On October 4, 5, and 6, Houston favorite Melody Moore, soprano, makes her Houston Symphony debut. In Mendelssohn & Mahler, Melody is a soloist in Mahler’s large-scale and dramatic cantata, Das klagende Lied. Here she answers a few questions about her wide-ranging career, as well as her Houston ties.
Houston Symphony: American singers are renowned for having to be versatile, but you go far beyond versatile—even in just the repertoire we’ve heard you do in Houston, ranging from lyrical Mozart to classic American musical to difficult 20th-century modernism to Wagner. Is this by design?
Melody Moore: Actually, none of this was by design, but I have always wanted to sing varied rep and do it well. Add to the mix, I was a mezzo for 8 years before switching!
HS: Do you consciously choose roles that defy vocal categorization?
MM: No, I would say most of my stand-by roles are directly in the middle of classification. Senta, Tosca, Salome—all firmly in the lyrico spinto arena.
HS: How did you manage to avoid being relegated to a particular fach, or singers’ classification, early in your career? Was it difficult to convince casting directors that “Yes, Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni are firmly in my voice, but so are Senta in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman and Verdi’s Lady Macbeth”?
MM: I don’t think I avoided being relegated—people tried. I just rejected it. If I thought I could sing a certain piece, I worked on it and brought it to the powers that be and proved that I could do it. As far as casting directors, I have not had the privilege of speaking about what I can do or what is firmly in my voice. It is not often that we singers are called into meetings about casting or are privy to the choices made.
HS: Do you have any new role or symphonic pieces in the works that we can look forward to, or that’s on your wish list?
MM: I recently sang Delius’s A Mass of Life with Grant Park Music Festival, and it was a stunning piece of music. I really enjoyed it. The music stayed with me for weeks. A new role for me next summer will be Foreign Princess in Rusalka with Cincinnati Opera. I’ve also really enjoyed doing MasterClasses and will do two in the coming months. My wish list has been to sing a part in every major Puccini opera, and the only one I have left to tackle is Turandot. I did scenes as the Ice Princess, but I have not done the full role. (I’m excluding Le Villi and Edgar, two rarely performed early Puccini works.)
HS: What do you most look forward to when you come back to Houston?
MM: My mother, sister, and nephews live in Houston, and I was raised, partially, in Houston after we moved from Tennessee when I was 10. So, I mostly visit friends and family, and frequent Catalina Coffee! I also adore Kiran’s—what a spectacular chef she is and a sweet lady to top it off.
—Eric Skelly
Hear Melody Moore in Jones Hall when Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts Mendelssohn & Mahler on October 4, 5 & 6. Get info and tickets.
