Singing in the New Year: Opera Southwest's NYE Concert features renowned heldentenor Clay Hilley

Opera Southwest is saying farewell to 2024 with its traditional New Year’s Eve concert on Tuesday, Dec. 31.

The performance at the National Hispanic Cultural Center will feature guest singer, heldentenor Clay Hilley, who has been recognized as one of the great American tenors of the 21st century, according to an Opera Southwest news release. Hilley was named the recipient of the 2024 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award, which is presented to an American singer poised on the edge of a major national and international career in hopes the award acts as a catalyst to elevate the artist’s career to greater heights, according to the foundation’s website.

Singing in the New Year: Opera Southwest's NYE Concert features renowned heldentenor Clay Hilley

Hilley is the most famous singer that Opera Southwest has showcased, according to Anthony Barrese, artistic director and principal conductor.

“Clay made his debut with us, I think it was his professional debut in 2015, singing in ‘Aida’ and he has gone on to sing in the biggest opera houses in the world, in Berlin, and Trieste (Italy), in the Bayreuth, at the Wagner Bayreuth festival in Germany,” Barrese said. “He’s just one of the top singers in the world now.”

Barrese decided to contact Hilley to see if he would be part of the New Year’s Eve concert.

“He’s always said, ‘Oh, I started my career in Albuquerque. I’ll come back anytime you guys want me,’” Barrese explained. “And I said, ‘All right, I’m calling in the favor now.’ And he responded.”

There is a heavy Richard Wagner presence in the concert’s repertoire, along with works by Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi and many other recognizable compositions.

“We wanted to play to Clay’s strength, so there’s just this inclusion of a lot of Wagner repertoire towards the end of the concert,” Barrese said.

Hilley’s wife, soprano Sara Duchovnay, will be joining him on stage. Barrese selected the music for the performance based on what the couple preferred to sing.

“We get the singers first and then we pick the repertoire based on what they can do,” Barrese explained. “Since it’s only two people, there’s a lot more reliance on solo, orchestra numbers and choral numbers. And those are the pieces I just picked based on what I think the audience would like.”

There are some instrumental pieces and a few chorus numbers to give Hilley and Duchovnay breaks.

“When you have four singers, people are alternating, they don’t ever sing two things in a row,” Barrese said. “But with two singers, you really have to do a lot of breaking things up in other ways, and that’s where a lot of the chorus and the orchestra are going to do a lot of the heavy lifting.”

The number of performers can range in size from 25 to 50 people between the two choruses of Opera Southwest and the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus, the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and the orchestra, according to Barrese. It mainly depends on who is available for rehearsals and the performance on New Year’s Eve.

“For the rehearsals, typically, I’ll go through the music with the singers and the piano, just to kind of figure out how they’re doing things,” Barrese explained. “Although with the benefit of recordings these days, almost all the stuff that Clay is singing, I have a recording of him singing with some major European orchestras, so I can hear how he does these things, so that time with a piano and singers won’t be as crucial.

“We have about two rehearsals with the orchestra and the singers, and we have a dress rehearsal, and then we go. So it’s pretty quick, unlike an opera, which is about a four-week commitment, this is about a four-day commitment.”

A New Year’s Eve party will follow the performance at 5:30 p.m. at La Fonda del Bosque restaurant located at the NHCC. The limited party tickets are $95 and include a sit-down dinner, wine and a champagne toast.

Rozanna M. Martinez is the arts and entertainment editor of the Albuquerque Journal. You can reach her at rmartinez@abqjournal.com.