danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

My position as the Sherrill Milnes authority at home and at work is unchallenged. I had been invited to conduct an interview with the great baritone on Sunday morning at 11:30. So, I arrived a bit before then and went downstairs to the studio where Mr. Milnes arrived shortly with Dr. Offerle, and we quickly got down to the interview.

I asked Milnes about his master classes and we talked about his position as artistic director of Opera Tampa. We chatted about his early days in Downers Grove, Illinois, and how the simple good fortune of geography probably made the difference between international superstardom and agricultural obscurity. Of course, I would have loved to spend the entire interview on technical vocal matters–like how does one sing Rigoletto bent over with a prosthetic hunchback?–or detailed discographical analysis. But that interview would have taken more than the half-hour I had, and nobody but me would have been interested in listening to it.

I did allow myself one question related to specific baritone repertoire:

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We will probably broadcast this interview during our spring membership campaign, but I will try to post more of it here before then as time and server space allow.

All in all, it was an experience that seven years ago I never would have expected to get, and it makes me appreciate my job all the more: on an average day I just listen music that I like; some days I get to interact with my musical heroes.

Filed under: Music, Work on October 22nd, 2007