Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Jonathan Blalock (guest host Kinneret Ely)
189 Plays4 years ago
As a tenor specializing in 21st century repertoire, Jonathan Blalock created over a dozen roles in world premieres with companies including the Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, the Center for Contemporary Opera, Fort Worth Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and UrbanArias. In 2019, he was featured in the new opera recordings of Paul’s Case (by Gregory Spears) and the Grammy Award winning Fantastic Mr. Fox (by Tobias Picker). In concert, Jonathan recently performed with Winston Salem Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Opera Hong Kong, Arizona MusicFest, Wichita Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Syracuse Symphoria, Washington Chorus, and the Guggenheim Museum. A native of Burlington, Blalock earned Master of Music degrees in both vocal performance and choral conducting from UNC Greensboro.
Soprano Kinneret Ely is a freelance opera singer based in New York City and Tel Aviv. She was a young artist with Teatro Grattacielo’s Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy in 2021. As part of it, she sang Ilia in IDOMENEO ALLA BREVE at the Rhodes International Festival in September 2021. She covered the roles of Anna in Catalani’s LORELEY and the Fata Azzurra in Respighi’s LA BELLA DORMENTE NEL BOSCO in Teatro Grattacielo’s 25th Anniversary Concert in September 2019. She sang Violetta in LA TRAVIATA in July 2018 at the Jerusalem International Opera Masterclass (JIOM).
She rejoined Teatro Grattacielo for their film production of Giordano’s FEDORA as Un Piccolo Savoiardo, and covering the role of Dimitri. Her performed roles also include Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Madame Cortese in IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, and Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. She was a semifinalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition and Camerata Bardi International Vocal Competition in 2021, and also in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition and the Rochester International Vocal Competition in 2020. Her YouTube channel has more than 38,000 views.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Honors from Hunter College, from which she graduated cum laude, designing her own degree there in languages, history, and literature through their Thomas Hunter Honors Program. She studied Italian at the Società Dante Alighieri in Siena, French at the Alliance Française in Paris, German at the Goethe Institut in Berlin, and Russian at the Derzhavin Institute in St. Petersburg.
Kinneret's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KinneretEly
Jonathan's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jblay100
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer. Hi, I'm Kenarith Ely, and this is Something Rather Than Nothing. When Ken invited me to guest host this episode, I knew I wanted to invite Jonathan Gleilach. I'll briefly introduce him.
00:00:31
Speaker
Jonathan Blaylock has had an incredible career as a singer. Among his starring roles in the Standard Repertory were Donotavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Ferrando in Mozart's Cosifantute and Count Alma Viva in Rossini's The Barber of Sitville and Prince Ramiro in La Cenerantola. He also sang the title role in the world premieres of two highly acclaimed operas.
00:00:58
Speaker
Prince Claus in Mark Adamo's Becoming Santa Claus at the Dallas Opera, and Paul in Gregory Spears' Paul's Case with Urban Arias, and in the released recordings of both operas.
Jonathan's Early Musical Journey
00:01:12
Speaker
He is now working with the Atlanta Opera in their development department, and those who work in development are among the unsung heroes of the arts. And we'll talk more about development throughout the interview. John, thank you so much for being on the show.
00:01:28
Speaker
Thank you for inviting me. It's so good to speak with you again. Hey, so let's get right to it. So tell us, what are your earliest memories of the arts and performing? It definitely began for me with my family in church. And my mother and father met while they were both in college choir in a production of Rudegore, Gilbert and Sullivan. Oh my gosh.
00:01:58
Speaker
Music brought them together. They were in a little touring group together in their college and they ended up my mother as a full-time piano teacher and accompanist at church. And she says that while I was in her belly and she was playing in church, I would kick along in rhythm with the music. So clearly I had an affinity for music from a very early age and
00:02:26
Speaker
I started taking piano lessons when I was four years old from my mother, and we sang as a family, all five of us, brother, sister, and parents and I, in five-part harmony, acapella, and all these things, and we sang in our own church and also toured to a few other churches. So it was a little like the Von Trapp family, minus World War II. That's good.
00:02:56
Speaker
And I loved it. And it was something that we did for religious reasons and also just for the passion of music. And that was always important to our family. And it was more sacred music than it was classical music at that age. And that was kind of the entry point to other forms of music.
00:03:21
Speaker
That's really beautiful. I love that, the Blaylock family singers. But that is such a fantastic introduction to music. And then especially when people have a background in music and especially with their families, it's not necessarily a given that they would go into the arts and especially professionally. So it's incredible that you did. So tell us, when and how did you know that you were going to go into the arts?
Switch from Pre-med to Music
00:03:50
Speaker
I did not always know for me, I started as pre-med in college and I wanted to be a doctor and I was training for all that. I was taking the labs. I was taking all the science courses, but always at the music minor because I had a scholarship. And so I enjoyed doing that, but I always thought it was something that I would just keep going on the side. It turned out that I hated labs. I hated,
00:04:18
Speaker
staring down a microscope for hours on end. And though academically I was doing fine, my biggest passion was working with people. And I was always taking those music courses I had to for my minor. So I said, well, why don't I just continue with what seems to be working here? And then I got an undergrad in sacred music. And then I sang with a, essentially this is going to sound very strange,
00:04:46
Speaker
Christian Show Choir at this place called Lake June Lusca. They were called the June Lusca Singers. It's this Methodist camp slash resort slash retirement center slash conference center and it was 16 professional singers who were there for three months and I always loved choral music and that's what we did and I said I was having such a great time. How can I
00:05:12
Speaker
keep doing what I'm loving here and said, well, I know I'll get a master's in choral conducting. So I've got my undergrad in sacred music, master's in choral conducting, and I wanted to be the next Robert Shaw, teaching choirs, performing with choirs, maybe working in a university and a church at the same time. And then when I was in UNC Greensboro, while I was studying to get my master's in choral conducting, I started taking voice lessons seriously because I said, if I'm going to
00:05:43
Speaker
teach choirs the instrument just like if I'm conducting an orchestra I have to know what the human voice does and really be able to work with it on a technical level and then I fell in love with singing and then I fell in love with opera through that and that's kind of my long and winding road to the opera world.
Building a Strong Musical Foundation
00:06:07
Speaker
Oh but that's so incredible because you also
00:06:10
Speaker
Not only did you eventually end up in opera, of course, but you ended up having experience with a variety of different kinds of music. So how wonderful to have that as well with sacred music and also choral music. And the keyboard background of studying piano throughout made me a stronger musician to be able to teach myself roles. And people who don't have some kind of an instrumental background and end up going into singing
00:06:40
Speaker
sometimes struggle with that as a challenge of the theory and all of the musicology part of it. Because everyone loves to sing, but not every, well, not everyone loves to sing. But the other parts, sometimes people have to beef up that part of music education. And for me, I was lucky in that way that I came that route. Absolutely. And I would say A in general,
00:07:10
Speaker
You're absolutely right. And then B, especially with 21st century opera, which we'll go more into that later. But that is such an asset that you had that background, you had that training. And actually we'll go more into depth about that. And this next question will be a bit of a two-parter.
Transition to Development Roles
00:07:29
Speaker
And so I want to chat a little bit more in depth about your path in the arts. So first of all, as a singer, so with your training and your career and then also now in development. So how you got started in development and also your experience at Atlanta Opera. I'm trying to think where to start here.
00:07:55
Speaker
When I was first taking voice lessons at UNC Greensboro, I was not a voice major. And my professor, Carla Lefever, I'm very close with her to this day. But my first lesson, I started singing. First of all, I was doing very challenging choral music, singing first tenor, which sat at a very high vocal range, tessitura. And I had no technical knowledge of how to do that. So I was putting a lot of strain
00:08:24
Speaker
on my voice and my muscles were very tight. And also I was battling acid reflux. And so the vocal folds were constantly inflamed. And so it's almost like an Olympic runner who has a sprained ankle running on it constantly at a very high speed all day. That was kind of what I was doing to my voice. And the first day I had a lesson with her, I started warming up and
00:08:53
Speaker
She said, stop, stop, just stop, stop singing. Wow. We have a lot of work to do. And she said, you need to see a voice therapist. And it turned out I had nodules on my vocal cords. Oh my God. For people who don't know what those are, nodes, nodules, they're, you know, it's an injury. And so I had to have voice therapy to learn how to speak
00:09:21
Speaker
In a healthy way, I had to get the acid reflux under control. I didn't realize I had that. So I got a medicine for that, changed my diet. It was all these things. But then once that got under control and I started really improving my technique on healthy vocal folds, non-injured vocal folds, it really started to improve my capabilities of what I could do with my voice. And that same teacher who was extremely hard on me one day after I sang through something said,
00:09:51
Speaker
You know, I'd pay money to hear that. And I said, really? Wow. Then I think a day that changed everything for me when I considered that it could be a career for me was when someone named Darren Woods came and did a master class for us. And he heard me sing. He said, well, I know you're studying to be a choral conductor, but I think you could have a path in opera.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I said, really? And so he took me into his summer program with a full scholarship, Siegel Music Colony, and then gave me professional work as a studio artist and then on the main stage at Fort Worth Opera Festival in Texas. And so I moved out there after doing a young artist program in Opera Carolina. And from there did some other young artists programs. Santa Fe Opera was a really meaningful experience for me.
00:10:47
Speaker
and eventually moved to New York. And as a home base there, traveled 10 months out of the year performing year round and making a living doing it. So I felt extremely lucky to have that opportunity. So I guess that is the opera side of it. And so to give the part about development, that was also something I never thought that I would do.
00:11:16
Speaker
but there reached a point where the opera business was changing and my opportunities where I saw that I could continue working and I was still getting offers for contracts and roles and I was loving what I was doing. And I was in my thirties at this point and I
00:11:43
Speaker
will be honest and say, I'm not independently wealthy. I don't come from a super affluent background. And I said, hmm, at what point do I need to start adulting with no health insurance, with no benefits, no retirement, no paid time off? I was thinking about my future and as someone who needs to be independent, what is the wise thing to do with my life? What is the priority?
00:12:13
Speaker
I love and I have a passion for the arts, but I think it might be time to start thinking about some stability because I was seeing people who were really scared, people in their forties and fifties and saying, what am I going to do to try and make a life for myself when the arts are not providing that part for me?
00:12:39
Speaker
And so I had a number of contracts and holds on my schedule that fell through. And I thought, well, you know, that that's just the reality of things and companies were closing, performances were being canceled, contracts were just falling through and people were going a different direction. And I said, okay, I'm just going to consider other options. And I had an opportunity presented to me.
00:13:06
Speaker
to join Opera Saratoga, not to be confused with Sarasota. It's an important difference to the listeners. Yes, very different. Upstate New York with Larry Edelson, who I actually met
00:13:19
Speaker
at the same time and place that I met you in Israel. Yes, exactly. And just to brief, I'm just going to briefly interject that I actually first met John Blalock when he was singing Sonjor, that's the leading man, in Domitekdi's opera, La Feud de Régiment in Israel. We absolutely hit it off and I fell in love with his voice and it's been history ever since. And in any way, please continue. I did want to say that.
00:13:47
Speaker
I love that program. That was my favorite summer experience ever. And it's a very special place for me and a meaningful place for me because who knew then that I would meet so many people that I would cross paths with in such a life-changing way. My boss, who was Larry Edelson, and also my current boss, Thomas Wuhun. He also mentioned that summer. Who knew? Right? What are the odds?
00:14:13
Speaker
That was in 2010 and all these years later, these people are still in my life and I'm so grateful for that. And he offered me an opportunity to be the manager of development and patron relations, I think was the name of the title. And I said, Oh my goodness, I have to ask people for money. I'm going to hate that. But I said, it's an opportunity. I'm going to take it. And I didn't want to leave New York city. I was scared.
00:14:42
Speaker
But I said, what's the worst that can happen? And I said, philosophy I try to have, make friends with the worst that can happen. And if push comes to shove at the end of the day, whatever cliche you want to throw in there, if it doesn't work out, you can always stop. You can always go back to New York. You can always pivot again and try something else. So I said, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm going for it. And I found that I loved it. I enjoyed it. I had an affinity for it.
00:15:11
Speaker
It was another way to engage with the arts to continue being part of it and to continue connecting with people and asking. It's not all about just it's not begging. It's aligning people's passion with their ability to help and they enjoy it. People love being helpful and they have the ability to be helpful and many of them are just looking for the opportunity and many of them are just waiting for someone to ask.
00:15:40
Speaker
And if they can, they will. And if they don't want to, they won't. And that's okay. And that's what your job is. And they understand that. And so then, Toma's woman and I kept in touch very loosely. We were, you know, LinkedIn, Facebook. I followed him. I crossed paths with him along the way. We were working in some of the same places. And he asked me one time if I would join the Atlanta Opera team. And I said, I would really be interested in living in Atlanta.
00:16:10
Speaker
I really appreciate and am honored by this request, but I can't leave the team here in Saratoga because it was in the middle of their season and it was a very small staff, a very small company. And I just felt loyal and I would not want to leave them in the lurch. But then I went to the Offer America conference in San Francisco a couple of months later and he said, let me take you to breakfast. And he offered me again an opportunity. And then he said, do you have plans for lunch? I said, well, no.
00:16:39
Speaker
Well, let me have Micah, our executive director, take you to lunch. And I was saying, well, I should keep this going. I might get a free dinner too while I'm at it. And then they offered me the job and I accepted it. And I've loved living in Atlanta and it's been a wonderful chance for me. And I am so grateful to still be involved. And I'm still singing too on the side. So it's not an either or.
00:17:10
Speaker
I feel that I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing. And it's a very fortunate place to be. Absolutely. That's beautiful. And I was giving kind of a few amens about seven time zones away. We are seven time zones apart for all of you listening out there. And I just absolutely love what you said about singing and also what you said about development and how it's a way to
00:17:39
Speaker
to work with those who make the arts possible and work in tandem with them. And that it really is another way to be very much in the arts and much in the way that singing is. It's another way to connect with people. So that's just so beautiful. One thing I meant to say that I forgot was so many singers feel
00:18:07
Speaker
frustrated with the business and with the lack of opportunity and they see things that they wish would change and be different and There's a lot of complaining Because it's really hard and I thought I can continue complaining along with everyone else or I can try something different to actually change the situation I can keep fighting that reality or I can be
00:18:32
Speaker
the change. And so I find that with what the kind of thing that you and I are doing in our full-time role, I think you're still doing this, right? But you have been, is making that difference instead of just constantly saying, oh, why is it this way? Shouldn't they do better? And saying, okay, well, I can keep talking about it or I can do something. Yes.
00:19:00
Speaker
Absolutely. So just being somebody who's doing or at least trying to do that. And I absolutely love that. So then there's no kind of sitting on the sidelines in any way. You're really taking things into your own hands in the capacity that you can to make a difference and in every way that you can.
00:19:21
Speaker
And I really do think it's important to convey that you can do it in a way that's very multifaceted and not like, oh, I can only be a singer. I can only be, you know, insert job role here. So, and I really think that opens, it's a very good way of opening people up to surf in various capacities as well. So I think that is so great.
00:19:45
Speaker
And I actually do want, because we've been talking so much about singing, but I haven't played any of your singing yet. So I wanted to do that.
Showcase Performance: Nadir's Aria
00:19:53
Speaker
And we will be beginning with a recording of the aria, Je Croix en Fondre. So this is Nadir's aria from Georges Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.
00:20:18
Speaker
like a ship so lepani, savat or thresunad, like on a shore that I'm near.
00:20:47
Speaker
On me, the daughter of Esther, gave her a visa now. Oh, so the year shall know.
00:21:22
Speaker
O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O,
00:21:56
Speaker
What the real cellophane, What the real cellophane, What the real cellophane
00:22:26
Speaker
Diva rovissamo, oh, sulevenir sharmo, volebraso.
00:22:52
Speaker
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,
00:23:36
Speaker
So first of all, I just have to show you, this is my arm, and it has goosebumps on it. Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you. But seriously, that is such stunning singing. Thank you so much. And I didn't want to let another moment pass without our listeners having a chance to hear you.
00:23:56
Speaker
And yeah, so this is actually a perfect way to segue into our next question. So tell us about some of your favorite roles. Oh, my goodness. When people would ask me when I was singing full time, what's your favorite
Favorite Opera Roles
00:24:09
Speaker
role? My answer would always be whatever I was singing at the moment. So if I was singing Tamino Tamino, if I was singing Pong in, you know, turned out Pong. So that's Tamino in Mozart's Magic Flute. Yes.
00:24:25
Speaker
But the one, I have to say that we're going to, I think maybe hear a bit of that. The one that I think was personally the most meaningful to me was the title role in Paul's case because I connected so much with the story. And I found that I had a niche in 21st century music because of the way my voice is and also my interest in new music.
00:24:53
Speaker
and my ability to learn weird new roles. There's a special energy around creating something new as opposed to re-envisioning or recreating something that had been written hundreds of years ago, though that music, like the Pearl Fishers, I love and it's gorgeous and it's all meaningful. But to me, I connect with it more
00:25:21
Speaker
when it's something that no one's ever done before. And also you don't fall into the trap of being compared with everyone else because there's not necessarily a right way to do it. The right way is where you're doing it at that moment. And you don't have to say, well, Carlos did it this way or whatever. And I felt a lot of similarities with that character in the story.
00:25:46
Speaker
by Willa Cather and so that was very very special and there was a camaraderie with my colleagues along the way and I enjoyed every minute and it was also something that ended up being critically very successful and we got to do it a couple of times and then got to record it and that was just wonderful. That was one that was one of my favorites and
00:26:13
Speaker
I loved doing Pang, actually, in Turandot. And again, it was not as much only the music. I love that score. It was the experience of being able to sing with people that I love. My best friend ended up being Ping, and my brother ended up being Kong, so Ping Pang Kong. And I actually got them both the job doing that. And then I got my best friend's husband,
00:26:43
Speaker
the role of the, not the, yeah, the Mandarin. I had to think which role, it's not the Emperor, but the Mandarin. And then I was friends with other people in the cast and then my parents came out to see it and my mother's cousin was there. So that was just a fun, fun experience. What is another one of my favorite roles? Oh, another one, two that I love that are more the standard repertoire.
00:27:08
Speaker
are Ama Viva because it's gorgeous music and it's fun. It's a comedy and you get to play three different characters because you have these things called Latzi where you put on disguises and you do hijinks and so you do different voices and different costumes with the different acts that you're doing to try and disguise within the story and it's just super super super fun. And the other one
00:27:34
Speaker
is Ferrando in Cosi Fanturte, because again, Mozart, gorgeous lines, legato, such beautiful music. Una Oramorosa is one of the most beautiful arias ever written, but also you get to be so silly. And again, in the turqui, you get to come in with the crazy mustaches and act silly and pretend like you're dying and fainting. And it's just so, so much fun. Another one that you mentioned,
00:28:03
Speaker
It's beautiful music and it's a great story. It's classic. But as the prince, you don't get to be as silly. I like being silly in real life and on the stage.
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, so by the way, Prince Ramiro, for those of you who don't know, he, first of all, La Cienerentola, which is Rossini's opera. That is Rossini's take on the Cinderella story. And Prince Ramiro is the Prince Charming character. So that's who John Blalock played, and that's who he's talking about.
00:28:35
Speaker
And I also have more of a soft spot for Councilman Viva than Prince Romiro for a lot of the reasons that you said. That it's just so much fun, that there are so many hijinks and all the disguises and all the different voices you get to do, and that you're essentially playing different characters within the same opera. That is super fun.
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah, so in any case, this is actually, this is something you touched on a little bit, especially when talking about Paul's case and then also about a lot of the Mozart and Rossini operas.
Preparation and Modern Opera
00:29:09
Speaker
How did your experience in both a standard rep and the 21st century rep inform each other? The bottom line for both that I think is so important and that should be a given, but it's not always,
00:29:23
Speaker
is preparation. Prepare, prepare, prepare in every way. First of all, learn the music. It was shocking to me. And I know that that's obvious, but it was shocking to me how many times I would show up to a job in the world of opera, as I'm sure you are well aware, but maybe some of our listeners may not be. On day one of rehearsal, you were supposed to show up having all of the music
00:29:49
Speaker
all of the words, regardless of language, learned and memorized, period, full stop. And it was shocking to me how many times I would show up to a rehearsal of a new piece or even a standard piece that had been around for hundreds of years. And some of my colleagues, it seemed that they were cracking open that score for the very first time. And I'd been studying it for months, learning, memorizing, coaching, you know, preparing. And so,
00:30:18
Speaker
First of all, learn your music and second of all, be technically vocally ready with it because you really have to practice it, not just to learn it mentally, but to have it in your voice, as they say, in your body physically to feel comfortable with it because each role has its unique challenges. If it is a super high role, you have to get comfortable with that vocal range.
00:30:44
Speaker
if it's a different language that you don't speak, you have to not only learn what it means word for word, not just what you're singing, but what everybody in the scene is singing so you can play that character and be in the moment, but also you have to be comfortable with forming those sounds in your mouth without screwing up and tightening your throat and your breathing. So for me, those things did not come naturally. I had to spend a lot of time
00:31:13
Speaker
and really prepare and make sure that I was doing it to the best of my ability because otherwise, even if you feel kind of secure with it, once you start throwing in staging and you get into costume, all that you're trying to do technically
00:31:31
Speaker
can sometimes go out the window. So it almost has to be second nature and muscle memory, just like an athlete does a gymnastics routine. They do it, do it, do it until it's just automatic, like a basketball player throwing a free throw. You just have it ingrained in your body. So you have to do the same thing for standard repertoire or for 21st century new music. And that is, I think, something that I learned
00:32:00
Speaker
that is equally important, but almost, I think you have to be more prepared and it takes a little longer to learn a crazy new challenging 21st century piece. And so I took that same level of preparation, hopefully for when I was doing standard repertoire, because the more prepared you are, the better you do. And the more you can play around within that baseline of text and music on the page. And I think it'll be a more interesting and meaningful performance.
00:32:29
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. I think a lot of people listening might not necessarily realize that, in essence, as opera singers, there's a lot of sort of patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time and walking and chewing gum. I mean, it's having the full role in your voice while acting and doing staging and oftentimes, let's say, running or doing something quite active while you're singing and having to project over an orchestra.
00:32:57
Speaker
and doing so in languages such as Italian, French, German, Russian, what have you, and also being engaged as scene partners, really acting with your colleagues. I mean, it's a lot. And it's just so interesting hearing you talk about this, because on one hand, it
00:33:17
Speaker
Sounds to me like the process of preparing a role in a 21st century opera when you're essentially giving birth to the piece is a lot more intensive though in a way that a lot of the standard repertoire preparation should be as well.
00:33:35
Speaker
And yet with the 21st century repertory, there's paradoxically a lot of freedom as far as the as far as interpretation, because you're not sort of competing with the ghosts of, you know, Maria Kala and Anna Mofo, Jones Sutherland, you know, Luciano Pavarotti, what have you. So it's just an interest. I actually never quite contemplated the notion of there being so much preparation, but then being a freedom later in the process.
00:34:04
Speaker
But I think you're absolutely dead on on both friends. And we'll actually listen to a clip of Paul's case later in this interview. I'm so excited for you all to hear him. And before we do that, I do want to ask you, what role is there for opera to tell modern stories, and especially since you did excel in 21st century opera? Well, thank you.
00:34:32
Speaker
For me, something that makes it important is that people are telling stories that are making a difference in the world. Those are the ones that people connect with. They're not retelling stories of gods and monsters and kings and queens. It's more today. It's things that are happening
00:34:54
Speaker
around the world in the news when you open the paper each day. And sometimes you can have something that isn't blasting that way because if it's based on something with technology, I think of certain operas that I've heard that
00:35:13
Speaker
people don't understand the technicalities of what's happening. I don't want to call out any specific pieces because I don't want to cast dispersions on anything, but it's about the human experience in a way that people can connect with today. If they're seeing stories about things historically, sometimes I don't think it feels as real to them and they can't relate to the characters and the stories on the stage. So for instance,
00:35:43
Speaker
We're doing something at the Atlanta Opera called the 96 Hour Opera Competition. And without turning it into a commercial for that, I'll just share what I'm excited about it is it's stories of Georgia. And we're partnering with different groups in Georgia to tell unsung heroes and the struggles, the hard fought
00:36:04
Speaker
one struggles from these underrepresented groups and then also pairing them with composers and librettists specifically of underrepresented people to give them an opportunity where they otherwise wouldn't have one and it's going to be a cash prize and they're going to have the opportunity the winner to have a full commission for the atlanta opera so it's stories that haven't been told by people who haven't had the opportunity to tell those stories and that's what
00:36:33
Speaker
new opera can do. And that's what animates me. And that's what gets me really excited. That was the thing about Paul's case. It dealt with identity and it dealt with people who were misunderstood and outcast and not embraced by their community. And I think about fellow travelers, another piece that Gregory Spears wrote, which is about the Lavender Scare. It was bringing to the fore
00:37:01
Speaker
I think a story that not as many people know about and for me I just sob and sob and sob and sob when I heard the music because it was so beautiful and soaring and also very
00:37:13
Speaker
heartbreaking for me. The persecution and the loss and the missed opportunities in these people's lives. So that's what I love. A Dead Man Walking is another one that changed my life. That one is especially relevant for me because I will be completely candid and say my understanding of and my stance on
00:37:41
Speaker
The death penalty changed when I read the book, sang the opera, met Sister Helen Prejean, who wrote the book and the book and the movie and the opera are all based on that story. And it changed me.
00:38:01
Speaker
It was the reason why I educated myself on that subject. And so that is what opera has the opportunity to do. And that's what I think is so beautiful about it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, because fundamentally opera really is about the human voice, you know, both literal and figurative. And what an incredible platform that Atlanta Opera is giving. I mean, A, Atlanta Opera, but then also say opera companies in general.
00:38:30
Speaker
who give the opportunities for stories to be told that should be told. And then it's a win-win because then not only is there light, do people have light shining on those stories, but then it also keeps the art form going. So it really is a win-win all around. And it really is incredible and exciting to see the directions in which 21st Opera
00:38:56
Speaker
Is and I love both and I'm sorry to interrupt. Yeah, but just like with films I just watched the tragedy of Macbeth the new film starring Francis Washington Mm-hmm. Oh, sorry with Denzel Washington. Yes. Yes, exactly and so I think that there's always room to continue the classics and
00:39:20
Speaker
And I don't think we should ever throw that out and only do new things. But what is exciting about that film, for instance, is that they're doing something new with the classic. And so I think that even if pieces sometimes are, quote unquote, problematic, I know that that is something that the upper world deals with, with, oh, well, you know, these stories, are you lifting up
00:39:43
Speaker
the wrong kinds of messages about certain kinds of people. I think that there's room to have a discussion about it and not just throw away anything that's challenging. I think that is what the purpose of art is, is to get you to discuss things and to wrestle with these problems. I think that if you only deal with things that are easy, A, to me, that's not fun. And B, I think you're missing out on the chance to learn and to grow from our mistakes in the past.
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, I absolutely agree. And especially when there's the chance to contextualize those problematic operas, I think that's really important. And then people can learn from that, can grow from that without erasing. And I don't want to get too into the weeds with this, but it's good to not sort of erase opera history while also recognizing the elements that were problematic and moving forward.
00:40:42
Speaker
So I completely agree with you. So in any case, I will also ask if you find that your experiences in singing formed your experiences in development as well, in arts development, and if so, how?
Impact of Singing on Development Work
00:40:59
Speaker
100%. When I'm speaking with people about opera,
00:41:04
Speaker
people who like investing in opera often have a deep and abiding passion for it. Sometimes they don't, sometimes they're supporting for more communitarian reasons, but often they're people who are die-hard opera fans and they say, oh, well, have you heard this singer? And it's interesting to be able to say, yes, the person's a friend of mine, I sang with him or her and blah, blah, blah, you know, whatever at the Kennedy Center, et cetera, whatever. And in order to be a successful development,
00:41:34
Speaker
person, fundraiser, you have to be interested and interesting. And it's not only talking about yourself, but being present, as I said, and then also listening to what the other person is interested in. And if they like opera, if they like the arts, it helps to just know about the art form. And not only
00:41:55
Speaker
talk about yourself. But if they ask you questions, be able to share that in the moment. And that's why I love working in opera. And that's why I think it's more personally meaningful to me than if I were working for another kind of a nonprofit, which all of them are worthy. Healthcare, education, I believe in all of those things very strongly. But opera is what my experience has been. And that's why I loved working in that field right now.
00:42:26
Speaker
Absolutely. And then that love for it comes across and that it helps make it possible to build, you know, to to work with others to make opera even better. So so I just love the fact that you said that and anecdotally, that's something I've found in my own life as well. And also tell us, you know, as per the name of the show, something rather than nothing.
Opera's Personal Impact
00:42:52
Speaker
Tell us, why is there something rather than nothing?
00:42:56
Speaker
I wish I knew. The question of why is not something that I feel that I have the qualifications to answer in an intelligent way. All answers go. It's more for a philosopher to answer, but I'm more interested and I'm grappling more each day with the questions of how.
00:43:23
Speaker
what and where, not so much why, because that's getting really deep. But a little bit of my background is that I grew up in an extremely religious home, a very conservative religious home, and I was in a society that was in certain ways very limiting and restrictive to me, and then
00:43:46
Speaker
what my escape from the parts that were hurtful to me and that were really hard for me ended up being opera was my way out to finding a broader worldview of people that were more tolerant and accepting of me as a person. And that's when I felt safe to come out of the closet and be true to who I am.
00:44:12
Speaker
And that's why opera will always be special to me. And so for me, the something rather than nothing is not, in my opinion, it is not the conventional definition of what God is in terms of the way I grew up. For me, it is the connection with other humans. And for me, that is what is a sacred
00:44:36
Speaker
time and spaces when we come together to share the human experience in a shared catharsis. And that is what makes us, in my opinion, different from animals. I love the quote that we are a little lower than the angels, but we still have feet of clay. And so we are still mammals. We all still have our base instincts, but we are also capable of innovation of science and of such
00:45:07
Speaker
beauty and that is what Drives me. That's why I get out of bed every morning and that's why I go to work every day because to me it's not just about experiencing that bliss experiencing the sublime of Those goosebumps as we talked about but also it's about making a difference in the world Moving the needle in a positive direction and for someone like me when I was younger really saving my life because I believe that if I
00:45:35
Speaker
I had not found the people that I did along the way, and it happened to just take the form of opera. I think that things would have ended very badly for me and much earlier. I don't think I would still be alive today. You know, I actually, as you were speaking just now, I got a little bit prequemped, and I'm actually teary-eyed a bit on the other end. I mean, just hearing about how opera had such a profound effect on your life, your ability to feel safe,
00:46:04
Speaker
and to connect with those around you. I mean, that is just so beautiful and what a privilege. So thank you so much again for being on the show and for shining this light, sharing this light with us. You're a gem. Well, thank you for the opportunity and I thank you for sharing your story as well. You have a story to tell and you do it beautifully.
00:46:27
Speaker
Oh, thank you so
Conclusion
00:46:30
Speaker
much. It's been such a privilege having you on the show and I'm so excited for people to find out more about you. Thank you.
00:46:57
Speaker
Blue for the atrium at stake. Blue for the atrium at stake. Blue for the atrium at stake.
00:47:21
Speaker
The yellow of Nigeria and the sun's in the blue. The blue of the age antique. The blue of the age antique.
00:47:51
Speaker
For the atrium at week For the atrium at week