Opera Colorado Ovation Sam Ramey
Reinventing a Voice
On a crisp fall morning in Denver – just before dinner in Madrid – I spoke with Samuel Ramey over the telephone. He had just gotten back to Spain from Paris for his final performance of Boris Godunov at the Teatro Real Madrid. The next morning he would travel back to Paris, provided the transportation strike didn’t shut down the city, to play Scarpia in Tosca. Thankfully, our connection was clear allowing his lush baritone voice and warm laugh to resonate across continents. Listening to him speak, I was reminded of what one critic wrote: ‘If dark chocolate had a sound, it would be Ramey’s voice’. As one of opera’s most celebrated and sought after bass-baritones, Ramey is truly also one of the most humble. He chuckles as he points out his age (64) and the challenges of having to remake himself as an older singer in an industry so often clambering for younger stars.
Composers have, throughout history, assigned the rich, deep voice of bass-baritone the role of devil and villain, and so has been the path taken by Samuel Ramey. Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust has become his most-performed role but he is equally well-known in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world for his performances of Boito’s Mefistofele; Berlioz’ devil in La damnation de Faust; and the sinister Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. His tour de force performance of all four villains in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann in 1992 prompted one critic to write, “[It was] the best interpretation of the four villains I can remember in the last 25 years. This is the stuff of which operatic legends are made.”
When asked if he has gained any insight into evil through playing devilish roles, Ramey laughed and said, not really. “I think what has always been the challenge for me and why I’ve always liked those roles – other than the fact that they are very juicy parts and a lot of fun to play – is that they really go so against the grain of my real self. Maybe other people have a different opinion of me, but that’s what I like, that they are such a challenge.”
These days, however, one of opera’s favorite devils says he is looking forward to playing the more comedic Don Pasquale. “I did Pasquale when I was first out of college,” said Ramey. “I got a job with a small touring opera company, but I haven’t done it since. That’s almost forty years ago.” Then, he added, “I’m getting to the age where they are looking for younger singers, so if I want to keep doing this for a while longer I have to keep reinventing myself and look for new vehicles.”
That’s not to say that Ramey is slowing down or leaving his villainous roles behind. Along with an exhaustive season of opera performances, he still tours the core of his repertoire in a concert called A Date with the Devil in which he sings fourteen arias. And, he said, “I do Leporello in Don Giovanni, which I’ll do at the Met, and Bazile from the Barber of Seville, which is a staple in my career.” Then he paused and laughed as he said, “You know, they say there are four stages in a singer’s career. The first stage is: Who is Samuel Ramey? The next stage is: Get me Samuel Ramey! After that, it’s: Get me someone like Samuel Ramey. And of course the last stage is: Who is Samuel Ramey?”
Part of reinventing oneself involves learning new roles, or in this case, relearning the role of Pasquale. Ramey will reunite with conductor Stephen Lord, who, as a former voice coach, worked with the baritone early in his career. “He’s coming to New York,” said Ramey who will be singing at the Met before performing in Denver. “We’re going to work on Pasquale together. I’m really looking forward to that because I’ve always liked Stephen and I’ve heard such great things about his conducting. I’m sure he’ll have some wonderful insights to the part to help me out.”
But still, it’s hard to imagine that Samuel Ramey, who stands at the top of his craft, thinks he needs to shift gears. The native of Colby, Kansas went to college to become a music teacher. His voice teacher saw something greater and put him to work learning an aria from the Marriage of Figaro. “I found an old LP of Ezio Pinza singing arias. I don’t know if it was something about his voice, but I was fascinated by it. I started going to the library and listening to other opera recordings. I always enjoyed singing and being in plays, so I thought, ‘Well, this is just like a sung play. This is great.’”
He didn’t actually see an opera until he was in one. “A friend of mine told me about the opera at Central City, that they hired young singers to sing in the chorus,” recalled Ramey. “I went out to my local radio station and made a recording and sent it off. And, lo-and-behold they hired me. I went out to Central City the summer of 1963.” He enjoyed his experience so much so that he decided to give opera a try. He moved to New York after college and, well, the rest is operatic history.
Of his tremendous success, Ramey credits hard work and surrounding himself with the right people from voice coaches to agents, as well as…luck. “Luck is a lot of it, I must say. There are a lot of really good singers that never make it.”
Beyond opera, Ramey also enjoys recording what he calls crossover albums. “Since I was a kid I’ve always loved Broadway musicals. I used to love going to the movies of the old musicals. Until I got exposed to opera, I used to think I’d love to sing on Broadway.” And, he says he put himself through college performing Broadway music at dinner parties, and still includes a few of the great American composers like Cole Porter and Rogers and Hammerstein when he does recitals. Would he consider a Broadway performance? “It’s something that I’ve been thinking that I’d love to do,” he said. “Actually, there is something being talked about now, a Man of La Mancha production. But, who knows? We’ll see.”
Yes. Yes we will.