Lyric soprano Emily Birsan had early aspirations of becoming a language arts teacher. “Ever since I was a kid, I thought I’d like to be a teacher,” Birsan tells me in a recent phone interview. “I thought I’d like to do something like language arts; that was my favorite subject in elementary school.”
In a unique twist of fate, Birsan says she is doing just that. “Classical singing focuses on the art aspect of the text,” she says. “And it’s knowing and understanding the text of other languages.”
Now 29 and based in the Windy City, Birsan recently completed an impressive three-year tenure as a Young Artist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center for emerging operatic talents. And the classical music world is welcoming the singer with open arms as she’s on the cusp of an exciting international musical career and set to make her debut as Leila in the Florida Grand Opera’s production of Bizet’s The Pearlfishers in March. And with an array of even more opportunities on the horizon and an impressive roster of musical experiences under her belt, Birsan has established herself as an emerging artist to watch in the world of classical music.
In a relatively short amount of time, Birsan has earned nods from the Chicago Tribune for her “fineness of expression” and from the Madison (Wisconsin) Isthmus as possessing a “strong, clear, handsomely balanced and beautiful voice” and being “an artist with a very great promise for the future.”
She’s appeared in mainstage productions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Servilia in Sir David McVicar’s acclaimed production of La clemenza di Tito and as the First Flower Maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal. Most recently, she performed the role of the Italian Singer in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 60th anniversary season in Strauss’ Capriccio, alongside soprano superstar Renée Fleming.
But even with an enviable career on the rise for Birsan, this young singer remains a Midwestern girl at heart: humble, hard-working, down-to-earth, incredibly self-aware, and well-balanced.
Musical Beginnings
Hailing from Neenah, Wisconsin, Birsan found her way into music the way that most budding musicians do—through piano lessons. Birsan grew up in a musical family, where both parents played instruments and enjoyed singing many different musical styles. But no one did it as a profession.
“Growing up in Wisconsin, my parents weren’t into that kind of music,” Birsan says of the classical genre. “It wasn’t that they didn’t like it. It just wasn’t their first choice. They were folk people.”
Still, the classics are what made the biggest impression on Birsan. “The dynamic markings and the phrasing intrigued me a bit more,” she says. “And I was interested in getting all of that right.”
Birsan recalled her grandfather giving her a copy of sheet music for Beethoven’s “Pathétique.” “It was way too early and way too challenging for me to play at that time,” Birsan says with a laugh. “But I remember him saying things like, ‘In this part, it sounds like dogs fighting. And in this part, it gets really exciting.’ It taught me to hear how expression was conveyed in music. I loved it.”
During her high school years, Birsan would go on to play the piece. By the time she was in her teens, Birsan said she was interested in many instruments—piano, trombone, and voice. “I was most interested in music that challenged me and I learned that I enjoyed expressing myself through music,” she says. “Through my first voice lessons, I started with studying Lieder and the connection of text and music. That ultimately got me on the path to opera.”
Birsan began taking voice lessons when she was 12. “The first songs I learned in voice lessons and in summer music camp were around the seventh grade,” Birsan recalls. “My study of classical voice was always constant, even while I was exploring choral music, jazz, and instruments.
“When I was in high school, my first voice teacher recommended I study at the conservatory with a professor there, and that really encouraged me. Every step along the way, I had mentors that said that I had something special and I should explore it. That started to cement for me that this could be a profession. I was always very aware of feedback—every little comment, every suggestion or compliment—I really took it to heart. This became a base for my own confidence as a singer.”
She soon joined an auditioned girls’ choir in her hometown. One of the first pieces she performed with that ensemble was Benjamin Britten’s classic choral masterpiece A Ceremony of Carols, where she was a featured soloist. “It was a different challenge for me, classically,” Birsan says. She soon began venturing toward the works of composers such as Fauré, pointing her in the direction of opera.
Developing Her Voice
Birsan attended Lawrence University, a liberal arts school in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she studied with mezzo-soprano Karen Leigh-Post. Birsan initially began as both a music and education major before switching exclusively to voice.
It was at Lawrence that Birsan sang and acted in her first full-length production as Pamina, in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. “Before that time, I hadn’t ever even really seen an opera besides La bohème,” Birsan said. “At that time for me, I was working with a really supportive conductor and director.”
Immediately following that, she studied abroad in Vienna, performing in a variety of Mozart concert arias, opera scenes, and Lieder. That experience proved to be another pivotal one in the young singer’s early development. “It was the first time I was in a position where I could see 25 operas in a short amount of time,” Birsan says. “It was so ingrained in the culture. You could stop someone on the street and ask them the plot of an opera, and they would know it.”
Inspired and encouraged, she followed her time at Lawrence with her master’s studies in music at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she studied with soprano Julia Faulkner, graduating in 2010. Faulkner, who now teaches with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and whom Birsan has studied with for seven years, played a significant role in Birsan’s development.
The Madison community also was one that offered Birsan a wealth of opportunities to grow as an artist. She performed three title roles, back-to-back, in two years while at UW, including Massenet’s Thaïs, Handel’s Alcina, and Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda.
While there, Birsan also was awarded the Paul Collins Fellowship, was the winner of the 2010 Rose M. Grundman Scholarship from the Civic and Arts Union League Competition, received first place in the 2007 Senior Women’s Division of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, and earned multiple award wins from 2008 to 2011 at the Upper Midwest Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
“It was a small hall and a safe environment,” Birsan says of her experience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “But that situation really boosted my confidence that I could take on these pretty big leading ladies and make them my own.”
It also served to improve her stamina—not only in taking on big roles, but taking on multiple projects successfully. While in Madison, Birsan also took on the role of Barbarina in Madison Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro and performed as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductor John DeMain, as well as in a concert of Bach Cantatas No. 22 and 32 with the Madison Bach Musicians. From there, she studied at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute and was an apprentice artist at Des Moines Metro Opera.
Each new opportunity yielded more chances for Birsan to grow and connect further into her artistry. “The stories, the history, the challenge of learning languages,” Birsan says. “It was knowing I had something unique to say.”
From Wisconsin to the Windy City
In 2011, Birsan was accepted into the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s prestigious and highly competitive Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. The program’s mission is to provide comprehensive, year-round education and performance opportunities to promising young singers deemed “outstanding,” facilitating these singers’ academic training to an operatic career. Ryan Opera Center Ensemble members, including 11–13 vocalists, are given opportunities to sing and cover roles at all levels and take voice lessons, coachings, language, acting, and masterclasses from some of the most prominent luminaries in the opera industry.
Generally, Young Artists are in residence for two years. Birsan enjoyed three successful years with the organization. While there, she covered the roles of Adele in Die Fledermaus and Violetta in La traviata. She also performed as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the Ryan Opera Center Workshop and enjoyed her debut as Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Additionally, Birsan covered the role of Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor.
In “Rising Stars” concerts with the Lyric Opera Orchestra, Birsan was lauded for her performances of arias from La sonnambula, La traviata, and The Rake’s Progress. Birsan also was featured on Chicago’s 98.7 WFMT in a themed recital series and recorded with WFMT the world premiere of Amy Beach songs released last year.
“The biggest part of it for me was being around the environment of an opera house,” Birsan says of her time with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. “It was being around singers with such extensive knowledge of the repertoire. Just watching these singers with huge international careers in rehearsal was an amazing process.”
Birsan recalls watching Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, who was in the title role of haunted Russian czar Boris Godunov. “Just the way that he walked on stage, my mouth was on the ground,” Birsan says. “He just embodied the role. From an acting aspect, that was the moment that made me think, ‘I can’t wait until I’m at that point of my career, where I’ve sung a role so many times and have so much experience to bring to it.’
“I felt like a very small fish in a very big pond, but I think that was very good for me. I just tried to soak it all up,” Birsan continues. “It’s such a competitive program, it can get really overwhelming. But I think that whole time I was self-aware enough to be confident enough to say, ‘I want to coach with that person. I can learn something from this person because I can see myself singing that role someday.’”
The idea of self-awareness is one that Birsan revisits often. It is like a cornerstone for the young performer that keeps her grounded and focused yet motivated, even while working with the likes of opera’s most elite, such as Fleming. “Renée Fleming was in her first year as a creative consultant at the Lyric Opera of Chicago my first year as a Young Artist with the Ryan Opera Center,” shares Birsan, who says she often sought advice, spoke with, and took masterclasses from Fleming. “And in my first year as a freelance artist, to be able to share the stage with her as a colleague in Capriccio, it’s a privilege to be able to call her a mentor and someone I can learn from.”
Keeping Her Cool
Birsan says part of the key to her success has been grounding herself in her main goal—to serve the music, despite insecurities. It’s something she acknowledges that every singer must do. “I always try to come into each situation with love and compassion for other people,” Birsan says. “Everyone has their own insecurities—even famous singers. Just knowing that we’re all in this room together in a place of making art calms me down a bit. Nobody is dying. It’s not a life-or-death situation.”
Another thing Birsan strives for is not expecting perfection. “The most famous singers aren’t always perfect,” Birsan says. “But they always have something to say and their own unique way to interpret a line or a phrase.”
It comes back to Birsan’s idea of self-awareness, as well as surrounding herself with positive people—people she affectionately refers to as her “team.” “From teachers to coaches and conductors, your team is someone that knows you on your best day and on your worst. It’s not every day that you are going to make the most earth-shattering art. But your team is there to help you and encourage you to serve the art when it’s good.”
Advice to Other Young Singers
Part of what Birsan acknowledges in her appeal to fellow young artists is that she is not that far removed from where they might find themselves today—in a competitive market, saturated with musical hopefuls, aspiring to make their own unique voice heard amidst the masses.
“It can be a hard balance,” Birsan admits. “But I always tell young singers to have as many experiences as they can stand early on. I’m still a young singer, too. I think it’s important to go back to being self-aware and to know where you are compared to your colleagues—not in a mean-spirited or competitive kind of way, but in a way that I can look at other singers who are 29-year-old lyric sopranos singing in A-level opera houses and say, ‘They know what they’re doing.’ It’s knowing where I’m at compared to that. Maybe I try to sing for this person or that person and help set my goals based on that.”
Birsan also advises young singers not to approach their careers in the making with blinders on. Rather, they should aim to keep their hearts open to a variety of experiences. For example, Birsan said that her work in Bel Canto opera has helped feed her artistry in collaborating with chamber ensembles and vice versa.
“Sing with your community orchestra,” she says. “Get in touch with a conductor you’ve worked with and find out if they’d like to collaborate. You have to be scrappy and have a strong base of musical experiences even before you’re a young artist. All of these experiences that you have can inform one another. It also can help you make a little money.”
She also advises young artists not to set expectations so high that they might lose touch with the root of their passion and enjoyment of creating the kind of music meant to move the soul, uplift the spirit, and inspire.
“I’ve asked the question, ‘Why do you want to sing?’” Birsan says. “The response I hear so often is that they don’t know how to do anything else or that it’s the only thing that makes them happy. They don’t know what else they’d do. I love singing; it makes me happy. But I have so many ideas of other things I would love to do or that would make me happy if singing doesn’t do that for me one day.
“In my opinion, you can’t put so much pressure on yourself,” she continues. “I think you need to keep trying and to have goals you can work toward. But if singing ever made me unhappy, I know there are other things I could do, with music on the side. I could see myself being very happy doing that. I think having that mentality has helped me be successful in my own career and perform better.”
On the Horizon
Birsan recently completed her first recording, The Saga of St. Olaf, a project that found her collaborating with Sir Andrew Davis as well as the Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic. Also in 2014, Birsan won first prize at the Musicians Club of Women Competition and was awarded the Richard F. Gold Career Grant through the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also performed Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-flat major with the Grant Park Symphony, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and A Mirror on Which to Dwell by Elliott Carter at the Ravinia Festival. And to add to that list of accomplishments, Birsan also was featured as a soloist on the Rush Hour Concert Series and has recorded arias for Peruvian composer Jimmy López’s new opera Bel Canto, which will have its world premiere at the Lyric Opera of Chicago this year.
Birsan shares that recently she has taken up painting as a relaxing escape from the hustle and bustle of her life on stage and in concert halls, as well as acting as a proud ambassador for the art form that she loves. “I think my generation needs to create a little more buzz about opera in a way that doesn’t hurt the integrity of the art,” she says. “There are a lot of challenges that opera houses face in terms of funding and attracting a larger scope of donors and audiences.”
And, as a young artist, Birsan says she always is discovering ways to develop her unique voice for opera audiences today. “What I love about opera is the use of text and poetry,” she shares. “Combined with the aspect of the human voice is what lends feeling and emotion. Just having people come up to me after a concert and say that something about my singing made them feel something [is wonderful]. Singing is like having this other-worldly energy in the room—and when it’s done well, that’s when people cry or laugh.
“The big thing is always trying to figure out what to say that sets me apart,” she says. “That’s a huge thing for a singer. It’s not always about being perfect. It’s about letting the art live through you in a way that it touches people. And I’m still discovering that about myself.”
