CONEY ISLAND

onant voice in shape for
This was a step he took
most of his 41 years.
with a certain amount of
When he was 4 years
trepidation.
old, he began singing in
"You have to be careful
his father's church choir.
with weight training when
He started voice lessons
your voice is developing,"
at 12, and has per-
he explains, "because that
formed as a boy soprano,
`arggggh) you emit is the
tenor, baritone and bass.
exact opposite of the way
He received his pro-
you produce musical notes."
fessional education at
Although he is not work-
Indiana University, and
ing out at a gym while in
distinguished himself by
Detroit, because of the pos-
making the Metropolitan
sibility of coming in contact
Opera Auditions
with germs that could cause
Mark Lundberg. "God spoke to
Detroit's own Irina Mishura
Regional Finals as a bass, !Samson), and yet he betrayed
flu or a chest cold, he makes
takes the role of Delilah in all
baritone and tenor.
it a point ro do push-ups
this trust because of love, of lust." performances.
"In different years," he
and sit-ups daily.
hastens to add.
"Just doing the opera is
Lundberg has appeared as Samson
In 1988, he made his debut as a
extremely
aerobic,"
he adds.
in a new production of the Royal
tenor. Since then, he has further spe-
After singing the role of Samson, he
Scottish Opera. He also performed the
cialized as a Heldentenor, an idea con-
returns home to Long Island on
role last fall in New Orleans with Irina
ceived by Saint-Saens' German contem-
Sunday, June 13.
Mishura, his co-star in Detroit, as
porary, Richard Wagner. "The singer
'And I'll_ see my trainer Monday
Delilah. Later this year, he will repeat
must hold the upper middle register for
morning," he promises. 7
the role in Omaha.
a long amount of time — an extreme
Among the other operas in
amount of time," Lundberg says.
Lundberg's extensive repertoire are I
The Michigan Opera Theatre
"Also, in Wagner, the music
Pagliacci, Ariadne auf Naxos, and sev-
stages Samson and Delilah, by
crescendos into the phrase. In Italian
eral works by Penderecki. He can be
Camille Saint-Saens, June 5-13
style operas, the chord before the
heard on CD in Wagner's Die
at the Detroit Opera House.
cadence stops and the tenor sustains
Walkure, in the role of Siegmund,
Lundberg will be featured as
the note. A Heldentenor has to project
with the Mecklenburgische
Samson at 8 p.m. June 5, 9 and
over the entire orchestra."
Staatskapelle Schwerin.
12, and Heldentenor Ian
The part of Samson calls for a sus-
As well as possessing the vocal
DeNolfo will appear in the role 2
tained lyric line, reaching to a high b-
quality and stamina for these heroic
p.m. June 6 and 1 3 and 8 p.m.
flat. "In addition to this," Lundberg
roles, Lundberg looks the part. The
June 11. Tickets, ranging from
explains, "the last high note, sung over
6-foot-5-inch tenor lost 100 pounds
$ 18 $90, are available by calling
the sound of the full orchestra, comes
within the past year. And, about two
(313) 237-SING, or through
in more than three hours after the
months ago, he began working with
Ticketmaster, (248) 645-6666.
start of the opera."
a personal trainer.

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The Samson story is one that
has always fascinated secular writ-
ers and thinkers as well as biblical
commentators. It has everything:
action, sex, sin, redemption and
what Cecille B. DeMille would rec-
ognize as a wow ending.
For some Jews, Samson has even
come to represent the dilemma of
modern Israel. It was Israeli Prime
Minister Levi Eshkol (1895-1969)
who referred to the Jewish state as
Shimshon der Nebedicher, Samson
the nebbish, the mighty military
power who thinks of itself as a vic-
tim and patsy.
Zionist leader and writer
Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880-1940)
used the story of Samson the Judge
for his only full-length novel. It is
(in contrast to Jabotinsky's bril-
liance as a journalist and orator) a
dreadful book with little literary
merit. Its sole claim to fame is a

short passage in which the biblical
judge comes upon two brothers,
one honest and one lazy, who have
an equal share in a field.
The lazy one does little work but
claims the entire harvest. The honest
one is entitled by right to all of the
fruit of his labor but, to be a nice
guy, he only claims half. Jabotinsky's
Samson rules that the lazy brother is
entitled to 75 percent of the harvest.
"Why?" asks the honest brother.
Because he had conceded half
already, says Samson, it is only his
own half that is under dispute and
that the judge splits evenly. "Your
brother is a liar," says Samson. But
you are a fool and that is worse."
Any resemblance of this parable to
territorial disputes in the modern
Middle East is entirely intentional.
But the real battle in Samson is
the struggle within the character:
the carnal versus the moral. Rabbi

Adin Steinsaltz writes of Samson in
his book Biblical Images (Basic
Books) that in contrast to other
biblical judges, who were "generally
upright, God-fearing examples to
others ... Samson offers us a per-
plexing exception to the rule —
mischievous, vehement, full of a
certain devil-may-care impetuousi-
ty and bravado."
He is, in Steinsaltz's words, "the
prophet of Divine power expressed as
physical force." By succumbing to
the temptations of Philistine hedo-
nism, Samson endangers the national
struggle of the Jews as well as doom-
ing himself.
Unlike other religions, Judaism
has never taught a dichotomy
between the spirit and the flesh.
Each serves God's purpose. But with-
out law and morality, sensuality is
ultimately destructive. It is a lesson
that Samson learns only too late. 1-1

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6/4
1999

Detroit Jewish News

91

