Operatic return

In cultural history there exists a healthy supply of sad clowns. From the comedies of Molière to the modern song sensibilities of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” and Smokey Robinson’s “The Tracks of My Tears,” the teary-eyed clown has become the recognized symbol of the alienated artist.

Perhaps one of the strongest and most violent entries of the sad clown mythos is that of Canio, the cuckolded head of an acting troupe in Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera “Pagliacci.” The quick-tempered actor has to stomach his romantic anguish, put on his happy face and makeup and follow the actor’s timeless credo: The show must go on.

Michael Robert Hendrick, opera tenor returning for his eighth season at the Sarasota Opera and currently playing the role of the embittered clown, is no stranger to struggling for one’s art. After spending his high school years as a prominent trumpet player in his hometown of LaGrange, Ga., Hendrick faced a tumultuous fork in his creative road.

“I’ve always loved music, even as a kid, but trumpet just wasn’t quite enough for me,” says Hendrick.

After reflecting on his artistic goals, Hendrick made the decision to drop the trumpet and his scholarship after one term. A few months later, after receiving offers from agriculture, sociology and math professors to select their respective fields for study, a friend mentioned to Hendrick that Berry College was acquiring a new voice professor. So Hendrick took his love of music and switched his instrument from the trumpet to his voice. 

Without any prior formal voice training, he took to it immediately. After completing his undergraduate degree in music education, Hendrick auditioned for several graduate schools, eventually attending the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he earned two graduate degrees in four years (a master of music in vocal performance and an artist diploma in opera performance), all the while experimenting with eclectic and rarely performed material.

“The conservatory had me pushed on a shopping cart dressed as a Greek god strumming a harp, singing this baroque music, straight tone in Claudio Monteverdi’s ‘Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,’” says Hendrick.

With each new performance opportunity, the conservatory helped expand Hendrick’s performance capabilities.

A few years after he completed his graduate study, Hendrick earned his opera chops in 1995 at Sarasota Opera. The first year he was a studio artist, the medium rank of opera performers between apprentice and principal. Hendrick was baptized by operatic fire by having to learn four roles in four productions: a member of the chorus in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Nabucco,” a secondary role in Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and an understudy for the principal roles in Jacques Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann” and Carl Nielsen’s “Maskarade.” Not to mention, all four productions required Hendrick to master four languages: Italian, German, French and Danish, respectively.

The honorary opera native keeps coming back to Sarasota Opera for the consistency in professionalism and music quality.

“It’s a very rare thing today in opera to find someone who runs the opera house the way Maestro Victor DeRenzi does,” says Hendrick about DeRenzi, the opera’s artistic director and principal conductor.

According to Hendrick, the musical standards of DeRenzi and his staff are the highest he’s ever experienced in his 20-year career. That’s high praise coming from someone whose career includes stints at world-renowned companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal and Seattle Opera.

However, contrary to an outsider’s perspective, returning to a smaller market such as the Sarasota Opera is a creative homecoming. Hendrick’s musical journey has offered him the perspective of a mature and consummate artist who strives to obtain artistic satisfaction and not just large marquees.

“This is how I make a living and how I feed my family, but my focus when you’re in the production isn’t about money at all,” says Hendrick. “It’s about getting the best thing you can put on stage. As myself, as a singer, as an actor, what can I do to make this better as we’re going through the rehearsal and production process.”

When Sarasota Opera contacted him in 2012 about returning to perform, Hendrick felt like he was coming home.

“I was over the moon,” says Hendrick, “because in terms of the quality of a production there is nothing better than Sarasota.”

IF YOU GO 
‘Pagliacci’ by Ruggero Leoncavallo
When: Runs through Nov. 15
Where: Sarasota Opera, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.
Cost: Tickets are $19 to $125; student rush is $10
Info: Call 366-8450 or visit sarasotaopera.org.