Singer Mia Lennox: Opera is her labour of love
“It can be really stressful, but it can also be one of the most beautiful experiences”
To the outside observer, Mia Lennox’s life is incredibly glamorous.
As a world-renowned mezzo-soprano, Lennox spends her days travelling to opera houses across the country, singing beautiful music in front of appreciative audiences. There are gorgeous costumes, glittering openingnight galas, and resounding curtain calls.
But in life, as in an opera, there’s always more to the story than what appears on stage. There are long, lonely stretches spent in hotel rooms far from home. There are hours of hard work and preparation before one note is sung at rehearsal.
And finally, there’s the terrifying prospect that every cough or cold could affect your voice — and consequently, your career.
“It’s very competitive,” Lennox said. “One bad performance makes it more difficult to get work in the future. There’s nowhere near enough work available for all of us.”
But Lennox, who lives in Hamilton, wouldn’t have it any other way. Like many of her musical colleagues, she sees opera as more of a calling than a profession.
“Hopefully, you can give the audience two or three hours of coming into a completely different world,” she said.
Lennox, 42, has spent years honing her craft. She began her career studying at the University of Toronto and spent a year at a young artists’ program in Marseilles, France. After returning to Canada, Lennox spent two years at l’Opéra de Montréal in a training program aimed at helping young artists launch their careers.
She’s been gigging steadily ever since — most recently playing the role of Madame de Croissy in “Dialogues des Carmélites,” an opera by Francois Poulenc that tells the story of a group of nuns executed during the French Revolution for refusing to give up their vocation.
Lennox is booked for roles up to two or three years in advance. The expectation from conductors is that singers arrive at the first rehearsal prepared and ready to sing — which means that Lennox spends 30 to 40 hours studying and memorizing her music.
She also works with vocal teachers and coaches, and analyzes her character before even setting foot inside the rehearsal hall.
The first rehearsal for any opera is always a full run-through of the entire score from beginning to end, Lennox said — an often-nervewracking experience that becomes almost a mini performance in itself.
“I don’t know a singer who likes coming into a rehearsal unprepared,” she said.
Despite her years of experience, Lennox still gets stage fright — as do many of her colleagues.
“I think none of us are completely sure that we sound good or we’re doing the right thing. We tend to be a very insecure bunch,” she said with a laugh.
But a very real anxiety for Lennox is getting sick. Though understudies were once a common feature i n opera companies, these days, if a singer gets sick, there’s usually no one to fill in. Plus, Lennox said, if you don’t sing, you don’t get paid. Lennox actually performed her role in “Dialogues des Carmélites” while battling a lung infection.
“In between my performances, I just stayed in my hotel room and said nothing to no one,” she said.
The world of opera can be so cutthroat and fickle that Lennox has built what she calls a “parallel career” in addition to her musical life. In between her opera engagements, Lennox works as a project manager for Trillium Healthcare — something she says allows her to be a better single parent to her eight-yearold son.
“I’m happy with the career that I’ve had — but I think you have to make choices. I have dear colleagues who have chosen not to get married, not to have children,” she said. “The vast majority of female opera singers have only one child, because it’s hard to manage more than that.”
If you hinge your identity and hopes and dreams on the world of opera, the mental consequences can be difficult to manage.
“It’s capricious, it involves a lot of luck, and you have to have a very strong body,” she said.
Still — like any true labour of love — despite the difficulties, Lennox’s passion for her craft makes it worthwhile. When everything comes together — when she’s in sync with the conductor and the orchestra, when her voice is in top form, and when the audience is engaged — “there’s really nothing better,” she says.
“It feels just perfect. It feels like you’re doing the exact right thing at the exact right time,” she said. “It can be really stressful, but it can also be one of the most beautiful experiences.”