It's Complicated

When I reach the great mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard for our interview ahead of her third starring role at HGO, I decide to ask her right away: what is your opera love story? Her response, while unexpectedly frank, is not surprising. “I have, over these years now, asked myself that question too, because to be brutally honest, I have a love-hate relationship with opera. And I would suspect and hope that I’m not the only one.”  

What Isabel loves: beautiful music. Big love stories. Singing. Dancing. Working with children. “Coming into the theater to be a part of other worlds and other stories,” she says. “You can transport the audience—and, hopefully, yourself—giving those on and off the stage the ability to experience new stories, old stories, delve into them, make discoveries.” 

What she doesn’t love: time away from her son. Mistreatment of young artists who don’t know how to advocate for themselves. “Excellence through fear and browbeating,” she says. “The older I get, the less I agree with it.” 

As she suspects and hopes, Isabel is indeed far from the first to look back on her life, career, and industry and reevaluate some things. In fact, she is part of a wave of change that represents an incredible opportunity. By channeling her hard-won wisdom into her own artistry, as well as that of the next generation, Isabel is coming into her power. 

I tell Isabel that it feels as if Houston has its own love story, with her. Given the intimate and intense relationship she’s established with HGO’s audience, it’s difficult to believe that she made her stunning company premiere, as Charlotte in Werther, less than two years ago. This spring, when she returned to take the stage as Maria in The Sound of Music, HGO felt like her home company. 

That production not only captured Houstonians’ hearts—it became the talk of the entire opera world. I’m curious to know what, in Isabel’s view, made HGO’s The Sound of Music so special. “The kids had a lot to do with it, obviously,” she says. “They were so great, and there was just something so wonderful about having them in that space, because they represented what I think theater should be all the time: the unabashed testing of the waters and getting into your character.” Also, being on set was fun. There was room to play. “The kids in our show were not afraid,” she says. “And I think everyone was really generous with each other. We were all there to tell a story.”  

I ask Isabel about her interpretation of Cinderella’s Angelina, a vocally demanding role for which she has won rapturous acclaim. Her response is revealing: “As a character, she is challenging. It’s one of those roles where you just go, she’s good all the time? (laughs) I think that in the stagings of these operas, we can miss the core of it. It isn’t necessarily, hey, you have to behave sweetly all the time, or shrink in the face of abuse. It’s that she knows that none of what’s going on is against her personally. 

“She happens to be, sadly, a victim of abuse for quite a period. But her inner light is apparent. The prince sees it and falls in love with her. And I think that’s where we see the story. That’s where we understand her. It’s not an accident.” 

Isabel, it occurs to me, is speaking like a director. I can just see her standing off the stage during rehearsal, helping performers unlock what’s really going on—which is thrilling, because that’s exactly what she will soon be doing at HGO. In addition to starring in our mainstage production, Isabel will serve as director of this fall’s Family Day Presents: Cinderella.  

The English-language, family-friendly show, a 90-minute version of the full opera, is not only the first of its kind for HGO, but it will also mark Isabel’s directorial debut. And wonderfully, she already knows what kind of director she wants to be. “After being on the other side of it for so long,” she says, “I’d love to be able to watch and see what people have in them, try to teach and coach it out of them, and create an environment where they feel really, really, really safe to make choices and take risks.” 

It's easy to draw a through-line from the beginning of Isabel’s career to this moment. From the start, she has made it a priority to visit local choirs in the cities she visits, give masterclasses, and connect with young people. Along the way, she became a mother herself. So she has a special understanding of how attending a performance like Family Day Presents: Cinderella can change someone’s life.  

“I have heard so many times from people that their love for opera started when they were a kid,” she says. “The only way to build your audience base is to remember all of the generations that you have to pay attention to. You can’t ignore kids and young people, and then expect them to be interested in the art form later. Most of the time, it’s, I went with my family as a child, and I fell in love with it. And how could you not?”  

Join us for Family Day Presents: Cinderella! November 9 at 11 a.m. IN The Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. Tickets at HGO.org