When did you discover your passion for music and singing?
I grew up in New Jersey, in a house where musical theater was loved and appreciated. My parents took me to the theater in New York a lot. We saw plays, but we saw mostly musicals, and I’ve just always loved to sing. When I was around twelve years old, Annie was on Broadway for the first time with Sarah Jessica Parker. It was a big deal, and everyone was singing “Tomorrow.” That’s when I discovered I could belt really well…and I got cast as Annie in our school show! I started taking voice lessons and really started to love and learn music. My first voice teacher was a wonderful woman, smart and careful with me, which I appreciate now because, as a teacher, I realize how much of a slippery slope it can be in those early years. She recognized that my talent was a very natural gift and guided me appropriately without ever trying to make me sound different. She was also a church choir director and made me sing in front of an audience regularly. I am very grateful for that.
After high school, I was determined to follow my singing and make a career of it. I also happened to be a good student academically, so I had to make a pact with my parents to continue my academic education at the same time as I was pursuing my singing. I went to Northwestern University, which is a fantastic school—I got a great education and I learned a lot about singing at the same time. Then I went to University of Texas at Austin, where I did my grad work.
What came next? Did you attend a Young Artist Program?
My path after college was a little unusual, especially when I think about what today’s landscape looks like. I came back to New Jersey after college and I started auditioning for whoever would hear me without having an agent. My teacher at UT Austin was Mignon Dunn, who had just started teaching at Manhattan School of Music, so I continued studying with her. She kept offering me connections and opportunities that really got my career going. I give her a lot of credit for that. I got a manager and a cover contract at The Metropolitan Opera almost the first year out of school, which is unusual. Some luck, timing and talent combined was needed for that to happen.
I think about this time a lot because I never did a Young Artist Program. Almost at the same time I got my first Met Opera contract, I made it to the finals of the Ryan Center of the Chicago Lyric Opera and I declined to go to the finals because I felt I was already set with my Met contract! I often wonder, if I had taken that opportunity, would my career path have been different, better, worse? I don’t know. But I think it’s always good to have a company’s program behind you because they’re always nurturing you and supporting you. I was always a free agent in that sense. And although I feel The Met Opera was my early home as a young singer, I was never a Lindemann singer.
How was the cover experience for you in a house like The Met Opera?
I think the culture and structure of the company were different back then. You could start out covering small roles, then progress to performing small roles, then get to cover and sing a big role. They moved you up if you did well. So, it really felt like if you did the work, you would earn your place at the table. And that worked well for me, and for a lot of my friends and colleagues too. But I think it’s a different atmosphere now. I’m currently called for covers only and that’s something I’m ok with as a mature singer. But I see a lot of my younger friends and colleagues getting stuck in a cycle they can’t break out of and that can be hard. The opportunities aren’t there now like they were for me.
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The evolution of your repertoire is exemplary, from Mozart to iconic soprano heroines, to new works. Was this carefully planned?
It ended up being a good path, but I don’t know how much of it was planned per se. The Queen of the Night was a gateway into a lot of the big opera houses. I was nudged into doing that by my managers, and it worked out for me, because it was a good way to get my foot in the door with such a specialized role. But I was always simultaneously singing other repertoire, so I never feel like I got pigeon-holed in the way that a lot of singers can with that type of role. In the same season, I would do a Violetta and I would do a Queen for a period of time. Then eventually it became too much of a balancing act to try to keep the Queen in my repertoire. That’s when Verdi really started coming to the forefront, and I think I was lucky enough to sound like a lyric soprano, but have a coloratura extension, and I have enough meat in my voice to carry some of these heavier roles.
Maybe it wasn’t completely planned, but I was always determined to sing the repertoire that I really was dying to sing. And then with age comes wisdom. And just like in Hollywood, it’s hard to continue playing the ingenue. I really value acting and characterization and digging into the story that I want to tell, so these contemporary pieces that I’ve gotten to do have helped me feel very satisfied and fulfilled with my acting. It’s been a great way to do this second-half of my career with these roles that again, require flexibility, are still vocally demanding, but they require the wisdom that comes with age and life experience. I’ve been happy doing these kinds of pieces.
How did these opportunities to work on new opera come along? Were you actively looking for them, was your team connecting you to composers?
Some of them came about because of the type of voice that I have, and the way that people think of me, as a singing actress and as somebody who has some pretty good high notes. That fit with what they were looking for in the roles that I was offered. One of the roles that I ended up doing in Dinner at Eight happened because somebody else had a pregnancy and had to cancel. So that one was timing. I think the other ones were my managers, Alex Fletcher and Sarah Fraser, always looking for opportunities for me. And then I just had enough of a career reputation that people knew of me and trusted me with these challenging roles. But I do think a lot of this business is luck and timing, so you never know exactly. For Alma Deutscher ‘s Cinderella I think it was because the people there knew me as the Queen of the Night, and the role of the stepmother has elements of the Queen in her. It was lots of fun to play the bad girl again! And the role in The Manchurian Candidate by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell that I just sang was in a way similar, this kind of mature, evil woman, who needs a lot of strength and metal in her voice.
AUSTIN, TX – NOVEMBER 7, 2024 – The Manchurian Candidate.
It is often said that careers are also made by the “no’s” we say as artists. How was this a part of your experience?
Going back and looking at some of my choices, there were times where I said no to certain things because I am a bit of a homebody. I value the time in between gigs where you can reset, refresh the voice, refresh your repertoire, check in with your teacher, your coaches. The constant jet setting was always scary to me. Only a handful of times did I go straight from one gig to another, and they didn’t always go so well for me. But I did it because I thought I had to or I should, or because it was an opportunity too good to pass up…And I feel like I waited a long time to start a family because I didn’t want to miss out on opportunities, thought I’d be forgotten or lose momentum. In the end, I am beyond grateful that I didn’t wait too long. I was lucky that I had a baby later in life because she’s my everything.
There are always these kinds of life choices that influence your career. There was also a turning point when I was being asked to do things like early Mozart operas that probably were never really in my wheelhouse, roles that were all about vocal tricks and high notes. I started saying no to those roles that were very stressful to me and instead leaned into those where I felt like I could really sing and act. That’s when I started to feel very fulfilled, and started steering towards repertoire that was better for me.
You’ve had some very special highlights in your career, including the rare occasion to be a part of Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln. Could you tell us more about this experience?
That was again, luck! A former artistic staff of New York City Opera had moved into producing for TV and film, and she was determined to convince Spielberg and the producers to hire real opera singers for the Faust scene in the movie. I got a call and it all moved very fast. I got a practice tape of the measures they wanted me to perform before I showed up for filming. There was one day of rehearsal and one day of filming on location. It was a fantastic experience. When I first saw Daniel Day-Lewis up in the box in the theater, I said, wow, that’s Lincoln! It was startling, he just disappeared into that role. I didn’t get to meet him because he insisted on staying in character. But I did meet Sally Field and she was so happy to have us singers on set. Everyone was so welcoming. We filmed more than what ended up in the movie, but it was still an amazing experience to be a part of such a professional operation, with the costuming, the makeup artists, and the dressers. And we only saw Spielberg from afar, I didn’t get to meet him properly… because I took too long in the bathroom with my big dress!
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And what are some of your biggest highlights on the opera stage?
Some of my biggest career highlights were singing at The Met with my family and friends in the audience, my mom and dad especially. To sing Violetta, Micaëla, the heroines in Hoffman, these big signature soprano roles on the most famous opera stage in the world, in front of your mom and dad is pretty cool! There were lots of shows that they missed when I was in Europe, so singing in NYC, so close to my hometown, was like a homecoming. Whenever I sang a leading role there, there was always a party! Those were some of the best nights in the theater for me because it was for them, and it just made me so proud.
When did your teaching journey begin? What are some of the pillars of your teaching after so much experience on stage? And as you continue to perform, how do you balance these responsibilities?
I started doing some teaching around 15 years ago and then when my last teacher, Rita Shane, passed away in 2014, I took on some of her students. I never had a big studio because I was busy singing, but I was dipping my toe in the water, to continue the legacy of her vocal technique. My alma mater, UT Austin, asked me fairly regularly to come as an artist in residence or to do masterclasses, and I started getting used to working with young singers. After that, I started building my private studio and I joined Manhattan School of Music three years ago. I’m still quite new there, but it’s been a great experience and I’ve learned a lot. The more I teach, the more I learn. And I think being a teacher who’s still singing has its benefits. The scheduling can be challenging but I think it’s an asset to my students to still be active in the business.
There was a time in my career where I got into some vocal trouble, where things weren’t working as easily as they used to. My extension notes had become unreliable, so I had to transition from being somebody who was a very natural singer and who just needed coaching, to somebody who really needed to figure out technique. I did a lot of work on myself in my late 30s, early 40s. That’s when I really started to learn a lot and Rita Shane helped me tremendously. As a teacher, I pass on what I’ve learned, and the fact that I learned it late perhaps gave me the gift of being able to evaluate it with more experience and knowledge.
A pillar for me is that the singing has to be as natural and healthy as possible so that you don’t get into trouble and that you know what’s going to come out on any given day. I need to know exactly what I’m doing for it to be as organic as possible. That way, when I go out there, I can be the character, and Mary can stay in the dressing room. Also, a lot of young singers can get away with certain things for a little while…but it’s going to catch up to them eventually if they don’t have a solid technique.
How did you handle the mental aspect of having to rework your technique?
I first ran into mental blocks while I was singing The Queen of the Night, because everybody’s waiting for the five Fs and all the pressure is on for those notes. It’s very easy to fall into a head game with yourself about that. I tell my students who sing this role, that they have to be an “assassin:” cold hearted, no sweating, nothing in your brain, just executing. When your inner voice starts harassing you on the sideline it is very difficult, and that took a lot of work to undo. Even after I retired the Queen, all that crept in again because I was working too hard, and my top was not consistent. I would often go out on stage scared. That’s not how anybody wants to go on stage, and that’s not what an audience wants to see either.
I did a lot of work to undo all that, with a technique called biofeedback, including meditation and visualization. I always do some kind of breathing meditation in my dressing room before I go out on stage and I have continued with some of the other techniques that got me out of that hole. But I think the biggest thing that helped me quiet the inner critic while I was singing was leaning into being an actress and I worked on that aspect with my acting teacher, Hank Hammet. Doing that work with him helped me to leave behind the technical worries.
I do try to give that to my students as well. I also teach a performance class at Manhattan School of Music for underclassmen and even though we’re really working on the basics of performance, I try to instill the importance of character work in them right from the get-go.
Do you have any advice for young singers aspiring to build a long career like yours?
I’m a big believer in getting your languages right, and getting them to sound authentic, which goes hand in hand with style. It takes time, it takes dedication, discipline, and patience. Don’t rush to the finish line, there can be enjoyment in working on the details and a great deal of benefit; it’s what separates the excellent performers from the rest.
