Well... The answer is true, but very limiting. I find that answer very narrow, and frankly, if you dig a little deeper, it's too cold of a definition. I cannot think of anyone in the business who is just an opera singer. Most of us also sing a multitude of other things: oratorio, mélodies, lieder, musical theatre, even the occasional pop song.
Perhaps the reason for this standard answer lies in the amount of work we all put into trying to get hired in an opera production. 95% of the auditions we take are for opera companies, for specific productions, for specific roles. But does the fact that we work so hard towards this one goal blind us to the multitude of other styles and genres we might be good at? Is it possible to do more than just sing opera?
Last winter, I had the unbelievably good fortune of working with the incomparable Steven Blier on a concert, singing the music of Jacques Brel and Charles Trenet. While I have loved these two singer-songwriters my whole life - Trenet was a staple on the record player ever since I was a small child, and every angsty teenager in France turns to Brel - it never occurred to me that it was a style I could perform. Steven took a chance on me, and I discovered a completely new side of myself (the process was very intense and, at first, terrifying). It turns out that not only can I perform these French songs, but it gives me such joy to live inside those songs. Since that concert, I've started looking at a number of other songs I would never have dared to sing, but I now realise they all mean something special to me. I now have a book full of these French songs, that I perform sometimes when there's a pianist at an open mic. I sing Piaf, Aznavour, even Cabrel and Goldman (Trenet and Brel also feature prominently in the book - they are alive and well). I'm re-discovering a genre to which I have paid no attention for over a decade. I'm also figuring out that, whether I like it or not, a part of my soul will always live in these songs that shaped my life when I was an adolescent.
I've found, with astonishment, that exploring this repertoire has been a huge help when I go back to the classical rep. These pop songs, many of which evoke a strong memory of a specific event, a place, a time or a feeling, have been opening up my emotional range while singing, and have prompted me to take the same emotional risks in the classical repertoire that I am taking in these chansons.
It seems very basic, and very obvious: sing what you know, explore these emotions and understand them, stretch them, learn how to use them to guide you through any piece of music. And yet, I'm afraid once we decide to enter the realm of the classical repertoire, all singing of other types of music become anathema. And in focusing on learning the proper style, diction, languages, technique, we run the danger of forgetting to feed our souls with the emotions that should come naturally while singing. My mother always said she believes that "the vocal cords are the gateway from which emotion pours." I think I've spent so much of my time learning technique that I've occasionally forgotten to make sure emotion and heart were part of the equation as well. Turning back to these songs, which marked my childhood and my adolescence, has reminded me of what it is to be swept up by emotions while singing.
There are many singers, noted for their opera roles (see what I did there?) who have taken the plunge into non-classical repertoire. Some have not found critical or audience approval, but some of them have thrived in the non traditional repertoire. Some of those most successful, that come to my mind, include Eileen Farrell, Jessye Norman, Anne Sofie von Otter and Natalie Dessay. They have each recorded splendid jazz/pop selections. They use their voices intelligently, with the technique they know, but somehow manage to get into the style they are performing, without affectation. I'd like to share with you a few clips of some of these performers, to try to convince you that all of us who use our voices need to start thinking of ourselves as artists or, more precisely, if that helps you, as just "singers". Don't limit yourself. Find a friend, grab some sheet music, and just jam at the piano singing some songs you want to sing, simply because. The result might surprise you. It certainly did me.
Anne Sofie von Otter sings "Avec le temps" by Léo Ferré:
Jessye Norman sings "The Summer Knows" by Michel Legrand:
Eileen Farrell sings "But not for me" by the Gershwins:
Natalie Dessay sings "Mon dernier Concert", with Michel Legrand at the piano:
I would love nothing more than if you shared with me your favorite crossover tracks, those that have inspired you and impressed you! Please post your links below in the comments section.
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