Give me Jesus
I gripped the splintering wood edges of a well-worn Steinway piano bench and squinted my eyes for the 4 th time at the opera score reduction propped on the rack in front of me. I mumbled something incoherent about tempo and tried not to let my inner anxiety about playing for a stranger leak into my face. Apparently it didn’t work. The grinning African-American towering above me lightly tagged my shoulder and loudly snickered: ““What? You scared? Just PLAY!” I put on my big girl attitude and played—played for a singer like I never have before. So began my first rehearsal with J. Warren Mitchell, budding opera star. I’ve followed vocalists from behind the piano for several years now, but this one was different. From the first wave of sound that spilled out of his hefty frame, it was clear this man was not at his first rodeo. He took me along on a crazy ride of expression, completely controlled and deliberate, yet ever surprising. One moment he’d be b...