When I started my third year of my undergraduate work, a crazy anomaly happened. My younger brother started as a freshman and my older sister began her final year, all at the same university. To top that, we were all vocal performance majors.
My mother, who had graduated in vocal performance from the same university a few years earlier (I won’t out her with exactly how many), saw this aligning of the stars and couldn’t resist joining in the fun. An active choral director and singer, she decided to audition for the same choir my siblings and I were auditioning for. Since my dad also taught at the university, she could enroll in the class with no problem—assuming she could pass the rigorous audition.
Pass she did, and within a few days of school starting, all four of us were members of the university’s Concert Choir. My mother, my sister, and I stood right next to each other in the “Thomas Row” in the first soprano section and waved to my little brother across the way in the first baritone section. What a year of amazing memories that was, making music together in a unique and never-to-be-repeated setting.
My musical development has always been closely tied to family involvement, ever since I was four years old and began singing in my mom’s children’s choir. That’s a legacy I hope to pass onto my own children—whether they decide to pursue music professionally or as a pastime. Music and family have been an integral part of my life. Both have brought me joy, comfort, peace, laughs, fun, and love, as well as heartache, grief, and frustration—the latter only making the former that much sweeter.
Perhaps that’s why I delightfully look forward to our annual family issue each year. I love reading about and learning from singers who share my love of both music and family. In this issue, there are some particularly wonderful stories of singers who are also finding joy, as well as challenge, in combining the two.
Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez, featured in this month’s cover story (p. 20), are on their way to becoming international superstars and are doing it as husband and wife. They ignored the advice of many around them, choosing to combine their careers and their lives and speak candidly about the benefits and challenges of that choice. They also share their down-to-earth take on a very difficult profession.
Nestled on the western bank of beautiful Chautauqua Lake in western New York, Chautauqua Opera enjoys a full and successful summer season of professional opera, including a large Young Artist Program. What many may not know about the opera company’s success is the role of its family-friendly approach both with its artists and within the company. Joanie Brittingham tells why singers want to go back summer after summer and why administrators love to work there (p. 38).
Sibling rivalry turns to sibling revelry as six active singers tell what it’s like to have siblings who share their same profession (p. 42). These two sets of brothers and one set of sisters share much more than just genetics. Their clear love and appreciation for music and each other is evident in their heartwarming and humorous anecdotes.
Finally, Michelle Latour brings readers interview excerpts with over a dozen women who are both singers and mothers (p. 32). Their frank comments reveal the real challenges and significant sacrifices involved in attempting to balance career and family. They also share tips for making it work, why they decided to do it in the first place, and whether they would do it again.
I could write much more about that year when three siblings all attended the same university majoring in the same program—including two sister sopranos competing against each for the same opera and solo parts only to have one sibling chosen over another. There certainly was rivalry and heartache. With the passing of time, however, I am grateful that I didn’t pass up the day-to-day interaction with my family making music together because of a few unpleasant moments in between. For this writer, family and music should and will always intertwine.
