The Opera Glasses Podcast

John Fanning: Out of Retirement

• Michael Jones, Elizabeth Bowman • Season 3 • Episode 3

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Prepare to be enchanted by the stories and insights of Canadian baritone John Fanning, a treasured gem in the world of opera. As a recipient of the Ruby Award and a member of the Order of Canada, John shares his remarkable journey from the grandeur of opera stages to a more family-centered life in Waterford, Ontario. We'll uncover his thoughts on transitioning from teaching at the University of Montreal to the joys of retirement, where volunteering and family time now take center stage. Plus, get an insider's view of his thrilling return to the stage as Don Pasquale with Calgary Opera and the unique challenges and triumphs that come with embodying a new role at this stage in his career.

All episodes of The Opera Glasses podcast are hosted by the editor of Opera Canada, currently Michael Jones after Elizabeth Bowman hosted seasons 1 and 2. Follow Opera Canada on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Visit OperaCanada.ca for all of your Canadian Opera news and reviews.

Michael Jones:

Hello and welcome to Opera Glasses, the official podcast of Opera Canada magazine. I'm your host, michael Jones, and I'm pleased to be joined today by one of the biggest names in opera in our country, recipient of a Ruby Award from Opera Canada, which I have to say and a member of the Order of Canada Baritone, john Fanning. John has sung in all of the major Canadian houses as well as across the States, including performances at both San Francisco Opera and the Met. He's currently in rehearsals for a new production of Don Pasquale at Calgary Opera. John, welcome to Opera Classes and thank you for joining us today.

John Fanning:

Thank you, Michael, it's great to be here.

Michael Jones:

Well, it's really wonderful to have you here. I'm pleased to welcome you as we were just chatting about. Off the record, I guess you were one of the singers that was established in quite a young career, just as I was leaving school. So you are somebody that I remember back from the earliest parts of your career, and it's really a pleasure to meet you today.

John Fanning:

Nice to meet you as well.

Michael Jones:

I wanted to begin because there's a couple of things that I wanted to talk about in the first section of the interview. I wanted to begin by reading the sentence about you in the press release from Calgary Opera where they say beloved Canadian baritone, recipient of the Order of Canada, john Fanning, comes out of retirement to star in his role debut as Don Pasquale. Now, I know that you left your teaching work behind at McGill a number of years ago, and so this is, I suppose, what retirement looks like for an artist in Canada. So what does retirement look like for you? Well, retirement.

John Fanning:

You're exactly right. I was at the University of Montreal, not McGill, but yes, that's what I retired from. The career as singer tends to retire from you or tends to retire you and that sort of thing and I had left my agency and that sort of thing and so I was happy to just move on. And you know, we do volunteer work, we do stuff like that. Now my wife and I have enjoyed retirement a lot and I look forward to that again in the future.

Michael Jones:

And are you still based in Montreal?

John Fanning:

No, I was only based there while I sang. We were based in Dundas, Ontario, next to Hamilton, and I guess two and a half years ago we moved down to Waterford, Ontario, which is sort of between Brantford and Simcoe. If you know, we're closer now to Lake Erie than Lake Ontario, so yeah, we're down in that area.

Michael Jones:

That sounds lovely. And what do you do in retirement?

John Fanning:

Well, as I say, we volunteer. Part of the reason that I retired from Montreal was also that the grandkids were starting to come and as the grandkids came, my wife sort of quit coming to Montreal and it was kind of not the ideal situation. It was kind of like my career being on the road. I was on the road, even teaching. So you know, it was nice to get home and to be with family. So we do some babysitting, we do some, you know, driving kids around, things like that. I don't do a whole lot of it, not nearly as much as my wife, especially this month while I'm out here, but we do. I get to take my grandson, matthew, to hockey and things like that, so he's five, and Kate takes Maggie to dance in Waterford. And we have a new grandson over here who's a lovely boy, and so we've got and he's in Waterford as well. So we're delighted, yep.

Michael Jones:

That sounds really quite wonderful Now, but you must still be singing, because Well I am now.

John Fanning:

I didn't do a whole lot of it Sort of Christmas Eve and things like that during the years but I worked right up till COVID, you know, and then, like everybody, it was out of work also because of that, so that was also a good time to break away. I worked the November of 2019 in Newfoundland. They got the rights to do the Phantom of the Opera, so we did a regional thing out there and I adore Newfoundland, so I was very, very happy to be there and the show was really fun 28 years later going back to that, because I did it for two years on the road and then, I think, seven months in Toronto so it was nice to revisit that for sure.

Michael Jones:

That sounds wonderful. So what was it like then?

John Fanning:

going and not just going back to singing and learning, and but learning a brand new role at yeah, that's kind of a skill, you know that that one acquires over a career, and so it was a little bit different. Coming back to that, the singing itself, I I sang through the role um when it was offered, and um through parts of the world at least and things like that to see where it's at. And it's a nice role. It's a little lower sitting than it used to be my roles and so that's sort of taken out of the equation. But there's a ton of words and memory and I thought my memory was still doing all right, so that was okay. And then I sort of went into training this summer with singing and doing a lot of it and trying to get back into shape.

Michael Jones:

So you've been working through the summer getting back into shape for the singing. Now, did you know Don Pasquale at all? Had you sung Malatesta earlier?

John Fanning:

I had sung a couple of things from Malatesta in concerts, you know, once or twice apparently because my score is underlined, and I had taught a young artist some of Don Pasquale, you know, just going through the role and trying to make it work for him and that sort of thing.

Michael Jones:

So other than that, nope, Okay, and was it hard or was it to restart that part of your brain to to actually learn to memorize all of that?

John Fanning:

Yeah, yeah, it was a challenge, we'll say, and it it, you know it still is for a singer, when you do something a lot, you see the page in your mind, you know, and you think, okay, that's that page, it's up in the right hand corner and that took a while to come back and it, you know, thankfully it's, it's coming back now much better and uh, and things like that. But also, just knowing the opera and this is a very busy production of this marvelous piece and a beautiful production I think it's really going to be a lot of fun. I think the audience will love it. But, yeah, thinking ahead to what's the next thing, you know that has sort of slowed down maybe a little bit over the years and uh, so, trying to get that back up to speed, and the cast is terrific. It's, uh, lucia cesaroni and, uh, john tessier and philip addis. So, uh, you know they've all done it before. So, uh, trying to catch up is, uh, it's been interesting I knew that lucia had done it before.

Michael Jones:

She writes, of course, for Opera magazine quite regularly, but she's also back fresh on stage with a brand new baby who I think is about four months at this point, yeah, and he's out here with us, so she's busy, for sure, yeah. And I also know John, I think, and this would date both of us, so maybe I shouldn't tell this for John's, but John and I sang in the National Youth Choir together, which was many, many years ago. He was there as the tenor, I'm guessing, from Alberta.

Michael Jones:

Aha, probably, and I was there as the tenor from Ontario, so we sang together many years ago I'm not going to admit how many. That's right, well, not going to admit how many.

John Fanning:

That's right. Well, it's kind of the same. John and I sang together. I don't know how many either. I think it was Romeo and Juliet, maybe that we did, I think in Saskatoon I mean it's that far gone back. But I think that's the only other time I ever worked with him where Lucia and I did Rheingold together. She was one of the marvelous Rheinmaidens in Victoria a few years ago, and Phil's been a friend for quite a while, but we've never sung together either. So it's great to get with these folks.

Michael Jones:

It's a lovely cast. It sounds like a wonderful cast Now. You said it's a really fun and beautiful production. What can you tell us about this production?

John Fanning:

production. What can you tell us about this production? Well, it's very evocative and you know sort of set in the period of 1950s. Italian cinema so, which I'm not an authority at all, I've seen, you know, some of the movies, but the sets and the hairstyles, the costumes are fantastic. The sets are great. It's going to be not phantom with things flying in and out, but I think it'll be very. It's going to be fun to see how it works on stage, for sure.

Michael Jones:

So if it's, if it's a 1950s Italian film set, then you do. You get to be the dashing older actor, as opposed to the doddering old fool that sometimes John Pasquale is.

John Fanning:

Yeah well, it's excuse to the doddering old fool that sometimes John Pasquale is. Yeah well, it's excuse me, it's kind of the doddering older actor. It's not really a dodderer, I've got to say, but he it's kind of an interesting study. He's wondering about his relevance as the cinema changes and you know, he's still trying to do things.

John Fanning:

Cinema changes and uh, you know, he's still trying to do things and maybe you know whether it's the gestures are too much or too big or old-fashioned, and and so it's that sort of idea and, uh, and it is the uh, you know, the generational thing, both with he and his nephew, obviously, and also he and norina, and uh, and he and himself. You know, am I, can I still be loved at this age? Or, you know, do I still got it? Uh, that sort of thing and uh, yeah, so it's very interesting it's, it's it's lovely how it it works together and how some of those pieces that, um, you know, you hopefully will have a lot of empathy for Don Giovanni, don Pasquale, and you know, because he just is struggling with that and realizes that his life is basically over at some points.

Michael Jones:

Okay, well, that's good, and don't mistakenly sing Mozart when you're there, because that would. So you talk about how beautiful the costume is. Have you, uh, the this the show is? Have you had costume fittings?

John Fanning:

yes, I had one last night and, uh, my shoes are killer.

Michael Jones:

They're uh like three-tone, they're fantastic uh so we should have worn calgary opera to watch out for your shoes, which means they, they're going home.

John Fanning:

But all the costumes are just great and the you know the hairstyles and Lucia looks terrific and with what they've done, we did some photos and movies and things earlier on which will be part of the production. I'm still waiting to see how that all works and so that's interesting. But no, it's. Every costume I've seen are real slick. You know it's. The suits are be part of the production. I'm still waiting to see how that all works. That's interesting. Every costume I've seen are real slick. The suits are beautiful for the guys. It's going to be great.

Michael Jones:

The set. Have you seen anything yet or other than models and sketching?

John Fanning:

Not really. We're still in the rehearsal hall for a couple of days. It looks very, very interesting, for sure.

Michael Jones:

Wonderful. You talked about the idea of you're looking at Don Pasquale as a person who's wondering if he still has it, if he still is relevant. So is that? Does that feel like you at all, as you're going back to work that you haven't done for a number of years?

John Fanning:

Yeah, I think you know. So I've gone also, even when I was still singing, you know, into my 50s or whatever, and all these young artists coming up behind you know, not just baritones, and it's like wow, that's amazing, you know, and that whole thing that's an interesting thing about aging like wow, that's amazing, you know, and that whole thing that's an interesting thing about aging for me is the perspective's terrific, you know, to look back and sort of go, okay, so that's what that meant, or whatever, the aches and pains not so much, but you know, to see how things do change, and you thought, okay, that's what that person told me and that's what meant, or that's what I, you know how I should have behaved and I didn't, or whatever it might be, and, um, yeah, so that's very, very interesting oh, that's no.

Michael Jones:

that sounds like it will bring something of you to to a role, to a role that's often just a broad comedic takedown of the I hope so Good. Well, that sounds really quite wonderful. And so this production opens at the beginning of February, is that right?

John Fanning:

Beginning of June, I think yeah.

Michael Jones:

So go visit calgaryoperacom to get tickets. It sounds like a really wonderful production of Don Pasquale. Are you happy with how you're singing?

John Fanning:

Yeah, for the most part. I mean it's so busy right now that I'm a little bit rough and we're working until now at 10 at night and then getting back up in the morning. So yeah, I wish I had about three days off to let it all come back. So maybe a little more marking in the next couple of days, that sort of thing. But yeah, we've got a day off coming up and I'll probably be very quiet and that sort of thing. But in general, no, I was during the year. I was pretty happy with how things were going, so I felt confident about the voice.

Michael Jones:

Well, that's wonderful. So is there something that's up next for you? Do so is there something that's up next for you. Do you have plans at this point?

John Fanning:

I go home and have a concert pardon me whether you can share them or not. Yeah, yeah, no, I have a concert just about right after this of, um, of songs, of love songs, for sort of valentine's day, and uh, I'm doing that with ariana chris and uh, so that'll be a lot of fun.

Michael Jones:

And then, no, no plans to get back on the stage, and I think you know this will hopefully be a lovely way to sign off or not, because I always talk about retirement for artists in Canada really meaning that we might take fewer gigs but we get to pick and choose the ones that sound really fun to us. Yeah, really meaning that we might take fewer gigs but we get to pick and choose the ones that sound really fun to us.

John Fanning:

Yeah, there's that, and I you know when I say I haven't really sung in that I've done a couple of you know sort of small recitals, that sort of thing, and you know an evening here or there, but in general pretty quiet.

Michael Jones:

Well, and you must have somehow kept the breath moving through the instrument to be able to pick it up again as readily as you have.

John Fanning:

Yeah, yeah, as I say, this year was quite a bit of singing and just trying to get some flexibility back, still looking for some of that and some of the other things one does. But what's interesting to me with this and and in doing this role is that, you know, I sang old guys and I sang a lot of uh comedies, uh, over the years. But I sang, you know, things like danilo or um and uh, mary widow or um, you know, pirate king and those sorts of things which, uh, they still had you high notes or whatever, and were different from this. Whereas and I sang old guys in my 20s, I was a father of, you know, 30 year old tenor when I was 22, or whatever it was you know, and so that was one thing I wanted to look at and that was one of the things that made this so interesting is that, now that I am a guy that's in my seventies, uh, uh, if that's not a secret uh, it's interesting to play a guy that says for a guy in his seventies, you know, uh.

Michael Jones:

Wow, I would not have guessed that you were in your 70s, so great compliments to whoever's doing your work.

John Fanning:

Well, what little kids would say I'm probably 70 and a half.

Michael Jones:

Okay, so you're in your 70s, but it's a barely thing. Where's your recital of Love Songs?

John Fanning:

songs. It's in ancaster, uh yeah, and it's a. There's a new theater there which I haven't seen yet. I haven't been in, uh, and they've um done that, and so, yeah, that'll be um february 11th actually, so which is an easy commute for people in the gta area.

Michael Jones:

So there you go. Should check that out and come down to hear you sing thank you for asking, asking. There's no plans right now, so that we can't tease that audiences in other Canadian cities might hope to get that opportunity to hear you.

John Fanning:

No, I think I've got a feeling this is it. I think my wife has a feeling that this is it. I think she'll be happy for me to get home hopefully.

Michael Jones:

She'll be happy to have you take over some of the driving duty again. Well, it has been a real pleasure to talk with you, john. I am so thrilled to get to meet you. I wish you and the other, john and Lucia and Phil all the best with your opening toy, toy toy, and I hope that we will get more opportunities to hear you. I think what I will go with what mature artists have to bring to their craft, to their understanding of roles, is really important and as long as you are healthy, I think opera companies in Canada should be encouraged to keep pulling you out of retirement.

John Fanning:

Well, you're very kind, I appreciate it and it's been lovely talking to you, michael, thank you, thank you so much.

Michael Jones:

Once again it's been Michael Jones for Opera Glasses podcast. We've been speaking today to John Fanning. We'll be back in a couple, in probably about four to six weeks, with another interview. The next one up, I believe, is Cheryl Hickman from Opera on the Avalon in Newfoundland. So please thank you for joining us today and join us again.