In October, Lunga Eric Hallam and Craig Terry spoke with Vocal Arts DC’s communications manager, Isabel Randall about this program. Here is a condensed and edited version of that interview.
Isabel: I’d like to hear about your collaboration. Did you meet while you were working in South Africa?
Craig: We met in Zimbabwe at a festival arranged by Carnegie Hall. The big concert we did was for about 10,000 people. Those people had never heard Africans sing classical music before. They’re used to hearing people from North America come and do it. So for them, it was amazing to hear people from the continent light it up. Lunga sang “Ah mes amis,” I arranged music, and there was an incredible choir of a hundred people. We did this big gala concert that I led from the piano, Lunga sang, and the whole place erupted. He also sang “Bring Him Home,” from Les Mis in a different iteration and heard people respond to him in that way. After the first day, I looked at Lunga and asked, “Would you be interested in perhaps coming to the Ryan Opera Center in Chicago?”
It was quite an ordeal to get him here. He was doing things with Cape Town Opera and finding a window in which he could come audition for us in Chicago. So he flew halfway across the world for three days, and he sang on the stage. Of course, the answer was yes! Then the pandemic started, and getting him back here was unbelievably challenging.
Our team at Lyric, who deals with all of that, realized there was one flight a month in which you could get from South Africa to the U.S., so we got him on that flight to get here. He got here two days before we recorded our Lawrence Brownlee and Friends concert – our first virtual thing that we did in the pandemic, at the Ryan Opera Center. He came in and quickly recorded, and we did our project right away. He met Larry Brownlee the first day, and that was kind of amazing for him. It started this wonderful time of getting to make music with Lunga and watching so many audiences completely fall in love with him. When I heard that he had a big success at Wolf Trap last summer, I was not surprised. It made me happy. Everyone was getting to see what I had known from the very beginning when I met him in Zimbabwe.
Isabel: Lunga, we are so pleased and so excited to have you with us in November. Craig was just talking about how you two met at a concert in Zimbabwe.
Lunga: So I met Craig through Hlengiwe [Mkhwanazi], who was also a member of the Ryan Opera Center. Hlengiwe reached out [because] they were doing a concert in Zimbabwe. She mentioned my name to Craig, but I had no idea who Craig was. We’ve never met, not even in Dreamland, then we met in Zimbabwe. My first encounter with him, I was singing, “Ah mes amis.” He was like, ‘Oh my God, this voice.’ We did the concert. The audience went crazy. Then we did a recital. I sang one of the Xhosa songs. After that, he mentioned something about Chicago. To my understanding, Chicago is someplace very far I’ve never been to. I’ve been to Philadelphia. I’ve been to New York. But Chicago, I’ve only seen on TV. I was like, ‘Where’s Chicago? What are you talking about?’ And mind you, that was 2017. So we kept in contact then. And then, he came to South Africa to see my friends and my family. I think that’s when our bond started. Then I made a promise that I would try by all means to go and audition in Chicago.
However, the journey was not easy because I was still part of the young artists in Cape Town Opera. For them to release me to Chicago was a struggle. Then, the Lyric Opera of Chicago made it possible that I traveled to Chicago. My first experience was horrible [because] it was winter. It was very snowy and very cold. I wasn’t sure if [I was] going to stay in that place. But then, I just fell in love with the surroundings. I fell in love with the opera house. I fell in love with the people in the company – welcoming and really approachable. And then, of course, I had Craig on my side, so it was easy to navigate through that process.
Isabel: Amazing, sounds like you had a bit of a journey – geographically! Can you describe how musically your journey transformed from when you were at Cape Town Opera to then going to the Ryan Opera Center?
Lunga: I’m coming from a musical background. I am a conductor and a singer. I manage a group of singers, about 80 voices. I train them, I teach them, I prepare them for auditions and stuff. Back in the day, I never really had time to really focus on myself. I was always about reaching out and helping, until I met Craig, of course. My singing career in Cape Town was okay, but I wasn’t that serious about singing opera and stuff.
I remember my first role in 2017. Right after I met Craig, I did La Cenerentola. After that, it was Don Pasquale. The passion of being an opera singer, I think, was triggered by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. All that intense training and working with a bunch of really good exceptional singers. It was really motivating and inspiring.
Moving from Cape Town to Chicago, musically, I think I’ve grown so much. I have stepped into the opera culture and then, of course, working with the great maestros in the world like Enrique Mazzola. Tons of that knowledge and information from them has developed me into the singer that I am today.
Isabel: Incredible. Craig, you and Lunga have worked for many years now while you were at the Ryan Opera Center. I noticed that you have done recitals with WFMT. It was a really incredible program. How did you build that program in particular? Were there any challenges with building it?
Craig: One of the great things that I love about my own life is that I work with people at the very beginning. Sort of watching the trajectory of someone’s career from a musical standpoint. I find it to be incredibly fascinating because people figure out who they are and what their artistic mission is in a very clear way.
You see it manifest in front of audiences that die to receive all of this beauty that these wonderful artists are always giving. I find that for most North American artists, classical music is the crossover and it’s maybe not so much that way in Europe.
My dad’s family are all bluegrass musicians. My teacher understood. My wonderful teacher, in my small town in Tennessee, her brother was a pianist at the Plaza Hotel in New York for 40 years – fantastic jazz pianist, amazing arranger, really super gifted. She understood that for me, I had to make all of my classical music sound as improvised as I was able to improvise naturally.
Lunga, I think, comes to music in the very same way; classical music is also the crossover. But he has managed in a way that we want for every young artist that comes to Chicago to understand that music is the same. You have different tools for style and different tools for delivering specific classical music. But, in the end, the feelings are the same.
The stories are the same. The emotions are the same, and getting people to sing in every style in an authentic way is the goal of the training. The audience only knows if it’s true or not. If it’s authentic. If it’s real. I feel like from the moment I met Lunga, every time he sang, he sang with the same giant heart and big feelings.
When he was in the program, we talked about this a lot. It’s about trying to make everything sound the same. He is a miracle at it. And you see audience after audience receive a variety of things. I remember the first live thing we did in Chicago during the pandemic, Beyond the Aria, which was my series at the Harris Theater. Joyce Didonato happened to be in the States, and she wanted to do one. The first live music in Chicago, in a proscenium theater, was at the Harris Theater, a 2000-seat theater, for 50 people all spaced out. Joyce said she wanted to come do it. It was also streamed, but it was live in the way that it was.
I remember Joyce arrived. Lunga and I sat right here, at this piano, here in my living room. Lunga had the Djembe, and he started singing what will be one of the things that will end our concert in Washington, DC. For Joyce, the tears started immediately.
For her, she had not really realized that it was the first live music she had heard. I’d rarely seen Joyce have that kind of reaction. That’s Lunga’s superpower. I feel that in this concert for DC the audience is going to be in for something totally different than they will expect when they walk in the door.
Isabel: That’s really powerful. Lunga, did you also experience that as you continued to grow at the Ryan Opera Center? The power that you have as an artist of being able to share your story and the power of storytelling?
Lunga: I’ve always, whenever I sing, tried by all means to connect with the text and to connect with the music. Of course, authenticity is required. Having met Craig, I feel like he is the one who brought this magic because he is so strict. When we work together, I’m like, ‘Okay, Lunga, you have to be on your A-game every day,’ because I know what he’s gonna be like.
Having to work with him has really transformed me into this person. I knew that I had a gift to share with the people. I have to make them feel what I feel at the moment. With Craig, it’s always about creating a special moment. I remember we did a concert, and I sang the piece “Magische Töne.” I’ve never heard of “Magische Töne” in my entire existence. Craig said, ‘Look, I’ve got this beautiful piece I want you to sing.’ It was so beautiful when I sang it in that big hall, it was really magic. I also felt what the audience was feeling, you know? I think the person who really trained me to become this exceptional thing that I call myself, is Craig. He is the master of everything.
Craig: Well, that’s very generous. That concert was really special. Every two years, the Ryan Opera Center and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago do one project together at Orchestra Hall here in Chicago. It’s fun to have the two big training programs in Chicago collaborate in that way and produce a concert. We share so many friends, donors, and patrons. People who love to get excited about young talent. We did, Act II of Die Fledermaus. In the party scene, I thought it would be fun to have a few things to sort of have to make the magic. I thought this would be perfect for Lunga because with orchestra, it’s this totally otherworldly sound that you rarely get in opera. You rarely get in vocal music.
You could have heard a pin drop, and the ovation, when it was over, was thunderous. It was fun to see that. The audience didn’t have any idea on paper what they were going to hear, and then got something that totally surprised them. I feel like that’s what we always try to do when we program concerts.
Isabel: When you are talking about creating this magic, the audience’s reaction, there’s also the element of the work beforehand. Lunga was talking about how you are strict when it comes to the preparation. What does that look like in your processes? Lunga, you’re back in your hometown, Craig, you’re in Chicago. What will that look like in the next month or so until we have you with us in DC?
Craig: I think it’s true with so many artists in my life that I work with. You get back together, and it’s like no time has passed and all the things that we’re doing in this concert we’ve done before together. This will just be a wonderful homecoming. The thing is, your truth changes with your life and with time. The truth of the last concert will not be the truth of this one. I have no doubt that there will be many things about the way that we perform this program that will be vastly different from the last one.
To me, that’s the fun of what this is. One of the best examples I can think of is, my dear friend Christine Brewer, who has been on Vocal Arts many times. She has this thing in which every morning of every concert, she has all the texts written out, and she has the literal translation.
Then, she writes what it means to her that day because she wants to sing from where she is at the moment. I’ve always thought that it was really wonderful as an artist to do that – to never rely on what made the magic the last time, or what people brought that imagination to you last year. For us, it will probably have been two years since we did it the last time. A lot has happened in Lunga’s life, and a lot has happened in my life too. For me, the fun of it will be to revisit this music with a whole new two years of life and see how the words affect me and Lunga together.
Isabel: Is there a particular portion of the recital or a piece that you’re really looking forward to digging into again – bringing new life, new meaning?
Lunga: Making music with Craig is just fun. I’m very excited to see all the pieces. However, there are a bunch of new songs that he doesn’t know that are Xhosa songs. They’re so beautiful, and I can’t wait to see his reaction to what we put together in bringing the magic into these beautiful pieces.
I wouldn’t say there is one special piece that really speaks to me. All of the pieces that we have selected, they speak to us. They speak to the audience.
Craig: Anytime I get to play with Lunga when he plays the djembe makes me happy. I look forward to that very much.
Isabel: I’m very curious, Lunga, of the djembe. How long have you played that instrument, or have incorporated that into your practice as an artist?
Lunga: I think it’s within our African genes. We don’t really practice to play drums. We just bang whatever we have. We bang the table, the chairs. When I get to the jam, then I transform into this Wakanda person.
Isabel: It’s always just been a part of your fabric, right?
Lunga: Yeah, true. I like the word fabric.
Isabel: When it comes to these new pieces, how does it work for you to get piano arrangements? Did you have to get them specifically arranged, or did you do some of the arranging?
Lunga: Some of these songs are sung by choirs. For instance, one of the pieces titled “Silvia” is a four-part harmony song. However, I’m going to rearrange it and make it an aria. I know Craig is very intelligent. He will just create new magic with the accompaniment part.
Isabel: It’s a diverse range of repertoire. You have John Ireland, you have Handel, you have South African folk songs, you have some classics for tenors. We mentioned Lawrence Brownlee earlier, but are there any other singers that have been inspirations for you as you’ve developed along your journey?
Lunga: Yeah, so growing up, I was always attached to gospel music, African contemporary jazz music, and also a bit of R&B Soul. My late twin brother, we used to sing songs by Boyz II Men growing up. Then, we escalated to singing all these gospel songs and then choral music, and then opera. Each and every piece that I have chosen or put on the program is a piece that I connect to.
The piece by John Denver is one my younger brother loves, who’s also a twin. We’re from two different sets of twins. My younger brother loves that piece and asked, ‘Can you please just sing this piece just one time.’ I was like, ‘Okay, cool, I’ll try. You know, it’s not my cup of tea, but I’ll try.’ Me and Craig spoke about it and decided to do it. It was magic. I felt everyone in the audience was somehow relating to the piece. We always choose songs that people will relate to.
Isabel: In a way, you were describing just how there have been many different inspirations along your artistic journey – Lawrence Brownlee, for example.
Lunga: I grew up listening to him 24/7. He was, He’s still my inspiration. I remember when we met in Chicago, we did Beyond the Aria. This was a dream come true. Craig was so excited. We sang a duet from Otello. He sings that duet with Michael Spyres all the time. I was like, now it’s time for me to sing with him. We sang the house down. It was a special moment for me. I was singing with someone that I look up to. I drew strength from him all the time. I always go back if there’s something missing or I’m forgetting something. Or he sounds like this, or maybe he’s doing that. He has been the inspiration since I started. Of course, there’s Franco Corelli. There’s Rockwell Blake. Even those three voices are not the same, but I feel like they really sing from their hearts.
That’s what I work with. To me, it’s not about the beautiful sounds I make. It’s really about what I feel and how I project that to the audience. Lawrence has been my number one inspiration. He’s the main man.
Isabel: When you first met Lawrence for the first time and shared the stage, was there anything he gave you as a word of advice or wisdom that has helped you since then?
Lunga: When I first met him, it was during COVID 2020. We did this virtual concert. I had just arrived in Chicago, and then two days later, it was the concert. We only saw each other on screens. We did the concert, but we were never together in the same room. We did big ensemble pieces, but we’d never met.
One day I was practicing in one of the rooms. I think he heard me practicing. I was singing Cenerentla and he sings Cenerentola all the time. He came and knocked on my door. I was like, ‘Who is this?’ He was really moved. He said, ‘I think you’re going to take my job right now.’
I was like, Lawrence, can I just take you back in time?
In 2011, Lawrence traveled to Cape Town to do a concert. I was still a young boy at the time. I remember the show was sold out, but I forced myself to go in. I sat on the stairs just to watch him perform. After the show, people were there, hugging him and shaking hands. I was so scared – ‘Should I go to him? Should I not?’
I just stood by the door. I watched him walk by. I think he didn’t notice because he walked past me, stopped for a moment, and then looked at me. I was like, ‘He’s staring at me right now.’ Then he came in, and we shook hands. Then he was like, ‘Are you a singer?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I am a singer. Well, I’m a tenor.’ I was so scared. We took pictures. That was back then. Then when we met in Chicago, we did that concert. He asked me over for lunch. We went out, we had coffee, we walked around Chicago. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Then I showed him the picture, us 11 years ago, he was so blown away.
We took the same picture, but in Chicago, for Beyond the Aria. Then we did Le Comte Ory together. Even during Le Comte Ory, he was so supportive, so friendly. We’ve created special moments.
Craig: That’s how Larry rolls. Larry is such a generous human being. He is loved by everyone completely.
Isabel: Craig, I wanted to understand more of your work as a music director for the Ryan Opera Center of Chicago. Of course, you’ve worked with Lunga and so many other emerging artists – helping facilitate and nurture their talents. Have there been moments when you’ve been able to offer these emerging artists advice to help them along the way?
Craig: I think we try to provide an environment in which people can grow as people and find themselves. The job is not just about this is a quarter note, and this is a half note. Or, this is what you have to do in this aria when the orchestra comes. Sometimes those things are important, really important. I was a late bloomer in every way. I got my job at Lyric when I was 31. It took me a long time to sort of figure out who I was and be really comfortable – being on stage and just letting it be completely me and real. With my wonderful colleagues, Julia Faulkner, Dan Novak, and the Ryan Opera Center, we just try to help people find who they are. If they have musical skills and they do the work, then the doors will open. They’ll have chances to deliver things that are really beautiful.
I think we all come for a place of trying to help people figure out as a baseline who they are. Then, for someone like Lunga, who speaks multiple languages, really gets it in that way. One of the challenges of opera, especially if you’re North American, and you’re not bilingual from the very beginning, is to be equally comfortable expressing yourself in your native language and then secondary and tertiary languages. We’re definitely focused on that in the way that we work.
We want to help people delve into the nitty-gritty of what they’re trying to express. How it connects to them and hope that as they leave and go around the world, that’s the one thing they can count on. That the audience will feel their authenticity and their truth when they perform. We’re long range people, and we always tell people, you know it’s not about tomorrow. It’s just about working every day, getting a little bit better every day. So at the end, you feel confident to deliver your product, walking through whatever doors open for you.
Isabel: Wow, that’s really beautifully said.
Craig: To reevaluate what we present, how important the audience is as part of the equation. You can’t program a concert without thinking about who the people who will receive it are. The concert you do in DC is maybe not the concert you do in Vienna, which is maybe not the concert you do in Berlin, or Chicago…
You have a wonderful audience in DC. It’s in the same way that I feel like all the concerts I’ve played in your series have been wildly different in terms of repertoire and things that we’ve presented. It’s wonderful to have an audience of people that love to come and be a part of what we do.
Isabel: Craig, I know you’ve performed at the Kennedy Center many times, but Lunga, this is your debut, right?
Lunga: Starting my life as a freelancer has been a very special journey. Wherever I go, I try to give my best because I believe each and every production that I do is more like an audition for another production. When I did Semele, Don Giovanni, and Carmina Burana at Wolf Trap, I think that’s when I got this gig. My manager reached out and told me everything. I was blown away. I always dreamed of singing in all of these big houses. I’ve always dreamed of sharing my gift. Marking this debut – it’s one of those milestones. This is the greatest achievement. I really can’t wait to step onto that stage and share my talent with the world. I am really, really excited. I can’t wait!
Peter: Since the names of Lawrence Brownlee and Rockwell Blake were part of the conversation today, which I think is so wonderful, you have some Bel Canto, in particular by Bellini. Craig, do you see Lunga’s career going in the direction of Mozart, Handel? Bel Canto, over time, but starting with a Mozart, Handel foundation?
Craig: I think Lunga has those things. Those things seem like a wheelhouse to me for what he can do right now really beautifully. Tons of that combined with a lot of oratorio because having people like you can sing the Bach masses, and I feel like Lunga’s voice is perfect for all that repertoire too. Tons of orchestral repertoire.
Who you are today is not who you’ll be five years from now, and it’s hard to predict that. Your truth then, in five years, is your truth. It’s so much easier being a pianist. We press the buttons down, and this is what happens. But as a singer, your voice changes all the time. You’re constantly having to stay ahead of it.
Being aware and honest about what’s happening on the inside can be really difficult. As a human being, as a person, I admire all the people that have 20 and 30 year careers. Who have managed to over and over again be honest about what they see in the mirror. Who then makes decisions based on those things.
Peter: Lunga, do you have dream roles or dream repertoire in the classical repertoire? Or, for that matter, in musical theater or pop?
Lunga: I do have a dream role, and it has to be Arturo from I Puritani.
Peter: That’s perfect for you. That’s exciting! Boy, a tenor who says a dream role is Artuno from I Puritani. Most tenors would say, ‘Oh my goodness, the very thought scares me.’ Then go running down the street in the other direction.
Lunga: I like taking challenges. Craig has taught me to really take a challenge, grab a bull by its horn, and then face it. I love to challenge myself because I want to always be on top of my game. As he mentioned, voices change every time.
I’m not the Lunga I was five years ago. My high school teacher believed that I’d be a baritone at some point because he thought I sang very low for a tenor. Then, I went to university, and my teacher said, ‘You’re only singing Baroque.’ I thought, ‘Okay, cool, so I sing baritone, and then I sing Baroque.’ Few years later, I started singing Rossini, and now I’m singing Mozart. So I’m like, each time I’m growing, I’m changing, but I try by all means to always keep my glass polished all the time. So even though I’m here in Cape Town, and Craig is in Chicago, I’m still working on this program.
I want to make sure when I meet with him, he is still impressed with my work ethic because I know he’s so strict. I just want to make sure that I have warned my colleagues all the time – ‘You have to be prepared, or Craig will destroy you all.’
Peter: He is tough, but he is kind.
Isabel: We have a lot of students who come to our recitals. A lot of them are aspiring to do the career you are in. Do you have any advice for aspiring singers out there? As you’ve worked yourself with students, what piece of advice can you give them as they navigate this career in 2024?
Lunga: It’s just one word, maybe two – Trust the process. We tend to panic because we see all these amazing singers. There are DVDs or recordings on YouTube, and then we just want to sound like them when we’re not ready. Then we try all these things, and we harm ourselves in the process. My advice is to take things slowly and really try and work smartly. Then, just trust the process. Everything works out at the end. Just believe in yourself.
I had so many people who never believed that I’d be the person that I am today. I remember when I was young, my choir teacher was like, ‘You cannot sing, you’ll never be a singer.’ I had to push myself. I had to prove him wrong. Now I’m at this place, and I just believe in myself and that I have what it takes to be the person that I am today. Believe in yourself and trust the process.
Isabel: Very well said. You’ve done above and beyond to not only prove to yourself, but to so many aspiring singers out there. It’s been a joy to learn about your journey and your journey with Craig. I’m so honored that you both are able to join us. Craig, if you have any final words to share with us before we close, the floor is yours.
Craig: I just want to say thank you to all of you for inviting us to perform here. And also for being such a support to young singers, the art form, and to established singers. Giving people platforms and creating a space for artists to make art.
Peter: That’s kind, we appreciate it. Every time we hear that it lifts our spirits, so thank you!
Lunga: Well said, Craig. Again, thank you so much for this opportunity. I’m one of the few South Africans that will step onto that stage. For me, and the youth, and the other upcoming singers, this will be a manifestation that everything is possible.
Isabel: It has been amazing to talk with you both this afternoon and this evening. We are so excited to have you with us in November.
Craig: Me too. Thank you all so much for making time for us. We really appreciate it.
Peter: Very grateful to you. Thank you both. Be well, stay safe. We’ll see you next month. Bye!