John Relyea’s deep voice evokes devilish villains who wander dark alleyways and haunt graveyards. Whenever evil characters materialize in his schedule, he gravitates to them. His interpretation of Mephistopheles in Gounod’s “Faust” with Washington Concert Opera two years ago was so riveting that great anticipation precedes his return to portray the evil Hun “Attila.” Written during Verdi’s early years, the rarely performed opera is a gem. Joining Relyea on stage are soprano Brenda Harris as Odabella, tenor James Fiora as Uldino and baritone Jason Stearns, a Washington native, as Ezio. Artistic director Antony Walker conducts.
“This opera is based on a fictitious story of the larger-than-life aggressive character,” Relyea said. “It’s a great part you don’t see often. I like the way it’s written, both the music and the libretto. The music is triumphant and heroic, befitting a conqueror. You can sense that Verdi is ready to break away from the standard form of bel canto and is being drawn musically to the character of Macbeth, his next opera.
| Onstage |
| Verdi’s ‘Attila’ starring bass-baritone John Relyea |
| Where: Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University |
| When: 7:30 p.m. Friday |
| Info: $40 to $100 for single performance, $72 to $180 for season; 202-364-5826; concertopera.org |
“We see in Attila the conquering hero side, but we also see his sympathetic side, bringing out the argument of the hero versus conscience. I like when it shows Attila as compassionate. There is so much conflict when we see him up close in fear of a revolution. In contract, I like the other dimension in him, the human dimension.”
He appreciates how well the music complements his voice and the libretto enables him to slide into a character who would have been about his age. Now that he has learned the role, he can focus on sinking his teeth into the orchestration full tilt and knowing whether to fire up or pull back on the arias.
A regular with the Metropolitan Opera, Relyea appears in opera houses and on concert stages throughout the world. Earlier this summer, he performed “La Boheme” in Japan with the Met. The Japanese lined up for autographs afterward, so eager to express their pleasure, that the cast signed programs for nearly two hours. Before arriving in Washington, he was at the Salzburg Festival singing the role of King Rene in Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta.”
“I’ve always loved the Russian repertoire, maybe because my great-great grandfather was Russian,” he said. “Whenever I’m working on a Russian opera, I learn more about Russia and find more colors in the music and languages. I have good Russian coaches and know Cyrillic and how to pronounce it, so I work on perfecting inflection and stress markings.”
Later this season, he will portray the Four Villains in Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman,” first in Munich with Bayerische Staatsoper, later with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. In the meantime, he returns to the Met as Leporello in “Don Giovanni” after singing Berlin Philharmonic’s presentation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”) conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
