Kenilworth went up an octave last May when world-class opera tenor Michael Hendrick and his family moved into the subdivision.

Meet Your Neighbor: World Class Opera Tenor Moves Into Kenilworth

by Robert Mathews, Editor

Kenilworth Neighbors, Jan/Feb 2002

Michael’s wife Nancy is a Baton Rouge native, and the Hendrick family (which includes a two-year-old named George Hugh Hendrick) spends part of the year in the Manhattan apartment.  Mostly, however, there is lots of travel from one performance venue to another.  “Then when I am home for a couple of months,” said Michael, “and I stay completely away from singing, the neighbors begin asking ‘Does this guy ever work?’”

But work it is for the singer/performer moving through a rushed schedule of practices and performances in more than a dozen cities in a single season with stays lasting from four days to two weeks.  Much of his singing is in Italian, French or German, but he performs in opera roles in Russian and Czech as well.

“There’s a lot of preparation involved,” he said.  “You have to understand not only how to pronounce the language, but you have to know what you are saying, and you are singing it.  You need to be able to communicate in that language to the extent that you can touch the hearts of people who are watching you who know the language fluently.”

Nancy May Teach Singing

Nancy Hendrick’s parents are D.R. and Jimmie Carol Atkinson of Magnolia Woods.  Nancy had her own musical career as a Manhattan School of Music-trained singing before deciding to become a stay-at-home mom.  “When I met Nancy she taught piano and voice to children in New York City,” said Michael.  “Nancy’s first love is teaching.  She had 25-30 students and a waiting list of 15 more.  The kids loved her.”

Nancy wants to begin teaching again, perhaps here in Baton Rouge, when baby George is a little older.  She might also begin singing for weddings and funerals on a free-lance basis, as she did in New York.

“We met in New York City while I was performing a lead tenor role in ‘Iolanta,’ which is a Russian opera by Tchaikovsky,” said Michael.  “She was in the young artist program of that opera company.  Nancy has a beautiful soprano voice.”

Success Was Not Easy

Michael’s success in the opera world is the result of many years of training and hard work.  In addition to his undergraduate degree from Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia, the native Georgian holds a master of music degree in voice and an artist diploma in opera performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

The nine years of training prepared him for his career, but success followed after much more work and dedication.

“You have to build a reputation for yourself,” he said.  “When you go to work for a company you have to be as professional as you can.  Your attitude and character help a lot, but also your talent and how good you are – all those things enter into whether you are hired back to that company.  You have to build a name for your yourself out there in order to generate more and more income.  It took four years after graduate school to get to where I was actually working all year long and making a living.”

The Global Stage

Michael said to be truly successful internationally he has had to be ready to go wherever, whenever.  “I’m sort of an independent contractor.  You sing for a company, and if they’re interested, they will say, ‘Can you be in Strasbourg next month to do this role?’  If you’re available, you do it.  Really, it’s just a global stage.  You can go to Portugal or Germany or Switzerland; it does not matter where it is.  If there is an opera company, and they are willing to hire you, you go.”

Companies he has worked with, and will work with in the future, include Lyric Opera of Chicago; San Francisco Opera; New York City Opera; Santa Fe Opera; Seattle Opera (2004); and Paris Opera (2005).  The Washington Opera named Michael their Artist of the Year for 2001.

“An opera company can’t afford to have performances all year long,” he said.  “So they will have performances just in the spring, or just in the winter or summer.  I go to various opera companies and sing with them during their season.  You’re not hired for years.  You’re usually hired for two weeks, or maybe as much as two months.”

Of Mice and Men

In recent years Michael has found something of a niche singing the demanding role of Lennie in Carlisle Floyd’s opera created from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.  “It’s a very exciting story, and I’ll never get tired of doing it.  But it is also an exhausting role.  Lennie gets beat up in one scene.  He kills Curley’s wife in another scene.  He’s hardly ever offstage as well.  It’s one of the more tiring roles I’ve ever done.  It keeps me in good shape.”

Interestingly, Michael said he and Nancy love living in Kenilworth.  “We participated in Luminaries the other night for the first time, and it was a blast.  And we really enjoyed the 4th of July Parade in the summer.

“This is a great place to live, and we feel very fortunate to be here.”

Of course, Michael has not had an opportunity to meet many of his neighbors yet, but he says he is looking forward to that.  Hopefully, he will still be pleased to be here, once he gets to know the rest of us.

Meanwhile, if you want to meet Michael up front and personal, try going to www.michaelhendrick.com.