The place where I feel most serene and content is the Rose Garden overlooking the old centre of Bern and with fantastic rooftop views across to the Alps. It’s more than just a park to me; it’s a source of inspiration and somewhere I can pause and reflect. I grew up in Hawaii, which is breathtakingly beautiful. It was there that I learned how important being part of nature is and seeing it not as scenery but as the place you live in. When I moved here ten years ago, the Rose Garden was one of the first places where I felt a connection. And since then it’s been part and parcel of my life.

I often come here, sometimes on my own to go over a role, sometimes with my son, who’s mad about the big playground. While he’s doing his thing I’m sitting on a bench or on the grass, mugging up on a part. You can gaze out across space, which helps open my mind to options. The sounds of the city come up in a muffled hum, and you’ve got the dappled shade from trees and the breeze in the rosebushes, and I can immerse myself in the rhythm and language of the role.

The lyrics are always what I first look at when preparing for a role. I get hold of an English translation of the libretto, annotate some of the bits that sound stilted to me and then sit down with the two versions open in front of me and read the text through out loud to get a feel for it without the music. Ideally, if it’s a German libretto, I can find an actor to go through it with me – like a play in a theatre. That first step is important because words and music are closely intertwined in German opera. After all, Wagner saw himself as a poet. His characters are psychologically marked individuals with complex motives, not mere archetypes.

In April I’ll be in Berlin singing the part of Friedrich von Telramund in LOHENGRIN. I’ve been involved with the role for many years. Telramund was my first main role in Bern and I’ve sung him many times since. Each production has its own slant on him, but my basic feelings towards the character haven’t changed much: Telramund is not a simple, one-dimensional bad guy. I think of him as a tragic hero, a bit like Macbeth. And like the King of Scotland, Telramund is a man of honour who’s convinced he’s fighting on the right side. In his mind he’s a legitimate ruler, the protector of the region he inherited from his father. His tragedy consists in his being manipulated, firstly by Ortrud and her powers of persuasion and on another level by his own pride, which blinds him to the truth. He can’t imagine a different world to the one he knows. And when it’s upended, he reacts with rage and despair.

Telramund is one of the hardest roles to sing as a baritone. Wagner conveyed the agitation and restlessness of the character with a music all but devoid of lulls. Telramund’s first scene is a welter of words, accusatory and fired-up. The challenge is to channel the emotional outburst into song. It would be easier to get carried away by the drama and just be loud about everything, but Telramund wants to win people over, and a good politician presents arguments. Staying disciplined and resisting being drawn into the emotional vortex by the music, is the big thing to get right for me in this role.

A moment of calm in front of a historic backdrop: Shanahan at the ornamental fountain by Swiss artist Karl Hänny in the southwestern part of the park © Florian Spring

 

Wagner drew on mythical sources for his LOHENGRIN, yet he also gave us a very human tale of power, faith and manipulation. Telramund represents people who cling stubbornly to old systems. That makes him an acutely topical figure today as he embodies a form of radical conservatism.

When I’m sitting in the Rose Garden above the city working on a role, it’s not just part of my routine; it’s part of the artistic process. The quiet, the light that changes as the day progresses… - it all informs my attitude towards the role. Up there I can get into the role and become one with the character.