Del Mar opera singer returns from Lincoln Center for 'Amahl'

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 12, 2007 1:00 PM PST ∞

When the curtain rises on Lyric Opera San Diego's production of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" on Dec. 14, it will be a first in many ways.

The production of Gian Carlo Menotti's holiday opera will be the first local performance of the work's full orchestration in more than 20 years; it will be the first professional appearance for Del Mar-raised opera singer Priti Gandhi in a soprano role; and it marks the first time Gandhi has performed in her hometown since her Lincoln Center debut in October.

Gandhi returned to Del Mar late last month from a four-month whirlwind stay in Manhattan, where she worked as a cover (a musical understudy) for a pair of roles at New York City Opera. Gandhi covered the roles of Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" and Mercedes in "Carmen," and when the singer she was understudying in "Carmen" needed emergency surgery, Gandhi was able to make her New York City Opera debut as Mercedes in an eight-show run at Lincoln Center.

Gandhi called her four-month stay in New York exhilarating and exhausting. Rehearsals and vocal training stretched from morning to night every day, and in between sessions, she trained with a vocal coach, auditioned for roles and commuted by bus and foot to her sublet apartment in Hell's Kitchen.

While she was in New York, Gandhi landed her biggest role to date ---- the lead role of Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" at the Caramoor Festival in New York next summer. She'll also return to the Big Apple next winter to perform as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Spending time in New York with the cream of America's opera world allowed Gandhi the time and opportunity to further her training and technique and to further advance her goal of transitioning from the mezzo-soprano repertoire into soprano territory. The role of Mother in Lyric Opera's "Amahl" will mark Gandhi's professional debut as a soprano, and she says she's ready for the challenge.

" 'Amahl' isn't easy to sing," Gandhi said in an interview last week. "It stretches my musicianship. It requires more vocal heft, and it gives me a good chance to tell a story. It's a beautiful, simple story without a lot of the coloratura elements that I usually focus on. The challenge for me is to get it to a place of simplicity and tell the story as honestly as I can."

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" is a contemporary made-for-TV American opera. Menotti was commissioned by NBC studios to write an hourlong opera for television that told the Christmas story of the crippled boy and the three Wise Men. From 1951 to 1966, NBC broadcast "Amahl" every Christmas season, and since then it has been produced all over the world on stage, television and CD.

The opera tells the story of a crippled shepherd boy and his poor mother who provide shelter one night for the three kings on their way to Bethlehem for the Christ child's birth. Seeing the gold and jewels the magi are carrying, the mother attempts to steal some and is caught. But the kings forgive her crime and she is so amazed at their graciousness that she wishes she, too, could give a gift to the Christ child. Amahl also wishes to honor the Christ child, so he gives the kings his only possession --- his crutch ---- and a Christmas miracle occurs.

"It's about how even in the most dire of circumstances, if you open yourself up to hope, miracles can occur," Gandhi said. "The more I hear the music, the more I appreciate it. Menotti approached the English text as economically as possible, so nothing gets in the way of telling this beautiful story."

Co-starring in the production with Gandhi are San Diego middle-schoolers Spike Sommers and Daniel Louis Myers, who will share the role of Amahl. Sommers was a member of Lyric Opera's summer academy and sings with the St. Paul's Cathedral children's choir. Myers played Louis in Lyric Opera's "The King and I" last year and has performed with the San Diego Opera, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Starlight Theatre, Moonlight Amphitheatre, the San Diego Symphony and in the national tour of "The Sound of Music."

Gandhi said this will be the first time she's shared the stage with children since she appeared last summer in Tulsa Opera's "The Little Prince."

"I'm thrilled to be working with little kids again," she said. "They're so fresh and vulnerable, and they always perform in the moment."

Because "Amahl" is a short opera, Lyric Opera San Diego's production will be supplemented with a program of holiday carols sung by a San Diego choir and a visit from Santa Claus (with holiday treats for children 11 and under). The production is directed by Lyric Opera artistic director J. Sherwood Montgomery, who also designed the set, and conducted by Lyric Opera general director Leon Natker.

After finishing up "Amahl," Gandhi will head to Opera Pacific in Costa Mesa, where she'll return to the role of the Second Lady in Mozart's "The Magic Flute," a role she's performed several times (and again featuring Zandra Rhodes' fanciful sets, costumes and elaborate headdresses owned by San Diego Opera).

In February she returns to Tulsa Opera to play Mallika in Delibes' "Lakme" and then returns to San Diego Opera in April to play the High Priestess in Verdi's "Aida." She'll spend June and July at Caramoor in Katonah, N.Y., working under legendary bel canto expert Will Crutchfield. Then, she heads to Seattle Opera in August to play the High Priestess in "Aida" once again.

Gandhi said she feels she's achieved several professional milestones this year and feels her time spent in New York helped her develop and mature as a professional artist. While a permanent move to New York is in her long-term plans, Gandhi said she's happy to be spending the holidays at home with her parents in Del Mar.

"I missed San Diego. New York is a very exciting place, but I missed the quiet and wide open spaces of home, and I missed my family and friends," she said. "I'm spoiled after growing up here, too. I like my 65-degree winter days."

"Amahl and the Night Visitors"

When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14-15 and Dec. 20; 2:30 p.m. Dec. 16 and Dec. 22-23

Where: Birch North Park Theatre, 2891 University Ave., San Diego

Tickets: $30-$50, general; children ages 5 to 17 are half-price

Info: (619) 239-8836

Web: www.lyricoperasandiego.org