Stepping into Something Phenomenal

Jeffery McMillan: You have performed Luigi in Il Tabarro, Lohengrin, the Prince in Rusalka, among other fantastic roles with San Francisco Opera. Did you always know your voice was going to take you into such big, heavy repertoire?

Brandon Jovanovich: It’s so funny … When I graduated from college, I wanted to be an actor. I moved out to LA and thought that was what I was going to do. My girlfriend at the time—now wife—came out from New York, and we kind of had a long discussion about what’s going to happen between us. So, I ended up moving out to New York City, stayed for about 10 years, and I didn’t really know. I’d studied voice in school and I’d sung some opera, but [pauses] I really didn’t know. One thing that always has interested me about opera is the characters. I really am drawn to complex characters. And it just so happens that a lot of those fit my voice pretty darn well and the music is just fantastic to go with it. I didn’t know where I was going to go but I’m so glad this is where I am.

JM: What was your first encounter with the music of Wagner?

BJ: The first thing I can think of is Bugs Bunny and “kill da wabbit” [in the cartoon What’s Opera, Doc?]. I’m from Montana. We didn’t grow up with opera in my household or anything like that. So, my idea of opera was a lady with the horns and a spear, singing. I didn’t know anything about Wagner or these characters. The first opportunity was in 2011 when I did Siegmund with San Francisco Opera.

JM: That’s quite a beginning!

BJ: Oh my gosh! I tell you what, that was phenomenal. That was such a cool way to start my Wagnerian journey. Then they brought me back for Lohengrin (2012). I’ve been really blessed. I’ve been out here in San Francisco with four major Wagner productions.

JM: Now you are adding Parsifal to your credits on this stage. Who is this character? How does he fit for you vocally?

BJ: When I first started singing Wagnerian roles, Parsifal was mentioned as an easy role because it’s so short and he is not in a lot of the opera. Come to find out, it’s much longer and it’s a much bigger role than people were saying. So I started looking at it and, I mean, he’s got some of the most beautiful leitmotifs, some of the most glorious music anywhere. Parsifal has got these proclamations, these exclamations, that are just phenomenal. Once he gets this realization of who he’s truly meant to be, [you get] some of the most beautiful music that’s written for any voice type. I wasn’t aware of it until I started studying it. And boy, I hope people come and see it, because it’s just incredible.

JM: As Parsifal was Wagner’s last opera and he took so long writing it, do you feel like he figured something out about writing for the tenor? 

BJ: That’s really interesting. Maybe Tristan [from Tristan und Isolde] has some moments in it that are as transparent. Lohengrin has some beautiful music also. But for me, I think Wagner did kind of reach his apex, at least for tenoral writing, with Parsifal. And he makes it so that, for me, it’s very easy to sing and to come up with these different colors, these different ideas. And his writing for Parsifal is just so rich with complexities up and down the scale vocally, and character-wise dynamically.

JM: What aspects of the role would you describe as challenges?

BJ: Well, one of the challenges of any Wagner opera is you have to listen. A lot! There’s a lot of active listening, so you’re on stage and you’re reacting to what is being said to you. That’s always a challenge with Wagner because the characters have a tendency to talk at length (laughs).

Another challenge is you need to have a really malleable voice to be able to hit all of the different aspects of Wagner’s vocal writing—from the pianissimo [very soft] to the fortissimo [very loud] and everywhere in between. There’s a beauty that you can tap into and really work with the words and mold them in a certain way. It takes a lot of work to get to the level where people see it on stage and don’t realize all that’s gone into it.

JM: Does your preparation for Parsifal differ from singing other parts like Ahab  in Heggie's Moby-Dick or Luigi?

BJ: It does. It goes back to this dynamic range that he’s in. So, whenever I’m working on Parsifal I’m working a lot more with my falsetto head voice when I’m practicing. He’s got this naivete to him that is supposed to shine through, especially in these moments towards the end where he’s been redeemed, but they’re so transparent that you need to have a really, really beautiful sotto voce [quiet voice] or pianissimo whenever you’re singing some of these lines. That’s not necessarily apparent in the vast majority of operas that I sing, but Wagner has this crystalline sort of orchestral color, and you just float right over the top of it.

JM: San Francisco Opera has not presented Parsifal in 25 years. and many in our audience will be hearing it for the first time. What would you say to a newcomer about this piece?

BJ: Gosh. For me, I think this opera, more than any other, is somewhat of a beautiful meditation. It’s got this ethereal quality to it right from the get-go. You’re going to listen to beautiful music and see some amazing things, but throughout the course of the evening, you’re going to kind of change or your idea of the world will somewhat change. It is kind of like the lenses when you get your eyes checked; they flip the lens: 1 or 2. I honestly think, at least for a while, it changes your perception of the world just a little bit because it’s so moving. If you don’t go in with a preconceived notion of fireworks and big arias, you’re going to start at 6 o’clock and, when you leave, you’re going to leave a better person. Honestly, I feel that way singing it.