In 1984, dramatic mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick made her operatic debut as the High Priestess in Aida at San Francisco Opera and began to establish herself as one of the premier interpreters of Verdi roles. Two years later, when she sang Azucena in Il trovatore for SFO, Terence McEwen, the company’s general director, said, “She walked off with the show.”
Zajick has been doing that ever since.
Last fall Zajick garnered rave reviews, both for her singing and for her interpretation of Princess Eboli in Don Carlo at Los Angeles Opera. During her stay in Tinseltown, she spoke with Classical Singer.
When did you get interested in classical music?
I didn’t hear a great deal of it as a child, but I gravitated toward what was available. My mother had recordings of “Scheherazade” and “Claire de Lune,” which she played over and over. Eventually, they burned themselves into my subconscious mind. I did not take piano lessons when I was little, either, but I have always been very quick musically, so I’ve never had difficulties learning music by myself.
Who were your first voice teachers?
My first teacher was Rosemary Matthews. She introduced me to Ted Puffer of Nevada Opera, from whom I learned about 85 percent of my basic vocal technique. The remaining 15 percent is from Helen Vanni, who was my teacher at the Manhattan School of Music. Matthews and Puffer were my earliest mentors, too.
I really grew up in an isolated area, as far as opera is concerned. The local music library only contained older recordings, mainly from the 1950s. As a result, I was listening to mezzo-sopranos like Ebe Stignani, Giulietta Simionato, Fedora Barbieri, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, and Irina Archipova. I did not know that more modern approaches to opera had evolved, and my voice teachers had encouraged that older sound. When I first came to New York, almost everyone hated it! However, Manhattan School of Music voice teacher Helen Vanni understood it, and so did the director of the school’s opera program, Lou Galterio. They saw what I was and encouraged me.
Did you do any Young Artist Programs or competitions?
The only training programs in which I participated were the ones at San Francisco Opera. Luckily, what did not always work for me in New York and some other places was perfect for San Francisco. I was exactly what Terry McEwen was looking for. It was fortunate that I happened to fall into the right hands at the right time.
When I competed in vocal contests, the judges would tell me that I was ruining my voice. They thought I would only last a few years. They said I was too loud and tried to hold me back, but I was a very stubborn person. Use of the chest voice doesn’t ruin singers. It did not ruin careers for singers of the past. It’s abuse of the chest voice that takes a toll on the voice.
Many things can ruin a voice. They include singing the wrong repertoire and singing too much. Many singers don’t have the skills to protect themselves and develop problems if they are over-rehearsed. Other singers are clever about it and manage to protect themselves so that their voices don’t get tired. They’re the ones who survive! It’s too bad that some people can’t say no when they should, because they need a paycheck.
I entered the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions several times. Back then you could participate in them as many times as you liked. Once I won my district’s competition, but in general, I did not get very far with competitions. Nevertheless, they provided me with invaluable experience. In those days you auditioned for people you thought were important but who, in reality, were not. I entered the Met auditions three times. As a result, when it came time for me to sing for truly important people, I was a seasoned auditioner.
It’s a good thing to sing for whatever audiences are available. That gets you accustomed to being in front of a large group of people.
Where did you learn acting and stagecraft?
It didn’t come easy and I did not have it at the beginning. The people who opened doors for me were Lou Galterio and stage director Graham Vick. At first I was somewhat inhibited when it came to stage movement. Vick really gave me the confidence to just “go for it.” He told me that I had the right instincts and that I needed to trust them. I did that—and sometimes I made mistakes, but I learned from them. That’s how you get better!
How do you work out your interpretation of a role?
First, of course, you have to look at the text. Not only do you have to know what you are saying, you also have to know what everyone else is saying. You have to work on the musical level and the vocal level of the piece and you have to consider its overall dramatic effect. It’s a layered process. My way is to do it one step at a time.
It’s up to you, the singer, to know what roles are right for you. Artist managers and opera company executives are only interested in what use you can be to them. Whether or not you should sing a given role at a particular stage in your career is not their concern. I was fortunate to have a manager who did care about the long-term trajectory of my career, as opposed to short-term rewards.
What can a good Young Artist Program do for a singer?
Young Artist Programs are the only places where the people in charge look for potential instead of merely concentrating on what you can do for them at the moment. I’m a big supporter of quality training programs. Young singers have to be exposed to good conductors. They have to be nurtured and not overworked. Some companies just want a free chorus. Apprentices always get experience, but some of them get burned out, too.
The main problem is funding. The larger companies have more money and can do more to help emerging artists. They can take on singers in whom they see talent and work with them. They are not forced to merely employ the people who can be used during the upcoming season. Thus, San Francisco Opera could take someone like me when I was an unknown quantity and wait to see how I developed.
What aspects of a singer’s training are not addressed in most schools?
What singers need most is an understanding of how to survive in today’s opera world. Many of them are talented quick learners, but often they are not sufficiently self-protective.
It’s important for major opera companies to find young singers with major talents and expose them to good teachers and coaches. Artists need opportunities to evolve. People need to take chances on them when they finish their training, too. The real problem is to put the singer with great potential in the right place.
San Francisco Opera tries young artists out in its 10-week Merola Program. They then retain the ones who do the best work for more training during the rest of the year, in the Adler Fellowship Program. Anyone who has a fatal flaw, such as inability to learn music or languages, is dropped. You cannot tell everything about a singer in one hearing. Some people do well in auditions but are not capable of taking the next steps toward an operatic career.
The 10-week summer session is a fair tryout. When the less capable singers have been eliminated, the staff of the training program can concentrate on those artists who have the most potential.
What is the program you are working on currently?
I’m working on a program in which Merola Program Members or Adler Fellows and a former member of one of those programs concertize together to raise money for regional opera companies. Since San Francisco Opera no longer has their Western Opera Tour, their young artists need another way of gaining stage experience. Our first outing was a concert for Nevada Opera and it went very well. After that we had a big sold-out success at Arizona Opera.
It’s a win-win situation because the young artists get needed exposure, the local audience gets a good show, and the regional company gets some much-needed money. I feel that regional opera companies deserve support just as much as major companies do, and this project kills two birds with one stone. I also believe it is very important to support major opera company training programs and their young singers because they are our future. I would like to reach as many different opera companies around the country as possible.
First of all, I want to choose young artists who will do well and who can be expected to have good careers. I want them to sing the repertoire in which they shine. That will insure the success of the endeavor and allow the singers to gain enough confidence to connect with the public.
How do you divide your time?
That depends on what offers come along and what I feel like doing, but I always make time to work with young singers. I not only work with participants in the Merola and Adler programs, but also with those at major training centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston.
In addition, two colleagues of mine and I are developing a program that will involve high school teachers. They are the people who know which young singers stand out. Their input should enable us to find talented youngsters at an earlier age and work with them in a summer program. If you look at history, singers used to start a great deal earlier than they do now.
How much of a private life can you have with your huge career?
I’m not married and I don’t have children. I made that choice because I thought that if I was going to be a mother I would want to do that full time. Some people can balance motherhood and a career, but I didn’t think I could do that, so I opted not to have a family. In reality, I’m something of a hermit in that I don’t socialize a great deal.
I really love animals and I’m fond of growing things. I enjoy the raccoons that press their noses against my back door and I have a bird, a scrub jay, which likes peanuts and will perch on my shoulder or even my hand at times. In order to maintain my garden with its lilacs, wisteria, quince bushes, and a giant sycamore tree, I have a full time gardener who keeps everything beautifully cared for whether I’m at home or away.
