Jan 23, 2026 By Brad Hundt 3 min read

When it comes to being inspired to pursue a career as a singer, Matthew Soibelman owes more of a debt to Sammy Davis Jr. than Placido Domingo.

Growing up in California and possessing a cavernously deep voice, Soibelman had toyed with becoming a disc jockey and joined the campus radio station at the community college he was attending. But then he started spinning his parents’ Davis and Frank Sinatra discs and thought “crooning might be a way to go.”

Instead, Soibelman found his way to the Juilliard School in New York, and now the 29-year-old is in the second year of a residency with the Pittsburgh Opera. After tackling roles in recent Pittsburgh Opera productions of “Tosca,” “Armida” and “Fellow Travelers,” he will be portraying the Abbott in the Benjamin Britten opera “Curlew River,” which is being performed for the first time in the Pittsburgh region starting this Saturday.

Some of the most well-known operas, such as “La Traviata” and “Otello,” are based on plays, and for “Curlew River,” Britten drew from the Japanese play “Sumidagawa” for its story of a woman driven to madness over the fate of her missing son. The composer, who is best known for the operas “Death in Venice,” “Billy Budd” and “War Requiem,” saw “Sumidagawa” in Japan in the 1950s and reworked it as a Christian parable. It debuted in 1964 in a church on England’s southeastern coast, and it is being staged by the Pittsburgh Opera at Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside.

Given the nature of the production, which is sung in monastic plainsong, “It seemed like the church is the perfect place to do it,” Soibelman explained.

“Curlew River” is not what one would typically imagine an opera being – there are no elaborate sets and, given the setting, arias won’t be belted into the furthest reaches of the balcony. Britten himself indicated in a 1969 interview with The New York Times that he was not necessarily interested in being bound by any expectations or sense of convention.

“I have absolutely no feeling that music should go in a certain direction,” Britten said. “The development of art does not interest me.”

Soibelman counts Giuseppe Verdi as one of this favorite composers, and before he completes his residency with the Pittsburgh Opera this year, he will take on the role of Pistola in “Falstaff,” Verdi’s comic opera that’s based on William Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor.”

And since “Curlew River” is being staged in the dead of winter, when colds and flu and other nasty viruses are circulating, it’s worth asking how Soibelman protects voice from the ravages of the season. He doubles up on zinc, and avoids some of the diversions that enchant some of his contemporaries.

“I went clubbing one time,” he said. “And that’s exactly the opposite of what I want.”

Showtimes are Saturday and Tuesday at 7 p.m.; Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.; and Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. For information, go online to pittsburghopera.org or call 412-456-6666.