama. Yeah, exactly, this is a documentary.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
This is actually Mario Lonza.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Chess tenor Jonathan Tedtleman if you're enjoying this episode, don't
keep it to yourself. Tell a friend and be sure
to follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back, Jonathan
Tedleman shares what happens behind the scenes before an opera
(32:36):
can be staged. M I'm Alec Baldwin and this is
(33:16):
here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Jelly Lamony, son of.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Shame John.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
With on set.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
From Puccini's La Ba M. This is Jonathan Tedleman with
k Jalida Manina.
Speaker 5 (33:46):
Mama, you do not know.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Me.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Tittleman may be a young man, but he's been singing
for two decades. I wanted to know his advice for
the next generation of opera singers.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
You know, to be an opera singer, you have to
have the most open mind. You know, you really and
you really can't think that you know you know everything.
You really have to always second guess a little bit.
You have to really be ready to change things about
who you are and your voice and and your perspective
and everything like that, because you know, all the time
your instrument is in your body, and your body is
(34:36):
always changing and you you can't really take it for
granted to be like, oh I know how to sing,
I can just sing. You know, every day is a
different day, so you have to have a plan for
anything to happen and everything to happen, because it will happen.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
When you come to work. When you're performing like a
big role, yeah some you know, it's a real serious
gig for you with some heavy venue. What's your day like?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It depends on the opera house I met. They like
to rehearse, I'll say, you know they have a saying
the same day. No, no, I mean we rehearse. We
don't have to we don't have to sing.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Luckily, what's an opera rehearsal with no singing? What do
they do? Well?
Speaker 3 (35:12):
We just do staging, I mean staging and logistics, choreography.
If if you're lucky, you have a good director and
you have a good collaborative team of people that can act,
then you can develop things even more. You know, it
just just depends on who you get. And that's the
thing about operator is you don't really know who you
get until you get there.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
What do you like to do with your spare time?
Do you feel that you can go clubbing and enjoy life?
To the fullest story. You have to really really, are
you like Jake Lamada asking him for a piece of ice?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
You know, I never I never need to go to
another club. I think I'm I think I'm all set
right now. You know, we're preparing our wedding reception because
you know we've got married.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
We're hired to sing there.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Actually, you have an open piano cocktail hour, so all
of my buddies and whoever wants to get up will
have a so they could just get up and do
their thing. Are most of your friends in the business, Yeah,
I would say, or or there's in some way interested
in singing, which is really weird. My whole, my whole
wedding party. I'd realize that every one of them is
an opera singer or wants to be one.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
So what do you do?
Speaker 1 (36:17):
What do you like to do on a night off?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
I mean, we don't take many nights off. You know,
we're mostly at home, just like hanging with the kid
and playing with her. You know, it's a it's an
important time right now. You know, we really enjoy spending
time with our daughter. But you know, when we're on tour,
you know, we have actually we don't really want to
stay home. You know, we want to see the cities.
So when we're in Italy, you know, we want to
see all the churches, we want to see all the museums.
We just want to walk around. We were in Palermo recently,
(36:40):
and you know, we would go to the market every
day and get get fresh fish, fresh groceries everything. You
know that that's like it's a different type of life.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
European life.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Very cool actually, because you know, and get the practice
a little Italian or any of your.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Parents or either your parents willing to go on the
road with you for these luxurious trips. You can have
the kids and take care of the kids.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
They're a bit too willing. That's their retire may my
son like, son, where are we going? We're gonna go
to They'll find us. They'll find us, you're kidding, that's
where you go. They usually come and they spend maybe
three to three to five weeks with us at a time,
which is really nice.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah. Easy.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
You know, I don't have them forever, so it's it's
wonderful to have them.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
At any moment, what are you doing next? Well, I'm
doing Butterfly at the met now you're rehearsing. Now, we're rehearsing.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Actually I'm I'm supposed to sing tomorrow, but I'm not
feeling well, So I think I'm not going to sing tomorrow.
And when you make that call with them, it's a
tough call, you know. I think I think it's they
appreciate it. And I think that a lot of singers
struggle making that call because they feel like, oh, if
I cancel, you know, they'll they won't hire me again.
They'll think I'm unreliable. But I actually think it's an important.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Order for everybody else to move forward during the rehearsal right,
not be held up by you, even though it's say, well.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Now we're in the performances, so oh you're running. Oh
we're running. We're running tomorrow opening night. But you know,
tomorrow's the opening night, opening night, and and I'm not there.
You know, I just know that I'm not going to
be at.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I usually have an understudy.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Obviously, we have an understudy. And if I'm not ninety percent,
I don't sing. Actually saying that HD broadcast last week,
completely sick, I had no voice, and luckily I had
a great doctor who prescribed me some wonderful Western medication
to get me through the show, but otherwise I would
have had nothing.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Now, watches, What is your thing about collecting watches?
Speaker 3 (38:32):
You know, I kind of mostly collect Omega watches. I
actually really like the Omega history of Omega. There's so
many different types of Omegas, probably one of the more
interesting brands, I think, because they didn't really set out
to be like, oh, this is a luxury brand or whatever.
You know, there are really a lot of them. A
lot of them I have are like officer watches or
kind of daily wear watches. And then they kind of
(38:53):
they did the James Bond stuff. So their history is
very interesting. I think it's very rooted into like people
that want collect watches. They don't make them fifty thousand dollars,
you know, they make them under ten grand typically, So
I think it's a it's a good brand to connect
myself too. I wish they'd give me a.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Call, you know, hello Omega at Hello Swatch watches and
sing Madama Butterfly. That's right, Well you're running at the
met in Madam Butterfly for how.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Long until May eleventh? That's the HD broadcast actually, so
that's that show. Will be that will be broadcast, yes, live,
it'll be a live broadcast.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
And when you do that show typically, because this is
something I'm rather ignorant about, it typically runs how many performances.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Typically I would say a run is anywhere between five
and twelve shows. It depends. So my my Rondine was
eight and the Butterfly's five.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
No, yes, only five shows.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Well, if it's in May labor of love, you can't
sing every night. You can't.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
You have to sing, I mean, at the most once
every other night, but you really need two days off
to rest the voice. That what you have now, I
have that now at the met that's what they give you.
And it's really it's a luxury in Europe. You don't
always get that. It's a lifestyle. You know, you have
you come to expect it that this is what you do.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Special thanks to Deutsche Gramophone for the beautiful recordings in
this episode. My thanks to Jonathan Tedeleman. I'll leave you
with his rendition of a look of that lustelle from
Puccini's Tosca. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the thing, is brought
to you by iHeart Radio.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Little. It's a.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
I would bus so still enough for Inta, I didn't
not feel like a hunting.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Me cut the not even that charm. Oh word.
Speaker 6 (41:44):
Love me.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Crt intre of love. Never laugh, for.
Speaker 5 (42:09):
Smarty had sent the son your NEDO to lit my
(42:34):
Sten
Host
Alec Baldwin
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