Our Artist of the Week is tenor Martin Renner Wallace. Martin is in Calgary performing with Alberta Vocal Arts as Eisenstein in their company’s inaugural production (Die Fledermaus, running Jan 11-13, tickets and info here). The production also stars Kathleen Morrison as Rosalinde, Elizabeth Fast as Adele, Jason Cook as Dr. Falke, Barbara King as Prince Orlofsky, Ernesto Ramirez as Alfred, Aaron Durand as Frank, Michael Shepherd as Frosch, conducted by Carlos Foggin, and directed by Shandra Gallant.
Martin studied music at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, the University of Victoria School of Music, and the University of British Colombia Opera School. He is also an alumni of the Vancouver Opera Yulanda M Faris Young Artist Program and the Calgary Opera McPhee Artists Development Program. Most recently, he performed the role of Second Priest in Vancouver Opera‘s production of Die Zauberflöte.
This week we sat down to chat about dream roles, the best thing about being an opera artist, and who he would want to get stuck in an elevator with (clue: a very handy guy)!
What/who inspired you to sing?
I grew up with a blind mother and I think that part of me always wanted to do something that she could experience and participate in. I discovered singing from a relatively young age in choirs and just took to it wholeheartedly.
Drink of choice?
Favourite drink is an old fashioned or variation thereof.
If you weren’t a singer/instrumentalist/conductor, you’d be…
I am a lighting technician for film and TV when I am not singing opera.
Top 3 favourite composers?
Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Benjamin Britten.
Which opera role do you want to be singing right now?
Canio in Pagliacci. A great sing and so much fun to craft and explore the character’s emotional arc through the opera.
What opera role do you want to be singing in 10 years?
Peter Grimes would be absolutely amazing. I have always been a massive fan of Britten and I have always been drawn to characters that have complex emotional and personal arcs throughout their stories.
What’s your favourite orchestral instrument? Why?
Hands down bass trombone. It’s the instrument I grew up playing in bands, go low brass!
Tent or hotel?
Depends, are we talking winter in Quebec? Hotel. I am a huge fan of camping, going so far as to do Canadian thanksgiving camping with a group of families every year making a big pot luck around the campfire.
What was the first opera you ever saw?
First full opera would be La bohème by Puccini. I did grow up with a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan playing around the house though.
Are there more musicians in your family? If yes, who and what do they play/sing?
Not in a professional sense. Everyone in my family participated in music and enjoyed it. My mother even learned to play piano after she lost her sight.
Where did you go to school?
I grew up in Victoria and did my undergraduate there at UVic, then completed a masters at UBC.
Where’s your favourite coffee shop?
Prado, there is one located conveniently a few blocks from Vancouver Opera’s rehearsal hall and another recently opened in suburbia 5 mins from my house.
What’s the downside of being an opera artist?
I think it’s a tie between job security or complete lack thereof and the amount of time you have to spend away from your family.
What’s the best thing about being an opera artist?
Making music. I love the art of making music and really connecting to the audience to make them feel something. Happy, sad, angry, hopefully, if the audience leaves having felt something after a performance I feel like I have done my job.
Do you enjoy cooking? If yes, what is your best dish?
I absolutely love cooking. I make a really awesome osso buco and risotto zafferano.
If you could be stuck in an elevator with one person, who would it be?
It depends, is this like a I can pick their brain and have voice lesson to while the time away? Jonas Kaufmann. Is it survival thing? MacGyver.
What is one very popular thing that you have no interest in?
Sports. I enjoy playing sports but watching them is not my thing.
The music industry is tough, and filled with rejection. How do you cope? Does it get easier?
I think the best advice I ever got was from Selena James, she said “there are always going to be people who love you no matter how well you sing and there are always going to be people who hate you no matter how well you sing, you just have to do your best”.
Does performing in different locations impact your performance?
For sure! Case and point I did several Messiah productions this year ranging from excerpts in a bar with piano up close and personal, to one with a full orchestra doing the Mozart arrangement in a hall with all sorts of reverb. As the hall gets bigger or the acoustic changes there are always things we have to adapt.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MARTIN RENNER WALLACE
VISIT HIS WEBSITE
© Tim Matheson
UBC Opera, Ariadne and Naxos, Martin Renner Wallace Bacchus, Laura Miller Ariadne
©Richard Berg
Burnaby Lyric Opera Pagliacci, Martin Renner Wallace Canio
Strauss’ Die Fledermaus
Alberta Vocal Arts
January 11-13
CONDUCTOR Carlos Foggin
DIRECTOR Shandra Gallant
EISENSTEIN Martin Renner Wallace
ROSALINDE Kathleen Morrison
ADELE Elizabeth Fast
DR. FALKE Jason Cook
ORLOFSKY Barbara King
ALFRED Ernesto Ramirez
FRANK Aaron Durand
FROSCH Michael Shepherd
Join Alberta Vocal Arts in their inaugural staged production of, Die Fledermaus: The Champagne Operetta, directed by Shandra Gallant. This sparkling production showcases Johann Strauss’ comedic operetta, a delightful tale filled with mistaken identities, tangled romances, and an enchanting masquerade ball.
Follow the hilarious misadventures of Gabriel von Eisenstein, a charming yet wayward husband, his quick-witted wife Rosalinde, the mischievous Dr. Falke, the ambitious maid Adele, the passionate tenor Alfred, the steadfast prison warden Frank, and the eccentric Prince Orlofsky. Amidst the laughter and revelry, these characters discover invaluable lessons about love, forgiveness, and the transformative power of a night of masked enchantment.
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