This interview was originally recorded on July 30th, 2014.
The Oral History Project is supported by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation.

Lawrence Brownlee, tenor

Internationally acclaimed tenor Lawrence Brownlee has appeared on the world’s leading stages, including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Celebrated as one of today’s foremost interpreters of bel canto, he has triumphed in roles such as Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Tonio (La fille du régiment), Arturo (I puritani), and Ernesto (Don Pasquale), while also earning acclaim for his portrayals of Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), and Fernand (La Favorite). Beyond the operatic stage, Brownlee is a distinguished recitalist, known for his signature programs Rising and Cycles of My Being, the latter exploring the Black male experience in America.

A Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Brownlee has received numerous honors, including “Male Singer of the Year” at the International Opera Awards, the Kennedy Center’s Marian Anderson Award, and the Opera News Award. He serves as artistic advisor for Opera Philadelphia, an Opera for Peace Ambassador, and Distinguished Visiting Faculty at The Juilliard School, and he continues to be recognized as one of the most important voices in opera today.

Transcript

Marc A. Scorca: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Marc Scorca. I'm President of OPERA America, and welcome to the National Opera Center. Please join me in welcoming Lawrence Brownlee. Larry, we're thrilled to have you here at the Opera Center. This is the first Conversation we've had with a tenor, so you set the record; you're the first. I always start out these conversations by asking: who brought you to your first opera?

Lawrence Brownlee: Oh, wow. The first opera I ever saw, was an opera that I was in, actually, when I was a freshman in college. I was involved in music in high school, and I arrived to audition for the school and the teacher said, "I want you here". I got to school (when I was accepted), and people were like, "You're Tamino". And I said, "What's a Tamino?" I didn't know what a Tamino was. And so, I was cast in the opera as Tamino at 19 years old, I think it was. And so, I got a chance to see my colleagues working on stage. But the first actual opera that I went to was The Ballad of Baby Doe at Indianapolis Opera, because I went to school in Anderson, Indiana for my undergrad degree.

Marc A. Scorca: So, you brought yourself.

Lawrence Brownlee: Who brought me to opera? The school, I guess, did.

Marc A. Scorca: So, did you study voice in high school and then you auditioned as a singer to get into college?

Lawrence Brownlee: Yeah. From the time I was 15 years old, I was involved in show choir, so that's kind of what opened my world up to classical music, because we did various styles. I grew up in church singing gospel, so that was the foundation. And in high school did madrigal stuff, did men's chorus. I have to say, I'm fortunate to have done many different styles of music, and I went because I had done so many different things. I figured that music (not necessarily opera) was something I could do. My goal was to be a lawyer. That's what I thought I wanted to be. When I watched TV, I always thought that the lawyers were nice and articulate, and they dressed well, and they made a lot of money, and I thought it was another way of performing. So, that's what I wanted to do. But once I got into school, I was taking voice lessons, and I went to a small liberal arts college called Anderson University. And so they didn't have a music major, per se. And I was taking all the classes of music, but taking psychology, English, all the prerequisite courses to become a lawyer, as I thought, to be able to go and take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) later on. But in the process, taking these voice lessons, there was the competition, NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), which I did several years, but NATS was the thing that kind of opened up the world of opera to me. I remember when I was, I think, 20 years old, I went to the competition, and one of the teachers from another school, she sat me down and she said, "This is what you should be doing with your life. I don't know if that's the plan, but you have a special gift that you have to offer to the world". And so, that was the first person that ever said, where it stuck in my mind, you should pursue opera because you have something to say to the world.

Marc A. Scorca: Well, there's so much in what you just told us. First of all, about the story of how much high school choral programs, and how much participating in the life of a church is central to discovering singers.

Lawrence Brownlee: Absolutely.

Marc A. Scorca: That's how a lot of people have found, over time, that they had a voice is because they were singing in various select choruses. The choral directors are the first ones to suspect you might have a voice. And then the church solos, and you see whether or not you have the stomach for performing. So, you did it in the high school choruses and church.

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, I have to say, I come from a very musical family; I'm one of six kids. My father directed the choir, and my mother sang solo. So, I tell people all the time, they have much better voices than I do. And I was forced to sing. As a kid, I hated to sing. I swear, I absolutely did not like to sing. But I would sing, and people would react to me in a way that made me nervous, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?" But they would react in a positive way, and I thought, "There is something there". And people encouraged me and pushed me, and there were, as you said, in school and choir and band - I was involved in all that stuff - but I have to say, I'm so glad that I had the access to the music programs in junior high school and high school, because it did shape my life for what I'm doing today. Had I not done that, maybe I would be an opera singer, but that really focused me. It got me outside of my own hometown, Youngstown, Ohio. I went to Europe the first time when I was 15 years old, because of music. I think I've seen 31 countries in the world because of music. But the foundation was set in church, and then from junior high school and high school. So, that was a very important part of my musical background.

Marc A. Scorca: And the trip to Europe was associated...?

Lawrence Brownlee: With my show choir. 15, 16, 17, I think I went to Europe three times in high school, which is crazy. But that was so important for me, and it showed me the world outside of Youngstown, Ohio, the steel city community.

Marc A. Scorca: What you have just said, because OPERA America participates in advocacy activities in Washington...what you've just said, would your math class have gone to Europe three times? Would your science class, as worthy as those endeavors are, of course? It was the music class that brought you to Europe three times.

Lawrence Brownlee: It was. And so much of what I've done in my life is attributed to music. It's brought joy to my life, but it's also opened up the world to me. It's been very important.

Marc A. Scorca: What a fabulous statement that is. You referenced NATS, a vast network of voice teachers, a lot of them independent voice teachers around the country, and they have regional auditions. And early on in a career, the NATS competition is an important thing to sort of test it, to see whether or not you can, you can cut it.

Lawrence Brownlee: I agree. If you have in your own school, in your own community, people telling you you're great, or you have some talent, it makes a lot more sense when people outside of those walls, that have never heard you before, who are really lit, can listen for the instrument, the gift, what's inside you, and not someone just to push you or to motivate you, or someone who's working at the school to say, "Okay, I'm gonna give you a passing grade, and you're good, you're good", but to have someone to validate you and say, "You have something special", or "You have a gift, and I want to encourage you to continue to study" was very important for me.

Marc A. Scorca: And do you remember who it was at NATS who told you?

Lawrence Brownlee: I don't, and I wish I knew who it was. It was a teacher, and she sat me down. She actually asked me who my teacher was. She said, "Bring your teacher", and she sat him down and she said, "I want you to understand what a tremendous gift you have in this student. You have to be a good steward of his voice and his career. Don't let him push. Don't let his ego get out of control", but someone who cared about me, the art form, what was inside me. She wanted to see that it was watered and really nurtured and fertilized so that it could become something. I'm very happy for that, because it made me step back and say, "Okay, maybe I'm not going to be a lawyer. Maybe there's something to this opera thing, and I'll pursue it".

Marc A. Scorca: So, then you went on to Indiana University.

Lawrence Brownlee: I did.

Marc A. Scorca: Not to one of the conservatories?

Lawrence Brownlee: I would get eaten up right away, wouldn't have a chance to thrive, but I went to Indiana and I got some great opportunities, a great support system, good teachers. And so, it was the right place for me to be at that time.

Marc A. Scorca: And it's funny that there's a school that didn't even give you an audition, and you don't have to tell us the name, you can just tell us what city it's in, but it reminds me of that wonderful story that the Milan Conservatory had rejected Verdi as a student, and 50 years later, they asked him if they could name the conservatory after him, and he said no, so you may get an invitation. Someone may wanna name a conservatory after you.

Lawrence Brownlee: You know, one of the teachers from that school, she approached me after, I think it was The Met auditions, and she said to me, "Why did you never sing for our school?" And I said, "I did. I didn't get an audition". And she said, "They're crazy".

Marc A. Scorca: That's wonderful. But then after Indiana, you did a couple of young artist programs?

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes, in the summer I went to (Opera Theatre of ) St. Louis, and Stephen Lord was the person who gave me my first opera job, and he's someone that I consider a great mentor of mine, and a great friend. It was in those summers of 1998 and 1999 that I was there as a part of the summer program. And then after that, I went to the Seattle Young Artist Program. Seattle, which has become my second home. Seattle was so important for me. Speight Jenkins, who, again, another person who is very, very important to me, and gave me an opportunity to kind of nurture my talent there; it was very important for me to be in Seattle. I did The Met auditions in the Western region, and I got a chance to come to New York City to compete, and I was fortunate to be one of the 10 winners in the National Finals that year.

Marc A. Scorca: You weren't fortunate; they were smart enough. So, young artist programs: St. Louis, you also, I think, did Wolf Trap?

Lawrence Brownlee: I did Wolf Trap.

Marc A. Scorca: In your career development, what did those young artist programs give you that you might not have gotten otherwise?

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, I think it's on-the-job training, getting a chance to put into action the things that you're taught in school. I have to say, going to a school like Indiana University, which does six operas in the year and two in the summer, that's like a small opera company itself, or a medium-sized opera company. So, that was very important for me. But to be in an environment where they're giving you the chance to act out the things that you've been taught, was very vital for me in my career, my career preparation, learning roles, trying to inhabit them, learning the process of preparing yourself going to companies, knowing how you should arrive. Going to a school like Indiana University was good for me. I have to tell a funny story. I remember one time we were doing Ariadne auf Naxos, and I had a part, the Dance Master. It's very difficult. The music is crazy, as you know. Crazy music. And so, I worked like crazy on that piece, because there was a role that I wanted in a Rossini opera, which I sing a lot now, that I didn't get. So I thought, "Well, I'll just do this role as best as I can, and hopefully next year they'll give me something bigger". So, the first rehearsal, I was off-book completely; didn't even open the score. I'm like, "The minute he gives me my cue, I'm going. I may go before he gives me the cue". But I was ready. And so, I remember the girl who was singing one of the roles, and she didn't know a note of it, not a note of it. And the conductor stopped, and he said, "Don't you dare come back here again until you know every note of this piece". So that scared me. I learned that when you're doing this as your career, you need to have a certain level of preparation. Yes, life happens, with babies, families. There are a lot of things that can happen, but there's a certain level that you need to be at when you arrive at your job. So, that was one of the lessons that I always take from Indiana University: preparation, preparation. And so that's something I've carried since the beginning.

Marc A. Scorca: And of course, the young artist programs reinforce those standards.

Lawrence Brownlee: They absolutely did.

Marc A. Scorca: And give you mentors; give you mentors, who are still mentors today.

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, those are people that invested in my career, in my life, before I've gotten a chance to do some of these more important things that I've done of late. And so, people who cared about Larry, which is my legal name. Yeah, Lawrence is my stage name. Larry is my legal name. But they care about Larry, the person. And so those young artist programs, they were vital.

Marc A. Scorca: Then really important competitions and awards. Richard Tucker Award, Marian Anderson Award in the same year. The Met National Council Finals.

Lawrence Brownlee: Absolutely.

Marc A. Scorca: By the time you got Richard Tucker, of course, your career is moving along rather beautifully. Yet, do those awards propel you further? Are those important things to achieve in your career development?

Lawrence Brownlee: They are important. They are. It puts you in a certain class of singers, especially when you can look at the people who've been winners of these competitions and seeing that they've had success. It says something about your prospects. It says something about the chance that you have, if you do the work. It's not just a given. And one of the things that my father has always taught me, is that you have to work, that when the opportunities come, you're prepared to embrace them, rather than, "Oh, okay, I'll get ready, once I get the chance". So, I've always felt like I would work, work, work, work, work. That's just the background that I come from. But winning The Met auditions, winning the Richard Tucker and the Marian Anderson, you get a chance for the people who really do things in this business, the general directors, the stage directors and conductors and coaches, to hear you and to know you, and to mention you. The way I even ended up with Seattle Opera is because someone else canceled. And so they needed a tenor for Don Giovanni. Stephen Lord, he saw me, again in the chorus at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, working, prepared when I did my coachings, and we had some public masterclasses. He said, "You know, I like you. I think you really are serious about this". So, this guy called him and said, "I need a tenor". He said, "I know just the guy". So, I sent my stuff, and then they accepted me. But had Stephen Lord not said anything about me, I don't know that I would've gotten a chance to go to Seattle.

Marc A. Scorca: Or, if your behavior had not motivated Stephen Lord to say something about you being prepared, being on the spot.

Lawrence Brownlee: Absolutely.

Marc A. Scorca: And then the general director who gave you your first professional engagement on stage, Peter Mark, Virginia Opera.

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes.

Marc A. Scorca: What was amazing is, I was reading your bio, and a year later you were making your debut at La Scala?

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes.

Marc A. Scorca: You were 30 years old, a year after winning The Met Auditions, a year after your debut in Virginia Opera, and you're on the stage of the Scala. Were you freaked out by that?

Lawrence Brownlee: Yeah, but you think some of the great singers of the world have been on this stage, the famous La Scala. And so you think, "Gosh, this is hallowed ground", or "This is just a place that all the greats, the Callas' and (Giuseppe) Di Stefanos and (Luciano) Pavarotti and (Renata) Tebaldi and all the greats". So, I was not nervous. And I have to say that Peter Mark at Virginia Opera, they gave me my first chance. I did 10 performances of Barber of Seville, in Italian, in three cities.10 performances. That was very important for me to sing the opera in the (original) language, and they allowed me to sing the final aria, which also was a part of La Scala. So, it was the setup, and it was the steppingstone to be able to be confident in the role at La Scala. So, that was very important.

Marc A. Scorca: So, Bel Canto, and this literature that you are so well-known for, and that you do so beautifully. Did it find you? Did you find it? How did this marriage, because it is a marriage between two entities that were meant for one another, your voice and Bel Canto, how did you meet?

Lawrence Brownlee: It was almost, not by accident, but, well, I have to say this. When I was 19 years old, or 18, I heard The Three Tenors CD: Pavarotti, (Plácido) Domingo, (José) Carreras in Rome with Zubin Mehta. So I heard that, and all the things that they sang - there was no Bel Canto on there. It was verismo. It was all the nuggets of opera. And so, this is what I thought, "Okay, maybe I can do this". So, this is what I wanted to sing. I wanted to die, I wanted to feel love, I wanted to feel passion.

Marc A. Scorca: You wanted some whole notes.

Lawrence Brownlee: I wanted, yeah, some legato. That's what I wanted to sing. And that teacher that I told you at NATS - I think I had taken the 'Che gelida manina' from Bohème, and she said, "You're great, but that's not for you; you have to find what's right for you". And my teacher said, "Yeah, I know, but he was excited to sing in it. He wanted to sing it". I actually was fortunate to win that year, but it was not right for me. So he took me back to school, and he said, "I want you to sing this piece. It's from The Barber Seville". And so I thought, "Gosh, I don't want to sing this piece. What is it?" So he gives it to me. I take it home for a week or something like that, and I sing it and the first phrase. (sings) 'Ecco ridente in cielo', and he goes, "Wait, do that again". "What did I do?" I said. 'Ecco ridente in cielo'. (Deep intake of breath). This was his reaction, Fritz Robertson is his name. He said, "This is your voice. This is what you should be singing". And I had no idea about Bellini and about Donizetti and all the other composers of this era - not even so much about Mozart, even though I had done The Magic Flute. I was just like, thinking Puccini, Verdi, whatever. But there is a wealth; I mean, there's a ton of things in Bel Canto. I then discovered that I had a special ability. I always could sing high. And I'm one of six kids, as I said before, and I have four sisters, and I could sing higher than some of my sisters. Maybe puberty hadn't hit, or maybe it hasn't hit still, but I did always have this ability to sing high.

Marc A. Scorca: And the coloratura? Did you just figure that out on your own?

Lawrence Brownlee: Well I mean, as I said, gospel. And so using your voice in gospel and the freedom, or the melismas and the riffs, that's a part of gospel. So, it did come - I don't wanna say easy - but it was something that I had done before. So, it wasn't foreign to me.

Marc A. Scorca: Is there something that you do today that's different than other kinds of tenors to keep your agility, to keep the high notes? Are you disciplined in a way? Do you do vocal exercises in a different way?

Lawrence Brownlee: Of course. Somebody told me that you shouldn't change your rep until you have to. Rockwell Blake, who's a mentor of mine, and a friend, he sang Bel Canto Rossini for his entire career. And so, singing Rossini, singing Mozart, singing these things where you keep your voice in a certain way, not pushing it, trying to use it in a natural way, is something that keeps you thinking about it always, but will hopefully help you to sing for the long run. My teacher, her name is Costanza Cuccaro, she sang light music for most of her career. But she always said to me, "You wanna make sure that you sing to have a 30-year career and not a five year career". So, you don't wanna sing on the principle, sing on the interest. So, if you go out there one day and you're just singing away, you just think, "Wow, I may have just shaved a few years off my career".

Marc A. Scorca: Do you still study?

Lawrence Brownlee: I still go back and study with her when I get a chance.

Marc A. Scorca: Once a year? At this point in your career, how does she tune you up?

Lawrence Brownlee: We all have our Achilles' heels. Those things that you just think, "Okay, I know that I can have tension in my jaw. Sometimes my tongue's not in the right position", and as you age, your voice changes. It's just a part of human nature. So she always points me back to her foundation. She has a number of exercises that she says, "If you can do all of these things without any problem, you're fine. The minute you have a problem with any one of these, come see me" So, sometimes I don't go back and see her, because she would work on me for a long time.

Marc A. Scorca: How wonderful to have someone like that in your life.

Lawrence Brownlee: She's a great technician and was a great singer.

Marc A. Scorca: Where's she based?

Lawrence Brownlee: Indiana University. IU.

Marc A. Scorca: How do you prepare for a role? Do you start at the piano? Do you start with the pianist in the room? Words first? Music first? How do you prepare a role?

Lawrence Brownlee: Honestly - I tell people this all the time. When I was young, people would say, "Don't learn your music by listening to CDs". Disclaimer. Let me preface that by saying, you shouldn't learn your music by CDs, but I think CDs are important. I think they're good for the style. I think they're good for the idea. I think they're good for memory. I think they're good for putting you in the mindset of living in that character, which is good, because it needs to enter in your bones that it's a part of you. Then after you know it, you have an idea of where you're going, a roadmap. Then you take it to the coach, the practice room if you can't learn it yourself. It's been said that singers aren't the greatest musicians at the piano. But, if you can't do it yourself, take it to a coach and make sure somebody says, "Okay, that's a 16th note; this needs to be held; that doesn't need to be that long; the vowels...", from a musical standpoint. And then, have a familiarity with the piece, then you can take it to your voice teacher, so she can put it in the right place, and then you go forward with the role. But I start with CDs, if I've never heard it before. Now that I've done so many Rossini things - some people say, "Once you've done one Rossini, you've done them all". I've done probably 15 or 16 roles of Rossini, so I feel like I understand the style, but I think it's great to listen to YouTube, some of the excerpts, not to copy ever, but to get an idea of the traditions and performance practice of the piece.

Marc A. Scorca: When do you put the words into learning the music, from the very start?

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, sometimes. I think people may think I'm crazy. Sometimes I'll walk down the street, saying my text to myself, and people will think that I'm talking to myself. Now, it's not as crazy because they have those ear pieces and people think, "Oh, they're on the phone with someone". When they pass and realize that I'm not on the phone with someone, then they think I'm crazy. I mean, one of the things that was important for me as a young singer, I thought that the immersion of the language - Italian was one thing that I wanted to really grasp. And so having a background, a foundation in Italian, has been important for me to be able to listen to a piece and understand the words, and be able to express the emotion of the words, because I understand the language. So, it's always a part of the process. It's not something that I say, I take the syllables out anymore and just sing the notes. I always try to incorporate everything from the beginning.

Marc A. Scorca: Where do you introduce the character? And when you're learning a new role, and you're arriving at the stage door to whatever great opera house it is, do you already know physically how that role works for you? Or do you wait for the director to tell you?

Lawrence Brownlee: I do. This is just my opinion. I think we have to be the palette for them to work on. For example, I had gone to Vienna - the first time I sang The Barber of Seville there, I had two days. So, I had to have an idea of what I wanted to do, before I got there. There wasn't a four week rehearsal period, where the director could shape you, or really put their idea of the character upon you, any singer. So, when I get a chance to go to a place, I never say, "I'm not gonna do that, because he thinks this". I always say, "Okay, I'll try it", because it's their vision that I'm trying to play, and I feel like I have to give them the opportunity to express their idea from the staging standpoint, and myself with the music, joining together - try to bring it to life.

Marc A. Scorca: Even if it's your 15th production of The Barber of Seville.

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, you look at (Plácido) Domingo. He's been singing for 45 years, and I think he's always inventive. I think he's fresh on stage. I think he's always thinking. So, if a person like that, who is really the face of opera can continue to change and evolve, I think myself, I've only done 12 or 13 years of this career thus far. I think I can open myself up to grow, actually.

Marc A. Scorca: When you return to repertoire you've done, is it rewarding to find new layers? Do you discover something new in it many times that you redo a role that you've done?

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes, I try to. Sometimes, depending on other factors that you don't have any control over, you may not feel that you've grown as a character, or the musicality is not what it once was, because you worked with a conductor that really inspired you, or gave you some ideas to take steps forward. Every experience is not that. If you're there for three days, if it's a jump-in... I mean, there are other factors that kind of play into it, but I always try to see if I can do something a little bit different. The emotion that can be brought out that really is the pivot, the turning point of the character that it gives what you say later that life. It's like, "Okay, that was the beginning of it, and I really see it". I have so many colleagues that inspire me, who are great actors and actresses. Diana Damrau, I've gotten a chance to do several things with her, and she is so inspiring. Joyce (DiDonato), I mean, these are people who think, and they always work. And me, myself as a colleague, I see them working, and I think "I need to go to the practice room. I need to start thinking about things", because I don't wanna bring their level down. A lot of times I'll say this to myself, especially if I'm not the first person to sing. I'll say "That singer has established something, and I don't wanna bring the level down, so I have to make sure I'm on my game", so the performance is not affected by what I offer.

Marc A. Scorca: It must be comforting in this whirlwind life that you lead, to get to a rehearsal hall and see Joyce or Diana, because you know them, you know how to work with them, you know their rhythms. Is it a special pleasure to come together with those singers time and time again?

Lawrence Brownlee: It is nice, but it's not business as usual; we're there to work. And a lot of times, because these people do so much and inspire me, I'm not on autopilot. I can't be, and they don't have a problem with saying, "Hey, this part, you need to do this". Now I feel like I don't ever tell anybody what they should do, but there's a certain level of accountability that you get to with your colleagues, that you know each other beyond the opera stage, that you feel like, "Okay, I know what's inside of you". And it's a fine line, but there's some times that Joyce tells me something, or many other people, and I'll say, "You know what, you're right. Absolutely. I'll do it". And sometimes I'll say, "You know what, you've got to do this for me", because I know she can, and I know that she's thinking. I know that she's inspired. I know she knows what that word means. I know she knows that the voyage, that the character has taken from the beginning, and the arc that she's on. And so for me, I just think, "Okay, this is not just hot air that someone's blowing to me, this is thought-out stuff, and so it's going to make me better on stage for it.

Marc A. Scorca: Now, Tamino. You mentioned Tamino before you knew he was a character in an opera you were singing, and you've done Tamino again.

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes, I got a chance to do, last year at Los Angeles Opera, the Barrie Kosky production, from the Komische Oper. That was so much fun. And I thought, when I was 19 years old, I did Tamino, and it's 20 years later that I get a chance to sing it (again).

Marc A. Scorca: And was that your first Tamino since?

Lawrence Brownlee: First Mozart (other than the Ottavio in the Seattle Young Artist Program) I had done since graduate school.

Marc A. Scorca: But I mean, Tamino isn't what I think of as a Bel Canto role.

Lawrence Brownlee: It's not.

Marc A. Scorca: So, is this a little bit of role experimentation?

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, I am not a baby. I mean, 41 is still young, and I'm 41. But at a certain point, you get a chance to take calculated risks. And so, I felt like expanding into different repertoire. Of course, I'm always singing Bel Canto, and there's a lot of things that I haven't gotten a chance to sing in the Bel Canto repertoire yet. But Mozart, I think, is something that's suitable for my voice, and it was a nice pairing with the soprano, and I had a good time singing it, and I had a very thoughtful conductor in James Conlon, so it all worked out well.

Marc A. Scorca: What is the calculus when you decide, "Let's take this risk".

Lawrence Brownlee: It's interesting. Many of my colleagues that started at the same time, we're about the same age, are starting to experiment into different repertoire. And you say sometime, "Well, this guy's singing that", or "That guy, he did this, but this is a little bit less than that", or "Maybe I can do this - it's in French". "Oh, the theater's not so big", or, you know, "The conductor I've worked with before". "It's period instruments". There are a lot of factors. I'm not gonna sing Manon Lescaut. I'm not gonna sing any Wagner. I'm not gonna sing any heavy Puccini. That's just not the voice I was blessed with. But there are many things that I feel like, done in the right place with the right people around you, I think that they can work. And people say all the time that the singers in the past, they sang everything. They sang everything from Tosca to Zerlina. I don't know. They had wide ranges, and I think they did it with thoughtfulness, intelligence.

Marc A. Scorca: And with cuts...

Lawrence Brownlee: And with cuts. But they did it with their own voice, and I think that's the main thing. I can't push my voice beyond its limits. And so I always try to sing, again, on the interest.

Marc A. Scorca: That is one of the perils of the recording industry, that we begin to have certain expectations of what a role sounds like, and these singers were freer to sing it their own way, because we didn't then get on our Facebook and say, "So-and-so didn't sing it like she did on the CD", so it does narrow the range of possibility.

Lawrence Brownlee: It does. And when we think about the theater sizes, that changes everything. When you think about some of the performance practices. As tenors, we sing full-chested high C's. Back in the day, it was much more mixed. The tradition calls, now for singing it a certain way, and so it may take a certain type of tenor out of what the public thinks is acceptable. So, I think you always have to watch for that too. But I think thoughtful musicians who understand the style and the history, I think you can do it in a successful way.

Marc A. Scorca: For Opera Philadelphia, you're doing a new opera. Is this the first time you're doing a world premiere?

Lawrence Brownlee: No, I was fortunate to do Lorin Maazel's opera, 1984, at Covent Garden in 2005, and so that was the first role I ever created. That was fun.

Marc A. Scorca: A totally different experience, of course.

Lawrence Brownlee: Completely different experience.

Marc A. Scorca: No CDs to listen to.

Lawrence Brownlee: No CDs. The first day we all arrived there, that was the first time I got a chance to work with Diana. Herself and Richard Margison, and Simon Keenlyside, we were all sweating. And Maazel comes in the room and he says, "Don't worry, we'll learn this together". And so, being a part of the building blocks of what's happening was fun for me, and it was a preparation that I'd never experienced before, because I'd never been a part of something that was written for the singers. When I auditioned for him, he said to me, "Do you sing a high D?" And I said, "I think I have a high D". So, Maestro Maazel says, "Sing it". And I said, "Just like that". "Yeah, just sing it". "Can I do a scale up to it?" "Sure. However you wanna sing it". "So I (marks a scale ending on a high note)". "Okay, I think we've got it. Let's go with it". And so it was just like that. But the thing that I enjoyed and appreciated is that he wrote for the individual voices. Even now, when you think about the roles we sing today, many of the roles that I sing, I know the character or the people that they were created for. So I could say, "Perhaps my voice is similar to (Giovanni Battista) Rubini or Giovanni David or some of these other people. But I always say roles are kind of like costumes. They may fit about 98%, but the sleeves might be a little bit too long, or it might be too tight right here, so you have to alter these things. But having a role written for you from the beginning. It's supposed to show your strengths and not your weaknesses. And so, it was a very fun experience for me to do that.

Marc A. Scorca: Now, the new opera's called Yardbird, and it's based on life of saxophonist, Charlie Parker. What appealed to you about this? What made you say, "Yes, I'll do that?"

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, I have a good history with Opera Philadelphia, formerly Opera Company of Philadelphia, with David Devan, Robert Driver, but Corrado Rovaris - when I talked about La Scala, he was the one, who's the music director, who said, "Okay, we'll go with it", when I went to La Scala to audition. He was there, and he's the one who gave me the opportunity to sing my first Almaviva at La Scala. And so he's there. We've become great friends, beyond just being colleagues. And so I've been there, Opera Philadelphia, several times. And being there, they told me that they wanted to do something for me, that they believed in my talent and they wanted to do something special. Anyone who knows me is that my range of music, the things that I love and appreciate and enjoy, cover a wide span. So, it's not just classical music, but gospel and jazz and Latin, and all those things. So they knew it. And so they said, "We wanna do something incorporating all these things together". So that was the idea for doing something. Charlie Parker, of course, one of the jazz greats, and so, that's how that all became.

Marc A. Scorca: And it really is a reflection of you as a musician.

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, the thing about Charlie Parker that I learned, (and I didn't know a lot about him - of course, I knew that he was one of the jazz greats), is that he wanted to do classical music, and wrote compositions, classical things that never came out. I don't think he finished them. Of course, he struggled with addiction, and had a lot of things, a difficult life. And even when they talk about the story about how he became called the Bird, it talks about some hardship that he had in his life. So, I'm excited to take on that character. I think it's gonna be one that's challenging vocally, but also dramatically, and to try to bring truth...of course I'm never going to copy him, and I cannot play the saxophone, but hopefully that I can give some life to his story.

Marc A. Scorca: That's fabulous. And you mentioned how much you do sing in different forms and do concert work, whether it is concert work with white tie and tails, or whether it is gospel or spirituals. Is each of those a kind of independent activity for you, or do they speak to one another through you? Does your concert work inform your opera work? Your opera work, what you do in gospel or jazz?

Lawrence Brownlee: I try to stay flexible. I just did a spiritual CD, and a friend of mine, Damien (Sneed), who arranged these, I went to him and I said, "I don't want this to be restrictive". I had to think that these are sketches, which means they're rough forms. They're not something that's so set in stone that they can't be changed. But I felt like it was something that could show all of the different influences that I have from a musical standpoint. I am the singer. I think some things are different stylistically, and I think whatever the music is telling me, as an artist, informs how I'm responding to it. So, this whole idea of trying to be a blank slate, so that I can try to create, based upon what's in front of me.

Marc A. Scorca: Where is home?

Lawrence Brownlee: I live in Tyrone, Georgia, which is about 10 minutes south of the Atlanta Airport. I am a native of the great state of Ohio - Youngstown, Ohio, but, now I live in Georgia.

Marc A. Scorca: And you live there, but you travel all over the world. How do you keep balance in your life? Life in a hotel is hard, life with a suitcase, family's in Georgia. How does that work for you?

Lawrence Brownlee: It's funny. Anyone who knows me, I'm a guy and I believe in having hobbies. Things that make you a normal guy. I always say with opera that I'm so fortunate to do what I do, but it's what I do, and it's not who I am. Meaning that sometimes I walk down the street and people don't know that I sing at Vienna and Zürich, or wherever it is, New York. But I feel like I want to have a full life, and these hobbies that I have, help me to enjoy life wherever I am. So I always tell young singers, that you have to make being on the road, like being at home. Yes, it's hard to be away from your family, your friends, your loved ones, your children - I have two kids. But I always try to make being on the road, like at home. So I have my things that don't keep me so dialed into opera, but I can do other things that make me feel like I have an enjoyable life.

Marc A. Scorca: Because I travel, all the time. And I love to draw, and I always have a pad and some pencils in my briefcase, so that way if I'm in a hotel room, I can just pursue a hobby. So, you take some hobbies with you.

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes, I take my hobbies with me everywhere I go.

Marc A. Scorca: But I understand that we're not allowed to talk about any sports team outside of Pittsburgh's sports teams. I was warned not to talk about Baltimore teams or anything like that.

Lawrence Brownlee: Some of my friends will get a kick out of that. I am a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so not shy about that. I grew up about 45 minutes away from Pittsburgh.

Marc A. Scorca: That's the home team.

Lawrence Brownlee: Well, I'm from Ohio, which is a little bit (gestures 'uncertain'). People don't understand, "How can you be a Pittsburgh fan when you're from Ohio, because there's Cleveland? I'm like "Cleveland?" (gestures Really?). But no, geographically, Youngstown is closer to Pittsburgh than it is to Cleveland, and I was born in the early 70's, and that was the heyday of the Steelers. So, I got on board with the greatest team.

Marc A. Scorca: I think I know what you're doing on Sunday afternoons.

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes. Fantasy football. My wife hates the fall. She hates it because, every Sunday, I'm like (watching the game).

Marc A. Scorca: Now we have a few more minutes. And I thought with your permission, we'd take a few questions from the audience.

Audience Member #1: Is there a piece that you sing that evokes the same emotions as when you watch the tape of The Immaculate Reception? 1972 was the year you were born?

Lawrence Brownlee: Yes, exactly. Franco Harris, of course. Is there a piece that I sing? Because of victory; you think victory. I have to say, when we did Armida at The Met. When we did the trio, where you felt at the end of this, there was a rush that came over me. Barry Banks is a good buddy of mine, and Kobe (van Rensburg), we were singing, and after we came off stage - I mean, we were just really into it and really giving it our all - and we came back off stage and they hugged me in a way, like, "Wow, we were a part of something that was special, that was electric". And those guys were just giving me energy and support. And I felt there was like a rush that came over me. So I guess that's the closest thing that I can say to The Immaculate Reception. But I just came off stage thinking, "Yeah, man, yeah. That was okay".

Marc A. Scorca: Now the Armida was an HD transmission. When the cameras are going back and forth on the stage, do they distract you at all?

Lawrence Brownlee: You ignore 'em; you sing.

Marc A. Scorca: They're just there. And the fact that there are 300,000 people watching around the world, you sing what you have to sing.

Lawrence Brownlee: Yeah. You just sing. I always say that you're not there by accident. You're there because you've prepared and you worked. I remember years ago, I did a competition called the Steward Awards. And in this competition, I was in the finals, and I remember thinking about being nervous, as a singer. And something came over me, whatever you wanna call it, something came over me and said, "People come to the theater to be entertained. Everyone's not a critic. Everyone doesn't come to the theater to say, 'Oh, he's bad, or he's flat, or he's that'. People come to be entertained. So entertain them, enjoy the experience, bring life or light into their lives". And so I always said, "You know what, I'm not here by accident. I'm prepared. Let's do it". Do what you've prepared. I'm not thinking, "I hope this happens". I feel like as a singer, you have to say, "It happens because I make it happen. I'm in control". My teacher always says, "You have to have a cool head and a warm heart, not a hot head and a cool heart". So, if I think, "Okay, I'm under control. I know what I'm doing", I can be confident, go out on stage.

Audience Member #2: I was wondering, you spend most of your time in early music or in Bel Canto. So, you told us how you prepare for that, but how do you prepare for new music, which is often open tone, kind of free. It's hard to stick into your head. So I was wondering how you prepare for that?

Lawrence Brownlee: If I go back to this - I mean, this is not new music - but the Strauss piece was something that I did years ago, that was very, very hard. And I have enough piano skills that I can plunk out my parts and know what I'm supposed to sing, in the right time signature and stuff like that. But then I go to coaches that know me, that are going to make sure that I'm not doing something that's wrong. And then, when you're doing something that's, you said open tone or new music, if you're doing new music, oftentimes you have the chance to work with the composer to say, "You know what, this actually doesn't work for me, because the vowel in my voice just goes into a murky place". But you do it by familiarity with the piece, and doing it so many times that you have to deliver something. And it's never to this point where you feel like you're not in control of what's happening. There's some things that are not the easiest for you, but you should always feel, in my opinion, that you're in control of what's happening on stage. It's not like crossing your fingers and saying, "I hope something happens". It happens because you make it happen. So, even if it's a wrong note or a wrong rhythm, I try to own it. And that's how I always approach it. But repetition and just familiarity with the piece, I think is the most important thing.

Audience Member #3: Hello. My name is Michael. I'm a little older than you, and I am a lifelong Cowboy fan. My question. I was thinking while you were speaking, did you ever think that individual musicians or individual orchestras play to your strengths or not? And if they do, what is your favorite orchestra and why?

Lawrence Brownlee: My favorite orchestra? Well, I'm singing at The Met, right now. It's my favorite orchestra. Because they actually are an amazing orchestra, and I think the best orchestra in the world, no disrespect to anyone else. But they're a fantastic group of people and a lot of friends that I actually knew from university are playing in The Met Orchestra, so I have a great deal of respect. It's always a different experience. Sometimes you go, and I got a chance to do something last year, with an early music orchestra when I was doing something with Cecilia Bartoli, which was a big honor for me. But there was a collective spirit of trying to bring something special together that I appreciated. A lot of times with these orchestras, especially if you do a high volume, you don't get the time to spend with one individual piece, and so the growth that can happen doesn't always come there. Of course, you always wanna be at a certain level, and of course, these orchestras that I'm talking about now are at such a high level, fantastic musicians, that there's always a good product. But it becomes special when you can spend time with the orchestra and get a lot of opportunities to do sitzprobe and orchestra on stage, and you feel like the singers and the instrumentalists are together, that they're listening to each other. That it's a passing of the baton.

Marc A. Scorca: The orchestra behind you or in front of you: how does it feel more comfortable?

Lawrence Brownlee: I mean, if singers are behind them, sometimes they turn around and say, "Hey, why are you singing so loud?" No. I always make this joke with my buddy. Most times the orchestra is physically behind us, but we're all equal. How about that?

Marc A. Scorca: Well, it has been such fun to talk to you and to learn how much it is your incredible discipline and work ethic, of course, your talent, but your attitude that have earned you the celebrity that you have, so thank you so much, Larry.