Iestyn Davies Learns from the Past to Assure His Future

In 2017 Classic FM, a British radio station, published a list of the 10 worst things about being a countertenor. The last item on their list was “You are not Andreas Scholl or Iestyn Davies. These are the only counter tenors anyone in the real world has (maybe) heard of. You are not them.”

What do you make of that item when you are Davies? “It’s ridiculous. The only reason I found that very nice was because Andreas Scholl was the person I first listened to and kind of idolized when I was 18. And I thought if I can have the kind of career he has, which seems to be a career where he can choose to do concerts; he can do a bit of opera; he’s got a beautiful sound. That’s fine for me because that seems to be a good role model.”

Davies clearly learned plenty from his idol (with whom he ultimately ended up performing). He’s doing exactly what he admired about Scholl’s career. On Wednesday he has the official opening night of Santa Fe Opera’s first-ever production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he will sing the role of Oberon.

For those who watched the Metropolitan Opera’s streaming productions during the pandemic you saw Davies perform in Nico Muhly‘s Marnie with Isabel Leonard; the Thomas Adés opera The Exterminating Angel and Handel’s Agrippina. The latter opera was conducted by Harry Bicket who leads the orchestra for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Britten’s opera, though not performed nearly as often as Billy Budd or Peter Grimes, is credited with rolling back centuries worth of history where the countertenor was confined to churches. It’s a significant moment in history that is not lost on Davies.

“I think without this role it’s very unlikely we’d be seeing countertenors in operas at the moment because it legitimized the countertenor as a serious stage voice. For someone as important as Benjamin Britten to put their faith and trust in a singer, and in particular Alfred Deller who was part of the whole regeneration and rebirth of 18th century music at the time, it’s hugely significant.”

Not that the press reaction to Deller’s performance was universally accepted as Davies learned.

“When I sang this role at the Aldeburgh Festival [home of the Britten-Pears Foundation] we got taken around to Britten’s house and the archives. There is a letter that Deller wrote to Briten after the dress rehearsal. In those days, because it was a new piece, the Times newspaper came and reviewed the dress rehearsal to get people interested in opening night. It was particularly unfavorable towards Deller and they couldn’t get their heads around it. Deller felt embarrassed and apologized and said ‘delete me when you see fit.’ Meaning before the opening. Britten could have said ‘you got me out of a tight spot’ and hired a woman to sing it. [He didn’t.] To me that letter is hugely significant because on it hinges the careers of most countertenors today.”

For such a groundbreaking role, Davies said that Oberon poses unique challenges for countertenors.

“To sing Oberon you have to really be able to sing it all in your falsetto properly to get that sound that Britten wanted – proper alto countertenor singing; none of this chest voice and trying to fake the bottom. These days it’s considered quite hard, even though it’s a relatively pain free role to sing. There’s not a coloratura aria, but a lot of countertenors shy away from it because it is just too low. They are going into the vocal studio with the mezzo sopranos and working on their high range because many careers can be flashy and if you can sing high that’s exciting. For me it’s so important to be able to sing a healthy voice with a low range near the bottom of your range. That is always a good indicator of your singing.”

In his mid-twenties Davies was already considering how long his career might be and whether his would be a voice that lasted a long time. He told Opera Today in 2006 that he’d “hope that in twenty years, I’d still have a happy voice.”

“When you are 27 you don’t realize how easy it is to do stuff and how quickly you can recover from tiredness, alcohol, whatever. At the time it seems difficult. Now I think it’s not so much the voice is less happy, but you’re just more self-aware of everything. I think I’m actually happier now when it goes well because there have been times in the last ten years, as all singers will tell you, where you have moments of doubt about the health of your voice. I think at the moment, depending on what’s in the diary, I’m pretty happy about my singing.”

He’s certainly happy about this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which reunites him with director Netia Jones.

“I did a production of this opera with Netia and it was a completely different production. It’s interesting to see a director take on a piece for a second time and she’s really nailed it. I’ve been in quite a few productions. They are either quite plain in the sense that they just do the play or they are kind of extreme. I did one at English National Opera with Christopher Alden which was set in a school and it was the power of teachers over the school and the school burned down. It was all very dark and I loved it. But this kind of sits somewhere in between. As it was done in Shakespeare’s time the same actor plays two different roles. Theseus and Oberon are kind of the same person. I’m king of the fairies, but I’m also the shadow, the human person. I hope it’s going to go down well because I think it’s pretty good.”

As is getting back on stage with an orchestra and an audience.

“We’ve had a lot of time to reflect on exactly why it is we do this job. And what became really apparent in this last year is when you do stuff without an audience there it feels completely wrong. You shouldn’t be standing there being paid to sing to nobody. Even if it’s on the internet. That’s not a real thing. It isn’t music unless it’s heard by somebody. As a performer you completely rely on the people listening to dictate where it’s going to go next – especially in opera when you’re repeating yourself over weeks.

“What differentiates classical music from pop music is people go to pop concerts because they want to hear the live version of a band’s song. There’s something really special about classical music where you want to hear the sort of definitive version that’s a one-off in that moment. Not I want to hear this opera live because I’ve listened to a CD. The moment you hear this music it’s gone. Nobody else will ever hear it again in this version. That’s what’s really special.”

For tickets to A Midsummer Night’s Dream please go here. There are performances on August 4th, 13th, 19th and 25th.

All photos: Iestyn Davies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (photo by Curtis Brown/Courtesy Santa Fe Opera)