From our agony aunt’s mailbag:
Dear Alma,
I’m a young American soprano in a mid-sized German state opera.
They have offered me Violetta next season on condition I agree to learn some filthy atonal opera by a dessicated German composer.
I’ve looked at the score. It has leaps and shrieks that look like they might ruin my voice.
How do I get out of it and still get to sing a proper role?
Violetta
Dear Violetta,
Congratulations on landing a position in Germany. Best place to land – you must be quite a talent!
First things first. Take a very close look at that score that they are using for leverage. There is no need for you to love the composer, the role, or anything about the proposed work. All you need to do is to honestly assess if this score would or would not damage your voice. Contact other people who know it first-hand and ask their advice about the technical difficulties of singing it.
Do everything you can to make it possible to honor their request, but at the same time you cannot put yourself in a position where you would injure yourself. If your conclusion is that it will injure you, ask a trusted advisor or colleague to back you up with the opinion that this particular role would hurt your voice.
If you believe that it would, in fact, injure you physically to sing this other role, please ask for a meeting with your boss. Show them the work you have done to try to sing the role they propose, with documentation. They would not want to hurt a member of their company, or force you to do something potentially harmful. Appeal to them to honor their offer of Violetta, and if they do not honor that request, humbly thank them for their efforts.
Violetta, life is a never-ending game of tug of war. You win some and you lose some. But always give it everything you’ve got.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
pictured: Patria Petibon as Violetta, 2018
The post Dear Alma, They’re making me sing filth appeared first on Slippedisc.
