World renowned tenor Matthew Polenzani has never been to Tucson or the Southwest. In fact, heβs only been to the region once before, when he was fitted for golf clubs in Scottsdale a few years ago.
Heβll leave those clubs behind when he makes his official Tucson and Southwest concert debut in a sold-out Tucson Desert Song Festival recital Friday, Jan. 31, at the University of Arizonaβs Holsclaw Hall. Arizona Opera is hosting the performance, which features pianist Christopher Cano.
βIβve never sung anywhere in the Southwest so Iβm excited about this,β Polenzani said in a phone call from home in New York early this month.
Polenzani has long been on the wish list for Song Festival co-founder Jack Forsythe. But snagging one of the top tenors in the country or, arguably, in the world takes patience and timing.
βWe just kept trying to work out dates because my calendar is full,β Polenzani explained. βIt worked out perfect. I have a little free time now.β
And who wouldnβt want to spend a few days in Tucson in late January, when the weather should be sunny and 70 degrees?
βI have occasionally taken jobs for climatological β is that a word? β reasons. It doesnβt get to happen that often β¦ but it happened to work out this time,β said Polenzani, who just finished a run of βCarmenβ in Munich. βFor me itβs an opportunity to go out and do music that I donβt get to sing all the time.β
Fridayβs concert opens with Schubert songs, segues to a little Beethoven in honor of the composerβs 250th birthday, then dips into arias and songs that have defined his 25-year career that has included more than 300 performances in over 20 roles with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
βI love doing both (recitals and operas). The recital is, frankly, a lot harder β itβs just you and a pianist and a whole bunch of words,β Polenzani said. βThe pianist I have worked with most of my career ... will tell you that I often will say to him right before we go on stage, βWhat was I thinking? How am I going to get all these words?β β
And thereβs always that outside chance, even for an international star of Polenzaniβs stature, to flub a verse or forget his place in a song.
βSometimes it works that not all the words come out,β the father of three said with a chuckle. βThe raw reality is that live theater is live theater and occasionally it goes wrong. ... (But) it brings you a little closer to your audience.β
Polenzaniβs Southwest debut will be brief with little time to play tourist, or hit the links. Which is why heβs leaving his clubs, the ones he got in Scottsdale, back home in New York.
βI need at least two rounds worth to haul my bag,β he said, adding that using loaner clubs is out of the question.
βI feel like Iβve never played well when Iβve used other peoplesβ equipment,β said Polenzani, who boasts a 9 handicap.
