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This interview took place a few months before 9-11, when Kathleen was preparing for her audition tour of Germany. So why do you want to go to Germany?
I said, "Not really..." She said, "You should." I said, "But I don't speak German!" She said, "You better learn!" So I went out the next day and signed up for German classes, and I've been studying like a fiend! Now I can say, "Wo ist das Opernhaus?" (Where is the opera house?) You really didn't speak any German? I studied it briefly a few years ago, but most of my vocabulary was opera German, which meant I could say things like "I am dying of tuberculosis" and "My lover has gone off to the wars."
Will you be excited to see Europe? To be honest, I don't think I will see Europe! I'll see the insides of hostels, the insides of train compartments, the insides of hotel rooms... I'm more concerned with what I'm there to accomplish than anything else. It's all I think about, day and night: Learning German, how to get a mailing address, how to get a cell phone, how to pay for this, how to pay for that. At this point, I'm concerned about making arrangements, finding out the things I need to know, doing research—and singing really, really, really, really well!
You changed your voice type from mezzo-soprano to dramatic soprano. What was that about? That was something we had to do very slowly —it takes some time. At first it was very difficult, but now the soprano roles feel much more comfortable than the mezzo roles ever did. The color of my voice—even from when I first started singing—was always brighter and bell-like, but because I had an extended lower range and my voice was also big and rich, I always sang mezzo. That often happens with singers who end up as dramatic sopranos, and people always used to argue about whether I was going to end up as a mezzo or a dramatic soprano. But anyone who hears me now immediately knows I'm a soprano. The dramatic soprano repertoire suites my personality better, too. I guess I just feel more like a soprano. I've been told I look like one, too!
What do you love the most in your new repertoire? I especially love Ariadne for the unexpected harmonic changes that happen under those long, soaring vocal lines, and "Pace, pace, mio Dio," which is very passionate and so beautifully written to express the emotion of the character.
What made you fall in love with opera? When I was seven, my parents brought home the soundtrack to Funny Girl. I used to dance around the living room with it. I knew all the words to all the songs—I used to sing along with it. I always acted, from the time I was in first grade. I was in every play. I don't know if these are the best things to say about an opera singer, though! I got a full vocal scholarship to NAU, in Flagstaff. My first opera role was when I was nineteen, as Vera Boronel in The Consul. It had a great director, Dennis Wakeling, who was wonderful—he really made us see that opera could be theatre. After I got my Bachelor of Music, I moved to California and put myself through USC by working there while I got my Master's in Vocal Music. I got married and we moved to New York so I could really get going—then my voice type changed to dramatic soprano, so the next stop is Germany!
And what's your dream after that? To be able to come back some day and sing at the Met...San Francisco Opera...Los Angeles... |
Once you have a résumé of professional experience, you can begin to approach American agents and be taken seriously. The German system differs from the the US system. Agents hold open auditions every Fall, and each city has a number of agents affiliated with local opera houses. They're there to spot talent—then when the opera house has an opening, they refer the singers they like. You can have many agents working for you all over Germany, trying to get you work. In the US, you can have one agent working for you, and usually, a young singer can't even get an agent until she's already performing professionally. The German system is more open.
Even though I don't know how I'm going to afford to go, I bought my airplane ticket in February when my voice teacher said I should go. When I told her about my plans to audition in New York this Fall, she said, "Have you thought about auditioning in Germany?"