SOPRANO SHANA BLAKE HILL TALKS OPERA

INTERVIEW: SHANA BLAKE HILL

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO

When you think of opera composers, Mozart, Wagner, or Verdi, might come to mind, and the name Erich Korngold doesn’t even make the list. Korngold was a man of the movies after all. The Austrian-born composer moved to the U.S. in 1934 to escape the Nazi regime, then became one of the founders of film music in Hollywood scoring 16 films. And although he best known for his film scores, he also wrote five operas with music that is as theatrical as his film scores. This month Numi Opera completes its inaugural season with Korngold’s one-act opera Der Ring Des Polykrates which is a tale of jealousy and the power of love to overcome anything. Featured in this production in the role of Laura is L.A. based soprano Shana Blake Hill who is known for creating and premiering new roles and contemporary works in opera. In this Tin Pan L.A. exclusive Hill discusses what it’s like to create new roles and what makes Der Ring Des Polykrates so special.

You are known for creating and premiering new roles and contemporary works, when you begin a new project what are some aspects of your preparation?

I absolutely love building a new role from the ground up! If the character is based on the real life of someone, I start with a deep dive into any information available about them. Often, I will do this character study in tandem with studying the score because you can keep your brain firing in several directions at once and it doesn’t get as tired. I also have a tradition that keeps me calm about chipping away at a new big project: I count all the pages of the role in the score, then count all the days I have to prepare. I divide the number of days in half, then divide the number of pages by half the number of days, so 100 pages in ten days is 10 pages to learn per day. Then ten pages to memorize per day in the second ten days. I start with the final ensemble or any large complex ensembles and then the arias (if there are any) and work my way backwards. It helps psychologically to know if I just stick to my schedule I will succeed. Also starting at the end and with the arias or the most difficult ensembles make those the strongest. Often complex ensembles are the most rehearsed and arias are the least rehearsed, so having them as equally well formed as possible is really helpful in the marathon of rehearsal to stage.

What is your favorite role that you’ve ever played and why?

Honestly, I always love the role I’m currently with the most, and I’m so grateful every time I get to work again. But if I had to choose some favorite ladies that I have gotten to spend time with on the stage I will say that I dearly love Tosca, CioCio San, Donna Anna, and Countess Almaviva in the standard rep. and I just finished singing Susannah Polk in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. I don’t think I have ever had a more completely wonderful experience than that Susannah with Festival Opera this past July. In the realm of contemporary opera, I think I was the most honored to sing Rosalba and later Florencia in Daniel Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas. Catan’s music means a great deal to me. You just keep hoping that these roles keep visiting you. Every time they do, they bring you gifts and messages about who you are and how you have grown. 

Is there a role that you are longing to play?

I aspire to a Desdemona. I also never got to sing Pamina and that has always made me sad, she is so purely beautiful and that was my favorite opera as a kid. I had the Karl Bohm recording with Roberta Peters, Wunderlich, Fischer Dieskau … all the greatest. I played it over and over. Maybe a Lulu? I know this list makes me sound insane…

Based on your experienceWhat makes classic opera and contemporary opera different?

Several major things, in my experience. The first is that the audience has no more conceived notions about how it is “supposed” to go and so there is tremendous freedom in both acting it and shaping the vocal line. Secondly, if you are lucky, the composer is generally present or available to consult in your preparation. Imagine being able to ask Mozart exactly how he would like that phrase sung and why! Thirdly, the harmonic language can be unique and, in many cases, a difficult code to crack. But what a thrill when you do crack the code and the role reveals its secrets to you! Fourthly, the subject matter can be pretty hard hitting, and so there is a wonderful opportunity to act and convey subject matter with a directness that is refreshing to both artist and audience. Lastly, I will say that with a contemporary work, especially one rarely or never heard before, there is a special responsibility to show the audience around the score with care and as much beauty as possible. You have to care twice as much, because if YOU are passionate about the work you will inspire passion for it in audiences. this giving the work a longer life. You are singing fingerprints and a soul into your character and breathing life into the repertoire, and that is a tremendous honor every time.

How do communicate drama and character in your performances?

First of all, thank you so much for asking. Too rarely opera singers are asked real acting questions. As an actor who has to manage her instrument as well as her performance, I often think of the character from the outside in rather than the opposite. I build the structure of the character on the outside through research and physicality and build the drama into the voice through technique. In the standard repertoire the period, how to move in that period and in period costume, what denotes your class and your age, and your type of role all shape your outside structure. I find going to museums and looking at portraits helps a lot with that, see how they stand, how a lady holds her fan, look into their eyes. My dear teacher Frans Boerlage taught me that. I often will do an inspiration board on Pinterest too. If I have to kill or die as the character, I think a lot about how best to do that in the wig and costume and believably for a woman of that period. For instance, I always stab Scarpia twice because it is unlikely a woman of Tosca’s class and occupation would have the strength and skill even with adrenalin to mortally stab a man in the chest unless she gets him in the neck at least once. I try to find a basic kernel of truth about the character that is similar to a basic truth about me and bind us together at that point. Then it is easy to simply react from there-from character and not from what the next note is. Lastly, when I am rehearsing (and performing) I try to breathe in the world of the character with every breath I take between phrases. What does the air smell like, is it cold or sweltering, is it raining, is there a breeze, can you smell lamp oil or fresh bread or gun powder or exotic perfumes? How does that world feel in all my pores and under my feet? With this infused into my own work, regardless of what waits for me in a production or in concert or even in audition, the world of the role is in me and in the voice.

What makes Der Ring Des Polykrates special?

The thing that is MOST special about this production is that it is happening at all. Erich Korngold is a tremendous composer that rarely gets his due because he had to flee the rise of what would become the Third Reich and settle in Los Angeles in the 1930s. Here he became best known for his epic scores for swashbuckling films like Robin Hood and Captain Blood. Had he been allowed to take his place with Strauss and Wagner he would surely be as much of a household name. This sweet little gem of a one act comedy was written when he was a very young man and it has some pretty sophisticated harmonic textures in among the romantic phrases he is so famous for. The story is basically a little parable of what we would today call Relationship OCD, or the temptation to look for trouble in an otherwise happy relationship because one mistrusts good luck and prosperity. There is always that friend who wants to throw shade and sew suspicion based on their own unhappiness between people who are getting along well. Good news though, nobody has to die in this one, and true love prevails! 

What are you looking forward to in Der Ring Des Polykrates?

I am so looking forward to singing with my fellow artists (three of my favorite leading men, and a new soprano colleague), working again with one of my very favorite Maestros on earth, Francesco Milioto, and putting it all together with some of the best orchestral contractors the West Coast has to offer! And then, most importantly, we get to share this glorious work with all of you! We get to give this composer a voice again in a world that needs beauty more than ever. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time. 

TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION

Venue:  Zipper Hall at the Colburn School, located at 200 South Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dates: Thursday, December 19 at 7:30 and Sunday, December 22 at 7:30pm 

Tickets   Website: www.NumiOpera.org 

                Phone Sales: 866-811-4111

                Prices: $29.00 to $75.00

Premium Package: $110 – Ticket includes box seating plus two drink ticket vouchers and post-performance meet-and-greet.