We recently spoke with Keven Burdette, starring as Bartolo in the upcoming production of The Barber of Seville, and picked his brain about all things opera. Read the Q&A with Mr. Burdette below and learn where he fell in love with opera, why he has a good backup career, and how he would convince you to enjoy an opera.
1. How did your initial interest in the art form of opera begin?
Mr Burdette: When I was in high school, I performed musical theater and developed that interest in singing and acting by eventually going to the local opera company (Knoxville Opera) productions. At college, I took it a step further and began taking voice lessons and singing in the chorus for college productions. That grew into smaller roles and an increased interest in opera. Then, after my junior year, I spent a year abroad in Vienna, Austria, where I got standing room tickets for the opera on a weekly basis. It was at the Staatsoper that I really fell in love with opera.
2. Where did you grow up?
Mr Burdette: Knoxville, TN.
3. Do you have a significant other? Children? Pets?
Mr Burdette:I have a wife, Natalia. We were married last year on October 2nd.
4. What is an average day like for you? Do you have a set routine?
Mr Burdette: I do not really have a set routine. I am an avocational bird-watcher, so I enjoy finding good birding spots in cities where I perform.
5. What is your favorite opera to watch/experience?
Mr Burdette: Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri is my favorite to perform—it provides such a wonderful platform for playing, being funny, and really singing. And I am a sucker for La bohème: I was a young artist in Paris for a year and lived la vie bohème, so I am always love attending that opera.
6. Have you performed your role in The Barber of Seville before? If so, do you have any interesting anecdotes you can share about the experience?
Mr Burdette: I have performed Bartolo, a couple of times. One time the director put me in a fat suit, and another I played a very wiry Bartolo—I am eager to see where we end up in this show. Either way, I know I will have fun.
7. What language(s) do you speak fluently?
Mr Burdette: I speak German well (having lived in Vienna), but it would be a stretch to call me fluent.
8. What story about your personal/professional life do you wish reporters would tell when promoting your work for a producing Company, but have not?
Mr Burdette: This point has been reported on before; nevertheless, it is interesting: I was an attorney who worked my way through law school, in part, by singing opera. When I returned to school after Vienna, I decided to apply to law school (my initial undergraduate interest) and to graduate school in music. Columbia Law School allowed me to defer enrollment and Juilliard didn’t, so I went to grad school. I made my New York City Opera debut in 1999, so I began asking for extensions to my law school deferral while I began a career. I ended up deferring for six years while I sang, finally going to law school in 2003. I graduated in 2007 (I took two semesters off to do gigs) and then worked at a corporate law firm in New York City for a couple of years.
9. The opera role you haven’t performed, but would like to perform the most in your career?
Mr Burdette: Olin Blitch in Carlyle Floyd’s Susannah.
10. If you bumped into me at a coffee shop and learned that I had never been to an opera before, what would you say to entice me to give it a try?
Mr Burdette: If The Barber of Seville were coming up, I would talk about how entertaining the opera is—how you will literally laugh out loud at certain times. Couple that with the fact that there is wonderful (and recognizable) music, and I think the opera is not to be missed—it is a fantastic first opera. Plus, there is something engaging and moving in going to a live performance and hearing and being affected the unamplified voice—we are social animals, and in a world of iPods and DVRs and Facebook, the feeling of sharing a laugh (or a cry) with a group a people is invigorating.
The reviews for The Barber of Seville are in and it is a hit! Read excerpts from the reviews below and click on the title to read the full review. While you are here, please share your thoughts about the production by commenting below, and don’t forget to check back throughout the week to read all of the reviews of The Barber of Seville. 
