Also this issue: Turn the Beat Around Roy Kaiser might just be the guy who saved the Pennsylvania Ballet. -Janet Anderson Homeward Bound The local stop for Tom Donaghy's Northeast Local reunites boyhood friends. -Toby Zinman Critic's Calendar Theater -Mary Armstrong, Peter Burwasser, Nate Chinen, M.A, N.C, P.B, P.R and Patrick Rapa Your E-Z Fill-in-the-Blanks College Admissions Essay! Up against a (college admissions/grant application/other kind of bullshit personal testament) deadline? In the interest of saving you time and effort, City Paper presents: -Jeremy Simon

January 9-15, 2003

cover story

Lend Us A Tenor

Proof of burden: Tenor William Burden, seen here rehearsing for the orchestra's 2002 production of The Messiah, is becoming a regular face around town.

A Philly opera favorite drops by for two productions this season.

by David Shengold

A mainstay of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, William Burden is in all ways remote from the PBS-fed public image of what it means to be a tenor. He's not to be found belting out "Nessun dorma" or "Volare" to stadium or casino crowds. He's well-educated and thoughtful. He's a dedicated family man. Trim and handsome, he looks plausibly like the young romantic leads (like Romeo and Paris) he plays often on the world's opera stages.

Burden has also been a welcome guest at the Philadelphia Orchestra; December 2002's Messiah reprised his 1997 debut assignment there. Earlier in the season he appeared in the Beethoven Ninth finale to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11. Messiah found him in great voice -- retaining the sweetness and agility of a lyric tenor but with ringing top tones suggesting that slightly heavier-lifting assignments will suit him well. He also seemed to be having a terrific time, visibly bobbing in time with the choruses and enjoying his colleagues' singing. "I just love to see the audience reactions with Messiah," he says from Houston, where he encored the piece a few days later. Asked about his excellent vocal ornamentation, he gives credit to coaches and the many expert conductors he's worked with ("And I'm not above stealing ideas from other singers!").

A Spanish literature major at Middlebury before graduate training in voice at Indiana with revered Met stalwart Margaret Harshaw, Burden cut his teeth on small roles at San Francisco Opera and the Met before moving to leading roles. His excellent vocal technique reflects credit on Harshaw's guidance and that of his "fantastic" current teacher, Arthur Levy.

The tenor's initial success with OCP as Tom (The Rake) in The Rake's Progress in 1997 led to return gigs in two parts he's aced elsewhere, the leads in Mozart's Abduction and Magic Flute. But fall 2001's Elixir of Love proved something special, a first chance at one of the great Italianate roles. "I'm really grateful to OCP for that, it felt great," he says. Audiences cheered their heads off after Burden's lovesick Nemorino sang the heartfelt "Una furtiva lagrima," and seemed to welcome him as one of Philadelphia's favorites.

Lo and behold, this season Burden visits the Academy for two productions. Verdi's La Traviata (Jan. 24-Feb. 8) -- red sauce Italian -- boasts his first professional staged Alfredo; while the tenor was starring in Santa Fe's Italiana in Algeri this summer, he and soprano costar Maureen O'Flynn (another OCP favorite trying on a new role) did a successful concert tryout at the altitudinous Vail Music Festival. Mozart's gorgeous, sometimes wrenching romantic comedy, Così fan tutte (March 7-23) -- olive oil Italian -- renews his stage partnership with baritone Nathan Gunn, another dynamic American singer who's become a good friend. Two soldiers take a bet to seduce each other's fiancees (Mary Dunleavy and Ruxandra Donose, another stellar pairing); in this opera you never know which couple will end up together.

Burden met his offstage wife, soprano Carol Chickering, when they sang Bernstein's Candide together in Milwaukee. She maintains a concert career, and they're planning a joint recital. Burden calls their daughter, Claire, nearly 4, "a good critic" who relishes being allowed to see OCP dress rehearsals. They love living in Princeton (a return to Jersey roots for the Florida-raised tenor) with its easy access to Philly.

Burden's suitability for French opera has garnered him major bookings in Paris ("Delivering dialogue there was frightening at first, but I'm a good mimic and colleagues have been very helpful.") Fortunately, OCP has him booked ahead for a few years. Ever the professional, Burden's not spilling any beans about future contracts, but rumors waft along Broad Street about Don Pasquale and Pearl Fishers (another buddy-act piece he and Gunn plan to tackle), both of which should suit him to a T.

William Burden appears in La Traviata, Jan. 24-Feb.8, and Così fan tutte, March 7-23, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Broad and Locust sts., 215-732-8400.