Andrea Anelli of Opera Per Tutti

When Achille Anelli immigrated from Sicily to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, he’d have been thrilled to think his granddaughter would be singing his beloved operas a century later. He composed and conducted operas in his native country, and brought some of his work with him, resulting in at least one performance of one of his operas at the Brooklyn (New York) Academy of Music. Unfortunately, the score has since been lost, but granddaughter Andrea Anelli has never given up the hope that someday she’ll find it. Somewhere. She has learned a bit about it.

“My grandfather's opera was La Contessa di Trigona, a true story of infidelity, bribery, and murder. It was a little too close to the time of the actual events when he was trying to get it performed,” she says. She pauses for a moment, then adds, “If you Google™ it you can see that someone (in Italy) is working to make a film version of this scandalous story.”

The musical gene was passed on to his son Armand, who played trumpet in the big bands of the Big Apple, including those of Eddie Duchin and Gene Krupa. One of the bands toured, and came to Cleveland for a few performances. On one of those trips, Armand met a local girl—Virginia Telich. “Dad asked Mom to marry him during one of their first meetings. She said yes, they both left with the band, and were married immediately!” They had three children; one son and two daughters.

Their youngest daughter, Andrea, doesn’t remember a time in her life without music. She grew up listening to jazz, theater music, Judy Garland . . . and loved all of it. She studied piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music with "Mrs. Woodman," and decided she wanted to be the next Eunice Podis. “She was so talented, a really marvelous performer, and she was sooo elegant! She always looked like the star that she was.” Big sigh. “Alas, it was not to be. I just wasn’t quite that good.” She didn’t give up singing, though.

So, after St. Mary’s grade school in Collinwood, she went to Villa Angela, and because of a love for animals, gave serious thought to becoming a veterinarian. She chose Hiram College because of the wonderful Biology Field Station that afforded wonderful investigations for science/biology students. However, it didn’t take long once she arrived there for her to realize, that there was just no way she wasn’t going to be an actor, and changed her major to theater.

She performed in straight dramas as well as musicals, at Porthouse Theater on the grounds at Blossom Music Center, as well as other local venues, until a young man named Jeff Schulz entered her life, and they married. To fill in around her singing, Andrea became a waitress, but “I wasn’t very good at it. It takes a very special person to be good at that, and it wasn’t meant for me. I did it, and did it to the best of my capability, but singing—or acting—was better.”

She hadn’t really considered opera as a career for herself “I couldn’t quite see myself singing Mozart, for instance, or Gilbert & Sullivan, either, for that matter, but the bel canto and verismo operas were a real eye-opener!” (Bel canto is ‘beautiful singing’ rather than the ornate and ornamented Baroque style which was popular until the early 1800s, and verismo is ‘real life’ type opera, such as Verdi wrote, rather than based on myths and legends of gods and goddesses.) “But some ‘verismo’ isn’t a very good match for me either. The heavier parts aren’t always a good match for my voice type,” Andrea adds.

When she first started singing as a youngster, voice type was not something she even thought of. “I fell in love with music from The Wizard of Oz and would sing it out my window at night. Singing was as normal as talking for me. It was just always there!” Then came the Eunice Podis period, and then college. She toyed briefly with the idea of singing as a career, but “it’s not an easy life to be away from your home and family for prolonged periods of time.”

The Schulz family expanded by two sons over the next few years: Jonathan recently graduated from Mt. Union with a degree in Political Science, while Jonah is at Chardon Middle School. Until the boys were in school full time, Andrea felt her job was that of Mom, so she reined in her aspirations for a while. “I wanted to raise my own children,” so she didn’t push for a career. Husband Jeff is in the automobile business in Cleveland. Her face lights up as she adds, “He made it possible for me to study – and continue to dream.”

A while later, she saw an audition notice for the Cleveland Opera Chorus, after they’d moved to the State Theater. From the chorus, she progressed to comprimario roles: Annina in La Traviata, Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly; Silver Dollar in the Ballad of Baby Doe and Feodor in a segment of Boris Goudenov opposite the renowned bass, Jerome Hines. And there were some local appearances, too, at the Beck Center—Maria in West Side Story opposite Mark Walters—and at the Halle Theater of the JCC—Rose in The Education of Hyman Kaplan with Noah Budin.

Notable teachers along the way were Tom Fulton, Leslie Varnick and Damaris Peters Pike. In 2004, she decided to try again, and an audition for Speight Jenkins of the Seattle Opera turned her life in a new direction. He told her that she “possessed things that can’t be taught; so much is heart behind the character,” and advised her to find a seriously good teacher. That has taken Anelli along a different path.

“I want to be good,” she adds. “It’s important to keep your instrument as young as you can for as long as you can. I go to New York as often as I can to keep at it. Barbara has become more than a teacher—she’s a mentor, and a friend.” Now, she studies in New York with Barbara Conrad, a notable soprano at the Met. Ms. Conrad was recommended by another friend, an accompanist who played for Anelli’s audition for Memphis Opera.

“I really think that the traditional stereotype of opera doesn’t have to be true. If people could only see and hear well done opera, even if on a small scale, they could really like it!” The key is to be able to see the performer’s faces and the emotion generated by the music and the words. “It’s not all helmets and shields and flying horses,” she adds with a smile.

“Opera Per Tutti (Opera for All) is meant to provide more opportunities for professional singers—and other musicians—in this area, including myself,” she says. “We want to bring opera to people who’ve had limited opportunities and exposure to it. We’d like to fill in the gaps between performances of the other opera companies in the area.” Not just the professional companies, but several of the music schools in the area also present 2-3 opera productions a year. Hardly anyone does anything in the summer, however, now that Lyric Opera Cleveland has been absorbed by Opera Cleveland.

“It’s important that credibility in acting is acknowledged and developed. We’ll perform in smaller venues, so that the audience can see the singers expressions. Also, our ticket prices are very affordable—sometimes even free, such as this weeks Garden Concert, to be held in the Italian Cultural Garden on East Boulevard.

“I’d had this dream for some time; after all, the garden featured opera when they first opened there, (the San Carlo Opera Company in the spring of 1936), and everyone connected to the Garden and the City of Cleveland was entirely helpful. Sabra Pierce Scott, the Councilwoman for the area went out of her way to offer assistance to us, as did Joyce Mariani, the Executive Director of the Italian Garden.”

So far, Anelli's young company has had three productions: Their premiere was Puccini’s La Boheme last spring, followed by Trouble in Tahiti and scenes from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein last September, and then a new concept in January of this year. “Puccini wrote ten operas, and my husband suggested having an actor portray Puccini, telling a bit about his life and how he came to write that opera. Then, one of the four soloists would sing an aria or two from that opera. Puccini: The Man and His Music was very well received, and we’ve had requests for more performances, and we’re considering it.”

Ms. Anelli also appeared at the Home & Garden Show (which this year was all about Italy) and the Little Italy Art Walk. She’s also been on the Good Company local TV program. On her wish list for future productions are Pagliacci, Susannah by Carlyle Floyd, and maybe a costumed, semi-staged Showboat. Other classic American musicals and operettas are also possibilities, and once the Garden concert is past, she’ll put together next season, for an announcement in July. Somewhere down the line, her older son Jonathan is hopeful she’ll do Sweeney Todd. He’s a baritone, and thinks that role would be lots of fun. Mom is somewhat interested, and thinks she’d like to sing the Beggar Woman. Who knows?

Another facet of Opera Per Tutti is Opera Nuova, for new and never-before produced operas. They are being written, but getting a hearing is very difficult. OPT hopes to fill in that gap a bit, too. If funding makes itself available, perhaps there’ll be a competition of sorts, as well.

As for herself? She’d love to portray Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine, or Susannah (in the above mentioned opera by Floyd), or Suor Angelica, or even Guinevere in Camelot. And the biggie? “What soprano doesn’t want to sing Tosca?” she muses. And why not? Puccini’s biggest battle was finding singers who could act. This one revels in the art!

Visit Opera Per Tutti online at http://www.operapertutti.org.

In the spirit of full disclosure: As a nearly-lifelong devotée of opera, I was astonished last fall to hear about a new company with performances scheduled for that very weekend! I called to ask if I could come to review it and was welcomed with open arms. The quality of the production was very impressive, even though it was in a small performing space, with a 20 piece orchestra and minimal sets. The voices and the acting was uniformly superb. I was hooked, and that's how I met Andrea Anelli, founder of Opera Per Tutti. We have since collaborated on one production "Puccini: The Man and His Music" last January, and plan more such ventures. Her story is a fascinating one that I am pleased to share with everyone. -- Kelly Ferjutz

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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