Brian Jagde is the featured artist on the cover of Opera News’ January 2021 issue. A segment from his article, titled “Clear Purpose,” is copied below. The full feature and magazine can be accessed via the following link.

“The effortless power of Jagde’s lirico-spinto voice has drawn acclaim beyond New York, often in repertoire considered hefty for his age. His controlled tone gives equal weight to dramatic intensity and emotional richness, without sacrificing attention to character. Among the 2020 gigs Jagde lost to the pandemic was  Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. Although he has sung the role from San Francisco to Stuttgart—so many times that he named his spaniel after it—the cancellation stung. The Met was where he saw his first opera, Billy Budd, on a high-school trip, and he particularly looked forward to his family’s being able to hear him there. Fortunately, he will appear at the Met as Cavaradossi, as well as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, next season.

His answer, when asked about his most memorable performances, speaks to this constant resilience. While he cherishes performances with major icons such as Angela Gheorghiu, the moments that stand out to him are those when he almost couldn’t sing. “When I’ve thought I should cancel because I felt awful, but, for whatever reason, there wasn’t any way to do that, I had to go out, focus my technique and give the audience as much as I could emotionally,” he says. “If you can perform well when you feel like hell, and the audience doesn’t know it, then you’re doing your job. To me, that’s the epitome of success.”

Cover Photo: Dario Acosta / Opera News

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