Soprano makes her U.S. debut in Tulsa Opera’s ‘Tosca’

by: JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
10/12/2007   

Isabella Mederi (left) as “Tosca.”

Isabella Mederi has sung in opera houses throughout Europe, but she’s never seen anything like Tulsa’s Chapman Music Hall.

The first time the soprano walked onto the stage of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s main theater, she said she “nearly went into shock.”

“I had never seen so large an opera house in my life,” Mederi said, laughing at the memory. “I thought, ‘How in the world am I going to be heard in such a place?’ Fortunately, the acoustics are very good, so I don’t think it will be a problem.”

Like fellow cast member Johann Valdimarsson, Mederi is making her U.S. debut in Tulsa Opera’s season-opening production of Puccini’s “Tosca.”

However, the fact that this is the first time Mederi has performed in this country is a bit unusual, as the United States has been her official place of residence since she graduated from Brooklyn College in 2000.

“I tried to get work in this country,” said Mederi, a native of Serbia. “But I realized that it would probably be easier to go back to Europe, where the arts are state-funded and there are more opportunities.”

Mederi sang with companies throughout Europe, including Romania, Hungary, the Netherlands and Switzerland. She recently performed her first “Tosca” with a Swiss company.

As to how she came to the attention of Tulsa Opera, Mederi said, “My agent, who is good friends with (general director) Carol Crawford, said I should audition. So I flew out here when the company was doing ‘Ariadne’ (in February 2006), sang for Carol, and she found a place for me.”

That place is as Floria Tosca, the impetuous, passionate singer whose love for an idealistic artist named Cavaradossi (Valdimarsson) leads to tragedy, when the chief of police Scarpia (Peter Lindskoog) determines to have Tosca for himself.

It is a role, Mederi said, that is “very close to me – it is not difficult at all to put myself in Tosca’s shoes.”

“For me, nothing compares to this role,” she said. “Tosca has everything. She is an artist. She is passionate – she’s madly in love with Cavaradossi, and she wants to be able to settle down with him, find that permanent love and peace.

“She is a proud woman, and she’s smart – a real businesswoman,” Mederi said. “She’s negotiating for her life and the life of her love right to the end. But she’s also a little naive, because she thinks Scarpia will keep his word, that the letter she has will save them.”

Tosca also has one of the most famous arias in the repertoire – “Vissi d’arte,” a kind of mournful prayer that comes in the middle of Tosca’s often violent confrontation with Scarpia.

“Dramatically, it’s all wrong, because it literally stops the action,” Mederi said. “You’re in the middle of this terribly aggressive scene, you’ve just struggled with this man who’s trying to destroy you and your dreams, and you stop. There’s no (musical) intro to help you – you have to start out of nowhere.

“And yet,” she said, “it is so beautiful and it tells you so much about who Tosca is. If you have a good director, it can be a most powerful moment.”

TOSCA

Who: by Giacomo Puccini, presented by Tulsa Opera

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Oct. 12, 2:30 p.m. Oct. 14

Where: Chapman Music Hall, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Third Street and Cincinnati Avenue

Tickets: $20-$95, available at Tulsa Opera, 587-4811; the PAC Ticket office, 596-7111; and www.tulsaworld.com/mytix

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