by Hadley Hury
his isn’t opera.”
Kallen Esperian is describing the performances of The Three Sopranos,
a trio of divas comprising Esperian, Kathleen Cassello, and Cynthia
Lawrence, that debuted in Los Angeles last year and since has
garnered increasing international attention.
“Our program is an entertainment that appeals to an audience wider
than opera fans alone,” she says. Just how broad that audience
is will be demonstrated Thursday evening, December 18th, when
hometown favorite Esperian and her colleagues bring their act
to the Mid-South Coliseum for a gala holiday concert which will
also feature the Memphis Symphony Orchestra under the direction
of young Italian conductor Marco Armiliato. The concert will benefit
WKNO.
Lawrence agrees with Esperian’s assessment. Indeed, she is even
rather proud of the fact that such entertainments may broaden
opera’s appeal. “After all, this is how opera did work; it was
the popular art form of its day,” Lawrence says.
The Three Sopranos are the brainchild of impresario Tibor Rudas,
who has also presented The Three Tenors to the world, as well
as the solo concerts of Luciano Pavarotti. After the huge popular
success of the tenors (Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras),
Rudas had been eager to develop a female equivalent of the formula.
It didn’t happen overnight. He wanted exactly the right combination,
not only of voices but of stage personas. In the end, the new
performing entity he finally decided upon for bringing the concept
to life represents more departure from, than adherence to, the
Three Tenors formula – in both program and onstage interaction.
Esperian sees The Three Tenors as a sort of apotheosis and The
Three Sopranos as something more closely 
resembling a process. “They, of course, were such a big draw because
they are all huge stars heading toward the end of their careers.
We’re all in our mid-thirties, entering our prime years; we are
sharing many life experiences – both professionally and personally,”
she explains. “Cindy and I are both moms; we’re all keenly interested
in learning how best to combine family and career.” Lawrence and
her husband call Minneapolis home and are expecting their second
child in March.
Although there’s no denying the enormous popularity of The Three
Tenors’ performances and recordings, more than a few culture mavens
have savaged the quality, even the concept, of what they have
called a travesty of singing. (The more indelicate among operaphiles
have even compared the trio’s notorious one-upsmanship and dueling
vocal pyrotechnics to contests measuring either an output quite
other than song or a particular part of the male anatomy.)
The ladies eschew such displays.
Esperian laughs, “You definitely got the feeling that they were
competing. I think it was a friendly competition. But what we’re
doing is really quite different. Sure, we each do some arias;
but the majority of the program we do together, in harmony. We
get along enormously well; if there is any competitiveness whatever,
it’s of a very friendly sort. When we perform, we’re boosters
for one another.” The women also feel that they are able to add
something to the festival concert format with the surprise of
so much harmony work. It’s something the Tenors did only incidentally,
something lovers of opera rarely get the chance to hear, and something
which both Esperian and Lawrence point to as perhaps the greatest
challenge they faced. “We’ve each been singing alone for so long,”
says Esperian. “But it’s great fun.” Lawrence adds: “You can tell
people really enjoy it as a unique operatic opportunity. It’s
a thrill, I think. The first time we did “O mio babbino caro”
we could hear this sort of ‘ooh-ahh.’”
The three first came together just over 18 months ago in New York,
to go over repertoire and program. Later, they met to explore
arrangements, harmonics, and medleys. “It was hard to get us together
because of our operatic performance schedules. When we did convene
it had to be for intensive, day-long sessions.” Since their Los
Angeles debut (which was released on compact disc and video and
has been seen worldwide on PBS) the threesome has appeared at
the London Palladium and in Reno, Atlantic City, Cologne, and
Budapest. Along with operatic arias and light classics, the Three
Sopranos program includes a broad range of songs from what Esperian
recognizes as “one of the primary indigenous musical art forms
of America” – the American musical theatre. “We have one big Broadway
medley which [arranger] Peter Matz did for us. It seems to be
the high point of the evening for many people. I know it is for
me.”
All three of these singers have established the foundations of
impressive individual careers and developed unique vocal identities
and personalities in opera houses around the world. Esperian,
who has called Memphis home for 15 years and is married to Tom
Machen, founder and director of the Memphis Vocal Arts Ensemble,
has brought her warm lyric soprano and buoyant stage energy to,
among other theatres, the Metropolitan, Lyric Opera of Chicago,
the San Francisco Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,
La Scala, L’Opera de Paris, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Bilbao,
and Opera Pacific. She recently made her debut at the Staatsoper
in Berlin in a new production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and then
made a return to Verona, where she sang Micaela in the Franco
Zeffirelli production of Bizet’s Carmen.
Kathleen Cassello’s extensive repertoire includes the title role
of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, for which she has enjoyed
much acclaim throughout Europe, especially in Italy, where she
triumphed in a 1993 production at the Rome Opera. In addition
to leading bel canto roles in I Puritani, La Sonnambula and I
Capuleti e I Montecchi, Cassello specializes in the major Mozartian
roles. Her repertoire also includes Puccini, Verdi, and the title
roles of Massenet’s Thais and Manon.
Cynthia Lawrence’s engagements over the past two years have included
the Royal Opera, her Covent Garden debut as Musetta in Puccini’s
La Boheme, her Paris Opera debut in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito,
and her Met debut as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, as well as several
concerts with Pavarotti. This season includes a return to Chicago’s
Lyric, for a new production of Mozart’s Idomeneo with Domingo.
The singers are adamant that their Three Sopranos format trivializes
neither opera nor their professional reputations. Lawrence – who
started out thinking she wanted to be a Broadway-musical singer
– says that these engagements not only reinforce her operatic
singing but allow her the opportunity of singing other types of
music. “We cover such a vast repertoire of music in our program,
from serious opera to Broadway tunes. And we do it all with the
same effort, quality, and commitment. Actually, that’s the great
joy and release of it: to be able to explore so many nuances of
emotion and style, and to take the audience through these musical
colors – all in one evening.”
How does the new gig as a member of The Three Sopranos fit into
Esperian’s schedule and career plans?
“I thank Tibor every time I see him. What he has done, really,
is give me the opportunity to have more time with my family.”
(Her son is 4 years old and has just begun preschool.) “Our Three
Sopranos engagements are very intensive weeks – but they are not
the month, or sometimes two or three months, required for an opera.
I’ve been going pretty much full-out for about 12 years now. This
new opportunity allows me to be more choosy about my operatic
engagements.”
Even with a less hectic schedule, Esperian’s upcoming calendar
includes Verdi’s Requiem in both Parma and Bologna, conducted
by up-and-coming maestro Daniele Gatti, a February benefit (with
her husband Machen and his Memphis Vocal Arts Ensemble) for St.
Jude, a second recording for The Three Sopranos scheduled for
spring in Los Angeles, followed by concerts in Oslo, South Africa,
Israel, and recitals in May at Delta State College and at Germantown
Performing Arts Centre.
Relatively speaking, this lineup represents more time off to the
young star, wife, and mother.
“Oh, yes – this schedule is much more open than usual,” she luxuriates
cheerfully, anticipating both her hometown debut as one of The
Three Sopranos and being home for the holidays. “I simply love
Memphis. You know, I see a lot of cities, and Memphis makes such
a good home. Most of the people are kind and polite. And it’s
fun to see growth, so many interesting things happening – I really
think we’re getting a renewed spirit.”
If Esperian sees changes in Memphis since her arrival 15 years
ago, she has also experienced changes in the development of her
career as a performing artist. “I never really set out to become
an opera singer. I knew that I loved the imagination, the idea
of becoming someone else. I loved movies and theatre and I suppose
I thought I’d perform, but I really wasn’t certain how. I’ve never
been driven by exacting career goals, like: I need to have debuted
at La Scala by age so-and-so. All of a sudden, things just started
happening for me – before I could dream, much less think, about
them. I spent a lot of time just trying to keep up.”
Now, it seems, Kallen Esperian the Diva has more time – if only
relatively speaking – to let Kallen Esperian the Person catch
up with the early sense of obligation her gift has entailed. When
she speaks of her singing and of the direction and degree of priority
she wants her career to take, it is clear that she wants time
both to think and to dream. She sounds undriven but shrewd when
she surveys the years ahead; it is easy to believe this woman
can nurture a personal life that accommodates building a serious
career which, in turn, supports that life.
“The joy is the challenge. I want to become better as a singer,
an artist, to keep learning. But, more than ever, I understand
that my voice is a vehicle through which I can express myself,
and, I hope, touch others. The most fulfilling thing is that –
the hope of connecting with, of sharing with, others.” n
The Three Sopranos
7:30 p.m. Thursday, December 18th
Mid-South Coliseum
$15-$100