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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 11 June 2019

Mezzo Isabel Leonard balancing singing and being a mother

By RONALD BLUM you get so much more in-
Associated Press put on what their mind was
NEW YORK (AP) — Isabel thinking about when they
Leonard had just finished wrote it and what they
singing Sesto in Handel’s were hearing,” Leonard
“Giulio Cesare” in Paris and said.
was taking a few days off “The theater aspect of
with her 8-month-old son what we already do is, I
Teo when her manager’s think, why I’m in this in the
office contacted her and first place.”
asked whether she was on Her acting can be intense,
a plane back to the U.S. but deliberate.
“I’m like, no, I’m actually in “She will never throw at
Vienna,” she said. you big vocal or acting
That was good news for effects just for the sake of
the Vienna State Opera. being with an effect, said
The performer scheduled Nézet-Séguin. “It’s always
to play Cherubino had got- because it’s very, very in-
ten sick, and the company tegrated and thought
wanted the mezzo-soprano through. And I find this
to make an unscheduled much more moving than
debut that night in Mozart’s some people who actually
“Le Nozze di Figaro.” In this Wednesday, April 10, 2019 file photo, Isabel Leonard attends the Women in the World Summit just go for the easy effect.”
“I just need to find a baby opening night at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York. She was preparing Cheru-
sitter,” Leonard said. Associated Press bino at England’s Glyn-
Three days after her 29th tan Opera this season, she Teddy Tahu Rhodes in 2008. remember the engage- denbourne Festival in 2012
birthday in February 2011, appears at Carnegie Hall They divorced and she has ments that you lost,’” Flem- when she flew back to re-
Leonard rushed through a on Monday night in an all- sole custody of Teo, who ing recalled. cord what has become a
one-woman rehearsal that French program for new just turned 9. Spending time with Teo highlight for some opera
lasted about 30 minutes per music director Yannick She asked advice once or caused Leonard to with- singers: “Sesame Street.”
act — “just add hot water. Nézet-Séguin. It’s his first twice from soprano Renée draw from the world pre- Appearing with Murray
It’s an instant opera” she concert leading the Met Fleming, who divorced miere of “Marnie” at Lon- Monster and Ovejita on a
said with a chuckle. She Orchestra. while her daughters were don’s English National “People in Your Neighbor-
took the Staatsoper stage “This is probably for me one young. Fleming thought Opera in November 2017, hood” segment that aired
hours later in a cast that of the healthiest voices I back to what the late so- though she sang the U.S. the following year, she
included Luca Pisaroni, Er- have ever encountered in prano Joan Sutherland premiere last fall to kick sang an excerpt of “Una
win Schrott and Dorothea my life,” Nézet-Séguin said. once told her. of her Met season, which voce poco fa” from Ros-
Röschmann. “The incredible artistry and “She said, ‘Have your chil- included a role debut sini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.”
Such has been the life of the attention to words and dren. She said her grand- in Debussy’s “Pelléas et She’s performed for Justice
Leonard, a two-time Gram- meaning that she brings to children were the greatest Melisande “ and a shatter- Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the
my-winner and, at 37, a every role she approach- joy in her life. And she said ing Blanche de la Force in Supreme Court and had
single mom and a sought- es makes it a conductor’s it doesn’t matter when it Poulenc’s “Dialogues des been cast by Mike Nich-
after singer. dream.” A native New happens because you’ll Carmélites.” ols alongside Meryl Streep
After starring in three pro- Yorker, Leonard married have this extraordinary Growing up in Manhattan, in an HBO film of Terrence
ductions at the Metropoli- New Zealand baritone family and you won’t even Leonard studied ballet. McNally’s “Master Class”
She attended LaGuardia before the director died in
A detective pursues justice in High School of Music & Art 2014.
and Performing Arts and “You’re so fortunate to
‘One Small Sacrifice’ earned bachelor’s and have had that moment
master’s degrees at Juil-
in time where that person
liard. She made her profes- and you connected just for
By JEFF AYERS pears, Sterling investigates viously thought? sional debut as Zerlina in a moment,” Leonard said.
Associated Press and discovers connections The story line veers be- Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at Next season includes
“One Small Sacrifice (a to Cori’s death. Now she’s tween alternate points Bordeaux, France, in 2006, “Werther” at London’s
Thriller)” (Thomas & Mer- certain Traynor is respon- of view with Traynor and her U.S. debut as Stéphano Royal Opera, “La Ceneren-
cer), by Hilary Davidson. sible, but can she prove Sterling, and their perspec- in Gounod’s “Roméo et Ju- tola” at the Dutch National
Photojournalist Alex Traynor it and put him away for tives on the same infor- liette” in Atlanta the follow- Opera and “Barbiere” in
lost his friend Cori to sui- good? mation provide different ing January and her Met Cincinnati, and a role de-
cide a year ago. Detec- She starts to get different results. Writing the novel in debut as Stéphano that but in Bizet’s “Carmen” is
tive Sheryn Sterling tried and varying statements this fashion amps up the September. planned in a following sea-
very hard to prove that from witnesses. Traynor suspense while also giving Leonard has received no- son. She and Teo are split-
Traynor pushed Cori off a swears he’s innocent and the narrative a complex table notices in Mozart, ting time between New
ledge rather than the case wants Sterling to find his fi- and compelling flair. In ad- Rossini and other compos- York and Chicago, where
closing with her jumping ancee. Has she made a dition, Davidson does an ers of the central repertory, she has a rental apart-
off a roof. Even though he mistake in believing he was admirable job of making a and she has impressed in ment near Wrigley Field
claims to have no memory guilty or is he even more complicated issue such as contemporary operas that and cousins who live in the
of the events that resulted manipulative than she pre- PTSD relatable. included “Marnie ,” Thom- area.
in Cori’s death, Sterling This cover image released by With an unpredictable as Ades’ “The Tempest” “I don’t project a lot on
knows Traynor is guilty. Thomas and Mercer shows ending and evidence that and Jennifer Higdon’s myself in terms of where I
Traynor has moved on and “One Small Sacrifice” by this is the start of a series, “Cold Mountain.” think I’m going to be. For
is about to marry Emily, a Hilary Davidson. definitely check out “One “It’s great when you have whatever reason, I never
doctor. When Emily disap- Associated Press Small Sacrifice.”q a living composer because have,”q