Spotlight on Craig Rutenberg
Part of a new series, Life of the Opera Pianist
Photo by Christian Steiner
Education:
Formal education in Linguistics at Georgetown University and the University of Illinois, Urbana.
Otherwise I just had the amazing luck to hang around the real greats starting as a 14 yr old.
Current opera house and position(s):
Mariinsky Theater, guest coach and vocal advisor.
Other or former affiliations:
Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera (Head of Music), Opéra de Paris, L’Opéra-Comique, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera Stockholm, Royal Opera Oslo, Royal Opera Copenhagen
Contact or Connect:
craigrutenberg@me.com
11 Questions
Many people do not know the many roles and responsibilities a répétiteur has in the opera house. How do you explain your job to non-musicians, or even other musicians?
When I began working as a coach, I was often surprised how many professional musicians would ask, “why do singers need such intense coaching? Can’t they hear what they’re doing”? It perpetuated the idea of singers being lazy.
What I (we) do, as I explain it, is to be that set of outside ears which are vital to a musician whose instrument is in the throat. The perception is totally different from an instrumentalist. I believe the most important thing is to arrive with a certain amount of informed knowledge to give the singer and to help that person learn a role or a piece of music with no mistakes and with a sense of style right from the first day. Even Birgit Nilsson used to say that if she learned something incorrectly from the beginning, it was very hard to unlearn it. The great Italian coach Ubaldo Gardini assured me that it was better to have patience and initially do the kitchen work with a singer than to have to correct learned errors.
Then, we are expected to know very well a couple of languages other than our native tongue and to know how to explain sounds without the singer looking like a beaver trying to imitate the facial expression of a well-meaning diction coach.
Historical performance practice and style come into play as well. A lot of what passes nowadays for informed style is bolderdash.
One also needs to know how to encourage the singer without being overly critical. We are there to build confidence
What do you find to be one of the most challenging aspects of the job?
I don’t know where to begin with this, but over 5 decades of working with some conductors who have no idea of what is going on along with dealing with too clever by half stage directors who are there reinventing the wheel are two of my biggest nightmares.
That and travel time wasted in airports.
Do you have a favorite part of the preparation (rehearsal or learning an opera) process? If so, what is it and why?
I am crazy about learning a new work but even crazier about revisiting a work I’ve known for decades. I hope that enthusiasm carries over to my work with singers.
What is your favorite opera?
Pelléas et Mélisande
Le nozze di Figaro
Elektra
Falstaff
Madama Butterfly (sorry)
What is your favorite opera score to play and why?
Again, Le nozze di Figaro. No phrase is superfluous. Ditto, no measure. Human love, confusion, longing, anger and forgiveness are portrayed in this score as if God himself penned it.
What are some adjectives that describe the skills one needs to be a good répétiteur?
Patience
Self-awareness and control
Preparedness
Language skills
An open mind
Willingness to bend an old concept if needed
Utter love for your job and gratitude for having that job.
Knowing when to say nothing.
And knowing and when you go home, you have a life outside of the opera world. That’s harder to deal with than many people realize.
As a répétiteur, we are expected to prepare music quickly (sometimes having to sightread or transpose or play music from the orchestra full score), manage multiple opera productions at the same time, play rehearsals for last minute cast changes, conduct last minute rehearsals or performances and sometimes even sing roles in these rehearsals or performances. Do you have any advice on how to deal with the excitement of the job?
Be prepared. I was very fortunate in that I was a geeky kid who fell in love with opera by the age of 8. I was sort of a loner as well, so I was always taking books about opera and scores out of the library.
Realize what you are capable of doing and then do the best you can. Nobody can be an expert in 5 languages with 4 centuries of repertory and don’t believe them if they tell you they can.
We also wear many hats as a répétiteur. We are often asked to assist conductors by taking notes, provide backstage conducting for performances, prompt the singers, conduct staging rehearsals, accompany chorus rehearsals, manage sound effects or major musical cues for performances, perform a keyboard instrument (or two) in the orchestra pit and give notes to singers about language and diction. Do you have a favorite aspect of the career? Have you branched out in other directions related to the field?
I was briefly at the University of Illinois (1974-76) studying with John Wustman. But I had an opera fellowship in the department which was run by the irreplaceable David Lloyd. There were two of us, Robert Rogers being the other, and we were expected to learn how to do everything. We also had the very good luck to have Paul Vermel as the conductor and his experience was invaluable.
We played rehearsals and auditions. We coached. We learned how to prompt. We played backstage instruments. We conducted backstage. We played recits. In short, just about everything expected of a répétiteur in a major company. Gawd, were we lucky!!
I loved it all. I also loved prompting. It’s as close as I’ll ever get to singing on the stage of The Met. But it is HARD, if you do it right.
One thing I miss is the comradeship that came with putting together and working with a team of three or four other colleagues while heading up the music staff.
I tried my hand at conducting and I wasn’t bad but I didn’t think I really had the big talent. Better not to get involved than to get run out of town.
What was your first experience as a répétiteur? And your most recent experience as a répétiteur?
My first opportunity was playing rehearsals for Toch’s The Princess and The Pea for the New Haven Opera Society. I was 15. I was awful. And damn right that Herta Glaz, who ran it, canned me. But I was lucky in that I got to observe the real pros in Germany shortly after that.
First real job was at the Opéra Comique followed by L’IRCAM with Boulez, Glyndebourne, Houston Grand Opera and the Met.
At the moment, I am working with the main stage singers (via Zoom) at the Mariinsky.
How do you manage playing an opera (or opera aria) for the nth time?
I take a deep breath, thank Mother Nature for letting me be there/here. Realize the miracle I’m about to approach and vow to learn something new every hour.
Do you have any advice for pianists interested in a career at an opera house?
Start learning scores EARLY. Really learn to speak a couple of other languages. No shortcuts. Get yourself a Duden for German or a Ragazzanti for Italian, so there’s NO discussion about open or closed vowels according to the latest trend. And then understand that sometimes the rules change when you sing. Not much, but you can’t be a perfect monkey see monkey do in all the ranges.
It’s vital to learn from the recordings of the great conductors. My suggestions are Furtwängler, Busch, Kleiber (father and son), De Sabata, Serafin, Böhm, Colin Davis, Levine and Karajan. Pretty much all of the greats who grew up in opera houses when younger and their recordings until about 1980.
Any additional memories, thoughts or comments you would like to share?
Soooooo many memories but there might be a slim volume of tributes to the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with in the near future.
The biggest thing is gratitude for what we do in our careers. It’s not always easy. The hours are long. Personalities get out of control. Never take it personally. We are always going to work with jerks now and then.
Be prepared. That’s the bottom line. And when you’re at the piano, do the best to emulate the sound of the orchestra and then sing with your full heart.
A 2-part interview with Craig Rutenberg on Classic Talk with Bing and Dennis
Biography from the Mariinsky Theater
Candid interview from the Times Union in Albany, NY. (2011)
Belcanto Chats featuring Craig Rutenberg. (December 2020)
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