“There’s a lack of diversity generally in the office,” he said. Russell Thomas in ‘Roberto Dvereux.’ Photo by Cory Weaver/ San Francisco Opera And he thinks that starts with where decisions are made.
Thomas would like to see more inclusivity in opera. “Opera is dealing with things all human beings feel and go through.” “Everybody can relate to loving someone and losing love and being angry,” he said. Thomas says although the subjects in opera often aren’t regular people (such as in Roberto Devereux, which tells the story of Queen Elizabeth I and her ex-lover, the Earl of Essex) we all understand the emotions in opera. The choir director told him he needed to take it seriously-he says he was a bit of a party kid-and then he could make it a career. In college, he auditioned for the chorus of the Florida Grand Opera. He went to the school where Davidson was teaching, New World School of the Arts in Miami. She told him if he auditioned, he would get accepted to every school, and they would offer him a full scholarship. It’s the only art that has absolutely everything.”ĭavidson became his voice coach, giving him lessons for free when he couldn’t afford to pay for them.
“Opera has everything: visual arts, drama, music, singing, and literature. “The first one I saw was Carmen, with all the passion and the drama,” he said. Once he saw the singers on stage, he knew that was what he wanted to do. But his choir teacher in high school got dress rehearsal passes for students to go to the opera. He didn’t even think about being a singer then-that seemed too far away. “I wanted to know how that happened.”Įvery day when he came home from school, Thomas would search for opera on the radio. “That voice, and how they could make that sound intrigued me,” he said. He found it on his own, when he was eight years old, and after school was turning the dial on the radio and heard someone singing. Thomas didn’t learn about opera through his family or friends. He’s in town, again for a title role, this time in the San Francisco Opera’s Roberto Devereux (through September 27). Thomas did work with his voice, and now he’s a rising star in opera: The New York Times called him “a tenor of gorgeously burnished power.” He just sung the title roles in Otell o at the Hollywood Bowl and La Clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival with Peter Sellars. “She said, ’No, that means you have something to work with.’”
“I thought that meant something was wrong with my voice,” said Thomas, who was at the opera house after a rehearsal. Thomas didn’t understand right away what a big deal that was. ALL EARS When opera singer Joy Davidson heard tenor Russell Thomas sing in his high school choir in Miami, she asked him if he’d ever considered voice lessons.
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