Morgan Smith has sung before some big audiences, but 68,000 is tops.
That’s Qwest Field on a Seahawks game day, where the young singer has unleashed his big baritone voice performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” over the past several seasons.
“The fans love it,” said Ryan Madayag, fan development manager for the Seahawks. “We get a lot of e-mails when he sings.” Smith is also a hit at Safeco Field, where he’s opened seven home games for the Mariners singing the national anthem.
It’s a thrilling experience the Shoreline resident says, and an unusual job perk for an artist who is more at home singing on an opera house stage. That’s where he’ll be Saturday in the opening-night performance of Seattle Opera’s production of “Pagliacci,” the Italian opera about a clown whose jealously leads to tragedy.
“Pagliacci,” which premiered in 1892, was composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s one operatic success. Canio, the unhappy clown who is laughing on the outside and crying on the inside, is an iconic opera image. Enrico Caruso’s performance in the role is the stuff of legend.
Although a short opera, it’s loaded with dramatic heft: a traveling company of actors stage a play in which a clown fears betrayal by a faithless wife. In a twist of dramatic fate, Canio overhears his real wife, Nedda, planning to meet her secret lover, Silvio. The stage drama becomes real as Canio, in a jealous rage, forgets he is onstage and stabs his wife and her lover. The curtain comes down. “The comedy is over.”
The opera is filled with great music, most famously the tenor aria “Vesti la giubba.” The musical goodies also include the first-act love duet between Silvio and Nedda.
Morgan Smith sings the role of Silvio in all eight performances of “Pagliacci,” another stepping stone in a career that was jump-started at Seattle Opera.
Silvio is a great role, robust and emotional, the singer said in a recent interview. “This opera is so full of different emotions, sympathy, joy, anger.” And there can’t be many roles for a baritone where he’s stabbed to death by a clown.
Smith, 33, has the athletic build and youthful good looks of a stage star, which plays into contemporary tastes for artists who can sing beautifully, move with ease and look good. His speaking voice is low and soothing you think, “He could make a great relaxation tape.”
Smith comes from a gifted family of actors and musicians, growing up in New York state, playing soccer and studying the cello — an instrument, like the baritone voice, of many colors. When Smith discovered he could sing, he began serious voice study. In 1999 he joined the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, where he learned the stagecraft of opera and trained for a career. This program has propelled a growing number of young singers onto the world’s opera stages.
Smith made his professional debut with Seattle Opera in 2001 and has performed numerous times with the company. His career has taken him to San Francisco; Fort Worth, Texas; Sarasota, Fla.; and Portland, Ore., and he’s done recital work with orchestras throughout North America. His biggest role in Seattle was the lead in the alternate-cast production of “Don Giovanni,” one of the meatiest in all opera. His performance earned Smith praise from one critic for his “cognac-smooth” voice.
About that voice. Baritones come in many flavors, and dramatic baritones who can sing the Italian roles are popular. Opera singers typically come into their voices as they age, and Smith said his sound continues to mature. A baritone who looks after his voice can look forward to a long career, Smith said.
It’s a career choice with rewards and sacrifice. Smith likes the adventure and the challenge. But he’s mindful of the hardships like the travel that takes him away from his wife and young son.
But opera calls, and when the interview is over Smith is out the door and up the stairs, two steps at a time, and gone from sight in a flash.
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