Thursday, February 12, 1998
A tenor’s progress
OPERA: Greg Fedderly has come a long way
from his small-town Wisconsin roots to a lead role in Mozart’s
‘The Magic Flute’ in Los Angeles
By John Mangum
Daily Bruin Contributor
It’s 4:15 on a Friday afternoon, and Greg Fedderly is about to
go to work.
The tenor will appear in L.A. Opera’s revival of its production
of Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" as the story’s hero, Tamino. In
rehearsal, which starts at 5 p.m., Fedderly and the other cast
members will work on one of the opera’s final scenes, in which
Tamino and his beloved Pamina endure trials by fire and water. The
trials, a kind of 18th-century hazing the two must pass through to
join a secret religious fraternity, are notoriously difficult to
stage believably.
"I don’t remember that scene that well," Fedderly says. "We’re
staging that today, blocking it today, so I’ll see pictures of it,
and they’ll explain it again."
On the other hand, Fedderly remembers the opera’s first scene
well. He gets really excited about the staging and designs for the
opening confrontation between Tamino and a serpent.
"It’s a huge deal," Fedderly enthuses. "It’s this serpent that
is huge, and it’s all mechanical. It’s a huge special effect. It’s
one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen. It’s not some little
thing, like two dancers in a costume running by me."
Fedderly’s enthusiasm spills over into his enjoyment of his new
role. When L.A. Opera last mounted this production in 1993,
Fedderly appeared as Monostatos, one of "Flute’s" smaller parts. As
Tamino, he’ll take center stage when his run of seven performances
begins Friday.
"It’s fun," Fedderly says of his new role. "It’s very
challenging. The tessitura is really high, so that makes it
difficult, but it’s very challenging. It’s great to do Mozart
again. I haven’t done Mozart for a while."
The move from Monostatos to Tamino, from smaller to larger
roles, seems to be the way Fedderly’s career is going. He started
with L.A. Opera as a resident artist, a program to give promising
young singers experience in comprimario roles.
But lately, Fedderly has made the move into the spotlight. Last
fall, he turned in an accomplished and impassioned Rodolfo in
Puccini’s "La Boheme," and he’s slated to appear as Alfredo in
Verdi’s "La Traviata" next season. All this for a regular guy from
Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
"I was from a really small town in Wisconsin, so I never went to
an opera, never did any of that until I got into college," Fedderly
says. "But I wanted to go into music education, so I went to
college (to study) education. And then, the more I took voice
lessons, the more I got into it."
At first, Fedderly wasn’t sure about whether his future lay in
opera or on Broadway. But the roles in opera finally won him
over.
"I was really into musical theater, and I still love it, but I
did a lot of musical theater when I was in college," Fedderly says.
"That was what I really wanted to do for a long time, but I think
the challenge of opera just kind of sucked me in. There are a lot
more challenging roles and there are a lot more of them than in
musical theater."
From Wisconsin, Fedderly came to California to work on his
master’s degree at USC, where he won the Marilyn Horne scholarship.
He learned some key lessons during his time at USC, and they
weren’t just about the technical aspects of vocal production.
"I got the Marilyn Horne scholarship from USC," Fedderly says.
"That’s what brought me out here. When I met her, the first thing
she said to me was, ‘Work quickly slowly.’ Just like work really
hard, but do it really slow.
"Don’t take on things that are going to be too much for you,
that are too hard for you, or that you’re not ready for. I had to
learn that the hard way a lot of times. You’re just so anxious to
do things. There are a lot of times, when you’re a young singer,
that anything you’re offered, you’re going to do, just because you
think you have to, instead of thinking, ‘Can I do it?’ or ‘Am I
going to be good at it?’ If I had it to do over again, I would look
more carefully at that, and not just take everything that was
tossed my way."
One of the roles tossed his way early on was none other than
Tamino. He uses his first experience with the role to illustrate
Horne’s point.
"I did Tamino when I first got to ‘SC, and I shouldn’t have,"
Fedderly says. "I should have waited ’til now. It was really hard
for me then."
Encountering the role again after several years, Fedderly finds
it sits more comfortably for his voice. At 33, the tenor feels he
can sing things now that he couldn’t sing before.
"As you get older, your voice matures, and it makes it much
easier," Fedderly says. "All you can do is wait until you get
older. When I was younger, I always thought, ‘What can I do to make
it mature, and make it easier?’ and there’s nothing to do but a lot
of times just wait."
His recent turn as Rodolfo and his upcoming appearances as
Alfredo at the Music Center highlight this move to heavier roles.
But Fedderly also wants to concentrate on Mozart in the next few
years, music he finds challenging in a different way.
"Musically, (Mozart is) such a challenge," Fedderly says. "To a
lot of people, it sounds very simple and easy, but in that
simplicity its so difficult. It takes a really good vocal technique
because a lot of time, in some of the heavier repertory, you can
just kind of throw yourself at it and you just get lost in the
drama or the emotion, and with Mozart you have to really think
vocally."
Fedderly displays a mix of satisfaction and excitement about the
upcoming "Flute." But the tenor, perhaps thinking of what awaits
him in his Friday evening rehearsal, remembers that there’s another
side to his artistry.
"It’s a lot of hard work. You go home really tired at
night."
OPERA: L.A. Opera presents Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" with Greg
Fedderly, Gwendolyn Bradley, Sally Wolf and Wolfgang Holzmair.
Seven performances beginning Friday. Tickets are $24 to $135.
Student rush tickets are $20. For more information, call (213)
972-8001.