‘MASS’ APPEAL
Soprano Christine Goerke returns to Chicago to perform Janacek’s powerful work
Christine Goerke is becoming something of a Chicago regular. The dramatic soprano made her much-acclaimed debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the fall of 2012, presenting a rich, deeply affecting portrayal of the tortured title character in Richard Strauss’ “Elektra.”
“It was incredible,” Georke said. “I’ve always wanted to sing in that house, and to be able to make a debut in a piece like that in a production like that with a cast like that and a conductor like that, it was a huge gift.”
It came as little surprise in January, when the company announced that Goerke would play the key role of Brunnhilde in its new production of Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).” The landmark set of four operas will be presented one at a time over four seasons beginning in 2016-17 and then three times all at once in April 2020.
In the meantime, audiences will have a chance to hear Goerke in a completely different setting this week. She heads a group of four vocalists who will join the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in performances Friday and Saturday evening of 20th-century Czech composer Leos Janacek’s powerful “Glagolitic Mass.”
The Long Island, N.Y., native spoke to the Sun-Times by phone between wig and costume fittings for her portrayal of the title character in Strauss’ “Ariadne in Naxos,” at the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., where she is a resident artist this summer. She launched her career in 1993 as part of the well-regarded company’s young artist program.
“It’s where everything started,” she said. “I’m actually sitting behind the dressing rooms right now, and it’s very surreal to be back here. I haven’t been here since 2001, but this is my fourth time singing with the company, and I owe everything to this place.”
A year later, she was accepted into the prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Program at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, joining an extraordinary group of aspiring singers who have gone on to major careers, including Stephanie Blythe, Nathan Gunn, Anthony Dean Griffey and Sondra Radvanovsky.
Like them, Goerke’s star rose quickly, including her winning the Richard Tucker Award in 2001. But in 2003-04, she suffered baffling, potentially career-damaging vocal problems. With the help of vocal teacher Diana Soviero and others, she realized that her voice had simply changed sooner than expected, becoming bigger and more powerful and requiring her to adapt her breath support and make other adjustments. She quickly regained her form, gaining new acclaim in larger roles in Strauss and Wagner operas.
Georke is taking a few days away from Glimmerglass to come to Chicago for the “Glagolitic Mass,” a work that she has performed once before and is excited to take on again. “I love this piece so much,” she said.
Janacek is probably best known for his operas, such as “Kata Kabanova” and “The Cunning Little Vixen.” At age 72, two years before his death in 1928, he wrote this Mass, which was misunderstood at first and did not become widely recognized as a sacred masterpiece until the 1960s.
“In April 1926, Janacek had written his fiercely brilliant Sinfonietta. With its aggressive repetitions, astonishing abruptions, dazzling sonorities and command of dramatic gestures, it was a perfect springboard for the attack on the Mass,” writes Michael Steinberg in his book, “Choral Masterworks.”
Set to a liturgical text in Old Church Slavonic, it is a tribute to Saints Cyril and Methodius, a pair of missionaries who came in the 9th century to Moravia, a country that is now part of the Czech Republic.
“It’s not a piece that is trotted out as much as the Mozart Requiem,” Goerke said, “so when it is brought out, I always encourage everyone to go hear it.”