COURTESY OF FREDERICA VON STADE.COM "It was a part I wanted to play because the worst thing that's asked of any parent is to lose a child in any way, at any age." --Frederica von Stade, on an ensemble piece she recently performed called "Dead Man Walking"

Riding the
highs of opera

Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com

Among family and friends she's called Flicka, named after a favorite horse owned by her polo-playing father. But opera devotees know this mezzo-soprano extraordinaire as Frederica von Stade, one of the great opera stars of our time.

In concert Frederica von Stade with the Honolulu Symphony; Samuel Wong, conductor Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall When: 8 p.m. today and 4 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $15 to $57 Call: 792-2000

Von Stade, who performs with the Honolulu Symphony tomorrow and Sunday, is well known through her featured appearances on PBS' "Live from Lincoln Center" telecasts, some 60 recordings ranging from the songs of Canteloube and Debussy to the operas of Mozart and Rossini, six Grammy nominations, two Grand Prix du Disque Awards, the Schallplatten Prize, the Premio della Critica Discografica and a special presidential commendation in recognition of her significant contribution to the arts.

"I have been very fortunate," she said by phone from her Bay Area home. "I pretty much began my career at the top when I got a contract from Sir Rudolf Bing during the Metropolitan Opera auditions.

"I was 23 when I passed the audition and got a contract. The next day I grew up; I was an opera singer."

Von Stade, 58, hoped to be a Broadway singer, but she became curious about opera while attending music school to learn to read music.

"I realized you could sing these really high notes and long phrases, and that is so much fun," she said. "Opera is so much the land of make-believe. It always stretches the imagination because everything has to be vocal, and the character must come through with the quality of the voice."

Since her 1970 debut, von Stade has sung nearly all of her great roles with the Met. In 1995, as a celebration of her 25th anniversary, the Metropolitan Opera created for her a new production of "Pelléas et Mélisande," and in January 2000, the company celebrated the 30th anniversary of her debut with a new production of "The Merry Widow" specifically for her.

Her elegant figure and keen imagination have made her the world's favorite interpreter of the great trouser roles, from Strauss' Octavian and Composer to Mozart's Sextus, Idamante and Cherubino.

Von Stade has also lent her talents to acting on stage, portraying works in operetta and musical theater, including the title role in "The Merry Widow" and Desirée Armfeldt in "A Little Night Music."

"The main rule in opera is to choose operas that are true to your voice," she said. "Don't put on a dress that doesn't fit you. You choose roles ... dictated by your vocal ability."

OPERA has "a couple of demands," von Stade emphasized.

"It needs action and it needs to have events, and it has to have strong feelings about those events," she said. "That's why sometimes very cerebral operas, like Chekhov operas, don't always translate into opera.

"There has to be an incredible script, especially in English, a book that is easy to get across, because the melody can't interrupt the flow of the sentence. To approach political issues through music is marvelous," she said.

An ensemble piece she recently performed that especially touched von Stade was "Dead Man Walking," in which she played the murderer's mother.

"It was a part I wanted to play because the worst thing that's asked of any parent is to lose a child in any way, at any age," she said. "One step worse is to feel that you're responsible in some way for your child's fate. And here's a woman who has really no control over what's happened to her children, to a great degree, and that's something that affects every parent at some point, and it was something that I just wanted to explore."

Von Stade said, as a mother, she related easily to her character.

"Any parent who has older kids knows you have done things in your life, choices that have hurt them," she said. "I've been there, and this part had me look back.

"When I remarried and had a blended family, it was very hard on the kids. They suffered a lot, especially when I decided we would move to California, which I believed, and still do, was the best choice for us. It was hard on them."

Von Stade especially likes that opera occasionally tackles political issues.

"This opera is about the death penalty and is very straightforward and honest," she said. "It's so marvelous to be in a contemporary situation. Opera is so much about the past or about very arch situations, and here we're in something that is blatantly current. It's a political issue. It's a daily issue. It's part of our lives."

By her own design, von Stade's career is winding down, though she has performance contracts through 2006.

"I'm easing into retirement," she said. "I just think when you start thinking, 'Oh, here comes that note,' when it isn't as easy as it used to be, it's at least time to think about stepping away."

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