Interview: How to Make a Cad—BUTTERFLY's Pinkerton—Appealing, According to Jonathan Tetelman

It’s a big season at the Met for tenor Jonathan Tetelman—born in Chile, raised in New Jersey—and he’s taking every advantage of it.

He’s come to town with a reputation as a Puccini specialist (not that there’s anything wrong with that). How does he feel about that?

“Well, I basically built my voice on Puccini repertoire. (Rodolfo in BOHEME was the first role he sang on stage.) I’ve sung a few Verdi operas, some Massenet and other things but it’s basically Puccini just because I’m castable as a Puccini tenor and there’s plenty of call for it,” he explains.

“I’ve taken it as a gift because he’s a great writer for my voice.” His house debut at the Met (also a role debut) at the end of March was in LA RONDINE opposite Angel Blue. He’s looking forward to showing off more of his dramatic chops with Pinkerton in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, starting this week, because there’s more there there.

“I think that Ruggero (in RONDINE) is not really a character—he’s a caricature,” says the tenor. It’s considered a lesser work by the composer, more operetta-ish in style and derivative (a little BOHEME here, some TRAVIATA there), with a troubled past in its composition, e.g., there’s no definitive version. “There’s not really much you can do beside deliver Ruggero and try to make him appealing, particularly next to the soprano, Magda, which is a much better written role, one that’s about her journey and what’s going on in her mind.

“Ruggero is more ‘oh, I want to be in love’ and that’s about it,” he explains. “That’s why they chose a very experienced singer, Tito Schipa, with lots of history to call upon, for the premiere, even though he was probably too old for the role. “I l prefer to show passion when I sing because there’s passion in the character. And that’s not what you get with Ruggero.”

He admits, though that even a fairly thankless role like Ruggero (not the only one in the repertoire, he notes) has a good side “because, I think, even though it’s underwritten it’s complicated for the performer. It’s a challenge to bring it to life—and I think if you can get acclaim singing this role, you can get it in any role. Now that I’ve done it, it’s a little trophy in my case.”

So you would have preferred to have started with Pinkerton?

“Actually, I would have preferred starting with Cavaradossi in TOSCA (which he’s done more than 50 times) or the Duke in Verdi’s RIGOLETTO, but, yes, Pinkerton’s just fine for me. My voice lends itself better to those types of roles.” He explains, “I like to sing a character who has more propulsive action versus ‘I want to be in love,’ which is Ruggero’s whole story. That’s too monochromatic for me.”

What about the downside of doing Pinkerton: He’s a louse. How do you make it so the audience doesn’t hate you?

Without hesitating, Tetelman says, “You go all out in Act I—be the worst guy, arrogant, selfish, life-destroying person who’s a complete wildcard, who you know is capable of anything. From the moment you’re on stage, you have to be like a disco ball where people can’t take their eyes off you, enamored of this awful person. You have to make such a big impression in Act I because it has to hold you till Act III—since Pinkerton disappears during the center of the opera.

“That 'disappearing act' is a major challenge of the role because, otherwise, the music is fantastic, so well written. And you have one of opera’s great duets, one of the best things in the opera. Then when you get to Act III, he changes because he’s a married man with a child. He understands the lives he’s ruined, how horrible he was as a person.

"This allows the audience to have empathy because they see he wants to change. Certainly with Pinkerton there’s an opportunity to make a connection--something to feel, I think, even if you hate him. If he feels he’s done wrong, if he believes it, he deserve some sympathy.

“I think it takes a lot of refinement, in general, to be a Puccini singer—and I’m not talking about myself here—but it’s why they gave Tito Schipa the main tenor role to sing in RONDINE’s premiere: He knew how to captivate the audience, even in a lesser work by the composer. Cavaradossi in TOSCA, on the other hand, is such a good role that almost anybody can make it work, in one way or another. The music is so beautifully written, the character is well delineated. You always appreciate a Cavaradossi, even if the singer isn’t star like Franco Corelli.”

What about Rodolfo in BOHEME, one of his first roles? “Frankly, I like watching it more than singing it,” says the tenor. “It’s really tough for the tenor because it’s a short opera in length but long on demands, from beginning to end,” he adds.

He continues, “There are lots of expectations about what he has to do. Mimi gets plenty of breaks; Rodolfo has to build up all this energy—he’s working two worlds, one with his friends and another with Mimi, which means having a lot of stamina.”

He’s planning to put BOHEME (a bread-and-butter role for many tenors) away for now—maybe for 2-3 years—to try other things. “I have FAUST coming up and DON CARLO, for example.”

Are you like a salmon who has to keep going upstream, I ask him, learning new roles?

“Yes,” he admits. "It’s more interesting as a singer. I’m also putting TRAVIATA on the back burner for a while. There’s so much repertoire out there that I want to try.” His next roles: Turridu [Mascagni’s CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA] in Vienna. Don Jose in CARMEN in San Francisco, Roberto in LE VILLI (one of the most obscure Puccinis) and DON CARLO, which is another ungrateful part for a tenor, despite its being the title role. Going into other repertoire is also helpful in operas I already sing because I learn more technique and artistry from doing other characters.”

Do you feel your voice changing, I ask him, because it sounds like you’re doing some heavier parts? “That’s one of the reasons I’m putting some roles aside for a while—because they don’t work for me the way they once did,” he says honestly. “I want to explore other things and come back to, for example, Rodolfo when I have more to say in my portrayal from working on other things.”

You talk so passionately about opera, I say to him, was there ever any other choice for you? Did you ever think, maybe, “I want to be an accountant.”?

Accountant, no, he says, laughing. “But a rock-and-roll singer and guitarist, a deejay, a producer, all of those crossed my mind, but none was a passion—just a fleeting thrill in my life. There were things I thought I’d get out of doing something else that I ended up not finding. But through that whole time I was trying out those other “shoes”, I was still singing and felt that I was a singer—though I didn’t know clearly what kind, That being said, I don’t think I was destined to be anything else but an opera singer.

“With opera, I felt I could be myself, express everything I wanted to—everything I couldn’t do in life. I can’t show these emotions all the time, I can’t deliver this passion and tone. We live in a society where we have to be somewhat sophisticated and reasonable to people—we can’t just shout out our emotions at each other. If you connect these feelings to the audience, that’s what the job is: Connecting your world to their world. Bringing these things together,” Tetelman tells me.

But it would undoubtedly surprise his younger self that he ended up a tenor. “In fact, I hated the tenor sound. I was young, of course. But thought they were squeaky, dull. I wanted to be a baritone. Hvorostovsky, Terfel, those were voices that attracted me. Baritones were very masculine, very thrilling voices. The characters they portrayed had significantly more depth most of the time.

“So I wanted to be a baritone and felt like I could be a baritone. I studied to be one at Manhattan School of Music, but when I started applying to graduate school, everyone told me that they thought I wasn’t really a baritone and I should figure it out before applying again,” he recalls. “To be honest, the difference between being a spinto tenor and a lyric baritone really isn’t too much—really a tessitura adjustment, I believe. I think that Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes could have been tenors if they wanted. These lyric voices could sing in this high region but they also had a good middle range and low notes.

“That being said, I had to come to terms with being a tenor because you can’t choose your voice type. I tried, studying at Mannes, but frankly I realize now that I didn’t have the right focus because I really didn’t want to do it. And my first attempt failed. I didn’t have the right teacher, the right guidance. Suddenly, things changed with a new teacher and, well, here I am.”

Where do you see yourself as a tenor in 10 years? “OTELLO, ANDREA CHENIER, WERTHER—anything that’s a title character. But you have to develop your voice before you take on these roles—and the acting is even more key than the music.” Of course, not all great tenor roles are in the title: He’s been preparing Don Jose in CARMEN—which he considers a ‘tough role’—for five years. Plus, in some productions, like the one he’s about to do in San Francisco, there’s dialogue, which has meant working with a coach to make sure his French is “clean and clear.”

For Jonathan Tetelman, the path to becoming the artist he wants to be is ongoing: “In everything I do, I have to find that voice within myself that is true, real, authentic to me. Something nobody else has. It could take me the rest of my life to find this thing, but I’m ready for it,” he concludes.

(Because of illness, Tetelman did not sing with Grigorian on April 26, the night of her Met debut, which was also scheduled to be his role debut at the house.)

Tetelman's latest recording on Deutsche Grammophon is "The Great Puccini."

Credit: Ben Wolf

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