Eric Cutler is one of the best tenors in all the world, and he is my latest guest on Q&A. He is singing this summer at the Salzburg Festival, where I am also working (in different capacities!). I have sat down with him on behalf of the Salzburg Festival Society.
Eric is from Adel, Iowa, about 25 miles west of Des Moines. In his sophomore year of high school, something interesting happened. It was “one of those serendipitous things,” as he says. There was an exchange student at school whose father was a tenor. There were lots of recordings in the home.
This made an impression on Eric Cutler.
He went to Luther College, in Decorah (Iowa). He studied with an excellent singing teacher, Ed Andereck. The first opera Eric ever saw, he was in. This is true of a great many singers: they never had a chance to see an opera until they were in one.
Eric was in The Elixir of Love, in the leading role of Nemorino.
He was soon at the Met, in New York. What was that like?
“You know, here’s this kid from the sticks, from the farms of Iowa, and then all of a sudden I’m let loose in New York in the ’90s. I mean, it was terrifying, but it also expanded my world exponentially.”
In 2005, he won a big award: the Richard Tucker Award. The world was his oyster.
The next year, in 2006, he was singing in Edinburgh—The Magic Flute, under the baton of Claudio Abbado. The German soprano Julia Kleiter was also in the cast. They married.
Julia is the niece of Christoph Prégardien, the tenor, and therefore the cousin of Julian Prégardien, also a tenor. Lotta singing in that family. I interviewed Julian here in Salzburg last year.
With Eric, I talk about a number of issues, several of them touchy. Take amplification (please). There is creeping amplification in the opera world—microphones and all that. If it creeps too far, says Eric, that’ll be the end of the art form.
He is worried about the future of opera, on various counts. He is also worried about the future of voice recitals. Many, many of us share these worries.
Did I say “future”? There’s plenty to worry about where the present is concerned.
One problem plaguing the opera world, says Eric, is screwy productions—productions out of harmony with the operas they’re intended to serve. People are “pissed off,” says Eric (and I can vouch for this).
Another touchy subject, a touchy question: Do some people—administrators, critics, politicians, operagoers—have a problem with American singers? Singers with names like “John Smith,” or “Eric Cutler,” rather than “Giovanni Martinelli”?
Yes.
In any event, Eric is a happy warrior, and a grateful warrior. We talk about some of his favorite singers, all-time. Jussi Bjoerling is just about No. 1.
Near the end of our talk, Eric says, “My great love since I was 15 years old has been the feeling of singing an open-throated operatic high note. It feels like hitting a 350-yard drive down the middle, or knocking a baseball out of the park.”
I know the feeling. I mean, I don’t, but I can imagine.
You will enjoy getting to know Eric Cutler, a superb singer, and a warm, thoughtful person.
