Christine Goerke Profile

Christine Goerke in rehearsal for Elektra at SF Opera

Photo: Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera

Whew, my profile of soprano Christine Goerke was published yesterday at San Francisco Classical Voice, five days after I filed it. It is around 2,000 words and could easily have been longer; between the interview transcript and a subsequent follow-up, I had around 8500 words to turn into a story, and an interview with Christine Goerke practically writes itself because she has a lot to say and it is all extremely interesting if you are into opera. Also, she is hilarious. I could have written a lot more, because, well, so much of interest.

I did not write the tag line ("The charming soprano sings the challenging title role of San Francisco Opera's Elektra"), which I would have put a little differently: "The extremely funny, smart, powerhouse soprano, etc."

What little she said about the SF Elektra production was pretty intriguing (and I should have this gotten into the profile):

Me: So what is different about this production? It's very psychological and a teeny tiny bit has been released by the opera saying something about a museum and a woman who is there after hours.

CG: Yes. (Pause) (laughter from both of us)

Me: OK.

CG: No, but it is. I really want to make sure I don't give away too much. As you would expect it has to do with some of the familial relationships and the toll they take on every life. It's not necessarily looking just at this title character. You can really see more about how the toll of the entire thing, the toll that it has taken on the entire family. I could tell you how but I think they might have to fire me and I still have to pay for Catholic school [for her daughters].

Me: I understand but I don't think that they can fire you. (laughter)