Passion for music pours from young baritone
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Jonathan Beyer is Schaunard in "La Boheme" at Pittsburgh Opera.
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Jonathan Beyer is completing his residency as a Pittsburgh Opera Center artist this week with Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers)," in which he will sing the role of Haly, a supporting character who gets a delightful solo turn -- the witty "Le femmine d'Italia" -- about how Italian women know the art of love.
In his two-year tenure the 27-year-old baritone from Chicago will have performed seven roles with Pittsburgh Opera and a concert performance of John Adams' "Nixon in China" with the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has also squeezed in several successful auditions and competitions (most recently the Violetta DuPont Vocal Competition and the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions) and was released earlier this month to sing Orff's "Carmina Burana" along with a world premiere with the Vermont Symphony. He won special praise and notoriety last year when he substituted with a full-evening recital at Kennedy Center, when the scheduled performer fell ill at the last minute.
After he leaves Pittsburgh to reside in Philadelphia, he will travel to Austin Lyric Opera for "La Boheme," the Ravinia Festival for "Rigoletto" and Chautauqua for Ravel's "L'enfant et les sortileges."
"I'm not looking for fame," Beyer says. "I want to be a consistently working singer. I want to share the stage with exciting people.
"I just love music. I even enjoy the orchestral interludes when I'm not singing. My passion for music makes me want to pick some music I might not be good on, so I have to be careful."
He is often at the library, ferreting out unusual repertory, such as Scandinavian songs and Russian operas. For his graduate recital at the Curtis Institute he did an entire program of songs with viola obbligato. He professes to have less affinity with standard Schubert or Schumann Lieder.
Beyer cites as the most valuable experience afforded to him by the Opera Center "the chances I've had to work alongside major artists, watching them work their way through their roles and navigate the process. In 'L'Italiana' I'm rehearsing every day with Vivica Genaux, a great pro."
He also praises the Opera Center coaches, who "get to know your voice, what you can do and what you need help with." He describes the special assets of each one: Mark Trawka for tone, Glenn Lewis for clean musicianship, James Lesniak for the bigger picture.
"The Opera Center forced me to expand," Beyer says. "I've had to do cabaret, bel canto, which I hadn't done much before. When I came here I never thought I could sing fast patter, or coloratura. Then I was given Malatesta [in "Don Pasquale"] and I had to do both those things." It should be noted that his role in the Donizetti opera includes a duet containing fiendishly difficult patter passages which Beyer negotiated with breakneck speed and absolute accuracy not only in the staged production, but also joining Metropolitan Opera basso Michele Pertusi in a special guest recital. Rossini's opera buffa presents many of the same challenges.
Beyer began his musical training as a pianist and composer, so it's not surprising that his favorite opera is not one of the standards, but "Nixon in China."
"I had covered the part of Nixon for Chicago Opera Theater, but taking part in the Pittsburgh performance, with the composer conducting and coaching us -- that was the high point of my career so far."
What did he learn from working with composer Adams? "I learned how flexible composers are. We performers try always to be faithful to the score, but the composers are more liberal than any of us."
Unlike many singers, Beyer enjoys the business aspects of his career.
"I love networking," he says. "I love competitions. They produce a different kind of adrenalin from performing, because a competition has an outcome. You win or lose."
It looks right now as if this young artist is destined for the winning side.
First Published April 30, 2009 12:00 am
