Kathryn Frady offers our readers a wealth of opera experience from performing, directing, producing, teaching, and consulting. A critically acclaimed soprano and stage director who has worked throughout the United States, Europe, and in South Africa, she is known for her compelling performances of roles in Verismo and new American operas as well as for her imaginative stagings, groundbreaking productions, and for making opera accessible. She is the Founding Executive Artistic Director of Marble City Opera where she has brought to life thirty-four fully-staged productions, including ten premieres and multiple new operas in development.
You are a soprano, stage director, and artistic director. What is your recipe for handling such an intense schedule?
What a great way to ask this question! I love the idea of having a recipe for being a soprano, stage director, and artistic director, because they are all various ingredients that make up a broader category of being a professional in the opera industry. In grad school I determined that I would work in opera because I fell in love with the art form. I have always loved singing and acting, and after taking a directing class at the University of North Texas, I realized I loved that as well. Being an artistic director allows me to use all of my skill sets together and bring a vision to life of the kind of opera and art that I would like to see and offer to my community. But back to the recipe: being an artist demands an intense schedule of learning, taking care of yourself, and focus and determination. I have found that it is important for me to surround myself with like-minded people and environments that inspire, encourage, and support me in doing the things necessary to be successful. These things include studying literature, vocal technique, languages, and musical styles with the best teachers, coaches, and directors. It requires discipline in taking care of myself through getting enough sleep, eating well, and exercising. Another important part of the recipe for me is self-reflection and self-motivation. I regularly use a journal of some kind to keep track of my goals, as well as have time and space for personal reflect
Did you imagine you would have such a multifaceted career?
I always loved music, but I actually went to school on a flute scholarship and with a desire to sing musical theater. I had my first voice lesson as an elective as an undergrad, and quickly began double majoring in flute and voice performance. I had never been to an opera when I started to train with classical singing techniques, and had no real idea of the vast repertoire that opera encompassed. What I consider my first opera experience was a dress rehearsal of La Traviata at the Dallas Opera when I was twenty-one years old. Up until that point I had only performed and seen musical theater and operetta, but after seeing La Traviata, I was hooked. My focus at that point became singing, and I very quickly also became interested in directing. I would say I definitely fell into my role as founder and artistic director. I still consider my main focus singing, because at the core, that is my primary instrument and the reason I am in opera.
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What was your vision when you founded Marble City Opera?
Founding Marble City Opera was actually an accident. A happy one, but I did not initially set out to create or found an opera company. I had recently reflected that I wanted to sing more, and that instead of presenting a recital, I would produce an opera. I had convinced my voice teacher at North Texas to allow me to perform Menotti’s The Telephone on my graduate recital, which I sang and directed, instead of an English art song cycle. I originally thought I would find a place to perform The Telephone and possibly Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, which I had always been interested in singing. After reflecting on these goals, I attended a young artist program and became friends with someone who was also living in Knoxville at the time and who also wanted to find more opportunities to perform. So, we set out looking for an opera to perform together and landed on The Face on the Barroom Floor by Mollicone.
However, there were obstacles in putting on this opera. We needed a tenor and a place to perform. I ended up applying for a performance opportunity at the Atlanta Fringe Festival, because it seemed like a great way to have an opportunity to perform a show with another group doing the marketing, tickets, etc. The caveat was that they wanted a company name, so we gave them the name “Marble City Opera” and a month later, we had been accepted into the Fringe Festival and our company name was on their website. We decided to produce the opera in Knoxville to help us raise money for our trip to Atlanta. The performance was sold out and Marble City Opera had begun. When I was interviewed that summer after our performance and tour, my vision became clear: I wanted to create opportunities for local and regional artists to have professional opportunities performing opera. I wanted to highlight operas that were mostly in English and shorter in length in unusual venues that would help tell the stories in a more immersive and site-specific way. And through this way of producing, my vision was also to make opera more accessible and interesting to people who did not traditionally attend opera.
As an advocate for American chamber opera, what would you say that these works bring to the operatic art form and to audiences?
Producing American chamber opera and marketing it that way is a great way to communicate to our audiences and potential audiences that opera is for them. These operas often have the ability to bring new audience members to the art form, because they are in English and therefore more accessible. I like to think of it as a way in the door to opera for some people. It’s also a great way to showcase living composers and modern stories.
Your company has offered thought-provoking works on relevant issues of the day, like the opera I Can’t Breathe. Tell us about that.
Early on, it became an important part of Marble City Opera’s work to connect with relevant topics in our community and beyond. The first full season we opened with The Gift of The Magi and at the end of the final performance, I had my hair cut nine inches—onstage—and donated to an organization called Children With Hair Loss, who provide wigs for children who have hair loss due to medical conditions. We also supported LGBTQ rights by wearing bowties in our production of Ties That Bond from an organization that supported Marriage Equality. So, from the beginning, we’ve had a strong tradition of being an organization that used our art form to tell important and relevant stories as well as doing good works in our community.
I Can’t Breathe by Leslie Burrs and Brandon Gibson was conceived during the pandemic after George Floyd’s death, and is an opera that explores themes of grief, loss, love, identity, and hope. The stories told are not dramatizations of any real-life incident. Instead, there are six fictional characters from different walks of life, each named for a different archetype. Lives that in one way or another are forever changed when innocent interactions with law enforcement go wrong. This opera allowed us to continue a relationship and collaboration with The Beck Cultural Center where we had performed an opera in 2020 entitled ShadowLight by Larry Delinger and Emily Anderson about a famous African-American painter, Beauford Delaney, whose works were largely lost in his hometown community of Knoxville.
The truth about producing works like this at Marble City Opera is that it goes back to the recipe. With focus, determination, and self-reflection, we, as artists, are inspired by the world and environment around us. We all have different motivations and inspirations. Justice is one of my personal motivations and inspirations, so I think people see that in the work that I produce. For me, it simply comes from a place of conviction and desire to create a better world, and where I have access to making change is through the art that I create.
You also produce traditional operas in non-traditional venues. What do you hope your audiences derive from these experiences?
Sometimes people find this interesting about me because of all the new work I produce, sing, and direct, but I love traditional opera, especially Verismo opera. My hope for audiences when they attend any performance is that they will come with open hearts, minds, and ears, and leave somewhat changed from the experience. Whether it’s positive or negative, I want my audiences to have a visceral reaction to the performance. Experiencing opera in a non-traditional venue adds a layer of excitement to the performance. It helps immerse the audience in the storytelling and the music of the production. It also opens up a world of imagination that they wouldn’t necessarily have in a traditional theater experience.
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How do you keep your voice in shape with such a busy schedule?
Most of the year I practice five to six days a week for at least an hour a day. It’s a necessity of the job and non-negotiable. The only exception is when I am deliberately taking time off for a vacation or rest. My preference is to have two hours a day to practice, but sometimes that isn’t possible. However, warming up for fifteen minutes is always possible as long as it’s on your priority list of things to do, and in opera it has to be a priority. I most often warm-up with fifteen minutes of vocal exercises followed by Act 1 of Tosca, other arias or roles I’m keeping in shape for auditions, and then get started on the new rep I am learning. I also work with vocal coaches and when I have time, I visit my voice teacher for a lesson.
What do you look for when hiring singers for your company, and how do you see the ideal opera singer of the 21st century?
I’m looking for the full package when I’m hiring singers. I’m looking for singers who are going to be wonderful colleagues, have great vocal technique, and are engaging and convincing actors. I like big voices and operatic singing that will cut through an orchestra. This is almost even more important when doing immersive site-specific work that is often outside and/or the orchestra is on the side of the stage and not in a pit. I am looking for singers who will be heard, who will keep my audiences on the edge of their seats, and always show up prepared with a great attitude. Artists who are flexible and easy going, and who treat all the staff, board, audience, and cast with respect. Extra bonus points for artists who return emails quickly to all staff members. I think the ideal opera singer of the 21st century can do all of these things and achieve harmony in finding opportunities to perform, be administrators, directors, teachers, composers, librettists, and work in other aspects of the industry while having successful performance careers.
What advice do you have for young singers wanting to audition for Marble City Opera?
Keep an eye out for our audition announcements on YAP tracker. You can also email us, and we will put you on a list to receive the audition notices. My advice would be: 1) send polite, formal emails with all the materials requested. Your audition starts with the first email. 2) Be a great colleague in the hallway before your audition. Audition monitors talk. 3) Show up in-person. I don’t typically hire people I don’t have a chance to meet. 4) Start with your favorite aria, not with what you think I want to hear. 5) Have a great English aria in your audition package. 6) Use your acting chops. Show me what you can do! 7) Be prepared to answer questions. I like to try to get to know all the singers who audition for us. 8) Have so much fun! It’s not every day you get to sing the arias you love for an audience, even if the audience is a small panel of people who may hire you.
What about young singers starting out—what would you tell them?
If you love this art form, if it is what you wake up dreaming about, and it’s the main thing that makes you happy, keep going, keep practicing, be self-reflective, be self-motivated, create opportunities, take care of yourself physically and emotionally, listen to feedback, take what works for you and leave the rest. Don’t put all your chickens in one basket, you can do more than one thing, make and save money when and where you can. Whether you make all your money from singing or you have multiple streams of income, You Are A Singer! There is a place for you! Your path may not look like exactly what you thought it would look like or wanted it to be, but if you keep knocking on doors and walk through the ones that open, you will one day look back and say, “Wow. I did it.” Only you determine what is successful for you.
To learn more, please visit https://www.kathrynfrady.com/
