Sondra Radvanovsky likes to have fun, and she often gets to do it with some of the biggest names in opera.
In the March 28 issue of New York magazine, the anything-but-bashful soprano was featured in a clowning Q&A with famed Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky titled “Conversation: Daffy Divas.”
“We are both goofballs,” she says in the piece — not an admission you necessarily expect to hear from an operatic soprano.
But the 41-year-old singer is part of a new generation of down-to-earth divas (think Susan Graham), who conduct themselves like normal people in real life but know how to turn on the star power on stage. She was wearing sweat pants during her backstage Denver Post interview this week.
“I’m just the average girl next door who loves what she does,” she said. “I’m not going to be this hoity-toity, snotty person. That’s just not me.”
Radvanovsky, who makes her debut this weekend with Opera Colorado in “Tosca,” is not yet a full-blown star. But she is right on the cusp, and her just-released solo album — her first — might just be the thing to push her over.
“I have known Sondra since her days in the Lindemann (Young Artist Development) Program at the Metropolitan Opera,” said Opera Colorado guest conductor Stephen Lord. “Right from the outset, she showed a voice of uncommon quality, and she was always uniquely her own as an artist. I have been a fan and watched her grow since then.”
The Toronto-based soprano, who has performed with leading companies around the world, including the San Francisco Opera, La Scala and Paris Opera, is best known for her performances in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi.
She taken part in 165 performances alone as Leonora in “Il Trovatore,” what has become her signature role. And her solo recording is titled — what else? — “Verdi Arias.”
But as Radvanovsky’s voice has matured, she has gradually begun to expand into other repertory. Her latest such venture is the title role in Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca,” which she is scheduled to perform with the Metropolitan Opera in January.
In advance of that appearance, she is trying out the part in the lower-pressure environs of Opera Colorado. Its production of the 1900 work opens Saturday and runs for three additional performances at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.
Radvanovsky has wanted to sing the celebrated dramatic role since she was 11 years old and saw famed tenor Placido Domingo performing the opera on television.
“And that was it,” she said. “I pointed to the TV and said to my mom, ‘I want to do that,’ ” she said.
Lord praised the singer for taking her time and not rushing into the demanding, vocally heavier role.
“She wisely waited,” he said, “and now, smart woman that she is, she is trying it out in a company that is encouraging of people — high-expectations but low-key — perfect for this first venture into a work that comes with an incredible backlog of historic performances.”
Now that Radvanovsky is actually involved with the role, she is enjoying it even more than she thought she would.
“It’s so fulfilling to sing and to act it,” she said. “I have a theater background, and I love all of that. And getting to kill a guy on stage is kind of fun.”
The big challenge for her has been not getting too emotionally involved in the character, which can have a negative impact on her singing.
“I have to always remember that there is a difference between living it and acting it,” she said. “I have to remember to keep my cool.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
“Tosca”
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettists: Giuiseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, based on Victorien Sardou’s play “La Tosca.”
Premiere: Jan. 14, 1900, Teatro Costanzi, Rome.
Setting: Rome, 1800.
Synopsis: Floria Tosca and artist Mario Cavaradossi are happily in love as the opera begins. But Scarpia, the chief of police, wants her for himself and has Cavaradossi arrested for suspicion of harboring a fugitive. He offers Tosca the choice of submitting to him or causing the execution of her lover. She feigns acceptance, and after Scarpia sets up a fake execution, she stabs him at an opportune moment. But in the end, Cavaradossi is executed, and Tosca jumps off a parapet in despair.
Principal cast: Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky (Floria Tosca), bass-baritone Greer Grimsley (Baron Scarpia) and tenor Antonello Palombi (Mario Cavaradossi).
Stage director: Ron Daniels.
Set designer: Thierry Bosquet.
Conductor: Stephen Lord.
“TOSCA.”
Opera. Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. Opera Colorado presents Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca,” featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Tuesday and April 30 and 2 p.m. May 2. 2 hours, 30 minutes. $30-$165. 800-982-2787
