In the world of dance, 30 is a midlife crisis. For women in Hollywood, more often than not, it’s over by 40. But for opera diva Regina Resnik, who became an overnight sensation 62 years ago, there’s always a new project.
Resnik, 82, who made a rare move from soprano to mezzo at age 34, now has a vibrant career as a music impresario, producing and narrating productions.
She’ll be coming to San Francisco Monday, Dec. 13, to present “American Jewish Composers in Classical Song” at Congregation Emanu-El. The program is a celebration of 350 years of Jewish music in America.
For Resnik, who narrates, the concert is not only an opportunity to work with her son, tenor Michael Philip Davis, as well as Emanu-El Cantor Roslyn Barak. It’s also an opportunity to combine her love of music and the Jewish tradition.
“In the course of my early career, it was a time of not only the war” in Europe, but of the emergence of the state of Israel, she said in a phone interview from New York. “In my concert repertoire and appearances outside the opera world, I think I sang for every Jewish organization that existed at that time. … This program is like a thread that continues — with the composers I knew then,” as well as those who have emerged or been rediscovered.
The concert, which is also being presented in New York, includes works by Leonard Bernstein and David Diamond, contemporary West Coast composer David Schiff, and Samuel Adler, Simon Sargon and the late San Francisco native Frederick Jacobi. Her son Davis will sing an aria from Jacobi’s “The Prodigal Son,” being performed in the Bay Area for the first time. Selections are in English, Hebrew and Yiddish.
Pieces range from the “dark moments of tragedy,” including Shylock’s monologue from Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “The Merchant of Venice,” which will be sung by baritone Charles Robert Stephens, “to the lighter moments of Jewish life. Some have not been heard in a long time or have never been heard. It’s an interesting program. It’s not all old chestnuts but enough for the audience to ooh and aah.”
Audiences have been oohing and aahing over Resnik for more than 60 years. Born in the Bronx to parents from what is now Ukraine, she was educated in New York City’s public schools, graduating from Hunter College.
While many opera singers come up in the ranks, Resnik did not. “I went from Hunter College onto the stage in December of that year as Lady Macbeth,” substituting on 24 hours’ notice. From there, she won a Metropolitan Opera audition, filling in for the lead soprano in “Il Trovatore” in 1944.
Were there barriers for Jewish singers?
Absolutely not, she said. “If there was a talent around that could sing the repertoire, there were no questions and no difficulties.” She cited what was called “the New York opera club of Jewish singers” — which included Robert Merrill, Richard Tucker, Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters, and later Beverly Sills. Unlike the others, however, Resnik never changed her name.
Singing the soprano roles at the Met, she also toured the major opera houses of the world, including San Francisco’s, where she first performed in 1947
Moving from soprano to mezzo in her 30s, when her voice “took on a new coloration,” was an enormous risk. Her teacher said, “You’re going to give up the money parts and do all those villainous characters. You’ll never be paid for those.”
But Resnik’s teacher was wrong. “It’s the quality of voice that makes the character — not whether or not it’s going to pay well,” she said. Besides, she got to take on the title role in “Carmen” as well as Frau Schneider in “Cabaret,” winning a Tony nomination.
In 1983, she debuted as a film director, with “Geto: The Historic Ghetto of Venice,” produced by KQED. And these days? In addition to teaching, narrating and producing, she said, she performs “when I want to.” Which may include the San Francisco concert.
“The American Jewish Composers in Classical Song” takes place 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 13, at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. $16-$19. (415) 863-1245.