Helen Huse Ralston, soprano, has received many awards for her singing, most recently third prize in the Wagnerian Division of the 2005 Liederkranz Foundation Competition. She has a “large yet flexible voice … [a] particularly lustrous timbre in the upper register and an unforced amplitude.” (–Michael Caruso, The Chesnut Hill Local, Philadelphia)
Ms. Ralston’s most recent performances include Leonora in a concert performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore with the Delaware Valley Opera Company (of Philadelphia); soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah, Part III, with the Bach and Handel Chorale of Jim Thorpe (Pennsylvania); and La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Opera Delaware, where she also understudied the role of Turandot. Other recent performances include Amelia in a concert performance of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera with the Delaware Valley Opera Company; and Isolde, in excerpts from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, with both the Newark Symphony (of Newark, Del.) and the Immaculata Symphony of Fraser, Penn. She will be performing Richard Strauss’Vier letzte Lieder with the Newark Symphony on March 12, 2006.
Ms. Ralston is from Towson, Md, where she began her vocal studies as a teenager. She attended the University of Maryland, graduating cum laude with a bachelor of arts in the visual and performing arts and a master of music in vocal performance. Ms. Ralston resides in Jeffersonville, Penn. with her husband, Gregg, an accomplished violinist and violist.
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
I went to a performance of Rigoletto at the age of 11 or 12. It was in a small theater with two pianos, rather than orchestra, and I had a second row seat. I was completely enthralled by the performance and it was truly a magical experience for me.
What are your goals for the next five years? The next 10 years?
To be honest, planning ahead isn’t one of my strongest attributes. In the next five years I hope to achieve a regular schedule of performance work, either in the United States or abroad, or both, as the lead or cover for the Wagner and Verdi heroines to which my voice is suited. I haven’t really thought too much about the next 10 years. Hopefully I’ll still be out there singing!
What has been your career highlight to this point?
This has been an amazing year for me. I have won prizes in two major competitions: the Liederkranz Wagner Division and the Classical Singer Convention AudComps. I was in my first main-stage production (Opera Delaware’s production of Gianni Schicchi), and received a glowing review for my performance of Leonora in a concert performance of Il trovatore with the Delaware Valley Opera Company of Philadelphia.
What is your favorite part about being an opera singer?
I love being in a show—the costumes, makeup, rehearsals, [the] excitement of opening night—everything about it. If I
weren’t an opera singer, I’d still be in the performing arts in some other capacity.
Who are some of your role models, mentors, or influential people in your life?
Joan Sutherland was my role model for a long time. I tried to model myself after her, until it finally dawned on me that I’m not a dramatic coloratura, but rather a true hoch dramatischen Sopran. I still love her—but my new role model is, of course, Birgit Nilsson.
How do you balance career and family?
I am blessed to have an incredibly supportive husband who is 100 percent behind me and my career. His encouragement and emotional support are so important to me. We don’t have children, just kitty-cats, so that makes things less complicated. I do find, though, that when I’m very busy with my singing, I tend to lose track of people, my friends and family. It is a struggle to keep it all together.
Ricardo Tamura was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and studied geology, geophysics and physics at the University of Sao Paulo. A graduate in physics and geology before the age of 21, he had many successes in his short scientific career, from an assistant fellowship at the same university to an invitation to join the first International Space University, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Singing was just a hobby, and doing it professionally seemed out of the question. Things changed suddenly in 1992, when the Juilliard School of Music granted Mr. Tamura a scholarship. He studied with Marlena Malas, and with Metropolitan Opera legends Licia Albanese and Carlo Bergonzi before being accepted at the prestigious Zurich International Opera Studio, in 1995. He made his professional debut in 1996, as Armando Cellini in Fred Raymond’s operetta Maske in Blau, in Kassel, Germany.
Winner of many international voice competitions, and much sought after as a concert singer, Mr. Tamura’s repertoire includes more than 35 operas and operettas by the most famous composers, performed in opera houses all over Germany. He recorded his first CD in 2005 (Hans Werner Henze’s Das Wundertheater), for which the composer himself gave high praise.
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
I never thought of having a career in music. I became interested in opera after listening to Pavarotti on the radio, performing the “Nine Cs” aria from Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. Then a Brazilian conductor opened a singing school for people who only wanted to sing in the shower without torturing the neighbors. That’s how I got started!
What are your goals for the next five years? In the next 10 years?
In five years, I hope to have extended my career to most of the major houses in Europe and maybe the United States. In 10 years—well, that’s too long to say!
What has been your career highlight to this point?
There have been many [highlights]. The latest one was a production of the Portuguese opera A Serrana by Alfredo Keil, with the WDR Orchestra, which was my first radio broadcast. It was a completely different experience from anything I had done. It brought me to the stage of the Semperoper in Dresden, one of the most beautiful opera houses.
What is your favorite part about being an opera singer?
There are many things I like (and dislike) about being an opera singer. Of course, I enjoy singing! But more than that, it is great to sing for an audience. In this respect, concerts are even better than opera, since one can actually see the audience and really feel how they react. I also enjoy the challenge of being called at 10 or 11 a.m. one day to do a role on the other side of the country that same evening. It is never boring!
If you could sing any one role, what would it be?
Definitely Verdi’s Otello!
How do you handle rejection?
If I said that I don’t have a problem with it, it would be a lie. I was lucky enough not to have had too many negative experiences, but I did have a few. I started getting better by watching my colleagues perform and then reading the reviews or hearing comments from people in the audience. I realized how differently people can view the same performance. Rejection is just one possible outcome.
On the other hand, coming from the right people, a negative criticism (even a really mean one!) can be a great eye-opener, to make you realize where your weaknesses are. I’ve had a couple of “irrelevant,” “jealous,” and “not-qualified” criticisms, which turned out to be the best help I’ve ever had.
Generally speaking, I think the most important thing is to enjoy performing, instead of being afraid of it. When we are insecure, every negative reaction confirms our worst fears. But if you have fun on stage, you won’t be bothered if some people don’t like what you did. Actually, I’d dare say that when you really have fun performing, it is very unlikely you’ll get a negative response.
Are there any other thoughts you’d like to share with
Classical Singer readers?
I believe a career as an opera singer is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. As a geologist, I didn’t have to please anybody in order to have a career. I just needed to be competent. As a singer, being good is not all—it takes much more than that. Nevertheless, even a “small” career can be very rewarding. I always tell my friends who ask me about [auditioning] in Germany: “It is a very hard business! If you are not sure this is what you want, maybe you shouldn’t come. You’ll be very disappointed. But if you really like it, if you are really sure that’s what you enjoy doing, you’ll have a lot of fun!”
