Photograph: Julia Wesley
Benjamin Bernheim just isn’t one to take the trail of least resistance.
“I don’t need straightforward,” he informed me throughout our dialog in February. “All these opera administrators need me to sing these blockbusters which might be straightforward to program. However I don’t need straightforward.”
We met in New York shortly after he made his Princeton College Concert events debut, accompanied by Carrie-Anne Matheson, in a program centered on mélodie (French artwork music) and chanson (common music, rooted within the rhythms of the French language), a lot of which could be heard on his debut solo music album, Douce France. Judging from the magnificence and ease with which he approaches Duparc, Chausson, and others on that album, in addition to the congeniality and candor he delivered to our dialog, it could be straightforward to imagine Bernheim to be a pure recitalist. Not so: he confessed that he as soon as felt extra comfy amid the surroundings and sweep of the stage than within the live performance corridor. “Once you do opera, you’re surrounded in a ravishing blanket of individuals working collectively,” he defined. “However your accountability is smaller; you might be there to embrace an idea, a universe.”
In recent times, Bernheim has discovered himself on levels even bigger than these of the Bastille or the Metropolitan Opera, lending vocal luster to the closing ceremonies of the 2024 Olympic Video games and the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris in the identical 12 months. Each experiences crammed him with awe and, as a Frenchman, pleasure, however the actual problem lay past that constellation of nationwide pageantry, in areas and repertoire way more intimate—and dangerous. “A recital is an expertise of nudity in entrance of an viewers—it’s very completely different.”
Strolling as much as an viewers in “a pleasant swimsuit, with no costume, no set, no hearth—nothing” proved intimidating at first—Bernheim likened it to auditioning—however over time, he got here to understand not merely embracing a universe however proudly owning it: “It’s a must to take accountability for all the pieces that you just current as a storyteller. And I’ve discovered to love this freedom. I noticed it’s a must to invite the viewers on a journey. It’s a must to dare it.” In his latest recitals, Bernheim is daring audiences (and, maybe, arts directors) to present better prominence to the French repertoire. “When folks take into consideration recitals, they give thought to the ‘sacred’ German repertoire. Even in France, while you do a mélodie program, folks ask you, ‘Why don’t you carry Winterreise? Why don’t you carry Dichterliebe?’ It’s been imposed. However persons are starting to be taught that there’s additionally one other story.”
The story of mélodie, broadly, begins in mid-19th century France. Whereas its German counterpart carried the storm and stress of its poets into emotionally charged, Romantic songs, the French custom prioritized prosody, sophistication, and subtly of expression–far completely different, even, from the emotional palette introduced onstage by the likes of Massenet and Gounod, Bernheim’s operatic bread and butter. If the uncovered C on the finish of “Salut! Demeure chaste et pure” is designed to overwhelm the listener with a besotted man’s longing, then one thing like Ernest Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, Bernheim instructed, with its “projections of the ocean…. of heartbreak, lets us simply drift away.”
Bernheim found this repertoire later than one might need suspected. Raised between Paris and Geneva, his dad and mom, each singers in novice and regional corporations, launched him to opera at an early age; he claims to have recognized all of the recitatives and arias from Le nozze di Figaro by coronary heart by the age of 4. All through his research on the Lausanne Conservatory beneath Gary Magby, he remained centered on opera: “For me, it made no sense to consider mélodie. It was a distinct profession, truly.” He added, “It’s fascinating as a result of I constructed my relationship with this repertoire once I already had a profession. So, there have been no previous habits—we acquired to begin contemporary.”
Bernheim’s elevated give attention to mélodie comes at a degree in his vocal improvement the place there was “development when it comes to depth and sound, but in addition malleability.” Practically twenty years into his skilled profession, he feels that his voice, which he describes as having a transparent, silvery high quality, has “a tad extra capacity to show: to maneuver issues another way, maneuver pianissimo within the excessive notes.” He credited this development to the number of operatic roles he has taken on, which required him to develop a chameleon-like capacity to “adapt to the music and take coloration from it.” Every musical world, as he put it, is an “train” for the voice. “I need to present that the bridge between mélodie and opera just isn’t that lengthy… and you can be, if not shut, then loyal to the musical by truly singing it in the identical method.”
With out the joys of an operatic excessive word to maintain his viewers in sway, he leads them down this bridge regularly. “In the previous couple of live shows I did, I started with among the Duparc or with Bizet after which Poeme de l’amour et la mer, that are dangerous as a result of they’re gradual.” A pause. “I like the concept you truly invite the viewers in, step-by-step—it’s a little bit of a flirt, a type of a blind date with an viewers. Little by little, you carry a perspective and see how they react. And as an alternative of imposing a coloration, you invite them to enter a brand new world.”
Photograph: Julia Wesley
Simply as Bernheim doesn’t want to impose a coloration upon his viewers, he likewise seeks to keep away from putting the core of repertoire into a distinct segment. Early in our dialog, I requested him about his strategy to French fashion and approach; he furrowed his forehead barely. “Each language must be taken critically when it comes to the work, when it comes to the angle of an artist,” he replied. “As a result of language is as wealthy as there are folks and methods to say issues. On the similar time, I’ve had folks asking me to roll my r’s once I sing French, which for me just isn’t pure and doesn’t permit me to inform a narrative appropriately.”
“When singing French, the query is ‘how will you make this language singable for me, in my very own voice?’ And so, I’m utilizing the issues I discovered in German, Italian, and different languages to make it easy, singable, golden [like in Italian] too, when vital. That’s holding with the essence of French. Simply take heed to Roberto Alagna, Laurent Naouri, Ludovic Tézier—all very legitimate methods to sing this repertoire, with a tone is true to the language. All people embraces it in their very own method. It’s a language—a love language, in a method. How do you like this? How do you need to present the like to this repertoire?”
He added, “You can not say, ‘That is the best way to sing in French.’ That doesn’t exist. I feel people who find themselves saying this are attempting to construct a cult and have folks pay for it.”
Beneath this speak of flirtation, love languages, and cults, there’s a seriousness of craft and intention. Whether or not for an operatic position or recital, Bernheim places within the analysis. As he prepares to debut as Cavaradossi in Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s revival of Tosca in October, he’s immersing himself within the social and political milieu of Puccini, in addition to the revolutionary occasions of Sardou and his doomed painter. “I need to get a context about issues, to think about what it was like right now and what it meant for the composer, the writers, the poets. I need to know the entire context of the piece so you possibly can supply all to you viewers, so you possibly can defend it.”
I pressed him on what he meant by defending a bit; he defined that it could be a matter of translation, however continued, “Really, I like this concept. I’m not the composer. I’m not the establishment. I’m only a singer who’s representing the rating—and I need to defend it. Possibly that is old school, however I’m very proud to defend these texts which have historical past and which might be linked to poetry, mythology, and to so many issues that transfer internationally and historical past. It’s lovely. And it’s at all times deeper and extra advanced than we predict.”
In future seasons, Bernheim may have the chance to make his protection as Don José in Carmen and Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera. He first approached the latter position 20 years in the past in a masterclass with Carlo Bergonzi in Busseto, Verdi’s hometown. Upon listening to the younger tenor, Bergonzi declared, “You’re going to be the Riccardo of your era.” The 2 subsequently labored on the position, a transfer which Bernheim credited as “what constructed me vocally.” He subsequent makes a uncommon stateside look in recital at Alice Tully Corridor on 21 April, accompanied once more by Matheson, the place he’ll current songs by Durpac, Pizzetti, and Puccini; well-known chansons; and arias by Bizet, Gounod, and Tchaikovsky. (I, for one, am excited to see the chic “Je crois entendre encore” on this system.)
Towards the top of our dialog, he informed me, “Each time I’m going onstage, I threat one thing. There’s a sensation of hazard. Typically I feel it’s the final time I’ll ever sing. However generally you should remind your self that if one thing occurs and you may’t sing tomorrow, then you need to make it particular.” Nevertheless unaware of the danger or hazard Bernheim’s viewers could also be, they can not assist however notice that there’s something particular about this voice—and this artist.
