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Jonathan Tetelman recalls his journey from a nightclub DJ to an international opera star

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In this image provided by the Met Opera, Jonathan Tetelman portrays Ruggero in Puccini's "La Rondine." Tetelman has transformed from nightclub DJ to international opera star. (Karen Almond/Met Opera via AP)

NEW YORK ā€“ Jonathan Tetelman transformed from a nightclub DJ to an international opera star, a music detour that was quite, well, operatic.

He stopped singing in 2011 and mixed music for New York's clubbers at Webster Hall, Pacha, Greenhouse and W.i.P. These days, the 35-year-oldā€™s gigs are at posher places such as Londonā€™s Royal Opera House and the Salzburg Festival.

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His career revived by a transition to tenor from baritone, Tetelman will be featured as Ruggero in a Metropolitan Opera performance of Pucciniā€™s ā€œLa Rondine (The Swallow)ā€ with soprano Angel Blue, televised live to theaters worldwide Saturday. Starting April 26, he sings Pinkerton in ā€œMadama Butterflyā€ opposite soprano Asmik Grigorian in her Met debut.

ā€œI kept saying to people, ā€˜You know, Iā€™m a DJ, but Iā€™m actually an opera singer.' And the more I said it, the more I was like: ā€™Am I really an opera singer?'ā€ Tetelman recalled of his singing sabbatical.

So he gave himself six months.

ā€œI just sold everything. I sold all my equipment. All my speakers, all my turntables ā€” everything ā€” and just focused,ā€ he said.

Born in Chile, Tetelman was adopted at about 7 months and grew up in Hopewell Township, New Jersey. He got a degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2011 and considered himself a baritone.

Tetelman moved on to the Mannes School of Music for a graduate program where he was told his upper register was his future but struggled with even audition standards. Overcome with frustration, he headed to the downtown nightlife scene in 2013.

ā€œIt just wasnā€™t ā€” it wasnā€™t clicking. I threw it all away,ā€ he said.

After concluding that club life wasnā€™t a future, Tetelman began listening to recordings of Luciano Pavarotti, Enrico Caruso, Franco Corelli and Jonas Kaufmann to understand how they used their voices. Working with Mark Schnaible and Patricia McCaffrey, a husband-and-wife vocal coach team, he began building his tenor technique in 2015.

ā€œThis young man is wildly talented,ā€ Schnaible said.

By his mid-20s, Tetelman thought himself too old for professional training programs, so he found an agent. He sang Eisenstein in Johann Strauss IIā€™s ā€œDie Fledermaus (The Bat)ā€ at the Martina Arroyo Foundationā€™s young artists program in 2016. He then paid a few hundred dollars to attend an open call casting audition. That led to the role of Rodolfo in Pucciniā€™s ā€œLa BohĆØmeā€ at the Fujian Grand Theatre in China in 2017.

He was hired for ā€œBohĆØmeā€ in November 2018 at the English National Opera, where all performances are in English.

Tetelman prepared by singing in ā€œLa Boheme Warholaā€ ā€” an adaptation of the classic that shifts to Andy Warholā€™s The Factory studio ā€” with Pittsburgh Festival Opera at the Falk Auditorium, a 360-seat school theater. Around the same time, agent Alan Green arranged for Tetelman to take over Rodolfo for a concert performance at the Boston Symphony Orchestraā€™s Tanglewood Festival after Piotr Beczała withdrew to replace Roberto Alagna at the Bayreuth Festivalā€™s ā€œLohengrin.ā€

That raised Tetelmanā€™s profile before he headed to the London Coliseum for the revival of Jonathan Millerā€™s 2009 staging, a key accelerant of his career.

"The production and the theater are wonderful. ā€˜La BohĆØmeā€™ in English is disgusting,ā€ Tetelman recalled vividly.

A dashing 6-foot-4 with dark hair and a wide smile, he became an in-demand singer for Puccini.

ā€œHe has a very solid top. When he sings soft, which I always encourage, especially in the very intimate moments, thereā€™s a tenderness,ā€ conductor Speranza Scappucci said.

On the night of Tetelmanā€™s Met debut on March 26, an audience member tossed a bouquet he caught on the fly.

"Heā€™s certainly a very, very charismatic presence and the audiences are responding,ā€ Met general manager Peter Gelb said.

Tetelman made his Salzburg Festival debut last summer in Krzysztof Warlikowskiā€™s ā€œMacbeth.ā€ The staging opened in an obstetricianā€™s office with children wearing black and yellow patches warning of radiation.

ā€œYou had to be on like mushrooms or something to really understand it,ā€ Tetelman said, quickly adding, ā€œIt was one of the most amazing experiences Iā€™ve had. ... I think working with him was actually a really inspiring moment for me.ā€

Future roles include Turiddu in Mascagniā€™s ā€œCavalleria Rusticanaā€ and a title role in Saint-SaĆ«nsā€™ ā€œSamson et Dalilaā€ along with the heavier Puccini parts of Dick Johnson in ā€œLa Fanciulla del West (Girl of the Golden West)ā€ and des Grieux in ā€œManon Lescaut.ā€ Heā€™d like to take on Straussā€™ Apollo in ā€œDaphneā€ and Bacchus in ā€œAriadne auf Naxos" one day.

ā€œIā€™m trying to book actually less and less Puccini just because Iā€™ve booked so much,ā€ Tetelman said.


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