Hasmik Papian hardly picked an easy road to success.
Although the Armenian soprano regularly appears in a range of operas by such composers as Giuseppe Verdi, she built much of her reputation on one of the genre’s most challenging roles of all time: the title character in Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma.”
Papian does not have an exact count, but she has performed it in at least a dozen productions, including ones with such major companies as the Volksoper Vienna, Netherlands Opera, Opéra de Montréal and Opéra de Marseille.
She will put that extensive experience to work in Denver this week, when she makes her Opera Colorado debut in the company’s first-ever production of the 1831 masterpiece.
The respected singer, whose international career has taken her to such important stages as La Scala in Milan, Italy, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, agreed to travel to Denver because she couldn’t resist another opportunity to perform in her favorite opera.
“Of course, the reason why I’ve come is Norma,” Papian said. “It’s really my beloved role. Besides, why not? Who is deciding that people in Milano are more interested in opera than in Denver? For me, there is no difference.”
Set in Gaul (what today is called France) during the Roman occupation, the tumultuous story centers on a powerful druid named Norma. She is torn between helping launch a revolt against the Romans and her love for their proconsul, Pollione (tenor Philip Webb), with whom she has had children.
When efforts to get Pollione to renounce his new love, Adalgisa (mezzo-soprano Irina Mishura), fail, Norma names her father as guardian of the children and agrees to be sacrificed on a pyre as the Gauls prepare to battle the Romans.
Because of the epic size and scale of many of Richard Wagner’s operas, they are sometimes thought to offer singers the most formidable challenges, but that notion is not necessarily correct.
Lilli Lehmann, the great 19th-
century German soprano, is supposed to have said, “Better three Brünnhildes than one Norma.” Apocryphal or not, the quotation gets the point across: The role is incredibly tough.
Stephen Lord, the production’s conductor, said “Norma” requires a singer with the endurance to be onstage for virtually the entire opera and the vocal versatility to be a dramatic soprano in one section and then shift to a lyric or coloratura soprano capable of two-octave leaps, and shift back again.
“And then you have to sing another scene, and then you have another scene. And did I mention that you have another scene?” Lord said.
“It’s all night long. And it has every difficult aspect of singing in it: Coloratura. Soft. Loud. High. Low. Dramatic. Lyric.”
And if all that wasn’t enough, Papian said, singers who take on the role are constantly compared with the many great artists of the past who undertook portrayals of Norma, such as Montserrat Caballé, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland.
The difficulty, particularly for companies far from musical centers, of finding good bel canto singers in general, let alone someone who can handle the role of Norma, goes far in explaining why Opera Colorado has never tackled the opera.
Indeed, according to the company’s research, the work has been performed only three times in Colorado – all by touring companies. The most recent production was presented in 1899 by the Lambardi Italian Grand Opera Company.
“Norma” exemplifies the bel canto style of Italian opera, which reached its zenith in 1800-1850 in the works of such famed composers as Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti and, of course, Bellini.
Bel canto, which means “beautiful singing,” puts an emphasis on emotional expression and natural vocal beauty. It explores the voice’s technical extremes, requiring singers with expansive range, supreme dexterity and effortless delivery.
Despite their challenges, Papian said, bel canto roles are actually in many ways a treat to sing because the composers understood the voice so well, something that is especially true for the role of Norma.
“It’s really very, very well written,” she said, “and it just matches my voice, and it matches my character, my abilities.”
Papian first sang the role in 1992 at the Warsaw National Opera on Feb. 16 – the same day the Denver production opens. She recalls the date exactly, because it happens to be her brother’s birthday.
She won an engagement with the company as a prize in a vocal competition. Soon after the event, she got a call asking if she could rush to Warsaw to step into the role of Norma.
Though Papian had studied the opera, she didn’t have the title role memorized. She agreed to go anyway, having only five days to learn the role and rehearse for the production. “I was so young, and I was so eager to sing it that I said yes,” she said.
She triumphed, and her love affair with Norma was launched.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
“Norma”
Opera Colorado|Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 and 25| $22-$122 |303-357-2787 or operacolorado.org
