Category: 2017 Festival

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Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen

[/et_pb_slide] [/et_pb_slider][et_pb_testimonial admin_label=”Testimonial” author=”D’Arcy Blunston” url_new_window=”off” quote_icon=”on” use_background_color=”on” background_color=”rgba(244,171,171,0.83)” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” quote_icon_color=”#e02b20″ body_text_color=”#000000″ border_style=”solid” body_font_size=”20″ body_font=”Lobster||||” _builder_version=”3.0.51″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″]

“One day I was singing along to the radio in the car with my mom and she turned to me and asked if taking singing lessons was something I’d be interested in”

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Where are you from? How did you first get interested in opera or musical theatre? 

I am from Grand Falls, New Brunswick. I had always enjoyed singing as a child and really it was my parents who got me into studying voice formally. One day I was singing along to the radio in the car with my mom and she turned to me and asked if taking singing lessons was something I’d be interested in. According to her my response was something along the lines of “Oh yes mommy! I’ve never wanted anything more in my life!” Even 8 year old me had it figured out apparently.

When did you start studying voice? Where are you studying now?

I started studying voice at the age of 8 and have been singing ever since. I completed my undergrad at Mount Allison in 2016 under the instruction of Dr. Vicki St. Pierre. In September of 2017 I will be starting my Master’s of Music in Opera Performance at the University of British Columbia.

What came first for you, theatre or music?

Music came first for me. I began taking piano lessons at the age of 6, and although I didn’t stick with it past high school, piano is really what got me into Music in the first place.

My first acting experience, however, came not long after, when I was in the third grade. I played Bottom in a one act adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. My melodramatic, and what I’m sure was probably hilarious, death scene earned me the award of best actress at DramaFest.

Being on stage, and performing, has always been an integral part of my life.

What are your dream roles?

I think the role of Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème is a role I’d eventually like to see myself playing. It’s one of those iconic soprano roles that I think everyone dreams of playing. And, you could call it cliché, but there’s also the fact that I’ve always loved RENT the musical, which as most people know is based on La Bohème.

What arias, songs or entire roles belonging to other voice types would you like to perform?

Funny enough, a role I would love to play is Carmen, so it’s pretty exciting that I’ll be in that opera this summer, albeit singing the much more appropriate role for me!

Who are your favourite performing artists?

Literally every album Hilary Duff has ever made (Metamorphosis obviously being the best of these).

What’s the most embarrassing song on your phone/tablet/streaming playlist?

The first ever song I bought on YouTube was TikTok by K$sha, which I now regret as my first legitimate purchase of music online.

How should we as interpretive artists deal with works that are racist and/or sexist? What can be done to make opera relevant to the next generation?:

I think that a large part of being a performer of opera is coming to terms with the fact that operas are a product of their time. To accept this allows me to practice my art and do what I love without sacrificing my personal beliefs.

I also believe that since most operas are thematically rather general, making use of themes of love, loss, jealousy, etc., that it is quite easy to transplant operas from their original settings into more contemporary contexts. This is one of the more obvious ways of making opera more easily relatable to modern audiences.

What are you most looking forward to about this summer?

I’m most looking forward to singing a role that I suits me so well vocally. It’s just such a pleasure to sing. What makes this role all the more exciting is that it is a role I will be singing for years to come so learning it now is truly invaluable.

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Thanks, D’Arcy!

Are you a participant or staff member this year? Why not submit your own answers to our questionnaire!

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Volupia/Hero in Cavalli’s L’Egisto

[/et_pb_slide] [/et_pb_slider][et_pb_testimonial admin_label=”Testimonial” author=”Jillana Kucey” url_new_window=”off” quote_icon=”on” use_background_color=”on” background_color=”rgba(244,171,171,0.83)” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” quote_icon_color=”#e02b20″ body_text_color=”#000000″ border_style=”solid” body_font_size=”20″ body_font=”Lobster||||” _builder_version=”3.0.51″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″]

“I am so glad that I get this opportunity, and I am going to make the most of it!”

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Where are you from? How did you first get interested in opera or musical theatre? 

I’m from Alberta. I have always loved musical theater, but I think what really hooked me into it was the Phantom of the Opera. When I took voice lessons in middle school, my voice teacher had me watch it and I was hooked. I wanted to be in that more than anything. Opera was around the house as I grew up. My dad would listen to the Met shows on the radio every Saturday. Then, when I was in high school, my dad told me that he was going to take me to an opera and skip volleyball practice (I wasn’t very good at volleyball anyway) and I saw Aida. It was so inspiring to see this powerful opera. The set was a beautiful spectacle, the music was divine, and the plot was enthralling. But the most powerful thing about Aida was the soprano star herself. She was a big woman, taller than her tenor lead, and her character was so inspiring and potent. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Being a big and tall woman my whole life, I don’t often see these types of women portrayed as anything other than a funny side character, much less the main role. Seeing this opera was life changing for meand began to develop my love for opera.

When did you start studying voice? Where are you studying now?

I started off in choirs and theater classes. I didn’t take private voice lessons until I was in middle school, and then I took them on and off through high school. I received my B.A. in psychology and wanted to have music as a hobby on the side. I decided to take group voice workshop, but was offered to take private lessons instead. It was then that I met my current voice teacher, and he told me that I had the potential to sing professionally one day. After that I added on a music minor and the rest is history.

What came first for you, theatre or music?

I first started singing at a very young age. When I was in preschool I joined my church’s “cherub choir” and I loved it. I used to pretend to conduct it along with the teacher. Then as I grew older I loved to be in plays, so I took all the theater classes that I could. So I guess technically music came first, but theater was a close second.

What are your dream roles?

 What arias, songs or entire roles belonging to other voice types would you like to perform?

Pagliacci is such a great character. Also anytime that a bass sings the role of the devil, that sounds like so much fun!

Who are your favourite performing artists?

Jesse Norman, Renee Flemming, Anna Nebtrebko

What’s the most embarrassing song on your phone/tablet/streaming playlist?

Every morning when I get up and get ready for the day, I listen to Britney Spears to get me going and pumped for the day. #sorrynotsorry.

How should we as interpretive artists deal with works that are racist and/or sexist? What can be done to make opera relevant to the next generation?:

It depends on the work. Somethings you can take and modernize it to show that it still shows an important message that we need to deal with today. Or it can be created into a satire which uses humor to show how the works used antiquated ideas. But it is always important to know the historical context of the piece, and it is interesting to examine the way in which people used to think.

What are you most looking forward to about this summer?

I am really looking forward to being in a school type atmosphere again. I have been out in the working world for a couple of years now, and it will be nice to get to set aside time to work on music.

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Thanks, Jillana!

Are you a participant or staff member this year? Why not submit your own answers to our questionnaire!

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Morales/Le Dancaïre in Bizet’s Carmen

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“When I was 19 or 20 my uncle forced me to listen to Verdi’s Aida. I didn’t love opera at that time. He knew all the arias, all the librettos, all the actions and he was telling me what happened, is happening and will happen with such passion that I was at the edge of my seat all the time.”

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Where are you from? How did you first get interested in opera or musical theatre? 

I was born in a little village in Abitibi-Témiscamingue province of Quebec called La Sarre in 1963. I got interested in opera while I was 19 or 20 years old. My mother’s younger brother wanted to be an opera singer but with his family he worked as an accountant. I was studying trumpet at Cegep de Drummond at that time and during the Holiday that year I went at my uncle who forced me to listen to Verdi’s Aida. I didn’t love opera at that time. He knew all the arias, all the librettos, all the actions and he was telling me what happened, is happening and will happen with such passion that I was at the edge of my seat all the time. I got the sickness… back at my father house, I pass through all is disc and found Aida, Traviata, Suor Angelica, Pagliacci, Carmen of course and some other operas and some discs of Callas, Tebaldi etc.. I listened to them all and recorded them on cassette for my walkman at that time. I must have get through because they stopped working after a while.

None listen to opera in my family except my uncle. Being an artist was not an option for a boy in my family. A real man must have a real job, have a family, a house, a car and so on. So I never been encouraged to follow my dreams. I had studied at University with Colette Boky and in private after that with Mr. Robert Savoie, but lack of confidence made it impossible to perform as a professional in the past.

When did you start studying voice? Where are you studying now?

I started to study voice at Cegep de Drummondville in my 4th years there. I was part time. The first character I sang was Calchas in La Belle Hélène by Offenbach. we still had problems to get clear about my type of voice. For some I’m a bass, other a bass-baritone, for some other a baritone-bass and at last some say I’m a real baritone. Quite confusing for me. So I try to see where my voice is going. I have stop singing for about 15 years. Now I’m working, when I can, with the French Canadian soprano Lyne Fortin.

What came first for you, theatre or music?

My first experience was in fact in theater. I was in a private school as a teenager and we had some extra curriculum activities and theater was one of them. I was 13 and the success I had make me wished to be an actor. Since I have played in some plays in French and in English, and I’ve worked in short movies and TV.

What are your dream roles?

Well my choices have changed a lot now that I’m older. When I was young I wanted to do all the dramatic roles possible. Rigolette, Padre Guardiano, Mephistophelese, Iago, Don Quichotte by Massenet, Golaud from Pelleas and Melisande etc. As you see I was travelling between bass and baritone roles. Now I wish to do thing much more funny. Dandiny from Rossini’s Cenerentola, Belcore from L’elisir d’amore, Dr. Malatesta from Don Pasquale by Donizetti, and operettas Offenback but also Gilbert and Sullivan. I was last year Don Alhambra in “The Gondoliers”. Yes some dramatic role as Riccardo from I puritani by Bellini and Posa form Don Carlo by Verdi. I wish also to learn russian for Eugene Oneguin by Tchaïkovsky

 What arias, songs or entire roles belonging to other voice types would you like to perform?

Well Olympia from Les contes d’Hoffman is very funny when it is properly done. Carmen wow if I was a woman I would love to be a Carmen. Male roles… well I have studied Patre Guardiano, Don Quichotte, Sarastro, Philippe II, those are some role I would like to sing.

Who are your favourite performing artists?

Right now I would say Kaufmann. I love his singing and his acting. He is probably the best actor in opera of our time. I love listening to Ettore Bastianini. What a wonderful baritone he was.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your phone/tablet/streaming playlist?

I don’t think I have such music.

How should we as interpretive artists deal with works that are racist and/or sexist? What can be done to make opera relevant to the next generation?:

Well I’m not sure I understand the first part of this question. I know that Wajdi Mouawad had staged a Cosi fan tutte without all reference to muslims. I’m not sure I’m very happy with that. Wajdi is a superb stage director. He loves singers and working under his direction is a wonderful experience. But changing a Mozart opera… we have to remember that it was written in another age and another culture. Is it racist? Well, worse things have happened in this world.

How do we make opera relevant to the next generation? Well government should stop cutting everything they can and put more into culture. Music and art should be part of all school curriculums. But we, as artists have to be teachers. Now when I’m doing a concert, I like to explain what the aria is about, what I’m saying and what happens in the opera when I’m singing this. It is the way my uncle made me looooove opera. How can people be interested by something in a foreign language with no preparation?  And please stop having the subtitle at the opera. That split the public’s attention and they can’t concentrate on the action on stage.

What are you most looking forward to about this summer?

Well as I have started singing again, I need to meet some other singers. Being in the process of building something and presenting to the public, I will surely learn from others and I hope I may be of some help for others.

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Merçi, MarKo!

Are you a participant or staff member this year? Why not submit your own answers to our questionnaire!

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Mrs Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring

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“I took piano lessons from when I was 5 until I was 17 and I was obsessed with any listening to and singing any kind of music (anyone else learn how to spell banana from Gwen Stefani?)”

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Where are you from? How did you first get interested in opera or musical theatre? 

I’m from Port de Grave, Newfoundland! It’s a tiny little town around an hour outside of St. John’s. I first got interested in opera/classical music in general when I was very little. On Saturday mornings before ballet class I would turn on those galaxy music channels on my tv and dance to the music. When any opera would come on I thought it was hilarious and would try singing along to it. The musical theatre bug hit me when we took a trip to New York with our choir to sing in Carnegie Hall and the first show I saw was Wicked (I cried…). My family enjoys going to see musicals all the time but I don’t think they’ve seen any opera. I have the most encouraging family (and community) in the whole world! Thanks everyone!!

When did you start studying voice? Where are you studying now?

I started voice lessons when I was 6 and started classically training when I was 16. I then went to Mount Allison and did the first two years of my Bachelor of Music there and I just transferred to Memorial University back home to finish the rest of it.

What came first for you, theatre or music?

Music for sure came first. I took piano lessons from when I was 5 until I was 17 and I was obsessed with any listening to and singing any kind of music (anyone else learn how to spell banana from Gwen Stefani?). Theatre started maybe when I was 12 when we had drama classes in school.

What are your dream roles?

I have to say my dream role is Carmen, I love singing French music and her character is so perfect in every way. For musical theatre my dream role would have to be Elphaba, I belt out Defying Gravity every time I’m in the car alone and I’m sure the people outside can hear me sometimes.

 What arias, songs or entire roles belonging to other voice types would you like to perform?

I loved Don Giovanni when I saw it at the movie theatre last year and I would love to play Donna Elvira or Zerlina. They’re both such different characters but I love them both.

Who are your favourite performing artists?

Renee Fleming, Barbra Streisand, Adele, Joyce DiDonato are some that I love, I saw Adele and Barbra Streisand in concert this past year and cried both times.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your phone/tablet/streaming playlist?

Oh god, I have too many. I have every single genre of music on my phone. You want Disney? I have it. You want country? I have that too. I even have children’s music which I think is the most embarrassing. Back when I first got my iPod nano I thought it would be the cool thing to have Pants on the Ground and The Duck Song (you know the one from YouTube) on my phone… Hitting shuffle on my phone is a gamble.

What are you most looking forward to about this summer?

I’m really looking forward to spending a month in one of my favourite cities! And I’m excited to meet new people and share this amazing experience with everyone.

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Thanks, Adrienne!

Are you a participant or staff member this year? Why not submit your own answers to our questionnaire!

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