To sing Wagner or not to sing Wagner....

I am in a quandry. May not mean a bloody thing, but I have had at least seven of my colleagues tell me that I should be singing some Helden rep. Jackson even hints at it for the future. Then again, he and Melanie both swear that the horn is just a lirico-spinto tenor. Then a very good tenor from Europe hears me and swears that it is a true spinto. I am a pretty confused tenor. to say the least.

This all wouldn't bother me if three of my colleagues did/or hadn't made nice careers singing Wagner. When you come up listening to it in your face everyday for several years, well, when they speak, I listen.

But honestly, I love the music of Verdi and Puccini. The Verdi temperment really suits me, and my voice opens up quite well in this repertoire. And what tenor doesn't relish singing Puccini's heroes? But the thing is, the characters are driven by emotion and action while Wager's characters are waaaaaaaay too heady. The Italian roles seem to have more fire and depth to me, but....I am truly drawn to Lohengrin.

Dunno what it is...maybe it is that he is a Knight of the Grail, or that he seems too good to be true. But I love that role. I would kill to sing him. When I sing through "In fernem Land", I feel as if I am totally in my element. Totally.

Lirico-Spinto tenor, Sandor Konya, made a career of Lohengrin and Walther von Stolzing. I wouldn't mind giving that a try, but like Konya, I wann spend most of my time singing Verdi and Puccini.