I sing because it saved me. That sounds sappy and cliché, but it really did. I grew up involved in pop music. My voice was very mature for belting at a young age. At 14, I was shipped to NYC, Sweden, and Miami Beach to sing, dance, and record the latest Top 40 music. It was so much fun, the glitz and the glam—yet I grew up way beyond my years in this adult-prominent lifestyle.
When I was 19 years old at a local South Florida restaurant, my dress went up in flames from a candle placed too close to me. The screams and shouts still haunt me to this day. I burned 40 percent of my back ribs and arm. The ICU and Hospital Rehab were my home for the next year. I couldn’t walk, dance, or jump around like I used to. Music was my only release.
Then, one night in the hospital, the sounds of Maria Callas filled my room. PBS had a special on her and I was floored. I felt like I could float out of my bed and dance and sing just as she was doing. I knew I had to pursue my love for music and transition from pop to classical music. Once I was medically cleared from the hospital, still bandaged like a mummy and full of pain, I signed up to get my bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at New World School of the Arts.
Every day, I woke up with a smile. I knew I was on the right path and sang the pain away. I tried out for summer programs every year so that even though school was out, I could still be surrounded by opera. I spent my last three summers at Brevard Music Festival, OperaWorks, and Italian Operatic Experience with amazing teachers and even more outstanding talent, and I just soaked up every minute of what they had to offer.
Since graduating this past May, my life has flourished because of singing and my ever-growing fascination with opera. When I see the challenges of this career, I look back at the pictures of my burned, bandaged body and then look at where I am now. It has only been four years since I was that lost, injured young girl unaware of where I was going and how to achieve my goals. I am still not sure how to get there, but the path seems a lot clearer. I have literally gone through fire and back, yet I never want people to think I am weak and can’t handle this career. I am strong and willing to fight even bigger fires and tougher battles.
I don’t consider myself special or different from anyone else in this career. We all want it, taste it, and wake up every morning breathing music in. Every one of us has a story and challenges to endure. It just depends how we persevere and keep loving ourselves completely with all our imperfections—to believe that we can do just a little more than we thought.
Sandra Marante is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where she studies with Judith Haddon.
