Finley: "I feel like a marathon runner"
Baritone Gerald Finley is currently performing Wagner’s Die Meistersinger at Glyndebourne to rave reviews.
The role of Hans Sachs is the longest in the operatic repertoire, with more than 6000 words, and Finley says it has required discipline and for him to build up stamina:
“It’s taken me many months, if not a year or two, to get to know the role of Hans Sachs.”
In between each performance of Die Meistersinger over the course of its month-long run, Finley has three or four days to recuperate. He uses this time to recoup the physical and mental energy taken by the previous performance and psyche himself up for the next one.
Finley spoke to Anne-Marie Minhall from Glyndebourne in one of his moments off; about approaching Wagner, what this new role has taught him and the relaxed atmosphere of Glyndebourne, nestled in the Sussex downs and surrounded by sheep.
