Soprano, a Sox fan, takes the lead in 'Clemenza'

Soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer left Bountiful, Utah, after high school in 1998, and came to Massachusetts, headed for the Boston Conservatory. Shortly thereafter, she experienced a profound conversion.

She became, she says, ``a serious, serious Red Sox fan."

She even sang the national anthem at a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. They lost, she adds ruefully, although Pedro Martinez was pitching.

Now married and a resident of New York, where her baseball allegiance stays mostly under wraps, Harmer has returned to Boston for a lead role in the Opera Boston production of Mozart's ``La Clemenza di Tito," opening tomorrow at the Cutler Majestic Theatre . And she says that another Martinez performance -- in the catastrophic seventh game of the 2003 American League Championship Series against the Yankees -- taught her an important lesson.

``My heart was broken when they lost that series because Pedro kept pitching," says Harmer, 27. ``There are times when you have to let someone else shine. I learned a very valuable lesson from Pedro Martinez. Had he let a relief pitcher come in in time, they could have won that series, I really think so.

``There are times in this opera when despite the fact that I have a higher note, someone else is singing the melody. You gotta back off then. It would be nice to take all the glory for having the highest, prettiest note, but it's not the melody."

In ``Clemenza," Harmer plays Vitellia , a woman who believes herself betrayed and resorts to the most drastic form of revenge. Tenor Paul Austin Kelly stars as Emperor Tito , whose choice among three women sets off her rage.

Vitellia ``is this unbelievable combination of Scarlett O'Hara, Bette Davis, and Imelda Marcos. She's so unbelievably power-hungry. She's got that crazy streak," Harmer says during a recent break from rehearsals at a church hall in Watertown.

When Harmer began preparing for the role last spring, she watched a lot of Bette Davis movies, plus ``Mommie Dearest" and ``Sunset Boulevard," to get in the mood.

``Vitellia is a woman who feels she's been wronged, so much so that she is willing to have someone killed." It takes her the whole opera to see the error of her ways, Harmer notes. And that wide emotional range is reflected in the music.

``It's been an interesting fit," she says. ``Of all the characters in the opera, she has the greatest vocal range. She sings very, very low at the end of the opera, down to a low G, which is unusual for a soprano role this late in the opera, but she also sings up to a high D. It's a huge range, and I think Mozart wrote it that way to show that she is not entirely balanced."

Harmer seems like just another member of the cast as the members block scenes in the chilly church hall. Sipping hot tea and wearing an ankle-length sweater, she joins a costar and a production staffer when they pile onto a prop bed together to keep warm during one discussion.

``Do you want me to do anything when I walk out onstage, other than be impressed with how beautiful I am?" she asks the director. ``And then I do the Miss America wave?"

Harmer was a mezzo at the Conservatory, calls herself a ``full lyric" soprano now, and says she expects to evolve into a dramatic soprano. ``You get a little older, you get a little more meat in your voice, you get a little less cautious," she says. Dainty little high-voiced victim roles are definitely not on her agenda. ``It's not my voice, but more importantly, it's not my temperament. I'd like to do a lot of Vitellias."

Opera Boston music director Gil Rose , who conducts ``Clemenza," says of Harmer, ``She's got a real bite down low, and she's got power, and she can switch. And then when she's up high, her voice is impressive. Strong and colorful, and it's got a real sheen to it and it moves well. She's got a hell of an instrument. She's got a big career in front of her. Because she's got what people need in bigger houses, a big voice that isn't just loud. . . . She's also pretty smart about using it."

For that she can thank a fine education, first at the Conservatory and now in the exclusive three-year Lindemann Young Artists Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In each case, she says, the education has been not only musical.

At the Conservatory, for instance, "we had a `business of singing' seminar which I remember very well, and somebody making the comment . . . that you need to get a creative board of directors. You're a company. Get 10 or 12 people you trust completely, get them on your board of directors, and go to them when you need advice."

Of course most students probably don't have names as big as Marilyn Horne on their "board," as Harmer does.

She's now in her third year of the intensive Lindemann program, which includes everything from language and acting studies to having program advisers attend her auditions and out-of-town performances.

There are also regular auditions with Maestro James Levine, and even performances at the Met: In 2005-06, she sang in "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Parsifal" .

"I love that house," Harmer said. "I really love singing at the Met. For as big of a space as it is, it feels surprisingly intimate when you're onstage."

As for Levine, she says, "He's incredibly fun to work with because if you get something right, he just is so thrilled."

Opera Boston presents "La Clemenza di Tito" at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, tomorrow, Sunday, and Tuesday. For tickets, call 800-233-3123 or visit telecharge.com.