Ex-Gridiron Hero Tackles Grand Inquisitor
Morris Robinson
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His first Osmin, first Ferrando, first Padre Guardiano.
These are operatic roles that Robinson sang first in Cincinnati -- in Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio" and Verdi's "Il Trovatore" and "La Forza del destino," respectively, all with James Conlon and the Cincinnati May Festival.
This week he adds the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's "Don Carlo" with Cincinnati Opera.
Set in 16th-century Spain and based on the play by Friedrich Schiller, "Don Carlo" concerns the personal and political struggle between Carlo and his father Philip II. An arranged marriage that turns to love between Carlo and Elizabeth, daughter of the king of France, is re-arranged to make her Philip's bride instead (and Carlo's step-mother). Meanwhile, Carlo allies himself with the movement for independence from Spain by the people of Flanders. Loosely based on actual events, it ends mysteriously at the tomb of Carlo's grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Originally written in French, the opera will be performed in its four-act Italian version (1867).
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday at Music Hall, where Robinson will share the stage with a starry cast including bass James Morris as King Philip and soprano Angela Brown as Queen Elisabetta.
Making their Cincinnati Opera debuts will be tenor Frank Porretta as Don Carlo, mezzo-soprano Michelle De Young as Princess Eboli and baritone Marco Caria as Rodrigo.
Morris Robinson (in red) as The Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's "Don Carlo" (photo from Cincinnati Opera)
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As such, he will share a gripping scene with Morris, who as King Philip, seeks the Inquisitor's approval to execute Carlo, who has turned against him.
Though blind and over 90 years old, the Grand Inquisitor holds ultimate power and he knows it, said Robinson.
"He runs the situation and this king is just a puppet. This is his third king. He calls him 'Sire.' He's just jabbing him. It's not out of respect at all. He doesn't have a lot of respect for this guy. It's like every old Mafia movie you went to see."
As a bass -- and Robinson owns a rare, distinctly darker-voice with a wide range -- Robinson regularly portrays an enviable range of formidable characters. "Bass roles are wise, devilish, godly, kingly, royal." They include the wizard Sarastro in Mozart's "The Magic Flute," the Commendatore in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and the giants Fasolt and Fafner (who also turns into a dragon) in Wagner's "Ring" cycle. He recently sang Fasolt in "Das Rheingold," first of the four "Ring" operas, with Los Angeles Opera under Conlon.
Robinson has played one role that few opera singers can put on their resume, All-American football star.
Though he has sung since childhood in Atlanta, where he grew up the son of a Baptist minister, the strapping, six-footer (just under 6'3") opted football over voice as a career.
"Between music and football, I figured I had only a few years to go out and play football. I could always pick up the voice thing."
Even so, while active on the gridiron at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, he found time to co-found and direct a gospel choir at the school.
"We had this thing every year where different organizations would present themselves, the Cadet Chorale, the Gospel Choir, all these other clubs, but we always got the biggest hand because we sang all this cool music. Three or four guys turned into five or six, to 15-20, with black guys, Asian guys, white guys, Spanish guys, guys from Saudi Arabia. Everyone was in the choir. We had good sponsors and great support on campus. We used to tour. It was just a great thing to be a part of away from home and your spiritual upbringing. There's a gospel choir scholarship now every year."
Robinson's gospel/church background came in handy June 15 at "Opera Goes to Church" at Allen Temple A.M.E. where he was featured soloist with Angela Brown. In addition to "Old Time Religion" with the Allen Temple Choir and an aria by Verdi ("Il Lacerto spirito" from "Simon Boccanegra"), Robinson sang "His Eye is on the Sparrow" from his debut album "Going Home" for Decca.
It was "a church moment," Robinson said.
"I talked to my dad and said 'You know how in church where you get to this point and you can go this way or that way?' And he knew exactly what I was talking about. What that meant was the way the crowd was responding, how they kept it going and you could hear people screaming out in the audience and the spirit was moving. That's one of those situations where sometimes you'll take the printed program and just rip it up and throw it out the window and start having church. That's when the preacher gets up and grabs the mike and the next thing you know the choir is singing and everyone's clapping.
"It almost got to the point, but I think everyone just kind of pulled it together because we had a formal concert. It was a very moving moment."
Robinson, who learned to play drums by sitting in the front row of his father's church and watching the drummer, also sat in with the Allen Temple musicians for "Opera Goes to Church."
"I chose not to go offstage between the sets. You know, when I'm in church, I want to be a part of it."
Robinson, who made the first team Kodak, first team Sports Network and second team Sporting News All-American lists while playing football at the Citadel, might have gone pro, but wasn't big enough. "These guys are 6' 6 to 6' '7" these days. They're giants, even at the Citadel. I went to a Citadel game three years ago and I thought the guys looked awfully small till I walked on the football field."
After graduation, Robinson took a job with the 3M Corporation but he missed football terribly. "I used to not be able to watch the first college football game of the season without crying. When I was working for 3M in Minnesota, I was a young marketing guy and I was taking out this new intern. She was kind of cute and I wanted to impress her, so some of the upper level guys gave me box seats to the Vikings game. I stood there for a minute and it just kind of hit me, like I was completely out of my place. I had never attended a football game as a spectator before, and I just got emotional. It was like I can't believe I'm not out there. I wanted to throw my popcorn down and go out there."
It was his wife Denise that helped ease Robinson back into singing by arranging an audition with the Choral Arts Society in Washington D.C. The director knew Robinson was destined for more the minute he heard him sing and introduced him to Todd Duncan, the original Porgy in "Porgy and Bess." Duncan gave him his first actual singing lessons.
When the couple moved to Boston, Robinson enrolled in the New England Conservatory's continuing education program. He was offered a scholarship by the Opera Institute at Boston University, after which he bit the bullet, quit his job and re-directed his life. He sang the title role in a concert performance of Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" at BU and was immediately swept up by Boston Lyric Opera to sing Ramfis (the pharaoh) in Verdi's "Aida."
It was the first opera Robinson had ever seen and he was in it.
"I was standing there on the stage singing the King of Egypt, fully staged and everything and thinking, 'wow, there's a real conductor down there and these guys are really playing instruments. What have I got into?'"
The experience he knew as an athlete came into play again, he said.
"To be an opera singer takes a lot of discipline. To come from ground zero like I did at the age of 30, never having sung in Italian or French or German and having never really been to an opera or been onstage, you can imagine the learning curve was exponential. Having the disciple of being an athlete before, of being a cadet at the Citadel, just having that type of training behind me, was one of the reasons I was able to focus and to learn and apply the things I learned."
There's a "mental toughness," too that transfers from sports to opera, he said.
"You can psych yourself out before you go out and stand in front of 3,000 or 4,000 people and sing. It's very intimidating if you let it be. But it's not like going out and standing in front of 80,000 and you're in front of a guy who wants to knock your head off. The crowd is screaming, the sun is coming down, you're in pain and this 300-lb. guy wants to hurt you. He's trying to tackle my quarterback and my job is to make sure he doesn't jump on my guy. That type of intestinal fortitude comes into play. You walk out on an opera stage -- I've done tougher things before in life."
Still, Robinson misses football, he said.
"One of the things I am really happy about the season coming up is that from Nov. 10 until Dec. 28 I don't have anything to do. No jobs lined up for anything. I've been working non-stop since last September. I've been home three or five times, that's it. I've got that period of time off and it's right in the thick of football season and I'm going to try to catch as much football with my little boy (Miles, age 4) and my buddies as I can, even it it's just sitting at home flicking the channels."
The family is back in Atlanta now where Robinson has bought a home with a lake in the backyard. "We caught frogs last summer when I was home. We can go fishing right in the backyard. He (Miles) throws rocks while daddy fishes.
"My most exciting thing other than my vacation next season is going back to Atlanta to sing 'Aida,' because I get to be at home and work. I can drop my son off at school before I to go rehearsal and pick him up at night, have dinner at home and play with him. I can take him to rehearsals with me so he can see what daddy does without having to get on a plane."
Verdi's "Don Carlo" will be sung in Italian with English surtitles at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday (June 25 and 27) at Music Hall. Richard Buckley conducts. Sarah Bernhard directs. The production is from Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Hong Kong and Vancouver Opera. Tickets are $26 to $152 at (513) 241-2742, the Cincinnati Opera box office at Music Hall, or online at www.cincinnatiopera.org.
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