Singin' in the Snow

Dawson Creek is not usually considered a hotbed of high falutin’ arts and culture. The perception about folks in Dawson Creek is that when they talk about classical music, they mean songs like “High Friends in Low Places,” “Achy Breaky Heart,” or maybe a little old-time AC/DC.

Or at least, that’s the stereotype. Which is why -- from an outsider’s point of view -- it might seem odd that the whole town was abuzz with excitement for yesterday’s performance by opera superstar Ben Heppner at Unchagah Hall, a 600-seat theatre space attached to South Peace Secondary High School. It’s not the Met (where, incidentally, Heppner will be performing after he finishes this current tour), but it’s the biggest performance space in Dawson Creek.

While the preconception about Dawson Creek dress might be gumboots and overalls, there were none in sight at last night's performance, which was sold out from nearly the moment it was announced. It's the first of a seven-city tour through B.C. that avoids the typical performance digs (like the Chan Centre at UBC, where Heppner sang last time he was here) in favour of smaller cities and venues, including the Sagebrush Theatre in Kamloops and the White Rock Baptist Church.

Why here? Simply put, Heppner is Dawson Creek’s favourite son. He spent much of his formative years here, and while Heppner was born in Langley, went to university at UBC and now resides in Ontario, Dawson Creek has claimed the international superstar as its own, even naming a street after him the last time he came back. He’s a hometown heldentenor: one of the most dramatic and sought after voices on the opera stage today.

Heppner tries to fit in a performance in Dawson Creek whenever he’s back this way (once every four or five years), but when his friend George Zuckerman came up with the idea of doing a tour of some smaller centres, he jumped on board. “People in Dawson Creek or Vernon or Kamloops are not able to get out to the opera very often” since it often only plays in larger cities. “It may even be a once in a lifetime thing. I thought it was easier for me to go to them as opposed to having them come to me.”

While the timing is not ideal (“Somebody slap me upside the head for scheduling an appearance in Dawson Creek in the heart of winter”), it is the most convenient for his schedule. And the weather is surprisingly balmy for early January, just below the freezing mark. Rather than hiding out indoors (as he was planning on doing), Heppner spent the day giving the royal tour to his assistant and accompanist, taking them to his old home in nearby Doe River (though the house is no longer there), and to see the famous Mile Zero post (which is also not there, replaced instead by a Christmas tree).

Heppner’s warm, folksy charm on stage and in person is at odds with the stereotype of the operatic diva. He talked to The Tyee a few days before his performance, and he had much to say about how his early Dawson Creek experiences formed him into the person and the tenor that he is.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation.

On Ben Heppner mythology

“I started in Dawson Creek in Grade 7 as a trumpet player. When I went back in 1994, everyone told me they remembered me playing the tuba, which I did, maybe twice. There were also all sorts of stories about how I used to go to the Kiwanis Musical Festival every year and clean up. It’s interesting they remember that, because I entered once, as a trumpet player, and I lost: pretty badly, too, as I recall.

“It’s interesting how there’s this entire mythology that has developed. What’s that great Yogi Bera quote? ‘I didn’t say all those things I said.’

“I’ve also had people walk up to me and tell me: ‘You were not very good back then.’ Some people feel this urge to tell you that.”

On opera divas

“If you'd met my wife, you’d know how I keep from falling into the diva stereotype. Karen keeps me very grounded.

“Also, I’ve never forgotten from whence I came. I consider it an enormous strength to be from rather humble roots. I’m very content to be this way, but a bit of a shock to some people who are expecting the diva routine. But quite frankly, it’s too much work.

“I have a feeling that it also has something to do with the Germanic music that I sing, which is pretty darn difficult, and it takes all your expertise to make it happen. That’s the challenge. It’s not whether you can outwit the soprano, or get a bigger applause than somebody else. It’s about the music, and how well did I do today versus the music, because the challenges of Wagner are so enormous.

“I don’t know of many divas in the Wagnerian world. I do know a few who sing other repertoire, like French and Italian. I hear about them from, for example, the dressers who work for me at the Met. They’ll say, ‘Oh, you won’t believe what happened yesterday...’ and they’ll tell me a story about another singer, and we have a little laugh about it, and that’s where it ends.”

On his roots

“I was born in Langley, and we moved to Clayhurst, across the river (from Dawson) in 1958. Then after I burned the house down, we moved to Doe River, just past Rolla, then Dawson Creek, where I had eight formative years.

“After I graduated, I went off to Bible College for one year and university for five years. Church was one of the areas where I learned how to put one foot in front of another.

"And I sang in churches. My singing also comes from having a family that is a singing family: we sang for fun.”

On his start

“When I was 16, the high school drama teacher heard me at one of these church community concerts, and she strong-armed me into singing at the high school Christmas program. Well, it freaked the living daylights out of me. I sang unpopular church music that these kids had no idea about. I didn’t think that was going to be very popular. I sang some Christmas piece -- I think it was Ring The Bells -- and I was not at all expecting the response of my classmates. They rooted and cheered for me. I was shocked. I didn’t know how to handle the applause. That was the beginning of me performing in more public ways.

“That said, I’m not the type that needs to be applauded and feed off the adulation. That’s not me at all. But the response from my classmates gave me the courage to take the next step. I wanted to go on and be a music teacher, because that’s the only way I had seen people make a living from music, except for country and western bands, and I really didn’t embrace country and western music. So, I didn’t see any other way to do it. When I got to university, I started discovering the possibilities that did exist.”

On why he’s not touring the bars, singing ‘Achy Breaky Heart’

“Thankfully, there is grace in one’s life. I never embraced that kind of stuff. I was a singer of hymns and church songs. Singing in bars didn’t occur to me.

“I wanted to be a music teacher, but I kind of got sidetracked as I was studying. People kept telling me, 'Oh you should sing for professor so-and-so.' I didn’t know why I should, but I did, and pretty soon I ended up in the performance program at UBC. I really wasn’t aware that was leading me away from teaching, but for that I’ve been eternally grateful. I don’t think I’d be a very good high school teacher.”

On whether opera and faith can coexist

“Have you read scripture recently? There’s a lot of [opera-style stories] in there. For example, in the story of Herodious, the wife of Herod has a thing for John the Baptist, so Salome dances and the reward that she asks for is the head of John the Baptist on a platter. That kind of stuff is throughout scripture. The idea of Faust, with Mephistopheles, or the Devil, gets its start from scripture. People don’t think of it that way, but the stories come from everyday life.”

On why he sings 'darn difficult' Wagner

“I like to put food on the table. There’s a great demand for my voice in the Wagnarian and German thing, so I kinda go with it. Saying that, I do love the music, so it’s not a mercenary thing.”

On Heppner’s next big thing...

“The Aix-en-Provence Festival in France is doing the Ring Cycle one opera at a time. This last year, they did Das Rheingold. This coming year they’re doing Die Walküre. I’m going to go there and say hello, because the following summer, the summer of 2008, I do my first Siegfried on stage. Everyone’s been waiting for this one, apparently.

“But I’ve waited for two reasons. One, is that it takes up a lot of your time to do the Ring Cycle, with endless rehearsals, it seems. And once you start doing the Ring, that’s all anyone ever asks you to do. So between that and the inordinate amount of time it demands from your schedule, I’ve left it to a later part of my life when my kids are grown.

“There’s a legacy issue to look at. If I’m going to be considered one of the main dramatic tenors of the age, I should probably tackle more of the Wagner than I have. This is a natural one for me, because it’s quite high, which is what I’ve specialized in. It fits my voice better. It’s a good time for me. The kids are out of the house.”

Do you ever get the urge to go back to your roots?

"The roots are a simpler life. Do I wish I only sang in churches? No, I like the fact that I am tested on a daily basis with the talents that I am given. I test it against the best in the world, and I have to say there’s an enormous fulfillment in that. I don’t expect I would want to go back to that. But a simpler life, that would be nice."

Listen to this:

• Audio clips here and here
• Video clips here

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