Steppin' Out

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Photograph by Chris Ayers

Soprano Lori Decter plays Donna Anna and baritone Joseph Wright plays the title role in 'Don Giovanni.'

Opera prepares singers for the biggest role: solo career

By Heather Zimmerman

When Mozart's classic opera Don Giovanni concludes the season at Opera San José, it will also mark the end of the tenure of seven resident artists.

Don Giovanni takes place April 22-May 7 at the California Theatre, 345 S. First St., San Jose. Renowned Mozart expert George Cleve will conduct the production.

Among the departing artists are soprano Lori Decter and baritone Joseph Wright, who both came to the company through an opera workshop program at San José State University. The program was taught by Irene Dalis, general director of Opera San José, and David Rohrbaugh, Opera San José's musical director and principal conductor, and brought promising vocal students to perform in Opera San José productions. Many students went on to become fulltime company members.

"Ms. Dalis has this saying, 'I have my eye on you,' " Wright recalls, "and that means that she wants to foster whatever little spark that's there. She'll kind of be the bellows that fan the fire."

Dalis and Rohrbaugh have both since retired from teaching at SJSU, but Opera San José continues to focus on developing young singers, and maintains an emphasis on recruiting local talents.

Artists usually have a renewable contract with the company for about four years, and then they move on to pursue solo careers. With the company's move to the California Theatre in 2004, some singers stayed on during the transition.

Wright began performing with the company when he was still an undergraduate at SJSU. In fact, his first role as a named character was as Massetto in Opera San José's 1998 production of Don Giovanni.

"For me, it's been a growing experience," Wright says. "The development, growth, the networking with directors and colleagues. It's exciting to know that people respect my work, and it makes me feel good about the choices that I make."

Decter came to the company as a graduate student. She began singing in the chorus and became a full-time artist in 2001.

"The thing that's great about Opera San José for me is that all of my firsts have happened here--my first opera, my first Mozart opera, my first Wagner, my first Verdi. I know that no matter where I go from here, or what roles I end up singing again and again, that it will always be that the first time was here and that will be special," Decter says.

Wright echoes Decter's sentiments.

"That's why Opera San José is near and dear to my heart," he says of his own firsts with the company. "Without this experience, I don't know if I would be an opera singer. It provided me with room to figure that out."

The company's structure sets it apart from most other programs for young opera singers. Opera San José gives singers the chance to take challenging lead roles that many artists don't have a chance to sing until they are older and more established. Traditional wisdom is that some roles are beyond the capabilities of younger artists. But both Decter and Wright point out that it's Dalis' knowledge of younger voices and the confidence that she builds in up-and-coming artists that helps keep singers from feeling overwhelmed by a tough role.

"I did Tosca last season and Senta in The Flying Dutchman. Those are huge opportunities for a young soprano, and often, ones that don't come for another decade in one's career," Decter says. "Most people don't really want to give you your first break. They want that stamp of approval from someone else, which is what Opera San José really gives you."

The company also brought Decter and Wright together as a couple, so they will be pursuing their respective careers together, which probably means a move to the East Coast or possibly Europe in the next year or so.

Both artists seem to expect a period of about a year of just trying to get established as solo artists, which is common in the business. Decter is currently lining up engagements for the next season.

Wright's next performance comes right on the heels of his leaving Opera San José. In early June, he will appear in the new opera The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Oakland Opera Theatre.

"I'm very excited about contemporary opera, and I love living composers, living works," Wright says. "It's something I think is very valuable for just the opera audience in general. There are so many stories that opera lends itself to telling, and I think it will be a very powerful and thought-provoking event."

Wright and Decter describe the experience of working on Don Giovanni as bittersweet, with so many longtime artists leaving a company that they compare to a family. But the singers are definitely making their exits on a high note.

"This is a show that we've wanted to do for a long time, so it will be great in that respect. But every time we take the stage, we're one step closer to being sprung from the nest, and that means we have to spread our wings and fly, which is exciting, but any transition is a little scary," Decter says. "Especially for me since I've been there so long. I basically stepped right out of graduate school right into the program, and in a way, it's kind of like another graduation."

Tickets are $75-$95 opening night and $65-$85 regular performances. For more information, call 408.437.4450 or visit www.operasj.org.