Q&A with Valerian Ruminski
Artistic director and founder of Nickel City Opera Company
After more than twenty years of study and performance, interpretations of characters in such popular and well-known operas as La Bohème, South Pacific, and The King and I, a life of international travel, and countless rave reviews, Buffalo native Valerian Ruminski could have chosen anywhere to mount a new production of The Barber of Seville. But he’s come home for his Nickel City Opera Company. With Barber scheduled for June 26 and 28 at the Riviera Theatre, Ruminski has plenty on his plate.
How does it make you feel to be widely recognized as “one of the most unique and versatile vocalists working in the world of opera and classical music today,” according to your profile on Nickel City Opera’s website?
I believe it’s a bit of an exaggeration to say I am recognized to that extent—I didn’t write that remark!—but I have generally gotten glowing reviews in newspapers wherever I have sung ... whatever that means. If people like my voice, after all the work I have done to grow it, I am humbled and glad for their praise.
At what point in your life did you realize that you had a talent for singing and acting, and what steps have you taken since then to foster your talent?
I knew I could sing, and sing well, at a very young age—maybe five or six years old. The teachers at school would always ask me to sing at the end of class, which would mark me as a “strange” kid. Other classmates wanted to beat me up sometimes because they thought I was “queer,” they said. Singing was always a mixed blessing. I wouldn’t say I was ever a good actor ... not until recently. I have taken classes and been on stage for ten solid years as a pro, and I think that gives you the confidence to try to be a better actor. When I was around twenty-six I realized I had a duty to do whatever I could to take advantage of my talents because they were some kind of ticket out of where I was. I knew a life in the arts was possible with hard work and so I did what I had to do.
Does the rest of your family have a history in the arts?
I am adopted. I have never known my birth parents so I have no biological history to explore. I am told my father was a musician, possibly a canter in the temple but I have no confirmation of this. Funny, if that’s true I would be an operatic Al Jolson.
What has been your most cherished experience as an opera singer?
My most cherished experience as an opera singer has been the select moments onstage during which I’ve experienced the totality of the art form I practice. A full orchestra, a full stage of people, a full audience, and music sublime enough to trigger powerful feelings. A production of Billy Budd in Tel Aviv was very stirring, as well as a Marriage of Figaro I did back at my Academy in 1998. Of course, seeing different countries and meeting so many people is special to me as well. Being onstage in Buffalo, in my own opera this June, in front of family and friends, should be particularly satisfying.
Why did you believe that Buffalo needed an opera company, specifically, and not just theater or musicals?
Opera is the 800-pound gorilla. It is, by the very definition of the word, a combination of all art forms. Dance, voice, sets, orchestra, composition; there’s so much layered into one theater experience. You might get a few out of ballet or stage theater, but not as much as in an opera. It sets a high bar for human expression, which is a necessary function in culture. In the art world, successfully staging an opera is the equivalent of landing on the moon. So … why not Buffalo? It’s an historic arts town with lovely theaters and a philharmonic. Opera, to me, is a no-brainer for WNY. It just takes a little harder work.
At what point, after the Greater Buffalo Opera Company ended, did you decide to take on the task of bringing opera back to life in Buffalo?
After the GBOC died I was still at the Academy in Philadelphia, and not thinking too much about opera in Buffalo. I was getting ready for my career and gigs at the Met and New York City Opera. After singing for a few years, I felt like it might be the time to try to do something in Buffalo. I tested the waters, dabbled, and got beaten back for my efforts, but now, five years later, it seems as though the doors have opened and the coast is clear.
What have been your thoughts as you’ve watched NCO grow from just being a vision to an actual performance company cooperating with the Riviera Theatre?
The progression from seed to germination has been a short one, insofar as the time that NCO has actually been viable. I have enjoyed seeing tickets sell, ads appear, and people call and volunteer, involving sectors of the arts community, putting up posters. Passing out handbills, making 1,000 phone calls and raising donations and I hope to continue to do the same on a bigger scale next year after another full season of singing at a few prestigious opera houses.
Why has it been important to you to involve both community and abroad performers in your productions?
Well, Buffalo can’t be a self-contained cell. Culture is about mixing together and doing an “all Buffalo” opera would be a bit extreme. I am bringing in some highly professional and experienced artists in all phases of this production. Benjamin Brecher, for instance, has done this role 100 times at least. No one in Buffalo can touch that. We are better off mixing local and international talent so that everyone is happy.
Why did you partner with Riviera Theatre and not any of other theaters in the Buffalo area?
I partnered with the Riviera because the theater was beautiful and the perfect size for opera (1,100 seats) as well as the fact that they came to me with an offer and nobody else did. They have some vision. They want to establish larger, more lavish productions and this is their first attempt at that.
Presently, I understand that NCO only presents two productions a year, in the month of June only, at the Riviera. Do you have plans to expand, present more productions, perhaps throughout the year?
By doing opera in June we can attract talent that would normally be contracted somewhere else, because June is a down month in the industry. The funds we’ve raised can pay slightly lower salaries to accomplished artists. Despite the economy, I believe we’re in a strong financial position to support a smaller summer festival opera, and I foresee more grants and donations as we plan for 2010.
How do you manage the Nickel City Opera and your own solo career at the same time?
My career is separate from Nickel City. I choose not to sacrifice my singing to run a company; I can do both. Opera season runs from September to May, like a school year, and usually summer festivals run in July and August. June is the odd month out. December can be, too. I chose to do opera in June in Buffalo because it’s a slow point in my season. Opera, in a summer festival format, is cheaper to sustain, and therefore better for this market, and I chose it because other singers and opera people are not working as much in June, and I can get high quality talent for less.
Why do you sing? Because you are good at it? For the audience? For the travel?
Why do I sing? I’m a translator. I translate ideas created by a composer, and use my voice to convey complex ideas and emotions to an audience. I sing because it feels good. It’s a high you can get from few other things. You feel power coursing through you and affecting others. You feel harmonized with other energies—other people—and that’s a synchrony not everyone else feels. You experience what it is like to relay your own singular humanity to another human being. I believe if more fanatics and borderline sociopaths learned how to sing we would have less senseless death and sadness in the world, because it would open their minds to the humanity of others, which, in many ways, is not easy to do. I sing, therefore I am.
Ruminski’s production of The Barber of Seville will take the stage on Friday, June 26 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 28 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Riviera Theatre box office by calling 692-2413, or online at www.rivieratheater.org.
