INTERVIEW: OPERA SINGER SINÉAD CAMPBELL-WALLACE
Sinéad Campbell-Wallace will take on one of the biggest roles of her life next week and she reveals that not only did having children give her back her drive – it also gave her a different, more in-demand voice!
Growing up in the shadow of the Wexford Opera House, it stands to reason that as a little girl, Sinéad Campbell-Wallace was so taken with the musical genre. ‘My first experience was when I was 9 or 10 years of age,’ she recalls. ‘My parents aren’t very musical in that way in terms of classical music, but I saw this woman singing and I just thought, whatever that is, I want to do it.’
The young Sinéad was enamoured of the unbridled glamour, the drama and the power of opera. It was the start of a hugely gratifying professional journey, and one that has seen the singer wow huge audiences internationally.
After training at the highly prestigious National Opera Studio in London, Sinéad performed with Opera Northern Ireland, Cork Opera House, National Concert Hall, and with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the University Concert Hall in Limerick. There has, of course, been a triumphant homecoming as part of Wexford Festival Opera’s concert series.
In the coming months, Sinéad will also perform Tosca for the Scottish Opera, as well as Wagner with the London Symphony Orchestra: dream tickets by any professional singer’s yardstick.
Yet when Sinéad fell in love with opera at a young age, little did she know at the time that it would change almost beyond recognition by the time she got to realise her own musical ambitions as an adult.
Gone are the days of the so-called ‘stand and deliver’ performance. With the production values and need for drama now higher than ever, so too are the physical demands expected of its stars. ‘I haven’t had to do anything too precarious on stage, but on one production, I had to walk down some really steep stairs in the middle of the stage in stilettos, while singing an aria,’ Sinéad laughs. ‘I’ve just been involved in a production in Scotland though, and the soprano was supposed to be a burlesque character, and was swinging from a swing hanging in the ceiling, doing these amazing top notes.
‘It’s pretty crazy – the demands are there, and the more versatile you are the better, which is why at the moment, even with young singers, fitness is important. Not just being fit, but “singer fit”. It’s moved on so much from the days where you just came on in a full gown, and stand and sing.’
By the time Sinéad swapped out a psychology degree in Trinity for a performance degree at the Conservatory of Music & Drama in DIT, she was well prepared for the work that lay ahead for would-be professional singers. ‘What makes a
good opera singer? Talent, number one, but mainly it’s about hard work,’ says Sinéad. ‘You have to keep your ear to the ground and keep your voice fresh.
‘I think opera suits certain types of personality too,’ she adds. ‘It helps to be calm and quietly confident, and to be professional. You’re being judged every time you walk into a room, every time you go into a rehearsal and, of course, every time you go on stage. You have to be made of pretty strong stuff. It’s good when the reviews are good, but then you might do an audition and someone might say, “I don’t like what you do”. You have to bounce back from that, and the only way you can do that is if you have an inherent belief in yourself.’
Sinéad has recently taught a new generation of opera singers at the DIT Conservatory of Music, and has noticed that for younger performers, an inherent self-belief is, not to put too fine a point on it, not an issue.
‘I think with many of them coming from the X Factor generation, there’s a real sense of, it’s all going to happen for me,’ she admits. ‘Like, it’s a bit of a comedown for them when they find that it’s not necessarily going to happen like that. A lot of 21 or 22-year-olds are coming out of college saying, “right, where is my career?” Unlike other industries where you do walk into a job, it just takes a little bit longer and more training.’
The days of the ‘corpulent diva’ – a one-time operatic staple – are also numbered in the new world order, and Sinéad has observed that more than ever, looks matter on stage. So is ‘size-ism’ a real problem in the industry?
‘I think it’s awful, but I think nowadays the look is sometimes just as important,’ she admits. ‘It’s just another sort of hoop you have to jump through, if you like. You are required to perhaps look a certain way by directors. A lot of the time now, a director will sit in on an audition panel as he might have a certain look in his head for the role.’ It’s no small irony that Sinéad’s next big role is playing opera diva Maria Callas – famous for a dramatic weight loss at the top of her celebrity – at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin. Callas: The Life And Times Of Maria Callas charts the many highs and lows of the legendary and enigmatic singer.
There was her love affair with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, who left her to marry JFK’s widow, Jackie Kennedy. Drawing remarkable parallels between her personal life and the roles she played on stage, Callas is a fascinating insight into a life less ordinary.
‘Maria Callas is kind of the icon of all icons when it comes to opera,’ explains Sinéad. ‘I grew up listening to her and there are still arias from certain opera that I can’t listen to anyone else but her singing. I had read loads of biographies about her in the past, and I suppose, because I’m a little older myself now, I was looking at what a glamorous lifestyle she had, swanning around in her furs. Now I suppose it’s more interesting to look at the fact that she’d had a really tough life.
‘She wasn’t particularly happy in many ways,’ she continues. ‘She married someone much older than her and he was quite controlling in her life, and then of course she fell in love with Onassis and that was a very unhappy time for her as well.’
Yet perhaps due in part to her growing fame, or romantic rivalries, Callas lost a whopping 7st at the height of her professional game.
‘She had this dramatic weight loss, and suddenly the fashion houses wanted to dress her, but after that weight loss a lot of people would say that it really affected her voice and that she was never as good as she was when she was just her own natural shape,’ recalls Sinéad.
‘I think Onassis said to her as well, “you don’t have to work if you don’t need to work” and she was like, “no, I really do. This is my identity”.’
This is something that Sinéad can readily relate to. Sinéad spent eight years in London, freelancing and establishing her name as a singer in Britain and beyond. It was in London that she met her husband Steve Wallace, also an opera singer – ‘it was during a show, across a crowded stage. It was very romantic.’
After the couple married in 2008, they decided to move to Ireland to raise a family. Steve, from Liverpool, was very happy to relocate, and Sinéad didn’t want to raise children in London. Determined to stay at home with her babies – Alanna, now 7, and four-year-old Dylan – Sinéad’s blossoming career took a back seat.
Yet more recently, Sinéad began to hear the siren song of the stage again. ‘It was definitely a
‘You’re being judged every time you walk into a room, you have to believe in yourself’
compulsion to return to singing,’ she admits. ‘When I stepped away from the business I did so happily enough, but after Dylan was born, it was almost like something in me said, you have to get back out there. I mentioned it to a few colleagues within in the industry and everyone was so supportive and telling me that this was something I should do. Because of the time-out, I had a real perspective and a different sense of who I am.’
With Sinéad touring with productions again, Steve has become, ‘not quite the stay-at-home dad as he’ll be working, but the one who’s here. It’s not unusual in any sense of the word apart from the fact that it’s the woman going away,’ asserts Sinéad. ‘If it was the other way, no one would bat an eyelid.’
Still, that’s not to say that combining motherhood and professional singing aren’t an occasional challenge: ‘The kids and I get into a pattern, and they’re usually doing their own thing in school,’ explains Sinéad. ‘Things like Skype and FaceTime are amazing, and they also get to look forward to trips away. They’re coming to Germany for their mid-term break.’
Has motherhood tempered her sense of ambition? ‘I’m definitely ambitious, but at the same time it’s ambition tempered with this undercurrent of calm that motherhood brings,’ she notes. ‘There are certain things I’d still love to do. I’m singing my first Verdi role this summer, and the performance with the London Philharmonic will be a whole new departure. I’ve heard people experience ageism in opera a lot and also as a mum there’s a lot of, like, “oh well, because she had children, is she serious about her career, she’s not going to want to go away”. I suppose there’s been a little bit of that but luckily there are people who are like, “I know what you can do and I know you are serious about it”.’
Yet reaching her late 30s has resulted in a positive turn up for the books professionally. Her experience and changing physicality means that her voice type has changed since her career break.
‘I was a light lyric soprano and there is an absolute raft of them out there,’ Sinéad explains. ‘It’s the most common voice type so that has been very competitive. But after having my children, I realised that my voice is now a spinto.
‘In a way it’s like going back to square one, but it led me to an entirely different genre. It’s more dramatic and powerful. It’s a good thing because it’s a little bit more niche and requires a more mature sound, I suppose.
‘Hormones can affect your voice as you get older as well – it’s amazing to think about how your voice is basically your instrument. It’s inside you, and yet everything affects your voice – if you haven’t slept, or if you’re feeling low, or certain times of the month. It’s crazy how much of it is outside your control in a way.
‘I remember saying to a friend when I returned to work, “it’s going to be bloody hard because I’m not 23 going into this”, but luckily, there’s a great repertoire out there for more mature voices.’
CALLAS: The Life & Times of Maria Callas is at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin, on Friday, September 14. More information and tickets are available from bordgaisenergytheatre.ie