For the first time in more than 25 years, Ozarks Lyric Opera brings one of the greatest operas ever composed to Springfield and the historic Gillioz Theatre, 325 Park Central East: Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” Friday and Saturday, March 17 and 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Springfield’s own Jay Jackson is stage director for this production. (For ticket information, visit ozarkslyricopera.com or gillioz.org, or call the Gillioz box office at 417-863-9491.)
Today on “Arts News,” I played a pre-recorded telephone interview with Artistic Director Michael Spyres, who is currently wearing his other hat as globe-trotting star tenor (or, I should say, “baritenor”).
Spyres is in New York, having just begun the current run of Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece “Norma” at the Metropolitan Opera, co-starring with soprano Sonya Yoncheva. (The live Met broadcast of “Norma” will be Saturday, March 25 at 12 p.m. on KSMU’s HD2 stream.)
Michael and I talked about that and about what else is happening in his life and career — which, typically, is a lot.
For one thing, there’s the new album on Erato/Warner Classics, “Contra Tenor,” a follow-up (actually a sort of “prequel”, according to Michael) of his multi-award winning album “Baritenor,” released last year and winner of the 2022 Gramophone magazine “Album of the Year.” It’s a project Michael has been thinking about for a number of years: to trace a lineage of the modern tenor voice from its origins in the late 17th century to the present.
It has required a lot of “bizarre research,” Spyres says, taking him “down quite a lot of rabbit holes. The tenor voice has shape-shifted, in 400 years, more than any other voice type.”
On this new album, Spyres says the music he sings traverses more than three octaves.
And Spyres, a native of Mansfield, says he can now lay claim to the title of “Hillbilly Knight”!
Here's why: Over the past several years Spyres devoted a great deal of time to French music, from both the opera and solo-song repertoires. And for his services to French music and culture, Spyres in 2021 was awarded an honorary knighthood by the committee of The Arts and Letters of the Republic of France — a singular honor awarded to very few artists. Michael’s entire family will travel to France with him for the award ceremony.
