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Two Metropolitan Opera musicians from Northfield to perform March 4

By Linda Hagan Kvanbeck
February 24, 2003

Opera singer Malin Fritz, a 1987 graduate of St. Olaf College, will return to her alma mater to sing works of Grieg, Mahler and Elgar in a recital March 4 at 8 p.m. Accompanying her on piano will be fellow Northfield native and former schoolmate Kathleen Kelly.

Malin FritzKathleen Kelly
FritzKelly
The performance, to be held in Urness Recital Hall in the Christiansen Hall of Music, is free and open to the public.

The recital is part of a series celebrating the 100th anniversary of the St. Olaf College Music Department. The series features outstanding music alumni.

Fritz, a mezzo-soprano who has received worldwide acclaim, and Kelly became reacquainted four years ago at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as their careers converged -- more than 20 years after their school days in Northfield.

For their local recital, Fritz will sing Edvard Grieg's "Haugtussa Op. 67" (in Norwegian), eight songs; Gustav Mahler's "Ruckert Lieder" (in German), five songs; and Edward Elgar's "Sea Pictures" (in English), five songs. Kelly will accompany her throughout the program.

"We are so excited to present these three huge pieces of late romantic music, all composed within seven years of each other," says Fritz, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif. with her 9-month old daughter, Juliana, and her husband, David Walrod. "It's a demanding, unified romantic program that we have rehearsed during my trips to New York for other performances and rehearsals."

Fritz's roles have included Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore with the Sarasota Opera and the Opera San Jose, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Toledo and Syracuse symphonies, and Verdi's Requiem with the Spokane Symphony. She sang a minor role in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Moses und Aron and is returning for a larger role in this year's production.

Kelly, an accomplished pianist, is employed by the Metropolitan Opera as prompter, coach and assistant conductor to Maestro James Levine, with whom she is collaborating on Berlioz's Les Troyens. She has recently been named head of the Berkshire Opera's apprentice program in Great Barrington, Mass., and has worked on more than 50 productions with the San Francisco and Seattle operas. Kelly lives in New York with her husband, Paul Chuey.

The three other Met Opera regulars who have roots in Northfield are baritone Richard Hobson, tenor Mark Schowalter and pianist Mary Jo Gothmann.

"It was truly a surprise to walk into that Moses und Aron rehearsal and see Malin there," Kelly says. "It's fabulous to work with her and three other musicians from Northfield. Our little town has done pretty well by this country's premier opera house."

Fritz had dreamed of being a "flashy, high soprano" during her years at St. Olaf. But her career took a different direction, as predicted by the late Burr McWilliams, a St. Olaf professor of music and voice from 1961 to 1992.

"During my senior year I had the high soprano role of Fior di Ligi in the first opera produced by St. Olaf, Cosi fan tutte," Fritz recalls. "The low notes in the role came easy for me, and Professor McWilliams surprised me by saying that as my voice matured I would become a mezzo-soprano or contralto. Without discovering opera at St. Olaf, I doubt that I would have my career. It cinched what I wanted to do."

After graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music, Fritz didn't find her career footing until the mid-1990s -- when her vocal instructors agreed with McWilliam's assessment of her voice. "My career has been a voyage of discovery, going from soprano to this earth mother kind of sound for which composers write serious, deeply spiritual music," she explains.

An outgoing woman whom critics have praised for her "spine-chilling acting" and a lower range so "rich you could sail a boat down it," Fritz rarely plays the leading lady. Instead, she seeks out the dramatic roles of Verdi and Mahler -- for "crazy people on the edge," as she puts it -- "with exciting parts that fit my voice."

She did play the leading lady in Carmen for an open-air production in Brussels, Belgium. The singer took flamenco dance and castanet lessons to prepare. "People are hiring me back, which is good, but you can never stand still in a voice career," Fritz says. "Either I'm getting better or getting worse, so I continue to learn new material and look forward to my instrument developing more richness and fullness into my 40s."

Fritz's father, Henry Fritz, was a history professor at St. Olaf from 1958 to 1996. He and his wife, Dolores Fritz, live in Red Wing, Minn. Pianist Kelly also retains local connections. Her parents are Dianne Kelly of Dundas and Bill Kelly of Northfield, and two of her siblings are St. Olaf graduates.

Although Fritz and Kelly were eager to perform at St. Olaf, they had to postpone their recital date three years in a row. "The first year, I had minor surgery," Fritz says. "The next year, Kathy had minor surgery. Then I had a baby. We are happy to be coming back to Northfield."

St. Olaf College is a liberal arts institution that fosters the development of mind, body and spirit. It is a residential college in Northfield, Minn., and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college provides personalized instruction and diverse learning environments, with nearly two-thirds of its students participating in international studies.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.