Opera singers search for true voices in Italy
Amelia Daigle and Erin Armstrong both love opera and thought they had found their voice. Then, in a dramatic switch that would be kind of like honing your skills to become an NHL forward and being told your true calling was defence, both Windsor singers were told their true opera voices are now not what they had trained for years to sing.
“It was traumatizing and I’m not saying that lightly,” Daigle said Tuesday. “Even today, it’s still unnerving, because I’m still not fully developed into a soprano yet .... It’s like being reborn.”
Daigle, 29, studied as a mezzo soprano and is now finding her voice blossoms in the higher range as a soprano.
Armstrong, 33, and originally from Leamington, was a soprano who discovered her voice deepened and is really a mezzo soprano. Both say it’s difficult to switch their identity, since in opera, sopranos are often a submissive heroine while mezzo sopranos may play Gypsies, mothers, prostitutes or boys.
The two are heading to Italy in July to fine-tune their true operatic voice. They will travel to Busetto, Italy, the birthplace of legendary opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, on July 1 to study for a month under two opera legends: soprano Aprile Millo and Maestro Richard Bonynge. Bonynge is known for the Bel Canto style of singing, which means beautiful singing in Italian and is key if the two want to be hired for European operas. Millo, the award-winning Europe and North America, Arm-Americans op ra no, has performed strong said. Studying in Italy is a around the world, including singing unique opportunity that should with Luciano Pavarotti and give them an edge on their resumes, Placido Domingo. The Windsor help them be better teachers, women will be immersed in opera and keep the tradition of opera for 10-12 hours a day, including lessons alive, she said. that will see Millo sing a line “It’s going to be intense, but it’s for them to sing back to her. going to be great.”
There will be about 20 singers Opera wasn’t always a high art studying with Millo, who invited form. It was the pop music of its both Windsor women and awarded day, Armstrong said. People ate, them a $1,200 scholarship to at-drank and talked during performances. tend. They are paying the rest of the US$5,000 cost, which includes Opera’s appeal is a deeper connection accommodations. with the music, Armstrong The switch to where their voice said. will be its best isn’t unheard of in “If you had the opportunity opera, and isn’t the fault of their to hear your favourite artist in a teachers here, but a difference room with just the two of you, no in the styles of teaching between microphones, and their sound entering your body immediately without going through a wire that’s plugged into a jack and into speakers ... there would be something even more incredible about that experience. Opera is that way all the time. There’s no amplification. There’s no messing around.” The two friends both attended the University of Windsor, have performed with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and teach voice at In Tune Music on Ottawa Street. “Super excited,” Daigle said of the Italian opportunity. “We’re going to be working with people from La Scala (in Milan), which is one of the most famous opera houses in Europe.”