'Pelléas et Mélisande' brings royal intrigue to Santa Fe Opera

“Pelléas et Mélisande” is a love triangle of royal dimensions.

Golaud, grandson of King Arkel, falls in love and marries the mysterious Mélisande. His half-brother Pelléas falls for Mélisande as well.

Not seen at the Santa Fe Opera since 1977, Claude Debussy’s symbolist masterpiece opens on Saturday, July 15. The production stars mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Mélisande.

Praised for her “luscious” voice and “distinctive … vividly dramatic” performances by Opera News, Hankey has established herself as one of the leading young mezzo-sopranos of her generation.

A native of Marshfield, Massachusetts, she embraced her passion for music from an early age.

“I started in a local production of ‘Annie’ when I was 6 years old,” Hankey said in a telephone interview. “I was just in the chorus, but I loved it.”

She asked her parents for voice lessons and they complied. Hankey was soon singing in the Boston Children’s Chorus. She attended the distinguished Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and pursued pre-college vocal training at the Longy School of Music and the New England Conservatory.

She’s a graduate of the Juilliard School.

“I always knew I wanted to be a performer,” Hankey said. “Part of it is, oddly enough, this kind of safe space; transforming into a character and saying things I can’t say in everyday life.”

Mélisande is a complicated character.

“It’s a complete blank canvas,” Hankey said. “You could do it in a million ways. She’s just so strange. We’re not playing her as this wide-eyed damsel in distress. She escaped a traumatic situation. We know that she lies; that’s the mystery of Mélisande. It gives us so much freedom to create.”

Debussy’s music threads recitative with art songs, she added.

“The music is quite difficult; it’s quite ethereal,” Hankey said. “The characters don’t say much. The things we’re trying to say are all in the orchestra. We’re not good at expressing our feelings in this show.”

The opera marks Hankey’s Santa Fe debut, which has provided some vocal challenges.

“I love it. It’s really beautiful here,” she said. “It’s a little dry, but it’s so worth it.”

She’s drinking water, using saline spray, humidifiers and lozenges to ward off the dehydration. She says it reminds her of coping with the Santa Ana winds in San Diego.

Her next role is with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Santuzza in “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni.

“I live out of my suitcases,” she explained. “I love what I do, and it’s part of the job.”

Netia Jones is directing and designing “Pelléas et Mélisande.” She recently directed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The opera also stars baritone Huw Montague Rendall. Santa Fe Opera Music Director Harry Bicket will conduct.