November 7, 2003 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Coming out is only a footnote

Soprano Christine Brandes performs in Cleveland

by Jason Victor Serinus

Christine Brandes hesitated only briefly before coming out in print. The venue was Opera News' monthly Soundbites column.

Hitting the stands between her spring 2001 New York City Opera performances in Handel's Acis and Galatea and her San Francisco debut in Handel's Semele, the feature included the soprano's reply to the standard question about spouse and children. The news that she and her partner resided in the Bay Area ran without ceremony at the bottom of the article.

"It's a decision everyone has to make them for themselves," Brandes acknowledged in the Oakland, California home she shares with her partner, conductor Karla Lemon. The two tied the knot in Vermont three years ago. "I go back and forth about it. People don't really need to know if I'm a vegetarian or a lesbian or want to be a dancing boy. That should have no bearing on me as an artist."

Life, however, is not always as it "should" be. Acknowledging that we live in "a strange time culturally and politically," Brandes opined:

"I feel it's my obligation to be out and offer an example. If someone comes to a concert, is moved by my singing, and has some sort of avenue to their own soul opened, I hope that learning of my relationship will cause them to step back and re-evaluate any preconceived notions about gay relationships and our right to fair and equal treatment under the law."

Brandes has been with Lemon for eight years. They met after one of Lemon's friends recommended Brandes as the soprano for a performance of the St. Matthew Passion that Lemon was conducting at Stanford University.

"Karla realized that I was one in the same person that her friend, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, had been speaking to her about for years as a potential partner," reveals Brandes with a smile. "As it turned out, I got the girlfriend and I got the gig."

Brandes, 39, was in ninth grade in Canton, Ohio when she decided to become a singer after performing in Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Later completing graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University, she moved to New York City in the fall in 1989. Discovering herself free to create "a whole different life," she began to freelance in the New York

early music scene.

ing on El Nino with John Adams, Esa Pekka Salonen's Five Views of Sappho with Esa Pekka Salonen conducting, and the world premiere of Augusta Reed Thomas' In My Sky at Twilight with Pierre Boulez. While she is slowly venturing into bel canto, Brandes feels vocally and temperamentally unsuited for core 19th-entury Romantic opera.

"Clearly I'm not someone who going to sing Butterfly's 'Un bel di,' even when I'm 50," she states with certainty.

Readers wishing to imbibe Brandes' voice at its best need look

no farther than two stellar recordings: Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Virgin Classics), a joyous performance that also features gay countertenor David Daniels; and Telemann Chamber Cantatas and Trio Sonatas (Dorian), a disc with Musica Pacifica that won a 2003 Chamber Music America/WQXR Award.

In October, Brandes joined the Cleveland Symphony and conductor Julian Wachner in San Diego for performances of Handel's Israel in Egypt. She praised the "wonderful" Christine Brandes Cleveland chorus whose singing

Brandes soon had the good fortune to sing with such stellar conductors as Nicholas McGegan, William Christie, Christopher Hogwood, Nicholas McGegan, and Philip Herreweghe. After countertenor Michael Chance introduced her to IMG Management, a guiding hand was secured.

Since then, venues and repertoire have broadened considerably. Operatic highlights include Handel's Ariodante with Houston Grand Opera last fall, Handel's Orlando at Glimmerglass this summer, and long relationships with the "fantastic people" of Opera Company of Philadelphia and New York City Opera. Spring 2005 promises Houston appearances in Verdi's Falstaff with fellow lesbian soprano Patricia Racette and baritone Bryn Terfel.

Brandes is especially proud of her concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra.

"It's one of the great orchestras," proclaimed the Ohio native of her home orchestra. They have a string sound that cannot be beaten-just perfection."

She has also embraced new music, work-

dominated the gigantic oratorio on the exodus of the Israelites. As with everything she sings, she acknowledges that the key to a successful performance is to keep her heart open throughout.

"Art serves to humanize. It expands one's heart and mind and notion of what beauty is in the world. Even in your daily life, those experiences can change the way you go through the world and the kind of human being you are. They help you see what you can contribute and change for the betterment of the world. My part in that is very tiny indeed. But I feel very strongly about it."

Brandes joins the Cleveland Orchestra and conductor Robert Porco in Severance Hall for Handel's Israel in Egypt on November 13, 15 and 16. For tickets and information, see www.clevelandorch.com or call 216231-1111.

Jason Victor Serinus writes for Opera News and whistled Puccini as the voice of Woodstock in a Peanuts cartoon. He lives in Oakland, Calif.

Curbside

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LIGHT

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(

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