Some years ago a fine young baritone named Jason Stearns appeared in a major show at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Prior to that, he had spent years singing with the U.S. Army Band, but by 2005, he was beginning to make a notable splash in the opera world. This summer he crowned his rise to the top with critically acclaimed performances of the title role in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the summer opera festival in Savonlinna, Finland. He spoke with CS just before midnight on a July evening (the sun was still shining brightly).
When did you first become interested in music?
When I was a little boy my mother played violin and piano. She wasn’t a professional, but I thought she was great. When I got a little older I began to sing in the children’s choir at church. A friend of my father’s, Carmelo Pino, started an accordion studio and I took lessons from him for a long time. In high school, I performed in musicals and was in the chorus. By then, singing had become part of my identity, so eventually I auditioned for the Eastman School of Music, which eventually gave me a scholarship.
After graduating in 1976, I became an apprentice artist at Chautauqua Opera in western New York, and I spent two summers there. At that time Young Artist Programs were not common, and it was more difficult to bridge the gap between going to school and working in opera. Today’s programs enable the singer to get used to performing in a theater while building up a repertoire.
What did you do after Chautauqua?
My wife, Suzanne, and I both performed in shows in Las Vegas. I was a lead singer in the Lido de Paris at the Stardust Hotel for three years. It was a very beautiful show in which some 100 beautifully costumed people sang and danced. Siegfried and Roy were part of it, too. I appeared in over 2,000 performances. At the same time my wife, Suzanne, was performing in Hallelujah, Hollywood, the show at the nearby MGM Grand Hotel.
One of the things voice students seldom learn in school is that performing is largely about repetition. In college you work a semester on one show—you perform it two or three times, and it’s over. That’s not what happens when you are a professional singer. You do things over and over and over again. The Vegas show taught me to be a disciplined pro. You have to remember that each audience expects its show to be an opening night performance.
After Las Vegas, Suzanne and I both sang with the U.S. Army Chorale. We spent 21 years together singing in the military. So, when I retired from it I really did not know what I wanted to do. She suggested I get a steady job as a chorister, so I auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera Chorus. They took me right away, too, but it wasn’t long before I knew I wanted something more.
Were contests helpful to you?
Most certainly. Right out of college I made the finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Much later, in 2005, I won the first Chester Ludgin American Verdi Baritone Competition. That contest is a memorial to Ludgin who specified that it was to have no age limit. It is designed for singers of any age who have not made a professional opera debut. Therefore, having been in a Vegas show, the Army and the Met chorus, I was qualified to throw my hat in the ring. One of the judges was Plácido Domingo, and after I won first place in the contest he took an interest in my career.
How did you come to work with Thomas Stewart and Evelyn Lear?
A few years ago I was singing Rigoletto at the Summer Opera in Washington, D.C. I had met Evelyn Lear briefly and it seems that some people had told her I could sing. She suggested to her husband that they should hear me, but I’m told that Stewart was not very enthusiastic about the idea. Anyway, they both came. After the show, when I was taking my costume and makeup off, Ed Purrington of the Washington Opera told me to hurry up because some important people were waiting. I opened the door to find the Stewarts, both of whom were very excited about my performance.
They were administering the Thomas Stewart and Evelyn Lear Emerging Singers Program [see “Finding the Big Voices,” March ’06] in conjunction with the Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. and they wanted me to join it. When they asked if I sang Wagner, I said I really hadn’t done any. However, I was only too happy to learn a couple of pieces to sing for them.
Just a few days ago, Evelyn wrote to me saying that when they were listening to me sing the first few pages of that Rigoletto, she had asked Tom if he thought I could sing The Flying Dutchman. Tom answered that he thought I could sing anything, but the Dutchman would be perfect. As a result of that evening, Tom and I worked on a number of roles, including The Dutchman, Wotan, Amfortas, and the Herald in Lohengrin. We worked at their home, which at that time was only about an hour’s drive from mine. The Herald was my very first Wagner role. I sang it about two years ago in Leipzig, Germany.
Tom was a great student of the text. For him, the libretto was of maximum importance. He was never happy with singers who preferred making beautiful sounds to enunciating the words clearly. He insisted that his students put all of the text across and, when you think of it, Wagner’s operas really are about his text. His music is like rich fudge. Every measure is chock full of meaning, so you have to know what you’re singing about and your diction has to be impeccable.
It’s interesting to note that one aspect of diction has changed in German opera houses since Tom’s time. He insisted that I roll every “r,” even if it was at the end of a word like mir or dir. That was very important to him. Styles change, however, and German singers don’t do that any more.
Unfortunately, Tom passed away on Sept. 24, 2006, a day that also happened to be my wedding anniversary. My wife and I were in New York when Evelyn called with the awful news that her husband had suddenly dropped dead. It was hard to believe because he had always been so full of life. At least I had the chance to work with him, and to learn a great deal from him. I’m very grateful for that. My association with Thomas Stewart was not very long, but it certainly was memorable. He was always most encouraging. He even said I would be his successor, but I think that was a bit generous. I don’t have very many years in which to work up to his level of achievement—but I’ll sure do the best I can.
Did you ever get to see Stewart perform?
No, he was long out of his career when I first met him. I only know his work from recordings. It’s a shame there isn’t more of his work available. The funny thing is that a singer can work throughout his lifetime and have so little to show for it, especially with regard to the visual aspects of opera. There are a few clips of Tom on YouTube, but not many.
Tom was a patrician man, a very elegant man. When you met him you knew you were in the presence of greatness. You don’t meet a great many people like that.
Evelyn tells this story: She and Tom were singing at San Francisco Opera and there were a couple of very young singers in the cast. One of them asked another how she would know Tom when she saw him. The other replied that when you look at Tom you will think you are seeing God. I’d say that is a pretty good description of Tom’s charisma.
I stay in touch with Evelyn all the time. She’s a dear friend. When she and Tom retired, they kept in touch with the people they knew during the course of their careers, so later they could be of great assistance to young singers looking to sing in various opera houses. Of course, as time goes on those people also retire, but Evelyn still has a great many contacts in the opera world. Best of all, she does not hesitate to tell them about new talent. For example: Tom and Evelyn got me the opportunity to sing for James Conlon. As a result, I’ve been in five different productions at Los Angeles Opera.
They also arranged for me to sing for Heinz Fricke of the Washington Opera. We are still working on finding the right role for me there. Because I sing dramatic roles, it’s easier for me to get hired in Europe than in the U.S. American opera companies tend to do more of the lighter operas. I think that a young Wagner singer has to become known in Europe before he or she will get leading roles in the U.S. Most American general managers want tried and true lead singers with a great deal of experience. That can only be had in Europe where Wagner operas are performed much more often. There really aren’t enough opportunities for Wagner singers in this country.
Have you coached with Evelyn Lear since her husband died?
Yes, she is very, very knowledgeable and she has kept the program going at full speed ahead since Tom passed away. A great many fine singers have come out of the program, among them: Caroline Whisnant [CS, Dec. ’05], Jay Hunter Morris, Jennifer Wilson [CS, March ’06], Thomas Rolf Truhitte, Michael Hayes, and Jeffrey Springer.
Currently, I am singing the title role in The Flying Dutchman at Finland’s Savonlinna Festival. I auditioned for artistic director Jari Hämäläinen about a year and a half ago in New York City and he practically hired me on the spot. To me, that was incredible. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be singing the Dutchman at a major European festival, but here I am!
After I finish the performances here, I go to New York, to the Metropolitan Opera, where I will cover Barnaba in La gioconda. Later, I will make my debut there as Monterone in Rigoletto and cover Donner in Das Rheingold. At Lyric Opera of Chicago this season, I’ll be singing Tonio in Pagliacci as well as covering Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana and Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde. A year from now, I will be appearing at the new opera house in Oslo, Norway as Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West. I certainly can’t complain. I’m a working singer and my agent, Neil Funkhouser, is keeping me busy.
I might just add that I am immensely happy that my operatic dreams have come true, even if rather late in life. Now our son is grown, so my wife and I can go to my engagements together. My many years of practice and patience have finally begun to bear fruit. For baritones, especially, age is not so much of a factor. I sing the “bad boy” roles, not the young lovers, so I can look forward to being “bad” for a long time to come.
