He has sung the role of Mime in “Siegfried” all over the world, but next week, out Filipino-American tenor Rodell Rosel is making his Atlanta Opera debut.
“Siegfried” is the third opera in German composer Richard Wagner’s four-part musical drama cycle “The Ring of the Nibelung,” often referred to as the “Ring” cycle. The opera will run for four performances starting on April 26 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Performed in German, “Siegfried” is a five-hour event, complete with two intermissions.
Rosel feels that the opera is a story of identity. The titular character longs to find his purpose.
“He needs to know who he is and where he came from,” Rosel said. “To find all that, he must go through some travails, physically, mentally and spiritually.”
The character of Mime is a dwarf who, in the opera’s first scene, finds himself in a cave with his foster son Siegfried. The manipulative Mime wants what his brother Alberich created – the ring of power.
“He brought up Siegfried but has ulterior motives,” said Rosel. “If you have the ring you have control of a lot.”
Mime is a significant role in the opera, reprising his role from the first opera in the “Ring” cycle, “Das Rheingold.” Rosel said he’s glad the character isn’t just a sidenote in the series.
“He raises Siegfried and teaches him a lot of things,” he said. “He has shaped Siegfried, before they are separated.”
The performer has made more than 30 appearances at The Metropolitan Opera and played 20 different roles at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He grew up in the Philippines and has been singing pop music since the age of 11. When he moved to California at the age of 16, he looked at singing as a side hustle, performing at birthday parties, karaoke events and with cover bands. In 1994, he was introduced to classical singing via the operatic singing trio The Three Tenors. He appeared in his first opera in a 1998 production of “Dialogues of the Carmelites” at Santa Monica College.
It was at Santa Monica College where he took part in an opera workshop and later studied opera at UCLA in 2001. Eventually Rosel moved to Chicago in 2005 to be part of the Ryan Opera Center’s young artists program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
While Rosel was at UCLA, singing teacher Timothy Mussard suggested he look into character roles, specifically mentioning Mime. The performer later played Mime in “Das Rheingold” in 2014 and “Siegfried” in 2016. This is his fourth time with the character.
Some of Rosel’s favorite roles include Goro in “Madama Butterly,” Calaf in “Turandot” and Monostatos in “The Magic Flute.” He is also a Grammy nominee for Best Opera Recording and is a voting member of the Recording Academy, which votes for the Grammy Awards.
Being gay in the opera community has posed no problems for Rosel, but he has had to adapt somewhat.
“It’s not about who you are but how you present yourself,” Rosel said. “Portraying characters means it is very binary, which means if you are a male you have to portray the male based on what people expect what males should be, and females what females should be. As a gay man, the way I interact, I am both feminine and masculine. I adapt, but I don’t deny or hide who I am.”
Rosel’s advice for those attending the five-hour “Siegfried” is to take a nap beforehand to be fresh and alert. He acknowledged that it is helpful to have seen the previous two operas, but the text will provide a recap for those who are not familiar with all the characters.
“When there, treat it as if you were listening to an orchestra, but with a story,” he said. “The music goes beyond words.”
Roberto Kalb will be conducting “Siegfried,” and the Atlanta Opera’s Tomer Zvulun (the company’s general and artistic director) will serve as the principal director. The Atlanta Opera will conclude the “Ring” cycle next year with the fourth opera, “Götterdämmerung,” also known as “Twilight of the Gods.”
