Interview: Bryan Hymel Talks about Faust

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to do a phone interview with the internationally renowned and much sought after tenor Bryan Hymel. (I don’t say the word “superstar”, but if I did, I certainly would.) At only 31, Bryan has successfully performed in most major opera houses, including the toughest and most demanding of all,  La Scala. One year ago, at the 2011-2012 Season preview concert, Bryan won Baltimore opera fans over with his incredible rendition of Faust’s aria Salut, demeure chaste et pure. Tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon he will sing in the title role of Bernard Uzan’s production of Faust in our newly renovated Lyric.

Bryan was very pleasant and easy to talk to. He offered beautiful insights of his role, illustrating them with occasional singing of his favorite tunes from the opera.

Thus, without further delay, ladies and gentlemen, please meet Bryan Hymel.

R: Bryan, thank you so much for finding time to do this interview.

B.H: Absolutely, no problem.

R: Can you tell me a little about your childhood? How did you grow up and when did you realize that opera was "it" for you?

B. H: Sure. I grew up in New Orleans, not really in a musical family, but in a family that thankfully appreciated music. I started singing in a choir and taking piano lessons, playing the trumpet in a band – all in the fourth grade, because that was the first time you were able to do that at school. First, I loved trumpet the most, and then I got my braces on and started having more fun with piano, because it was a little less frustrating, and so through high school I concentrated mainly on piano. I went to arts high school: half a day to a regular school and half a day to arts high school down in New Orleans. And then there came time to audition for college. I auditioned for both piano and voice and got more scholarship to study singing than I did to study piano. So I thought maybe I should explore singing a little more, and I did. After my first year of the undergrad in Loyola University in New Orleans, I was “hit by the bug”, I guess you could say.

R: Needless to say that Baltimore audience is very excited about the upcoming production of Faust, and of course, about you singing the title role, especially after the Preview Concert last year.

B. H: Oh, yeah!

R: We loved you!

B. H: Oh, thank you.

R: Lyric Opera’s website describes this production as a production that “will offer a new dénouement to the story that will make us experience this opera like we never have before”.

Could you talk just a little about this production and what we are to expect?

B. H: Sure. Well, I think it is set in 2012. So the dress will be modern. The acting style is probably a little more modern as well. There is more natural movement and such on stage than you might see in more traditional productions. I would say that especially for Marguerite and Faust as his younger self, we are trying to capture more the feeling of the young people today. The thing is that whether or not you do it in a more traditional setting, just like Romeo and Juliette, people have always been young, people always fall in love, people always make mistakes and regret those mistakes. These are the things that we are dealing with here, in Faust.

I think it’s modern but it’s not crazy. I really don’t think anybody would not like it. Thus, for instance, the Garden Scene, instead of the Garden Scene in front of [Marguerite’s] house, is set in a flower shop. I would not like to give anything away, but the thing that Marguerite works in a flower shop is really sweet. And then it’s not so sweet anymore, when after the intermission things have kind of gone down hill for them as a couple, [it] gets spooky, which is cool because that’s what it should be.

The special effects, the projections that are being shown on the back, different images during the whole show, and during the Church scene there are some really cool things going on.

R: Sounds very exciting.

B.H: Yeah. Bernard Uzan is the director. I know he did Le Nozze di Figaro here. I don’t know if that was a more traditional [production]?

R: Yes, it was actually very traditional, even conservative.

B.H: Well, this will be a nice counterpoint, I would say.

R: What are the biggest joys and the biggest challenges in the role of Faust for you?

B. H: Let’s see, the biggest joys… I love the first scene. I love when [Faust] is by himself in his study and he has been up all night, he has been contemplating if this is going to be the end and if he is going to go through with drinking this potion and ending it all. It has so much material and juice, and vocally it’s a great scene.

Also, the last scene, the trio with (humming a tune from the trio). The music is just glorious.

And the most challenging parts are probably the Garden Scene, or the Flower Shop scene in this [production], because you have the aria, then you have the duet, and kind of the most difficult singing that takes place in that act. Of course, the Garden scene has its challenges, but the aria “Salut, demeure chaste et pure” is beautiful as well. I can’t complain about it. I am certainly not complaining, but I have to say it’s a challenging scene. And then the duet with Marguerite. Just to make sure that the soft singing is really sensitive, because you know, it’s not just about vocal acrobats being able or not being able to do it. You want to convey him falling for her and her falling for him and the sweetness [of it]. Every time [Faust] talks about Marguerite, she is chaste, and innocent, and pure, and modest, so it has to be imbued with that.

R: What is more exciting for you as an artist to sing a character that is sort of similar to you, or vice versa, a character that is your complete opposite?

B.H: Well, I think it is easier to do the one that is similar to you, but then again, fortunately, I get to do a lot of different characters. There is a pretty good balance of the ones that are similar to me and the ones that are not so similar to me. I think that composers, especially French and Italian [ones], wrote for personalities. Personalities and voices tend to go together. If you write for this kind of tenor, they are going to be different, but they are going to be similar in some ways as well. I’d much rather sing Faust as opposed to the Duke in Rigoletto, which is a jerk, and a womanizer and is not really my character. I love to sing Rodolfo and Nemorino, although Rodolfo I get to sing a lot more than Nemorino, who is just a more straight forward, heart on your sleeve kind of guy. Faust is like that. The youthful Faust is more heart on your sleeve. The older Faust in the beginning is more cynical, and that might be the only time when tenors get to play a really cynical character.

R: Besides singing, what are some other things that you are passionate about?

B.H: Well, being from New Orleans, I love jazz music, and having played trumpet while  at school, I still love to go see trumpet players. I love to go see jazz. It’s hard for us to have hobbies per say, because we are traveling so much, but just to be able to go and see the different cultures and cities and such is great. For instance, we spent last summer in Santa Fe and I’ve never been [there]. Just to see how different the culture is with the Indians and with Mexicans and everything else was great. It’s completely different from New Orleans, yet, it’s still America. That was really cool. Fortunately, we get to do it all over the world.

R: You have been successfully performing on major opera stages all around the world. Are the audiences different from one another, and if so, do you have any favorites?

B.H: Do I have any favorites? The audiences in London have been really good to me. I sang in London in both English National Opera and in Royal Opera House a bunch of times, probably every year for the past five years. They were really a warm audience.

 La Scala was fine. I was really nervous about La Scala, because you hear stories of people getting booed, but I got a really warm reception from the house, and so that was nice. So I had really nice experiences in London and La Scala.

R: If you only had one opera to keep for humanity, which opera would it be?

B.H: My absolute favorite just for music and singing is probably Tosca, but I think, if La Boheme ended happier, it would be the one. There is so much in it: it’s so beautiful and so real. Probably, La Boheme is what I would pick. But there are so many great ones. In the French repertoire there are so many great pieces, but they are hard to cast and they are not in fashion right now.

R: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

B.H: I’d love to keep doing what I am doing. I’d like to have half of my career in Europe and half of my career here, in the US. I’d love for it to stay that way. I think in 10 years I’ll be probably singing some of the same rep and some of the heavier rep. Now we are trying to stick to kind of standard [repertoire]: Lucia, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Romeo and Juliette, Faust… you know, standard lyric tenor stuff. Probably, in the next 8-10 years I would like to go back to Tosca, maybe go to Aida.  Radames is the role I am really dying to do but in no rush to get to.

R: Bryan, thanks so much for your time again. I am looking forward to seeing you in Faust this coming Friday. Good luck with this production and your other projects and I hope that Baltimore Opera will be fortunate enough to have you sing again on its stage in the future.