Samuel Ramey reunites with Italian soprano for Wichita Grand Opera’s ‘Don Carlo’

The big reunion between “Don Carlo” costars Sam Ramey and Italian soprano Annalisa Raspagliosi being touted by Wichita Grand Opera in its publicity materials happened Tuesday afternoon on Century II’s stage in front of an empty house.

Ramey and Raspagliosi, due to start rehearsals later that day, had just arrived to film a publicity interview with a camera crew. Raspagliosi had flown into Wichita from Rome late the night before, enduring a delay that left her sitting on the runway for an hour and a half before the more than 10-hour flight even started.

The singers hadn’t seen each other since they’d last performed on that same stage eight years ago, when Raspagliosi – notorious for her preference to perform closer to home – had come to Wichita to appear opposite Kansas-raised, Wichita State University-educated Ramey in “Tosca,” a performance that marked Ramey’s professional opera debut in his home state.

The big-voiced duo looked nothing like the queen and grand inquisitor they would soon become in “Don Carlo.” He was dressed in a casual button-up and sneakers. She wore wedge heels and short, springy curls.

Ramey greeted Raspagliosi warmly, kissing both her cheeks and speaking to her in Italian, her native tongue and one of his many adopted ones. They held a gaze of mutual admiration for a few moments before clipping on their microphones and taking their seats for the interview, casually chatting about Italian tennis star Roberta Vinci’s defeat of Serena Williams in the U.S. Open a few days earlier.

Their on-stage reunion in front of a crowd of opera-goers this weekend will most certainly be more dramatic – and much less congenial.

“Don Carlo,” Wichita Grand Opera’s fourth offering of its five-show season, is a historical grand opera centered around a love triangle involving Carlos, Prince of Asturias; a French princess named Elisabeth who is his true love; and his father, Phillip II of Spain, who marries Elisabeth as part of a peace treaty. The story is set in the time of the Spanish Inquisition, when suspected heretics were handed over to the government for punishment – often a death sentence.

The piece, composed by Giuseppe Verdi as a five-act grand opera in French, today is presented in many different versions. Wichita Grand Opera has chosen a four-act variation that will be sung in Italian, with English supertitles projected above the stage. It will be the first time Wichita Grand Opera has presented the opera.

“The composition and the ensemble music is awesome,” said Parvan Bakardiev, Wichita Grand Opera’s president and CEO. “I like the fact that people can relive history with music, with theater, with the drama. To some extent, this one could be interpreted also as controversial because basically, the church at that time was the superpower in the state of Spain and, to some extent, the opera explores the conflict between the separation of church and state.”

Raspagliosi is returning to Wichita for the fourth time in her career. Her first time on a Wichita stage was in 2002, when she performed alongside Luciano Pavarotti at the Kansas Coliseum, WGO’s inaugural show in Wichita. Raspagliosi was one of Pavarotti’s favorite sopranos, and she performed alongside him on his farewell tour.

She returned to Wichita to perform with WGO as Violetta in “La Traviata” in 2004, then agreed three years later to take the title role in “Tosca” alongside Ramey, who sang the role of Baron Scarpia. Raspagliosi said she’ll never forget that performance because it was the first time she’d met Ramey, a star she’d always admired from afar. She remembers being nervous and in disbelief.

“It was emotional. I was singing with Scarpia and feeling like I could not, thinking, ‘Is it true? Am I singing with him?’ ”

In “Don Carlo,” Raspagliosi will perform the role of the tragic princess Elisabeth, married to the wrong man. Ramey has the role of the Grand Inquisitor, a terrifying character who holds the fate of hero Don Carlo, and many other characters, in his hands. Uruguayan tenor Gaston Rivero will perform the title role, and seasoned bass-baritone William Powers has the role of King Phillip.

The opera is known for showcasing six strong voices, and this cast is rounded out by Sarah Heltzel, making her Wichita Grand Opera debut as Princess Eboli, and Michael Nansel, who performs the role of Don Carlo’s friend, Rodrigo.

“Don Carlo” is a favorite opera of both Ramey and Raspagliosi, they said.

Ramey has performed the opera many times throughout his career, he said, though he’s more often played the role of Phillip. He’s sung the opera in its original French and in Italian.

“For me, this opera is Verdi at his best,” Ramey said. “It has lots of gorgeous music, and all the principals have gorgeous arias to sing.”

Raspagliosi said the role of Elisabeth is one of the most difficult soprano roles in opera because she’s required to display such a range of emotions.

“She is always in contrast,” Raspagliosi said. “She loves Carlo, but she has to be the queen. She has to show the people she is happy, but it’s easy to see she isn’t.”

The opera contains one of Raspagliosi’s favorite phrases to sing on stage, she said. It’s in her final duet with Don Carlo, after Rodrigo has been killed. Raspagliosi offers the line in Italian, then looks over to Ramey, struggling with the translation.

“The flowers of the heavens will smile on him,” Ramey offers.

Yes, she said.

“That’s the moment that the real emotions come out,” she said.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 11:34 PM with the headline "Samuel Ramey reunites with Italian soprano for Wichita Grand Opera’s ‘Don Carlo’."