Campbell Vertesi

Woohoo! The blog finally proves its worth:

Last week I was contacted by a young director/singer, working for a company in Northern California (Opera Fresca).  He was looking for a Sparafucile for a concert Rigoletto they're doing in October.  Thanks to the website he was able to look me up and listen, and poof! - there was an offer for one of my dream roles!

 I would have posted it here immediately, if I'd been able to answer him that fast.  Thing is, Sparafucile is not an easy role for a young, heavy bass.  I had to be sure, and my teacher gave me a week to work on it, at which point we would decide whether I should sing this or not.  Most of the singing is just fine, but there's one page of sheer masochism in the storm trio.  (my GOD that moves fast!)  Once you get your mouth around the rapid-fire verbiage, you have to move your voice around the difficult vocal part.  A page long run of eighth notes without pause, ascending first to a D, then an E, and then (ulp) an F#!  I called my old teacher Mr. Tozzi for advice on the part, and I worked my butt off to make it singable.  In some ways, that section targets precisely my biggest demons - staying open, relaxed and free on runs, and extreme high notes.

The good news is, after a lot of work, I can do it.  I'm excited to build the role with my teacher, and even more excited to sing it in a month!  It really is one of my dream parts, and I'm totally thrilled for the opportunity to get to sing it. I made sure that my contract includes a provision to allow me to post excerpts - so you'll be the first to hear!

(no, really - you think I have a better way to send recordings to my parents and Bryn than this website?  You'll be the first)