Rodell Rosel talks bringing ‘Siegfried’ to life with Atlanta Opera

Rodell Rosel will star as Mime in Siegfried with the Atlanta Opera Photo courtesy of Rodell Rosel 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 at the Cobb Power 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 necessities to know who he is and where he came from Rosel stated To find all that he must go through particular 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 explained Rosel If you have the ring you have control of a lot Mime is a substantial role in the opera reprising his role from the first opera in the Ring cycle Das Rheingold Rosel declared he s glad the character isn t just a sidenote in the series He raises Siegfried and teaches him a lot of things he revealed He has shaped Siegfried before they are separated The performer has made more than appearances at The Metropolitan Opera and played different roles at the Lyric Opera of Chicago He grew up in the Philippines and has been warbling pop music since the age of When he moved to California at the age of he looked at intonating as a side hustle performing at birthday parties karaoke events and with cover bands In he was introduced to classical trilling via the operatic crooning trio The Three Tenors He appeared in his first opera in a 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 Eventually Rosel moved to Chicago in to be part of the Ryan Opera Center s young artists initiative at the Lyric Opera of Chicago While Rosel was at UCLA caroling tutor Timothy Mussard suggested he look into character roles specifically mentioning Mime The performer later played Mime in Das Rheingold in and Siegfried in This is his fourth time with the character Selected 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 public 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 revealed 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 commented 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 G tterd mmerung also known as Twilight of the Gods The post Rodell Rosel talks bringing Siegfried to life with Atlanta Opera appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta