Content area
Full Text
In a building, high above Boston's financial district, tenor Noel Espíritu Velasco and I had the following conversation . . .
Leslie Holmes: I thought that the most intriguing story in all of your material-which is wonderful and all of which I read at least twice-was your Pavarotti story, when you were auditioning in Philadelphia. You were singing Tonio's aria from The Daughter of the Regiment, with its nine high Cs. So, naturally, Pavarotti was very interested in you, as this aria was one of his specialties. And when you came to the final round, instead of doing just the nine high Cs, you sang a high E followed by a tenth high C. That took a lot of bravery. You must have been very sure of, and secure in, your high notes.
Noel Espíritu Velasco: Yes. This was thanks, in part, to my training at Curtis Institute of Music. When I came to Curtis I was already singing a lot of dramatic stuff. I was singing Enzo in La Gioconda, and things like that.
LH: Verismo.
NEV: Verismo, yes. And Marianne Casiello, who was my teacher there,-a protégé of Madame Gregory-taught bel canto singing. Working with her, my voice developed that necessary lightness. I was back to singing the high notes with ease.
LH: No pun intended? [laughter]
NEV: I still can reach those notes. I've been teaching coloraturas and high tenors, and showing them how to do it.
LH: And you have to do it right, if you're teaching it.
NEV: Exactly. I explain what I do. High Cs were-because I was a baritone after my voice changed-new to me. My first role, as a tenor, was Rodolfo. I was still singing like a baritone, with a very high extension.
LH: That must have made your duet with Marcello interesting . . . two baritones, [laughter]
NEV: Right. Exactly. I started singing a lot of tenor repertoire . . . Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, with the original writing of the duet with Lucia, which had a high E flat at the end . . . and I did that and other roles.
LH: That's very exciting. If you've got it, you might as well show it.
NEV: Yeah, exactly. And, then,...