Stuart Skelton

Scofield: Now, Stuart, you’re an Aussie, so you come from our neck of the woods out here. As a straight talking Aussie, you’re very well qualified to tell us with authority in a way that our listeners I’m sure can understand: What exactly is a Heldentenor?

Skelton: I think the easiest way to describe a Heldentenor is to reverse-engineer it, to a certain extent. I think the concept of a Heldentenor really didn’t come into the thought process into practice until the works of Wagner, and it was a name then retrofitted to the singers, or the type of singing, or indeed the type of voice that was best suited to singing the works of Wagner. So I guess a summary would be voices that can ride a very large orchestra over a number of hours. It’s not just a combination of how many people are playing in the orchestra, and how much volume you can produce. It’s not always just about being loud, but it’s also about stamina over a longer time. Most of Verdi’s operas come at about three hours with an intermission, some of the Wagner operas are getting up close to five hours including intermissions. So it’s a combination of being able to produce enough tone to carry over, or cut through a big orchestra, but being able to do that over a longer period of time on any given performance.

Scofield: Well, you’ve certainly got that incredible power in your voice, but also a great deal of nuance and sensitivity as well. So I think that’s a prerequisite as well, isn’t it?

Skelton: Well I think so. But only because I think Wagner really gives you the opportunity to do that. He really genuinely does. There are some breathtakingly beautiful parts for pretty much all the voice types that are required for any of the Wagner operas. So I think it’s always nice to those beautiful, miraculous, and sensitive, and introspective moments that Wagner gives you, rather than just run like a bull at a gate, as we’d say in Australia, to find those bits where you get to deploy that power. I think the most judicious deployment of any sort of vocal power works best in contrast when you’re not screaming.