Backpacking in Joshua Tree - 2006
From a track meet - most likely an 800m race
It's nice to sometimes remind myself that although I am 100% myself on stage, I am also so much more than an opera singer and what meets the eye and ear as I'm singing my heart out. In this line of work it's so easy to feel worthless and untalented. So, sometimes it's nice to do an inventory of what life has brought me and which experiences/people are part of me. I recently sent in an application letter to a young artist program and feel inspired to share a chunk from my letter, naming some experiences that I usually leave off of my resumé when singing for opera companies or agents because they have nothing to do with opera but are still a huge part of my life and who I am. Sometimes it's super affirming to remember what I've done and all the people I've met/have been a part of where I've been.
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Here comes the opening segment of my letter:
I’ll begin with a truncated list of what I have filled my 30 years of life with besides my opera career and studies. I studied sociology and Latin American Studies. I led and sung in an all-female collegiate a cappella group as well as led a choir for women, non-binary and trans folks that sang music written by the same demographic. I was the vocalist with my college jazz band and sang covers of artists ranging from Lady Gaga to Led Zeppelin with a college cover band. In my senior recital, I sang music composed only by women. Over a four-year period I worked as a board member and volunteer organizing music summer camps for girls and trans youth with Girls Rock Camp Alliance and Popkollo. I held lectures in equity training for non-profit organisations and businesses in both Swedish and English. I have many times expelled the contents of my stomach due to physical exertion after competing in an 800meter race around the track. I completed an 80-hour Wilderness First Responder course and in high school I studied Wilderness Medicine. I spent three weeks backpacking the John Muir Trail in California and led high school students on a 10-day backpacking-trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. I have led a group of teenagers on a 3-week trip to Morocco and Spain and I travelled alone in Peru and Bolivia for two weeks after a semester in Buenos Aires ending with a 69-hour bus ride to get from La Paz, Bolivia to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In college, I performed a monologue from Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler in front of 700 people in which I swiftly imitated about 20 different types of orgasms. Between the ages of 22 and 25 I wrote a number of jazzy folkpop songs to fill my need for creative expression while beginning my journey into classical music. I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton, Radiohead and Abba - in other words, music that was neither opera nor classical. I was utterly star-struck when I witnessed a friend participate in a masterclass with Frederica von Stade at the age of 21 and subsequently decided to switch my focus to classical voice training.
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If you made it this far, congratulations! Getting older is a weird and wonderful thing. Having turned 30 feels like a huge boost and it makes for a wonderful time to reflect on where I've been and what I've come from. Seriously, thanks to all for being a part of my life because LITERALLY NONE of this have I done by myself or without other people's help/support/energy/work etc. There are still so many experiences/people who have touched my life that I haven't mentioned that are also hard to explain, but please know I carry you in my heart for always!