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The young American tenor Gregory Turay is one of the fastest-rising artists on the opera scene. Admired for the beauty of his voice and the sensitivity of his singing, he also has been praised for his acting skills. Fred Plotkin spoke with him in December 2002.
GREAT PERFORMANCES: Where did you grow up and first come into contact with opera?
Gregory Turay: I grew up on a horse farm in Racine, Wisconsin, about as far away from opera as you can imagine. My first real contact with opera wasn't until college. I had sung in choir, a few musicals, and even a '50s/'60s rock-and-roll band with my dad while in high school, but nothing even close to opera. So there was a passion for music, but for the most part I was just a jock whose main interest was making it to the major leagues. (Far cry from that now, huh?)
GP: Did you discover that you had a special voice before or after you heard of opera?
GT: Well, I knew that I had a loud voice. I was given the nickname "Mouth" in high school (among others). However, I was very, very raw, from a musical standpoint. Upon arriving at the University of Kentucky (my alma mater), I was paired up with a voice teacher who was in his first year at the university as well, Dr. Everett McCorvey. He was the one to steer me to opera and train me classically for the operatic stage. So, in short, I discovered my "opera voice" after I discovered opera.
GP: Tell me about your studies and early opera work.
GT: Well, needless to say, in the beginning it was slow going. (Slow for me, anyway.) Like I said before, mine was a voice that was very raw. It wasn't initially obvious that I was going [to] have any kind of future in opera, but by the end of my sophomore year things were progressing and I had even figured out the "high" voice. It was then that Dr. McCorvey saw fit to give me "Salut!" from "Faust" to work on. I was pretty overwhelmed at first, but in only a few months (including a summer in Aspen with George Shirley), I came back for the fall semester of my junior year firing on all cylinders, so to speak. The next year I won the Met's National Council Auditions ('94-'95) and had already sung my first few professional engagements. They included Remendado [in "Carmen"] with the Palm Beach Opera and Kentucky Opera, and Frederic in "Pirates of Penzance" with Eugene Opera in Oregon. From there I was accepted into the Met's Young Artists Program, where the opportunities seemed limitless. It was there that I was really able to develop my skills with some of the best teachers and singers in the world.
GP: You play the role of Camille de Rosillon in the production of "The Merry Widow" broadcast on GREAT PERFORMANCES. What were some of the pleasures and challenges involved in this experience?
GT: First of all, it was an honor to work with [stage director] Lotfi Mansouri on his last show with [the] San Francisco Opera. He is a genius and a man of such kindness and generosity that it will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my career. I also thoroughly enjoyed working with the cast. Angelika Kirchschlager (who played Valencienne) and Bo Skovhus are world-class artists, and it was a real treat to sing with them. All I can say is that I still look back on that experience with fondness. The only real challenge for me was that it was being televised, which is not something that I am used to doing. Therefore, it certainly added more pressure to the performances for me.
GP: How does performing operetta differ from opera?
GT: Honestly, not a whole lot. The only operetta that I've done has been "The Merry Widow" (twice), and "The Pirates of Penzance." Both were in English. For me, that is really the main difference, the language. When I am performing for an English-speaking audience, I try to make sure that they understand everything. Of course, singing "Die Zauberflöte" for a German audience presents the same challenges. However, since English is my native tongue, people better understand it. Vocally there really isn't any difference. If I were to approach Broadway music, which is the closest thing we have to operetta, I would approach it the same way that I do operatic singing. Weren't the old Broadway singers classically trained as well? The only other difference would be style, but that differs depending on the opera that you are doing. So, in short, it doesn't differ at all.
GP: You are now appearing, with great success, at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolpho in William Bolcom's "A View from the Bridge," based on the play by Arthur Miller. What's it like creating a role by a living composer?
GT: Incredible! Not because he is living and you can express difficulties, etc., but because he is Bill Bolcom. I have worked with living composers before and none of them match[es] Bill's openness and willingness to make sure that the role fits "your" particular voice. Years before rehearsals began in Chicago (where the opera had its world premier in 1999) and before he even started writing my part in the opera, he asked for a "printout" of my voice; strengths, weaknesses, good vowels, bad vowels, etc. After he finished writing the role, I was able to give feedback as to what worked and what didn't, and in the end both of us were very happy. You see, many composers today write their operas with no idea what a human voice can or can't do and then won't budge when you bring up suggestions as to what might be better. I don't understand this, since the singer knows his or her voice best, and in the end, it is the singer who is selling the product. If it is unsingable, no one will want to sing it, much less listen to it.
GP: Did you work with Arthur Miller on the role too?
GT: I didn't have any contact with Arthur in creating my role, but I did meet him. He is a literary legend. Truly an honor.
GP: What are some of your upcoming engagements?
GT: I will sing Hylas in the new Metropolitan Opera production of "Les Troyens" in February and March 2003. Later, I will sing Belmonte in "Abduction from the Seraglio" at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, then Fenton in "Falstaff" with Sejii Ozawa in Japan, and the Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto" in Boston.
Interview by writer Fred Plotkin for GREAT PERFORMANCES Online.
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