(Credit: Gillian Riesen)

***Editorial Note – This interview was conducted as part of series of interviews dedicated to previewing the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ring Cycle. Unfortunately, that performance was canceled, but out of respect to the time put into this project by the artists and organizations, we will endeavor to publish the over coming days and weeks.(Given the context, interview will be published as Q & As in their original states).***

The Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the most prestigious young artist programs in America. Many great artists have worked through the program and gone on to establish international careers.

Laura Wilde was part of the program for years and it was there where she switched from a mezzo-soprano to soprano. With the Ryan Opera Center she covered such roles as the Countess in “Capriccio” and the Marschallin in “Der Rosenkavalier.” She also sang Anna in “Nabucco,” Kate Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly” and a Flower Maiden in “Parsifal.” Today she is one of America’s rising stars performing a vast repertoire from Janáček to Mozart to Wagner.

This season she will return to her home house, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, for four roles in Wagner’s “The Ring Cycle.” Wilde has already performed in two of the four productions of the massive undertaking and this Ring will mark her first complete cycle.

Wilde had a chance to speak with OperaWire about singing Wagner, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and her exploration into Janáček and Mozart.

OperaWire: You will be doing four roles in this Ring Cycle. What are the challenges of going from one part to the next?

Laura Wilde: The biggest challenge by far is going from Ortlinde to Sieglinde. Freia is fun and she gets to sing a sweeping line and in our production, she is an important part of the story and she has a great character arc. But vocally, Sieglinde is much lower than Ortlinde. When we first did the production during the 2017-18 season, I covered Sieglinde and it was a challenge. I had to make sure that I knew which day I was doing what character and my voice was prepared for what that role asked for.

OW: When you are preparing two characters from a different work, how do you prepare mentally for the days?

LW: The nice thing is that there is only one scene where the two appear in at the same time. When I prepare a role I get it into my body to the point I don’t have to think about it. It’s always ingrained. So the biggest thing is that I know which lines I have to sing on the given day and which lines aren’t mine. And I have to check myself so that when those moments come I don’t start singing. Character-wise they are different and Ortlinde is part of this huge pack and there is a lot of physical activity.

OW: Sieglinde is one of the greatest Wagner roles in the repertoire. What are some of your favorite moments in her music?

LW: Her music from the beginning to the end is really incredible. I think one of my favorite parts of Wagner’s music is that it is through-composed. And I love how Wagner expresses the character. He did that so well because he is a storyteller. One of the most glorious moments is when she finds out she is pregnant. That is definitely for me one of the sweeping moments in the entire score. I am also a big fan of moments where composers give you a hint into what the character was like before the trauma happened to them. And I think that we enter into Sieglinde’s world at a pretty low place for her.

So I like the way she tells her story of when she saw Wotan for the first time and the way she spits the words out at Hunding. Sieglinde is the longest Wagner role I sing and the joy in it for me is that storytelling and figuring out what she feels and tracking her journey.

OW: What are the major challenges in her music?

LW: I remember doing the cover run and realizing there is an entire section in Act two where she is asleep during the Brünnhilde and Siegmund scene. After getting up from the scene, which is very long, I realized my voice had relaxed a little too much. I realized that I had to have a tactic to keep the voice alive. So it really is about pacing to figure out where I have to give more. This has a lot of middle singing so it’s also about producing that middle well and having access to the glorious high notes. And it’s always great to do this with a conductor who knows me really well and my voice.

OW: When you have these big rests, what is most important for you to focus on and what are you listening for?

LW: A lot of times my silent moments end up being my favorite moments. I am a character driven singer so especially when you have a great colleague like Brandon Jovanovich, every performance is different. So I think that in my young artist years when I was doing smaller roles, it was a fun challenge to hear and experience new things and my colleagues were always giving me so much to react to.

I sort of feel that with every performance I was able to connect character dots and develop these small but crucial character. In Wagner it’s all about story and with great actors, whatever my colleagues do, it informs what I do when I start singing. The emotions are influenced.

OW: You were a member of the Ryan Opera Center. How has the Lyric Opera of Chicago helped you develop your career and what does it mean to do your first Ring Cycle with the company?

LW: My time at the Ryan Center is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given in this career. I entered it at a time when I decided to switch from mezzo to soprano and my first audition as a soprano was for the Ryan Center. They took this leap of faith and took me as a soprano. Once I got into the program, it was vocally some of the most difficult years of my career because that transition is difficult. To do it in a place where you have to perform on a big stage with pretty high stakes is stressful.

But the company was supportive and paced the expectations they had for me. I debuted with Kate Pinkerton and one of the flower maidens in “Parsifal.” I also covered the foreign princess in Rusalka and I was in role for the first three and half weeks of rehearsals. And that role can be done by both mezzos and sopranos and that was also the first time I sang Czech which allowed me to continue my transition to the Czech and German repertoire. The next year I covered “Capriccio” and I was in role for Renée Fleming for the first three weeks and I staged the entire opera with Anne Sofie von Otter and the entire cast. It was incredible and I think they did a really great job in pacing the assignments they gave me. I knew what I needed to do to succeed in these roles. They were really integral in my development.

OW: What did you learn from working with such artists as Renée Fleming and Anne Sofie von Otter?

LW: I got to work with such wonderful sopranos and one of the things I saw from Renée is that you can also be a wonderful human being and an artist. She walks into a room and it’s not about her. She’ll let you talk about her for very little before she changes the subject. She is wonderful at mentoring and she responds. She is also compassionate and that is what translates so well onto the stage  and that lifts everyone in the cast. The more famous these singers are, the more down to earth they are and they’re very kind. It’s very important to us young singers because I think we can be more judgmental at times.

OW: You have a vast repertoire filled with heavier and lighter works. As a young singer developing, do you think it is important to sing lighter works?

LW: Absolutely. I got really lucky to be working at a company that did Czech works. If I would have been at a company that only did Italian and French works, I would not have unlocked this part of me. I have also spoken with my agents about longevity in my career and that is something that has always been important to me in my career. And parts like Jenůfa and Katya are hard to categorize. They are heavier roles but you don’t need a Brünnhilde to sing it and they are not as low as Sieglinde. It’s a big orchestra but for me they fit like a glove.

I remember doing “Katya” and my voice teacher asking me what are the difficult parts. And I said he wrote so well for my voice. So I have had this lucky combination of roles that fit my voice so well and ones that have stretched me a little bit. I have a lot of Mozart coming up and I am excited for this. I have not done so much because when I was still in school I did only mezzo roles while all the sopranos were doing Mozart roles. Now to have done my first Fiordiligi this late in my career is crazy but it’s so good for my voice. I plan to take my time as I develop my career and Mozart is good to keep the voice healthy and flexible. It’s also great to have done Gretel because I had to figure out how to do that patter singing which is not natural to my voice but is a lot of fun.

OW: Janáček’s music is very interesting because the voice types that sing his music are wide-ranging. You have lyrics and then very dramatics. His orchestra is big and very Wagnerian in a way. Tell me about his writing?

LW: I think it is wilder Puccini and it has those sweeping Puccini lines but it also has more blood in it. Katya is different from Jenůfa because in Katya you can place everything but in Jenůfa you have to throw the voice up there and I think both of these piece is about the heart of the characters. I also think Janáček should be standard repertoire. That second act of “Jenůfa” is a perfect act as well as the ending, which is one of the greatest in opera.

OW: You are still growing as an artist. What are some of your dreams in this career and how do you see your career developing in the next few years?

LW: I have musical and career dreams but one of my biggest is to continue being the human being I want to grow into and also a singer and an artist. This career can be difficult because it is all encompassing and so I am just excited about the trajectory I am on and the roles I am taking. I think the decision to switch to soprano was difficult but it was incredible because of all the roles I get to sing. So I just want to continue on the direction that I am and sing repertoire that I love at a level that I am happy with. For me it’s not about making it to a certain house but just singing the roles that really speak to me.

On a personal side, there is a school in Brazil I have been working with and I started to do some fundraising events for them. So I hope to start a foundation for them and to raise money for the slums in Brazil. And that is sort of a side project that I fell in love with and want to continue to strive for.