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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brent Bambury
Born1960 (age 63–64)
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)radio and television broadcaster
Known forBrave New Waves, Midday, Go, Day 6

Brent Bambury (born 1960)[1] is a Canadian radio and television personality. He has hosted a number of radio and television programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation since the 1980s, and is currently heard as host of the weekly current affairs series Day 6 on CBC Radio One and Public Radio International.[2]

A native of Saint John, New Brunswick,[2] Bambury began his career with the CBC in 1979 as a reporter for CBD-FM in Saint John,[2] later moving to the station in Halifax as a reporter while studying English at Dalhousie University.[3] He then moved to Montreal, becoming a correspondent for CBC Stereo's Brave New Waves while pursuing a master's degree at McGill University,[3] but dropped his studies when he was offered the job of permanent host in 1985.[3] The show, which aired nightly at 11:00 pm, was one of Canada's leading outlets for alternative rock and other countercultural programming in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[3]

In the early 1990s, Bambury was also an entertainment reporter for CBC television's Midday.[2] In 1995, Bambury became the show's cohost, replacing Kevin Newman,[2] and his hosting duties at Brave New Waves went to Patti Schmidt.

In 2000, Midday ended its run. Bambury spent some time as a movie reviewer for Life Network's movie series Flick,[3] as well as acting as a fill-in host for CBC Newsworld and CBC Radio One[3] before hosting a successful short-run game show, Off the Cuff, on CBC Radio One in 2001.[4] In 2002, he moved to Ottawa to take over as host of that station's afternoon current affairs program, All in a Day.[1] That same summer, he also hosted Go, a nationally broadcast summer series which aired on Saturday mornings;[5] following a second summer run in 2003, the show was added to the network's regular year-round schedule that fall.[6]

In 2005, Bambury gave up hosting duties of All in a Day,[7] and moved to Toronto along with the production of Go.[7]

In 2007, Bambury guest hosted an episode of CBC Radio 3's weekly chart show The R3-30.[8] He has also cohosted three episodes of the Canadian version of Test the Nation with Wendy Mesley on CBC Television.[2]

Go broadcast its final episode in June 2010.[2] That fall, Bambury launched the new national current affairs program Day 6.[2] He has also guest hosted a number of episodes of Q.

Bambury is openly gay.[9]

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  • Sondra Radvanovsky | May 1, 2014 | Appel Salon

Transcription

Tina Srebotnjak: Let me tell you now about the man who's gonna host this evening, CBC Radio's Brent Bambury. Brent has had a long career at CBC, in fact, many moons ago, we were co-hosts of a show called Mid Day, back in the '90s when he was six. Brent is currently the host of Day Six, the National Canadian Current Affairs show. He also writes a column for the National Post. Do you really? Brent Bambury: Yeah. TS: That is so not like you! Anyway, he writes a column for the National Post, where he collects and shares six of the oddest and most interesting news items for the week. Please welcome, my pal, Brent Bambury. [applause] BB: How many people here have seen Roberto Devereux already? So, the entire front row on this side? How many people intend to see this opera? I hope that's everybody else in the audience tonight. You need to see this production. On a day like today, I think it's worth reminding all of us that there are aspects of Toronto that just get better and better. [applause] BB: The Canadian Opera Company is one of those. We've had two productions so far in this part of the season, and each one of them has been remarkable, first Hercules and now Roberto Devereux. Each one of them is remarkable for very different reasons, and each one of them worth seeing. Now, Hercules has closed. There are five performances left for Roberto Devereux, and it is a fantastic production, it's witty, it's beautiful, it's exciting. William Shakespeare makes an appearance. And it's a fantastic cast. It's a uniformly great cast. BB: But, that would mean nothing if the performance of Elizabeth wasn't spectacular, and the performance in this case, is amazing. It's a performance that people will talk about for years to come. And we have with us tonight, as our guest, the singer, the performer of that role. She has performed in all of the great houses, now, in North America and Europe. And this is not her first appearance at the Canadian Opera Company, but it is definitely one that people will remember for many years to come. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage, Sondra Radvanovsky. Sondra Radvanovsky: Wow. Thank you. I'm on the far side? BB: On the far side is fine, yes. SR: Okay, then. Hello. Wow. That's quite an intro. Man! You mean I have to do well in the next five shows, too now? BB: You can do whatever you want, it's fine. SR: Okay, okay. BB: You look so much more glamorous than you do in the curtain call for Roberto Devereux. SR: I actually had some of my friends come up to me and say, "That was you?" Yeah, that was me. Yeah. BB: What is it that you're wearing on your head during that part of the performance? SR: Well, for the whole show actually, as you all probably know about Queen Elizabeth, she had a very far back hairline. And I don't! So, they put something called a bald cap on my head, and I wear it for the whole show, because I don't wanna give too much away, but the opera starts with me old, and then I go back to being younger, and then I progress to being old again. So, they use something called toupee tape, to attach the wigs to my bald cap, and it's not... It's slightly treacherous, I mean it's not a fun thing having your hair pulled out, and yeah. BB: But you're not bald, you still have these sort of wisps of hair coming out of your head, isn't that how it works? SR: Something like that. I try not to look in the mirror, because I say to my husband, "This is gonna be me in 30 years. This is what you have to look forward to." No, it's just weird, because I'm still me, I'm still young me, and I look in the mirror and go, "Oh, God." BB: Well, it's not what they call a hag role. SR: No. BB: This is a very... An intense role, and I wanna talk about it in a moment, but first I wanna go... When you were 11 years old, you saw a production of Tosca on public television. SR: Yes. BB: What do you remember about that day? SR: Plácido Domingo. That was the whole thing, Plácido Domingo, who was this person? I was transfixed, I said to my mother, "I wanna do that." And she said, "Yeah, okay, honey." I said, "I wanna do that!" I mean, that's really all I remember was that gut feeling, that feeling of, "Wow, this is amazing, and how can I get more of that?" It's like a drug. And I was hooked at 11 years old, and... I mean, I grew up with music too, with church music, listening to Karen Carpenter, things in the same vein, but this was my first true operatic experience. BB: Obviously, since that time, Plácido Domingo has become a champion of you, and a friend of yours. Did you ever tell him about what it was like for you to see him? SR: Oh, he hates when I tell this story. He says, "Sondra, how old were you?" Yeah. He said, "Don't tell that story anymore. I feel old. I feel old." But the funny thing is, it really came around full circle, this last year. I was in Los Angeles, and I sang Tosca with Plácido conducting. How surreal is that? Yeah, and I told him that story, that was first, I think I got all weepy, I told him that story, actually that night. And said, "You know, Plácido, it was you in this opera, that has me standing here right now with you." And that's when he said, "I feel old." [chuckle] BB: It's great, it shows you how accessible opera can be if people have access to it. SR: Absolutely! And it doesn't, opera doesn't have to be this snotty, hoity-toity art form. Opera, as we were talking about, opera is a visceral response, and even if you know nothing about singing or the orchestra or the play. One, I think, gets an automatic response when you hear good singing or bad singing, in that sense. But, it does something to you, to your core, and you react to it. And that's my job, is to transport everyone that comes, to move you in one way or another, and have you involved in my story that I'm telling. BB: How many times have you sung Tosca? Do you know, off-hand? SR: You know, it sounds like I've done it a lot, but it was a role that I waited to sing, because Tosca is a notorious voice wrecker. Because, the orchestration's really loud, and you so you have to sing really loud. BB: That's never really been a problem for you, has it? To sing loud? [chuckle] SR: My mother said I was born with my mouth open, and I've never shut it, so yeah. [chuckle] BB: I didn't mean that, I meant... SR: No, no, no it's true, it's true. And I was telling, today I did, actually, a little concert on 96.3 before this, today, and I was telling people how I sang in choir when I was in college, and I was always the one, they said, "You! Shh... " [chuckle] "Just move your mouth, don't sing. Just move your mouth." But no Tosca's a role that I only started when I was 35? Where's my husband? 35? Yeah, so last year. [chuckle] No. I've been doing it a lot, recently, yeah. And I really, really enjoy singing it. BB: So, when did you realize that you had the gifts that you needed in order to become a singer? In order to actually go for it? SR: That's a very good question. There's a point where you realize, I really want to do this, but then there's a point when you think, I can do this, and I can make a career in that. Probably around 16 or 17, when I started winning a lot of competitions. My voice developed very early for an opera singer, probably because I started taking voice lessons so early, at 11 years-old. And I was criticized highly at 11 years-old, my mother was, especially, because, "Oh, you don't wanna do that to your daughter, she's not ready for that." SR: But I asked for it, and I practised all the time, and it was my passion, and I knew at 11 years old that that was my gift. I was given a gift and I knew, in some fashion, I was gonna be in music and it was gonna be involved in my life. But at 16, was when I really thought, "Hey, I have a shot at this." And when I went to college I was a flute major as well. I know! And can you believe this? I literally flipped a coin and said, "Will I be a flute major in college? Or will I be a voice major?" Thank God, it was a double-sided coin! BB: Exactly, it was a good coin! SR: Yeah. And it just, "Oh, singing. Okay, great." BB: But when you were in university, you were at UCLA, and you were studying theatre as well? SR: As well, yes. BB: You knew... Was that also an option? Did you think, maybe I'll just be an actor? SR: I did. Because when you're young, you wanna try, you wanna dabble in everything. And I really loved theatre, and I loved acting, and the whole idea of becoming someone else was very enticing to me as a child, make-believe, pretending, all of that. And then, to add the musical aspect to it, I thought "Wow, okay, opera, that's it!" But it was the best thing I could do, was to learn about acting as well. And I had no idea, at that point, how beneficial it would be in the years. Not just the acting aspect, but learning about lighting, learning about how to find your light on stage, because we always like to look good in light. And learning about period costumes, learning about makeup, how to make yourself look old, how to act like an old person or whatever, and it was such invaluable information. BB: And in this production we get to see you go through those stages, as well. So, when you were studying voice, what came easily to you, and what did you feel you had to work on? When you were a student, what were the parts that you thought, "Oh, this is something that's not a problem for me," and the parts that were more difficult. SR: Yeah. Well, I started out... I don't know how much all of you are educated in singing and all that. I started out as a lower voice type than I am now, I started out as a mezzo-soprano when I was singing, around 14-15, singing Mozart and Cherubino, and... And I remember saying to my mom, "I just don't look like a boy. No, not for me." But, the voice develops naturally, so a certain part of the voice will come in later than other parts of the voice. Because it's how, you know that when boys go through losing their voice or it changes. It happens naturally. So, I had the bottom of my voice was very strong, so that part, the dramatic part always came very easily to me. SR: The part that was always a problem was all these high notes when I was younger, and that really was an issue for me trying to reach those high notes. And I remember saying to my voice teacher, "When am I gonna get those high notes?" "It will come. It will come." And now that's the easy part and going down on the bottom is a little bit more. So it's always a trade-off. It's a balancing act. But for me, always, singing these long lines was something that came very easily. Singing those sad songs, all those... Yeah, I like that. Happy: Not for me. I'm not a... I mean, I'm a happy person, but I don't do funny. I just don't do funny. No. BB: When you were in university, you noticed that something was not right with your vocal cords. SR: It was a bit, yeah. Probably a bit past university. Yeah. BB: What happened? SR: When I was a child I had... I was born with pneumonia, and the doctor seems to think... You never know for sure, it might have been other reasons, but... When they put, they intubate you and they put the tube down, they think they may have nicked one of my vocal cords. So, it developed like a little scar, and the scar got bigger and bigger the more I sang. And the more I sang, the more hoarse I got. I would lose my voice very easily. So we decided... Gosh, how old was I? 33? 33 years old, I had vocal surgery. And this in my field, vocal surgery is a big big no-no. No one talks about it. It's like a ballet dancer saying that they tore their tendon or something and they had surgery and... No one talks about it, because they think it's related to a bad technique, and in many people it actually isn't. It just happened to be the way it was. SR: So, midway through my career, I did this very risky surgery, which a lot of people can lose their voice. Because they go and they shave something off of your vocal cords which... Vocal cords are very very small. But the doctor said, "Oh, 99.9% sure you're gonna be fine", I said, "What about 0.1%?". Needless to say, I'm here today. So, it worked and it made my voice even better. BB: But you kept it secret, didn't you? SR: For many years, because of that. BB: Because of the stigma. SR: Because of the stigma. It's really, it's a terrible thing. And I think... I pride myself in saying I'm one of the first people that came out and said, "I had vocal surgery.". But now, a lot more people have the courage to say, "Hey, I did it too. And I did it too" and... And you know what? It's an injury. I'm a sports person. What I do is very physical. My body is my instrument, like any, like a football player. If he tears a rotator cuff, "Hey, hey. He tore a rotator cuff. He's going to have surgery". BB: But you have more injuries than anybody. Because I have a list of them here. [laughter] SR: No, I did not know this was like roast Sondra day. [laughter] I am very accident-prone. My husband will vouch for that. BB: In 2009, you got mugged outside of drug store in San Francisco. SR: Yes. BB: What happened there? SR: Well, he... We won't say what type of person this was, but it was not in a nice area. And he reached for my purse which had my passport in it, and darn it, I was not giving it up. I lived in New York at that point and so the New Yorker in me came out, and I pushed him. BB: You pushed the mugger? SR: Yeah, I did. And he pushed back. And I kind of fell and as I fell, I twisted my ankle. BB: And you were on stage at that time? You were doing a production, right? SR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was doing Trovatore. And I went to the doctor, and unfortunately I was there all alone, my husband was here in Toronto. And I laid on the ground for a good five minutes, and people walked, basically, right over me. BB: Oh, my god. SR: And you think, "Wow, human nature," but I understand they didn't wanna be involved in all of it. So I limped home and went to the doctor, and I tore a ligament in my right ankle. BB: Did you have a cast? SR: Well, at the moment, no, because I had a show the next day and then the day after that, I had to fly to Chicago. But that show the next day, something happened too. BB: You were on stage in Trovatore? SR: With my bad right ankle. BB: What happened then? SR: The tenner might have fallen on my other foot. [laughter] And he's not small. No... No, so I kept on telling, "Be careful on my right ankle. Be careful on my right ankle." Boom, and I'm barefoot. And the very last moment, I'm dying, I'm dying and he falls to his knees on my left foot, and he breaks my two little toes. [laughter] BB: Did you hear them crack? BB: Well, I heard myself scream. Yeah. And I'm supposed to be dying like... And the next day, I had to get on a plane and fly to Chicago with two broken toes on my left foot, a broken torn ligament on my right ankle, and I was in the centre seat of a three seat section, and it was a sold out flight. "Please don't hurt my ankle. Please don't hurt my ankle." Yeah. BB: But, in 2004, in Don Carlo... SR: Oh, gosh. BB: Didn't Ferruccio Furlanetto break your arm? SR: He did. Oh, he didn't mean it though. I should... [laughter] Well, we were doing Don Carlo and it's the scene where he discovers that I'm kind of still in love with Don Carlo, and so he throws me... And it's a stage throw, right? It's supposed to be a stage throw, so it's kind of... Well, his foot might have been on the back of my train, so I fall and you there's a natural progression. There's an arc in falling, and I was going through it, and then I hit a certain point, and I went boom, onto my arm. And, my husband was in the audience, and there was this collective [gasping]... 'Cause you could hear it go... Yeah, it was fun, and then after that I was singing... [singing] I was supposed to be crying and Ferruccio said "Oh, that was so moving." "You broke my arm!" [laughter] SR: Yeah, that was fun. BB: Stay away from him because he's in town now. SR: I know. I know, and I have to go say hi to him. BB: He's in Toronto for Don Quixote which opens... SR: Yeah, and he's fabulous. Go see it. Shameless... BB: Yeah, it opens a week from tomorrow. And... But you admire him as an actor, and I wanna talk about this idea of singers as actors now, because a lot of people... There's a tradition that they're not necessarily great actors. He inspires you. Why is that? SR: He does. Because he's willing to go that extra 10, 15, 20%. He really invests everything. Not just vocally, because it's really one of the most beautiful voices I've ever sang with, worked with. He's a wonderful colleague too. He's a wonderful person besides breaking arm, but you know. But, he is just... You can't help watching him. SR: I mean, there will be 10 other people on stage, and you only see Ferruccio, because he's so invested in what he does. He is there, a 100%, and there's so few singers, opera singers, that I feel like that about. Him, Bryn Terfel, I mean, any opportunity I have to work with either of them, absolutely. Because for me, it's very fulfilling to work with someone like that, because you have someone to play with on stage. It's like a banter back and forth, and it's a joy for me. BB: Let's talk about Roberto Devereux. This is a fantastic production. It's... Your... There's a terrific director. Obviously, an amazing Elizabeth. This stuff about the virgin queen, that's all nonsense, right? SR: Yeah. Come on. Seriously, she's the queen. She could have anybody she wanted. You know? She's just the virgin queen because she didn't have a child, and she wasn't married. But virgin queen? I don't think so. I don't play it that way, yeah. BB: So, in this production, is there... The decision to show Elizabeth at different stages in her life and to try and understand her psychologically, that seems to me to be... Give it a level of complexity to a character that might not necessarily have that. Does that help you as a performer? SR: Yes, it become a more complete... I like roles that are very complete. Characters that are very complete. That you get to see many sides of them, and there's not many characters... Tosca, for instance, I find very interesting because you see the vulnerable side of her and the girl in love, but then the strong girl who can actually kill Scarpia, and I find with this production especially, with the overture being staged, and that is me in the overture. You might not know it, but it is actually me with this lovely wig on. But it shows the progression of her life, and that's why I like doing all three of them in a way because now, I know, this is the third of the Tudor trilogy, the three queens, and... BB: There are three Donizetti operas. SR: Three Donizetti operas, and I... This is now, the third one for me. So, I've done Anne Boleyn. I've done Mary Stuart, and now I've done Queen Elizabeth, and I feel like I know a little bit more about the characters, because I know the progression of the British history. And yeah, she's a fascinating lady. BB: And I think the production invites us to see her as a complex character, right from the beginning. The fact that you've done now all three of these roles, did you know at some point that this would be offered to you or were you hoping that this would be offered to you? Is it something you set out to do? Because this is unusual that someone gets a chance to do all three of those queens. SR: It was actually my coach, my voice coach, who said "You know, Sondra, I think you can do all three of these." And I said, "I think you're smoking crack." Really, I mean, I sing Tosca. I do Verdi. I don't do... I don't do all those black notes, all that fast stuff. I don't do that. They said "Oh, yes. You do, and you'll do it really well." SR: And I said "Okay." I trust my coach. I've been with him 18, 19 years now, and he know my voice better than I do, which is scary. So, he suggested that I look at some of the more dramatic Bel canto roles, the Donizetti, Bellini... So, I started out with Lucrezia Borgia who is also a little cuckoo. Then proceeded to do Norma, and now I've done the Anna Bolena and the Maria Stuarda, and now this. BB: Of the three queens, is Elizabeth the most difficult, the most challenging? SR: By far. Not just dramatically, but vocally. This is a very challenging role, because she's angry all the time. Poor lady. I feel bad for her. It's also a challenge doing all three of these because these historically were people that lived, so I can't make it up. We know the story of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. We know the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and how she died; how Queen Elizabeth and the rivalry. We know about Queen Elizabeth and her life, and that she has no option, and that's really what we try to show in this production is that Queen Elizabeth had no choice. She had to become queen. Was she gonna say no? SR: And I think, towards the end of her life, I've read a lot about her, and she was just tired of it. She was tired of the pomp and circumstance and she died, standing up. She didn't eat, she didn't go to the bathroom, she just stood. And that's how... She was done. And that's what we try to show in this production, as the progression of how royalty wore her down. BB: And you get that through your acting. But the way that this opera's composed... The singing required of the role is enormously demanding at the end of the opera. So, you are playing a character who's losing her strength or who was becoming, was ageing through the process of her office, but you're singing a role that just takes all of your power. It requires all of your power. And when I saw you perform which was Tuesday night, it seemed to me like, you were feeding on that... That you were feeling the demand of the production and rising to it. SR: I hope so, yeah. For me, I love challenges. And this is pretty much one of the ultimate challenges that I've done because physically, it's very demanding for me. Those of you who haven't seen it will see that it requires me to hunch over in a corset on a stage that... You can't see it. Everybody says to me, "Oh, I didn't know the stage was rigged." But it's quite a steep rig. So, I'm leaning over and I... At the end of a night, I... "Oh, my back is killing me." [chuckle] SR: I like a challenge. And also, it's one thing to play an old person, but I can't sing like an old person. And to differentiate between the two but then to wed the two is really... It took me quite a while with the rehearsal process and I only feel like I got there opening night with the two kind of... Well, it's a trial and error. You try one thing and, "Oh, that didn't work. Oh, let's try this way. Or, let's try that way," and, yeah. BB: And the demands of the singing at the end of the opera... When you know that you're going to be doing that much technical singing at the end of the opera, how do you preserve the energy throughout the opera so that you can meet that demand for... To deliver the final scenes? SR: Well, I have to say, in comparison to some of the other operas I sing, like Norma. Quite frankly, Norma is twice as long of a sing for me as this. So this, singing this, in a way, is a walk in the park. BB: If Norma's a 10, then... SR: Norma's a 10. This is probably about a 6. BB: Really? Oh. SR: For length, because it's not a long night for me. Those of you who have seen it, there are many scenes that I'm not in. There's duets with Sara and Nottingham; Sara and Roberto Devereux; and Devereux and Nottingham. I just get the last scene. BB: Which is, yeah, which is pretty towering. SR: It's pretty fun, yeah. But technically, it's not as long as many other roles. Anna Bolena is a very long evening for me, too. BB: And you're performing all three of these operas at the Met next year? SR: '15, '16. BB: How far in advance are you booked? If someone wanted to contract you tonight for an opera, what year would it take place in? SR: '18, '19? BB: [laughter] So that's... SR: And that's filling up pretty quickly. BB: That's crazy. SR: Yeah, it is crazy. But people always say, "Wow, that's crazy," but I know when I'm taking my vacations, I know when I'm getting my teeth cleaned, I know when I'm getting my hair done. It's all about what's normal for a person, and this is normal for me. I've lived my whole adult life like this. So, I love it. I really do. BB: Let's talk a bit about Norma because you sang Norma at the Met last fall. And the New York Times said that you were ringing and powerful, nuanced, arresting, striking, vigorous... That's a rave, isn't it, ladies and gentlemen? I would say that that's... SR: I paid him. I paid him. [laughter] BB: But when you take on a role that's as challenging as Norma, that's a 10... SR: Yeah. It's a 15, actually, on a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 15 and especially... BB: You're doing it at the Met. So... SR: That makes it a 15, yeah. BB: So, you have all of these fantastic performances that came before you... All of these Normas, the ghosts of all the Normas standing onstage. What do you owe those performances when you take on the role? SR: Well, it's really difficult because of all the soprano roles in the soprano repertoire that I sing, Norma is always the... The golden role and, "Oh, Maria Callas sang it. Oh... " where "Oh, Caballé sang it." "Oh... " Yeah, but Radvanovsky's singing it now. And then... They're dead! Well, Caballé is not dead, I'm sorry. [laughter] SR: Callas is dead. And it's really hard to shake those ghosts, because people always compare you to someone else, especially in that role, "Oh, well, Caballé did the runs better," or "Callas was more dramatically interesting," or whatever and... I'm just trying to make it through the opera without falling which I did in that one, too, by the way. Thank you. On the radio broadcast... BB: You didn't break anything, though... SR: Well, I was quite black and blue, yeah. Yeah, I found... But it's, it gives you impetus to be even better. To know that the greats, the greatest greats stood on that stage and sang that role and you're there now. And you either sink or you swim. I will tell you, walk out and to start with Costa Diva. I was really shaking in my boots, I gotta tell yeah the first night. I haven't been that nervous in a very long time. BB: But then when you get through the first performance, do you... I mean your confidence grows with each performance? SR: Yeah, absolutely. And it was my first staged Norma. I had done it in a concert but never on a stage moving and yeah. BB: Do you admire Callas? SR: I do. BB: Why is that? What is it about Callas? SR: I would say beauty of voice, but it's not that because it wasn't a particularly beautiful voice per se. But what she could do with it, and how she could express emotion. And that for me is the biggest thing about singing. Because, when you have emotion in your voice and when you use that, that is what goes right here to the audience members. It touches their soul and that's what she always did. You listen to it and you just go 'wow'. That is like, for me, a master class in not just singing, but Opera. And... BB: You said that she was not afraid to sound ugly. SR: Ugly, yes. And I learned a lot from that because, I, in especially this Devereux you probably heard a few of those moments where, "Yeah, there were some ugly sounds in there," but it's because the character calls for it. When she's screaming at Roberto Devereux that "Your gonna die, I hate you, you don't love me". Your not gonna go, "Oh, here, your gonna die"... "In here, I am going to eat you". And yeah, you have to be willing to go for it. That's what I really always admired about her. BB: Norma, you told the New York Times that Norma is the perfect role for you. Why is that? SR: Yes. Acting, temperament, vocally, I really feel like it fits me like a glove, because it requires everything from a singer, and its a real challenge, and I like challenges. Every time I walk on stage, I push myself to sing higher and softer or louder on the bottom. And, I don't know, it just feels to me, you know when you, when you just see something or you see a movie and you go "That was nice." And that's what I feel like when I sing it, I just feel comfy. Comfy singing Norma. Slightly crazy, right there. BB: We talked about this a little bit earlier, but that was your first Bel Canto at the Met, right? SR: Yes, they had never heard me sing anything even remotely like it. BB: Earlier, in your career, you were, you became known as a Interpreter of Verdi? So what... You mentioned the role of your instructor, your teacher. But what was it that made you believe, this is the shift that I want to try and make now? SR: Well, once again, I say I like these challenges. But I think after the surgery that I had on my vocal chord, it allowed me more freedom, vocally. It allowed me to be able to play with my voice more because I wasn't impeded, I didn't have what I call the speed bump, right in the middle of my vocal chord, really limiting my technique. I had to learn how to sing with it, and then I had to learn how to sing without it again. And, it really made me work on technique, and it made my technique really solid, and because of that, it allowed me to do things that I could never do before, and I think that's why Norma was the obvious choice for me to try because it was almost like my true voice now came out. Before, I had to manipulate my voice in a way, and then this was, wow, I have a vocal freedom. And it was uplifting. BB: People love your Verdi recording with Hvorostovsky. When you first met him, he thought you hated him. What happened? SR: Yes. I was singing at the Met, and here is this man who... Okay, my husband's in the back, but he knows about my operatic crushes and my Formula One crushes, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky might have been my operatic crush. So, here is this guy with this mane of grey hair, handsome as all could be, and walks up to me and says, "Hi, I'm Dmitri. Your performance was really wonderful." And I looked at him and said "Thank you," and I walked away. [laughter] BB: Because you were nervous? SR: Well, he is Dmitri Hvorostovsky, I mean, come on. I was a young, younger, and he thought that I hated him. Yeah, so. BB: So, how did you correct that? SR: Well, I didn't, he did. I got a phone call, with him inviting me to sing a concert with him in Russia, which another soprano cancelled at the last minute, Romanian, black hair. Don't need to mention a name. And yeah, so she cancelled it at the last minute, and I just happened to be free and I had never been to Russia. And he said "Oh by the... " once I get to Russia, "Oh, by the way, we are making a DVD and a CD of it." Okay, "Hi, I'm Sondra." But it was funny, we had this instant chemistry like we had known each other for years and years and years. He's a big goofball and I'm... Yeah, I'm a big goofball too. So, it was a blast. When we weren't laughing, and we were singing, and then we were laughing, and joking around again. It was a lot of fun. BB: Didn't you get up to goofball stuff on stage together, weren't you doing lots of... SR: How do you know all this? [laughter] BB: I asked around. SR: Oh yeah Dmitri, as I said he is a big goofball and we and we have sung together a lot. We did a lot of trovatores, and one day, in our big duet, the baritone-soprano duet where he's trying to woo me and take me away, and he's... He, on his eyelids, painted eyes. [laughter] SR: And I'm singing away, he's singing to me and he... His eyes were like this. I thought, "Why are your eyes like that?" He didn't say anything, 'cause he can't say anything. And then I'm singing in my... And he just does this... I start laughing and then he... What did he do? He drew a big heart on his chest and he just whipped it out. He was facing up stage, so nobody in the audience could see it, but only me and I'm... "Come on." So, when I died, I might have wrote, "I heart Dmitri" on my hand, and just held it up as I'm dying and just went like that... [laughter] We've done it. We're bad, we're so bad. Yeah, and he would tickle me and yeah, terrible. BB: I heard you say earlier today that after your performance on Tuesday night, you were up until 3:30 AM. Is that because you have so much energy after you've performed, is there a buzz that continues to go through you? SR: Oh yeah, absolutely. And especially, when it's an exciting show, like Tuesday night was really exciting and we were all, all the cast, we were like, "Yeah, let's go get it." And then we went to dinner afterwards and then we have to drive home to Caledon and... You get home and you're like, "Yeah, great", and then it's like somebody pulls the plug on you... It's adrenalin drop, but yeah, 3:30, it's pretty normal. It's a different, it's just a shift, so today's singing at 96.3 at 1:00 in the afternoon, oh, that was fun, that was a lot of fun. BB: You're an American who longs to be Canadian. SR: Yes. BB: Why? BB: I love Canada. I really do. Go Canada. Yay! Yeah, I will always be American, because I was born there, my mother's there. But I married a Canadian gentleman. And we flipped a coin again, US, do we live in the US, do we live in Canada? The first year we were married actually, I was in New York and he was here. But, every time I came up here I thought, "Wow! It's so civilized and the people are so nice. Why is everyone so nice?" But then I found out it's just the way Canadians are. And, we say sorry all the time. I just really fell in love with it and really wanted to make this our home and we are applying for Canadian citizenship now. Finally, after 13 years, because I think we found a way to get it. Because to become a Canadian citizen you have to be here three years out of a five-year period. BB: Right. SR: And when we're home, one or two months out of a year, that's not gonna happen, but I think we might hopefully have a way to do that. BB: So, five more performances of Roberto Devereux, but then you have an engagement with the Toronto Symphony. And you're singing Strauss, doing the four last songs... SR: Yes. BB: Have you sung Strauss before? SR: Not this Strauss. I sang the other Strauss. I sang Fledermaus, but not the serious Strauss. No, and in fact, I've only done a few German roles. I only did Freya and Gatruna , the Wagner roles. BB: So, is this... Are you trying something out here? SR: Yes. This is an experiment because a lot of people have hinted that maybe I'd be good at German repertoire... BB: People are gasping in the audience, why is that? Do you think that's a mistake audience? Is that what you're thinking here, or? SR: Hands up, who things I should do it. BB: Who thinks that Sondra should do German? [background conversation] SR: Yeah, okay. Who thinks I shouldn't? Oh. BB: Lots of votes of confidence. SR: I know, I know. I need them. Thank you. I'm scared. BB: The opera that you have booked through 2018, is any of them, does any of them represent that repertoire? SR: No. BB: Okay. SR: No, not yet. I was offered a German opera, but said, no. Not yet. I don't speak German, I speak Italian. And German... Especially, German operas are so conversation, conversational. It's like, if we were having this conversation and you were speaking in Russian and I was speaking in English, it just, it would be very one sided. SR: So, it involves a lot more work for me with the language and working on the language and all of that, but I'm not sure, if it's a risk that I wanna take or not yet. So... But the four last songs were gloriously beautiful. I mean the music, I live German music, I really do. It's not that I don't love it, it's just that it's a lot more work for me. And I'm not sure, the Italian music is so great. So, we'll see. BB: Will we see you on stage again at the COC? SR: Yes. Can't say what. BB: Fantastic though. Great! SR: Good. Not German, not German music. It'll be more Italian. BB: Before you go on stage, you say a prayer to your father. SR: I do. Oh, you're going to get me all teary again. BB: Why is that? SR: I found my father dead, when I was 18 years old, and he never got to hear me to sing. So, I feel like he's my little guardian angel, and he protects me except when I fall. [laughter] Yeah, so I always say a little prayer, and I don't ask him for me to sing wonderfully. I ask him to allow me to do the best I can do tonight or today or whatever. Just allow me to do the best that I can do right now. BB: He's doing a good job. SR: You know, I've got a pretty good guardian angel I think... BB: I would say so. SR: Yeah, I've got a few others up there too. But yeah, I'm pretty lucky. BB: Sondra Radvanovsky, thank you for talking with us... SR: Oh, you make me cry. BB: No, no, no. You're so great, and such a catch! SR: Thank you. That was fun! BB: Good. You are so great. SR: Thank you. No, you're wonderful. BB: Thank you for being... Now, we're gonna go to the audience to see if... SR: Sure, sure. BB: So audience, it's up to you now. Do you have some questions? I'm sure you do. We have a microphone for you here, don't be shy. SR: No questions. BB: Who will be first? We just have to break the dam, I know that they are... SR: Oh, yeah! Somebody wants to ask. BB: No one wants to go first, it's the opening night, you see? SR: I know, I know. It's just very scary, but go on. BB: Do you want to go to the microphone, so we can hear you? And I'm just gonna ask you to keep the preambles short so that you can get to the question. But, go ahead, yes. Speaker 4: I don't have a... Oh it's loud. SR: It's good. S4: I don't have a question, but I was one of the fortunate people that was there on Friday evening for the opening performance. It was magical... SR: Thank you. S4: And I've been going to the opera for seasons, for years and I think it's... I said to somebody that called me today and I said, "It had to have been one of the best evenings we've had in years." Thank you. SR: Thank you. BB: Thank you. [applause] SR: Hi, there. Speaker 5: I actually have two questions. The first question is, are there any roles still on your bucket list? SR: Yes. Are there any roles still on my bucket list? Forza del destino; Pique Dame; Turandot; and then all those angry women, Macbeth, Attila, Nabokov, Fanciulla del West, dying to do that, and Chénier, Andrea Chénier. A lot of these I have coming up too, so I'm very lucky I get to sing all the music that I love. Number two? S5: How do you feel about directors who try to re-imagine productions in a modern time and... [laughter] SR: Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question. You asked about modern productions and how do I feel about it. Well, nowadays it's pretty much unavoidable. Especially in Germany, in places like that. I have learnt to ask who the directors are of the new productions that I am doing because I was burned once and... Listen, it's unavoidable like I said, but if it's relevant to the plot and makes sense, then I will try my best to make it make sense. But, if it doesn't make sense, then you have to have a discussion with the director and say listen, this is not working for me. And the Maria Stuarda I did actually was... It was very difficult. BB: So what were you able to have changed? SR: At that point nothing, yeah, and I cried actually. It made me look ugly! I actually stopped the rehearsal. The dresser was like, "I look ugly!" Oh, I did, I looked like something out of the movie, The Aliens. Truly. The hair was you know, back here and it was all powdered white and... Sometimes people criticize us, the singers, for accepting these new productions, but often times, we don't know anything about it. They don't tell us anything. We're just contracted to do a job and they don't tell you who the conductor is, or who the director is, or if it's gonna be this new production. We don't know that, and then we are the ones that are criticized, and it's not necessarily our fault. But I agree with you, I think more traditional productions often make more sense. But, modernizing a bit is not bad, but with toilets on stage, come on. [laughter] S5: Thank you. SR: You're welcome. Thank you for coming. Speaker 6: Hi. SR: Hi, there. S6: Hi, thank you for all the insightful things you said today, because to me as a young vocalist, they were really helpful. I was wondering if you could give any advice, in terms of auditioning for colleges. SR: Oh, boy. You know what, I'm glad that I'm sitting here and I'm not there. The Opera world has changed so much in the last 10 years really. Advice for auditioning for colleges. You know what? Sing what you love, don't let somebody else tell you, "Oh, you are this type of voice you should sing this." Sing what you really feel in here and the audience or whoever you are singing for is gonna feel it. Because, if I had once again a dollar for every time someone said, "Oh, no, but you should sing Mozart," yeah, no, not for me. I love listening to Mozart. I could sing Mozart, but I don't feel it in here when I sing it. So, be true to yourself, don't let other people sway your opinions and sing what you love. Honestly. S6: Thank you. SR: Good luck. S6: Thank you. BB: Good luck. Hi. SR: Hi there. Speaker 7: Hello. I was also present at that magical evening on Friday. And I absolutely agree this was one of the best evenings of many seasons. SR: Thank you. S7: Thank you for that. SR: Thank you. S7: My question is today I listened also to you, the 96.3 performance. And you sang some Russian songs. What is your connection, the Russian connection in your background. Your father? SR: Yes, my father he was Czech. And his mother they say came from Russia. So all of the Russian music just really, as I said to her, touches my soul. S7: You grew up with Russian music? SR: Yeah. Czech music too. I've sung Rusalka, and I really loved Dvorak and all of that. Remember what I said? The music that came very easily to me was all that sad languid music. S7: Rusalka? SR: Love Rusalka, I love singing it. S7: The other question is then about your husband, is he Canadian citizen or both of you are becoming Canadian citizen? SR: Yes. He is. No, he is a Canadian citizen and also British citizen. So he's the reason why I'm here. Thank you. S7: You're booked till 2018, but I hope we are around to hear more of you. SR: It'll be before 2018 that I'm back, I promise. BB: Hi. SR: Hi there. Speaker 8: Hi. I'm such a big fan of you and I spent a lot of time listening to broadcasts from the Met and Live in HD and things like that, so it's really exciting and a little bit surreal to be talking to you, but... SR: I don't bite. S8: That's fantastic. I'm another aspiring singer as well as aspiring baritone, and I was always wondering to myself, what will make me stand out? And I know it's different for everybody, but I was wondering, for you personally, what do you think makes you stand out as an individual, as a singer, or as a soprano? SR: You know, that's a very good question. And... He asked, what makes me stand out or what can he do to make him stand out? And I had a voice teacher, one of my first voice teachers Marcile Sangara, French, Lyric baritone, and he said to me, "If you're going to be a soprano, you have to be the very best soprano you can be and you have to find what makes you different than you or you or you and you have to work on that, because there's 40 gazillion million Sopranos in the world, as there are Baritones." So you have to find what you do better than any other baritone. And I found, what I did was singing high and soft and all of that floaty stuff. SR: And also, that I have a very large instrument that I can pair down to very small and very soft. And I'm not gonna say it's a trick, because I worked very hard to get that, but that really is what I found works for me. So you have to go out and find, "Okay, do you sing Mozart better than anyone else, or is your Coloratura better than anyone else, or do you sing those long lines." Like Dmitri Hvorostovsky, he figured out what he did better than anyone else, he never breaths. The guy can sing for five pages and you know, he's turning a few shades of red, but he can turn those lines and that's what people will go, "Oh, yes, Dmitri. Long lines." So, you have to find that thing that makes you, you. You know? And it's not easy, trust me. And, it takes a while, but keep working at it, because it's really worth it. As long as you love what you're doing, it's worth it. S8: Great. Thank you so much. SR: Good luck to you. S8: Thank you. Speaker 9: Hi, Sondra. I was also at Tuesday's performance of Roberto Devereux, and I just loved your performance, it was just lovely. It was actually the second time that I had seen you. The first time was two years ago at Roy Thomson Hall with the symphony orchestra. SR: Oh yes... S9: Yes. I was sitting just a few seats away from you on that night, so it was quiet lovely just to hear you... SR: Did you see my tonsils when I was singing? S9: Now, I have a question that might be sacrilegious to all the opera purists and it's this, after having attended opera performances for the last four or five years at the Four Seasons Centre of Performing Arts, I've concluded that perhaps opera singers should be mic'd and amplified because I have found that at performances the... You're blessed with a lovely voice, you fill the opera hall. S9: Other people have a challenge doing that and they have a challenge singing above the orchestra. And I find when you're listening to a performance, there's an unevenness in the volume and in the loudness of the performances and some people can fill the hall, others not quite so much, some are faint and so forth. I've concluded that, I think it would be wonderful for the voices to be amplified and mic'd, and what you do, your simply evening out the loudness level, but you're still preserving the characteristics of the voice. I... SR: Next question? [laughter] My publicist taught me, you don't have to answer all questions. S9: I've gone to musicals, and I've gone... BB: When I listen to sports radio, you're putting an awful lot of pressure and trust in a sound person if you do that. SR: Yeah, that's true. BB: You're taking some power away from the singers then, but... Go ahead. SR: I will say, listen, opera is opera. They didn't have to be mic'd 100 years ago, why do they have to be mic'd now? S9: Well, the theatres are so much larger. SR: Is it because the voices are changing? Are the opera houses bigger? Are the people singing the wrong music? I don't know. That's... It's a very loaded question and honestly, you've had me stumped because this is a... Because I don't need a microphone. S9: You definitely don't. No offence. SR: Thank God. [laughter] So I don't think it's fair that if I don't need one, why would other people need it? You know what I mean? Then and if they do need a microphone then maybe they should go sing musical theatre. That would maybe be my answer, but I'm gonna stop there before I perjure myself anymore because I completely, completely disagree with it. And if, once you start using microphones than how else are we going to change opera, because opera has always been based on the power and the beauty of the human voice naturally. So I... [applause] BB: Good answer. SR: You know? And where will it go from there, you know? S9: Would you be willing to try it at one time if somebody was offered to you. BB: Well, I think we have an answer to that question. S9: As an ensemble, not that you would need it. But as an ensemble if the director and the production... SR: Yeah, no. BB: Every time there's a broadcast, there is some mic-ing of the singing going on, so you were mic'd today when you did your broadcast at 93... SR: Right, but I will tell you, and this is very technical. When the voice is not heard live, when it is compressed to be put through, as a radio person, compressed to be put through a microphone and radio waves, it's not the true voice. I'm sorry, it's... And the human voice for me is a visceral feeling. It's not just the sound of it, but it's the feeling that you get when it hits you here. So with a microphone it's not natural. It's not... S9: You're getting some natural voice, they're still singing. BB: Okay now I think, I think we've dealt with your question sir, but thank you very much. I wanna tell the audience something, if you want to... I think we're done but thank you, thank you... SR: It has been, I will say New York City Opera, because it was made as a ballet theatre, not as an opera theatre. They do naturally enhance the voices because... BB: What happened to the New York City Opera? SR: And it's gone. BB: It's gone. So... SR: Thank you. Sorry. BB: No, if you want to experience the visceral emotion that we were just talking about that Sondra just explained to us and you haven't seen Roberto Devereux yet. We have an opportunity for you to get tickets at 15% discount, that's at the table back there. And I encourage you, even if you've already seen it to see it again because... SR: Each show is different, I will say. I do, and I purposely do different things every show to see if you're paying attention. BB: We also have a pair of free tickets to give away to a performance right now and I hope you've all entered, because these are the ballots and Sondra would you... Oh, we have a couple more ballots? You wanna just... SR: A few more? Get 'em in, get 'em in, get 'em in. BB: Yeah get 'em in. Get it all in quickly. SR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. BB: Thank you, great. SR: Okay, I'm not gonna look. Put 'em in, put 'em in. Few more, few more. BB: A few more? Alright. SR: Thank you. BB: Are we sure people aren't entering twice? SR: Oh, yeah. I would. BB: Cooking the books here, are they? The Canadians appear to be polite, but they're actually devious. SR: Oh, is that it? BB: You may want to reconsider that. SR: I'm learning more and more. BB: Alright, here we have all of the entries now, and Sondra is going to choose a winner. SR: Ready? Rhoda Seon. Is that right? Speaker 10: Oh, I don't believe it! SR: You won! BB: Rhoda, congratulations! Oh, that's so great! [applause] SR: Did I say your name right? Sion? Seon? Did I say your name right? [background conversation] SR: I have to shake her hand. [background conversation] S1: Thank you so much. SR: Yes, and come back stage and say hello, please if we can put her name on the backstage list. BB: Wow, I didn't know there was a backstage pass included. SR: Oh, oh! BB: Great. SR: Yeah that's, you can tell them that I said that, okay? S1: Okay. SR: Enjoy it. S1: Thank you so much. BB: Audience, thank you very much for coming out tonight. SR: Thank you! BB: And once again, Sondra Radvanovsky, ladies and gentleman. Thank you, you're so fantastic...

References

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  3. ^ a b c d e f "N.B. native now on the air in Ottawa". The Telegraph-Journal, March 26, 2002.
  4. ^ "Playing it cool on CBC's goofy new show". The Globe and Mail, June 30, 2001.
  5. ^ "CBC re-signs Rogers to shorter radio show: Network mum on other changes to scheduling". Ottawa Citizen, June 15, 2002.
  6. ^ "Brown lands on his feet: Radio Active host bounces back after national show axed". Edmonton Journal, August 30, 2003.
  7. ^ a b "Brent Bambury calls it a day". Ottawa Citizen, April 20, 2005.
  8. ^ "The R3-30: Week Ending April 26, 2007 - Guest Hosted By Brent Bambury". CBC Radio 3, April 19, 2007.
  9. ^ "Beyond Brokeback". Toronto Star, November 15, 2005.
This page was last edited on 19 March 2023, at 15:26
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