A Baritone Walks into The Berkshires

The Berkshire Opera Festival invites you the travel to a 19th century Christmas Eve in the Latin Quarter of Paris as a band of painters, poets and philosophers fight the winter chill with bottles of wine and fall in love at Café Momus. Giacomo Puccini's Italian opera "La Bohème" will be performed at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., starting Saturday, Aug, 26. I spoke with baritone Ethan Vincent will be playing the role of Schaunard.

Alexander Wilburn: Hey Ethan, thanks for taking the time in the middle of rehearsal. What's it like at this stage of the rehearsal process?

Ethan Vincent: We're running through the show, fine-tuning it if you will. We start at the beginning and take notes in between the acts, and discuss what we need to fix.

AW: Puccini's "La Bohème" is unquestionably a classic, as a performer, what do you think brings audiences back to this particular opera time and again?

EV: Musically it's a beautiful piece that people connect with tonally, and on a more theatrical level, it is something that people relate to. It's a coming-of-age story of these guys, and it's a love story as well. It's a little different compared to pieces we sometimes do in opera that can feel a little archaic and in need of an update. "Bohème" always rings true musically and in a narrative way as well.

AW: I feel like there's something about it where it's truly timeless, and each decade it's performed you might find something different. Right now, you know, we're seeing a big spike in COVID in the area. So you might think of working artists in struggling conditions.

EV: I think those themes of sickness and health are definitely factors when revisiting this piece, especially now, for sure.

AW: This isn't your first time performing "La Bohème." You were Schaunard in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, but you also played Marcello at the Columbus Symphony and the National Performing Arts Centre. Between the two roles, do you have a favorite?

EV: Marcello for sure has more singing to do. So as a singer, you're able to find more moments of beauty. But at the same time, the role has its own difficulty because there are areas that are difficult to navigate as a singer. That being said, Schaunard is always a really fun role for me to play. He is sort of the glue that holds the friends together. He's the provider, he's the comic relief. But he's also the one who initiates them to go out and have fun. It's a really fun role to play in contrast to Marcello, who's the brooding, overly sensitive character.

AW: Schaunard's entrance to the show is one of the liveliest, funniest aria's the opera. I've seen it performed with a lot of varying physicality, what's your approach to the scene?

EV: You want Schaunard to feel very seamless and very effortless like he's a really cool guy and he can just take over the space. He's in his own world, and he tells this story, a very elaborate tale, but none of his friends are listening to him. He's brought all of the provisions for everyone but no one is listening to what he's saying. But I hold onto this idea that Schaunard has nothing to worry about, he's got it all under control.

AW: You travel a ton for your work, how has your summer in The Berkshires been?

EV: It's my first time in The Berkshires and it's just so beautiful. It's my second time in this part of the country. Last summer I did some work at The Bard Festival.

AW: As part of the Bard SummerScape?

EV: Yes, we did a bunch of Rachmaninoff there. We did a semi-production of his opera "The Miserly Knight," and then we did "The Bells" which was like a symphonic piece. Being back here reminds me of being a kid and getting to go to summer camp. We saw a double rainbow across the sky, just very casually. My girlfriend is here, and she spotted a bear yesterday.

AW: Oh you will see those.

EV: I'm just surrounded by nature.

AW: What do you have coming up for the 2023-24 season?

EV: In the fall I'll be headed to The Met Opera to cover Riolobo in the brand new production of "Florencia en el Amazonas." After that, I'm going to the San Diego Opera to play Leporello in "Don Giovanni." Then I'm heading to the Washington National Opera to sing Ping in "Turandot."

AW: I'll let you get back to rehearsal — do they say "break a leg" in opera?

EV: We say "toi toi toi" or we say "in bocca al lupo" which means "in the mouth of the wolf" in Italian. It comes from peering out into the vastness of the opera house, the mouth of the wolf.