European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 02, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse By Mary Campbell associated pressm Ove Over Placido Domingo and Luciano Pava Rolli. The next big name among operatic tenors May be As american As Chris Merrill while singers like other entertainers. Don t like to discuss their income it is generally believed thai the 37-year-old Merrill is paid More Lor an opera performance in Europe than either Domingo who is Spanish or Pava Rolli. Who is Kalian critics and audiences have been enthusiastic the career of Merrill. A native of Oklahoma City who can eing a High c and go on up to a d. Began blossoming in Europe just As a revival of Gioacchino Rossini operas began sweeping across the continent Rossini operas need Merrill s kind of High flexible voice a Tenor counterpart to the coloratura Soprano i was basically what people were looking Lor says Merrill who has Sung 17 roles in 14 Rossini operas. Hell make his debut at the metropolitan opera in new York City a year from this tall in Rossini s Semi Amide. Starring Mezzo Soprano Marilyn Home. Both of them Are american singers who paid their dues in Europe. Home says that Merrill can become famous if he wants to but operatic Fame requires both voice and promotion. Both Luciano and Placido have worked very hard at being famous Ohe says. They also had the goods. Chris has so Many offers to keep his sanity right now is the main thing. He s singing in the bigger houses. He has records coming out that will certainly an the flame. If he wants to become famous he certainly has the possibility. He really is top of the line now " Merrill says Fate an important ingredient in opera plots played an important role in gelling him where he is now. His parents who d been through the depression and who had a High sense of the Beautiful provided violin lessons for heir daughter and acting lessons for their older son. Then both needed to gel regular jobs. By the time Chris arrived 26 and 18 years younger than his siblings the family was better off financially. He studied piano Art and dance and his parents could afford for him to pursue the arts. He attended an Oklahoma City school with one of the City s Best choral programs. In the eighth Grade he applied to play piano for the boys chorus but the director found a girl Lor that Job saying he needed boys who could read music As singers Chris Merrill had never Sung he discovered he loved it when Merrill went to Oklahoma City University he says i had a vague idea what opera was " a Friend urged him to buy Joan Sutherland s Art of Trie diva recording he was instantly hooked on Bel Canto which Means Beautiful singing and was the style composed by Rossini Bellini and Donizetti in the Early 19th Century Merrill did t dream he d make his Chicago Lyric opera debut opposite Dame Joan in Donizetti s Anna Bolena. He stretched his stay in College to eight years studying All the time with Inez Lunceford Silberg not a teacher who rushes into developing a Pupil s lop Money she at first let Merrill sing in Only two octaves one above and one below the Middle of his Register. Her emphasis was on trying to find the most natural and thus the most Beautiful Way of singing on producing sound that was the Healthiest for the physical vocal he says after a year and a Hall she Lei me do my first aria one from Faust that had a High a i d heard thai the Lonor High c was next to impossible i had a feeling of foreboding about trying it ii came surprisingly easy Lor me " Merrill met a Mezzo Soprano. Joan Coplan. At College and they fell in love. Aller breaking up at one Point they were married in 197-8, the year he graduated from College they have a daughter 10, and a son 9 Joan Coplan Merrill resumed vocal lessons last year and is now auditioning to Start her career Merrill had Sung during the Summers at the Santa be opera s and to Litrap s apprentice programs where american opera company Heads go to hear newcomers none of them approached him so he went to Europe and auditioned Tor opera companies in Salzburg Austria and Basel. Switzerland both hollered contracts and he signed Lor three years in Salzburg which planned Rossini s the italian Gill in Algiers or opening night. Aller Salzburg he spent the next three years in Augsburg. West Germany. After that he was Well enough known to join the International Star circuit. In 1984, the merrills moved to Ballimore so their children could attend school there. The 6-foot-2 Lenor currently is dieting on orders of his doctor who found he had High blood pressure this summer my first step into the big Arena of opera is How Merrill describes his 1981 debut with he new York cily opera in Bellini s i Puritan his wife read that Beverly Sills was looking Lor american singers who d had to go to Europe to sing opera. He wrote to her and after some mix ups. Auditioned for her in Munich West Germany she hollered a part in Pur Lam. The metropolitan opera was planning a production of Puritan with Joan Sutherland and invited Merrill to audition. But Joan Ingson. Then in charge of Mel casting turned him Down. I forgot about the met for a while Merrill says. In 1983, Marilyn Home who played a major part in the Rossini revival was losing in free Rossini operas in concert form Al Carnegie Hall. Impresario Mathew Epstein suggested to her that she hear Merrill. Merna went to Venice. Italy losing for her and. She took me under her Wing As someone she wanted to present to the operatic Merrill made his Carnegie Hall debut in rancreo1/with Home and appeared with her in Rossini operas in Hamburg. West Germany London s covent Garden. San Francisco and los Angeles. If i believe in somebody i la stick my neck out for Home says. He s an easy one to stick your neck out for. Chris has a stentorian voice he has that enormous gift of extreme High notes plus a huge Range and when he gels into his Low Register he sounds like a baritone. He s extremely musical and a very Quick learner. The thing i love about Chris Loo is that he has paid his dues. He s not a Fly by night like you get with a lot of opera s rising i fut him he hmm hmm my paid his dues in Europe Oklahoma bom Tenor Chris Merritt has been called the Pavarotti of the new monday october 1989 the stars and stripes Page 17
