\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was kind of like my self-discovery composer,\u201d Tetelman said. When he began learning Puccini roles, he said, he felt that \u201cthis is the music I want to build my voice with, this is the music I want to discover my voice with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Puccini gives you a lot of opportunity to fail,\u201d he added, \u201cto reinvent and to change who you are, because Puccini is verismo,\u201d referring to the earthy and emotional late-Romantic style that Puccini wrote in. \u201cIt\u2019s never the same from one performance to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n
When we spoke, Tetelman had just returned from Palermo, Sicily, where he sang the third of five Pinkertons that he is booked for this season and next.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou love to hate the guy. It\u2019s great!\u201d Tetelman said of the character, an American naval officer who marries and abandons a young geisha. He points to how Puccini vividly conjures Pinkerton\u2019s sarcasm, arrogance and manipulative behavior while keeping his role so lushly beautiful as \u201ca perfect characterization.\u201d After the Met, he is scheduled to sing it at L.A. Opera<\/a> in the fall and then in April 2025 at Baden-Baden<\/a> with the Berlin Philharmonic. After that, he plans to \u201cput the role away for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n While Puccini is a perennial mainstay at opera houses worldwide, Tetelman has picked up a lot of work this year, which is the 100th anniversary of the composer\u2019s death. (Tetelman also pays him homage on his most recently released album, \u201cThe Great Puccini<\/a>.\u201d) There is, however, one part that Tetelman says he won\u2019t tackle quite yet: Calaf, the mysterious prince in Puccini\u2019s unfinished final opera, \u201cTurandot.\u201d It\u2019s a heroic, punishing role that requires incredible stamina. It also features \u201cNessun Dorma,\u201d which is quite possibly the most famous tenor aria out there.<\/p>\n \u201cI really want to just be at the tip top of shape and ability to really pull it off,\u201d he explained, adding that he had received, and turned down, offers to sing it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n