Girindra Selleck -- Articles from the Press

Fairfield Weekly Reader article, June 29, 2006

Floating on an operatic cloud
in Mozart’s Magic Flute

“Floating on a cloud 20 feet above the stage is really fun!” exclaims 10-year old Fairfielder Girindra Selleck, First Spirit in the Des Moines Metro Opera professional production of Mozart’s Magic Flute. “But singing the arias with the other two Spirits and with Pamina and Papageno is even more fun – since the Spirits get to save both of them from committing suicide!”

Girindra, a homeschooler, just completed his first performances in DMMO’s professional production of Mozart’s opera at Simpson College campus in Indianola, Iowa. He is one of three boys who guide the main characters of the opera towards safety, higher knowldege and enlightenment. More details and photos of the opera are posted at http://girindraselleck.blogspot.com.

Girindra won the role of First Spirit after auditioning in February and has been intensively rehearsing the intricate 3- or 4-part harmonies of Mozart’s arias ever since with Andrew Bartlett and Jonathan Beatty, the two other Spirits. DMMO founder Dr. Robert Larsen and voice coach Dennis Hendrickson directed the boys in Indianola prior to the rehearsals that began last month with the full cast, most of whom auditioned in New York or Chicago for their parts.

“All the singers are experienced professionals and I learn a lot just watching them and especially singing with them” Girindra explains. “The trickiest and longest aria is with Pamina (Talise Trevigne), where the Three Spirits snatch away her dagger and reassure her that Tamino (Eric Fennel) still loves her. But I like the shorter aria with Papageno (John Moore) because he is so funny. That’s the role I want to sing when I’m older!”

Although this is Girindra’s first professional opera appearance, he comes from a musical and theatrical family: His mother, Ulrike Selleck, was featured as Katisha in Rodney Franz’s 2004 production of The Mikado; his grandmother sang and teaches opera voice professionally in Germany; and his father teaches mime and movement as a guest instructor at MUM and theatre games for the local homeschoolers.

On one level, The Magic Flute is delightful fairy tale, but the underlying Masonic symbolism is rich in allusion to the process of initiation into the path of knowledge and the achievement of higher wisdom. (For more details, go to: http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/magflute/flutetxt.html or http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/mozart_a/TheMagicFlute.html )

Performances are Friday June 30, 7:30 pm; Saturday July 8, 7:30 pm; Thursday, July 13, 7:30 pm and Sunday July 16, 2 pm at Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. Ticket information: www.dmmo.org or 515 961 6221.

Opera taking Fairfield boy to new heights

Fairfield Ledger 06/23/2006
By Lacey Jacobs, Ledger staff writer

Ten-year-old Girindra Selleck of Fairfield has his head in the clouds -- literally, as the First Spirit in Des Moines Metro Opera's production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute." "The Magic Flute" opens tonight at Simpson College in Indianola, and with two other young spirits, Girindra will make his debut entrance in a professional production flying in on a cloud.

"We just basically guard and show the way of the other people," Girindra said of the role of the three spirits who are kind of like guardian angels.

Having grown up in a family of performers, his father having a background in theater and his mother in opera, Girindra was exposed to opera at an early age and has always liked it.
Girindra's mother said he's always singing or humming at home whether he's completing school work or playing with toys.

When Girindra's father first saw the ad for auditions, Girindra said he didn't want to do it, then he wavered back and forth and finally, in the last minute he decided to do it. He auditioned in late February and was given a call-back where he and the other two boys to first sing the roles together were ultimately cast in the show.

The three spirits sing four arias throughout the course of the opera and face the challenge of breaking into song after having sat silently on their cloud. Girindra also had to learn the skill of acting on stage while always maintaining an eye on the conductor for cues.

"Performing on stage, rehearsing, basiclly being with the other people because it feels like one big family," Girindra said are the things he likes about opera and theater. "And of course, it's nice to get applause from the audience and feedback."

When Girindra and the other two spirits aren't on stage, they are backstage in a room for those with pricipal roles, playing cards until it's time for their entrances. And because the show is in Indianola, the opera provides them with an apartment, so when he's not in rehearsal, Girindra said they just have fun and watch movies.

While this is Girindra's first involvement in a major production, he has previously performed in "The Nutcracker," "The Mikado," "Phalad's Boon" and in a national television commercial. He studies voice, acting and stage fighting.

"When I get older, I want to be a movie actor and opera singer," he said. His dream rolel is Papageno in 'The Magic Flute" because it's funny. It's about the only funny role in all of opera," he said.

According to Girindra and his parents, "The Magic Flute" is not performed very often because it is difficult to find three boys who have the right look and sound for the three spirits for whom the the show is written. It is one of the last operas written by Mozart. The show has an elaborate set and costumes and a cast of approximately 70. The Des Moines Metro Opera has been producing operas for more than 30 years and puts on three or four shows during a season.

Graceful 'Magic Flute' kicks off Metro Opera's 34th season
Des Moines Register article, June 26, 2006
By ROBERT C. FULLER
SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER

Mozart's whimsical "The Magic Flute" is one of the most popular operas ever written.

Since its first performance in Vienna in the fall of 1791 a few months before Mozart's death at the age of 36, it has been produced again and again by opera companies around the world to such an extent that it has never left the opera stage.

With a strange, complex and fantastic plot, full of both Masonic symbolism and heartfelt humanity, it brims with some of the most beautiful music ever written.

So it comes as no surprise that the Des Moines Metro Opera chose to open it 34th season Friday night with this beloved masterpiece.

In fact, the DMMO has produced this work in two previous seasons, the first in 1975 and most recently in 1988.

Its popularity is attested to by the fact that all tickets to every performance this season were sold before the first performance Friday evening in the Blank Performing Arts Center at Simpson College.

This production, both staged and conducted by Robert L. Larsen, is charming, elegant and flowing. It is well-paced, visually stunning and a pleasure to the ear.

Soprano Talise Trevigne is brilliant as Pamina. Beautiful, demure and gloriously voiced, she sings with grace and intelligence and acts with great sureness.

From San Francisco, she is new to Des Moines audiences. Hopefully she will become a regular here, for she is destined to create a loyal following.

Pennsylvania tenor Eric Fennell returns to Des Moines as a handsome and elegant Tamino. He sings with radiance and acts with assurance.

But it is not the star-crossed lovers most of the audience come to see, but Papageno, the bird catcher.

Comic, poignant and full of human frailties, this is one of the most-loved roles ever created for the operatic stage.

Simpson College alumnus and Milford, Ia., native John Michael Moore is wonderful as this exotic character.

He sings with a rich baritone of beauty and finesse. It is no wonder this young singer recently was named a finalist in the coveted Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition and will be singing at that renowned house in New York in the fall.

California soprano Anna Vikre returns to sing the wickedly difficult coloratura of the Queen of the Night with fire and impeccable technique.

Bass Kevin Maynor is regal and resonantly-voiced as Sarastro. He speaks as well as he sings and makes even his spoken dialogue near the beginning of Act 2 noteworthy.

Travis Richter, another Simpson product, is hilarious as he romps through his role as Monostatos, Tony Dillon is well-voiced as the Speaker of the Temple and Melanie Long is charming as Papagena.

Finally Courtney Ames, Janara Kellerman and Cindy Sadler are rightfully comic and fine-voiced as the three Ladies in Waiting, while the three youngsters, Girindra Selleck, Andrew Bartlett and Jonathan Beatty, are assured well beyond their years as the Spirits.

The simple but elegant sets are designed by R. Keith Brumley and beautifully lighted by Barry J. Steele.

Together with lavish and beautiful costumes by Linda Cho and Susan Memmott-Allred, this production is as ravishing to see as to hear.

Friday night's performance was dedicated to Anne Larson, the talented mezzo-soprano, who died last week.

For more information go to http://www.girindraselleck.com/