BARITONE Michael Honeyman is a veteran of Opera Australia’s “Opera on the Harbour”, but he’s never sung the role of Germont before.

That’s because, with his blonde haired, blue-eyed looks, he’s always been considered too young to play the part of Alfredo’s father in the tragic opera, “La Traviata”, where “Papa” Giorgio Germont plays such a pivotal role.

Honeyman alternates the role with José Carbó and very nearly got to sing it this time last year, until, after their final rehearsal, they were told it had to close because of covid.

“Every love story has to have an obstacle,” Honeyman says.

“Papa Germont forms a really important part of the story, as he is the catalyst who makes true love difficult.”

Briefly, for those not familiar with “La Traviata”, Alfredo Germont has fallen in love with the brilliant but very ill Parisian courtesan Violetta and she reciprocates his passion. By Act Two, they have decamped to the country, where they’re living in unwedded bliss until Alfredo’s father turns up to assert that the scandal of his relationship will impact upon the future of his younger sister.

In the famous aria, “Pure As An Angel, God Gave Me A Daughter”, he explains to Violetta the likely future of an innocent young girl, but her response takes him aback and remorse sets in.

“That’s a fabulous aria,” Honeyman says, and it’s followed by an even more stunning duet with Violetta, “Tell The Young Girl, So Beautiful And Pure”, where Germont ends up kissing her forehead before leaving her.

“For an actor, it’s the big scene with Violetta that shows him up as a complex character, where empathy is mixed with moral uprightness.”

In justification of Germont, he points out that he’s the one who instigates the deathbed reunion between Alfredo and Violetta that brings the opera to its sad conclusion.

Honeyman has been considering the implications of the part, which contrasts concerns for family with natural humanity, and he’s sure that what makes this pivotal scene particularly moving for audiences is the way the two characters interact.

Even on the huge outdoor stage in Sydney Harbour, that scene with soprano Stacey Alleaume as Violetta will resonate as one of the high points of the evening, even if it doesn’t rate the fireworks likely to accompany the “Brindisi” drinking song.

At just under 50 and at the height of his powers as a baritone, when that register just begins to show maturity and colour in the sound, Honeyman is hopeful of a long career.

“I started singing professionally late in my mid-30s, so that’s a hopeful indicator of longevity,” he says.

It’s an old joke that the baritone never gets the girl, but while that’s not always true, some of the really meaty parts go to baritones.

Honeyman, a graduate of the ANU School of Music where he studied with legendary teacher Anthea Moller, has made his name as a specialist in the dramatic baritone roles of Verdi and Puccini, also receiving a Helpmann Award in the category of Best Male Performer in an Opera for the title role in “Wozzeck” for OA during 2019.

This is his fourth “Opera On The Harbour”, the last one having been “Carmen”, in which he got the big, show-stopping number as Escamillo the toreador, so he understands the challenges in making intimate scenes like those in “La Traviata” big enough for an audience of up to 5,000 people.

Of course, the voices are enhanced by microphones but in this revival, directed by Constantine Costi, after the original production by Francesca Zambello, set designer Brian Thomson’s giant couch serves to draw the audiences’ attention to the point in the large space.

Honeyman also praises John Rayment’s lighting, which pulls focus to the characters and says, “we work very hard in our rehearsals with the drama of the scene to make it very connected – we are not screaming at each other from opposite sides of the stage”.

“It’s an ‘interesting’ time to be a singer, as with covid we don’t know what’s going on,” he says.

But he does know he’ll be playing Amonasro, Aida’s dad, for OA in Melbourne soon – “He’s another father who gets in between the young lovers”.

“La Traviata”, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair on Sydney Harbour, March 26–April 26, book here.