New Productions New Roles Over to the dark side

“I think my mother is a little disturbed I'm doing all these dark characters, but…” Gerald Finley lets out a warm, low laugh. The Canadian bass-baritone is enjoying a year of intriguing role debuts, filled with many conflicted, complex psyches. “I'm not adverse to [exploring] these kinds of darker sides, it’s part of life,” he says, on the line from his home in England.

Finley performed the title role in Aribert Reimann’s at the Salzburg Festival to much acclaim this past summer (see our review on p. 53). It was, he says, “emotionally wringing,” though he reassures he left the more disturbing aspects of the role on stage. This autumn the Montréal-born singer will be onstage at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, singing the role of Athanaël in Massenet’s for the first time. Then in early 2017, he’ll make his role debut as Baron Scarpia in Puccini’s at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. “I want to feel that everything I've learned as a human being and as an actor can be channeled through the way I make sound,” he says, “and the way it becomes part of the melody or situation I'm singing about.”