Hometown: Pasadena, Calif.
Residential College: Davenport
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Favorite Non-opera Music Genre: Classic rock
Favorite New Haven Eatery: Bespoke/Sabor
Q: How did you first get involved in Opera?
A: I joined the children’s chorus of the Los Angeles Opera when I was ten, and sang with them for eight years. Growing up backstage around so many great singers, conductors and directors, it didn’t take very long for me to fall in love with the whole world of opera.
Q: What have you done here at Yale? What’s up next for fall semester?
A: The Music Department here is fantastic, and I am a Music major. I’ve loved working with Simon Carrington in Schola Cantorum and Richard Lalli and Ellen Rosand in the Yale Baroque Opera Project. I’ve sung a lot with the Opera Theater of Yale College, Yale Opera and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. This year, I’ll sing in O.T.Y.C.’s “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Y.B.O.P.’s “Capriccio Barocco” and “Giasone.” I’m excited to sing with the Y.S.O. again in the spring, performing Mozart’s “Exsultate, Jubilate.” My good friend Dan Schlosberg ‘10 is writing a new opera, “The Country Doctor,” which we’ll perform after Spring Break.
Q: What do you like about Opera? Isn’t it kind of stodgy?
A: Absolutely not! I would never describe opera as stodgy. Great opera is passionate, sensual, even thrilling. Plus, the opera world is experiencing a sort of revolution right now. It’s taking on a more glamorous image. Singers today, for example, need to have it all: it’s not enough anymore to just sing well. You have to act and move well onstage. You have to look the part. Managers of major companies want to make opera a popular art form again, so there’s a real emphasis on making sure it’s as compelling theatrically as it is musically.
Q: What are your favorite parts to play or types of songs to sing?
A: I always say my favorite part is whatever I’m working on at the moment. There are so many types of opera, and they are all exciting in their own way. I love the Italian repertoire, though — Mozart and bel canto heroines particularly. My dream roles are Gilda in “Rigoletto” and Lucia in “Lucia di Lammermoor.” My favorite role I’ve already performed is Zerlina in “Don Giovanni.”
Q: Do you have a favorite opera moment?
A: Singing my first performances in Europe last year was very exciting. I was in Brussels for the first time to sing the Angel in Handel’s “Jephtha,” and then in Paris for “Don Giovanni.” My parents were in the audience for the Giovanni, which happened to be on my 21st birthday.
Q: Do you plan to keep singing post-college?
A: Yes, I plan to sing professionally after college. I love this music, and I love performing. I love the feeling of connecting with the people around me through my singing. For me, I don’t think any other career could ever compare to that.