The singer chose to stay anonymous, so I am using California Soprano (CS) as the name.

Aimee: How did you get started in music? 

CS: From a very early age, I was obsessed with MGM musicals, so I was always singing them a kid. Some of my earliest music memories are from my elementary school’s talent shows and that kind of thing, but pretty quickly after that, I took piano lessons, and then I got involved in a children's choir, and it was pretty good. We did a lot of traveling and touring. When I was in my preteen years, we did a tour to England, and then we did an additional tour for the Mozart festival in Austria, then went to Germany and the Czech Republic. That was kind of my early travel experience with music too which was cool. I did, acting classes, theater, and drama, but I wasn't super involved in musical theater, mostly just choir. However, I was always interested in classical music more than anything else. I think opera was kind of always there in the background. My parents took me to see an opera when I was five, and it's one of my earliest memories that I remember. I was so little that I couldn't see over the seat, so I stood the whole time with my little hands on the back of the chair, so that was kind of my start. 

Aimee: Where did you grow up?  

CS: I grew up outside of north Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks specifically. 

Aimee: Did you see your first opera at LA Opera then? 

CS: No, actually my first one was at San Francisco Opera, but I was at LA Opera often, as a teenager, and I actually saw Maria (my teacher) perform there.  I was seventeen, and I saw her perform as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and I didn't realize it until I found the program when I was helping my mom pack up my childhood home. When I found that, I was like “no freaking way; that is wild,” and I remember this is before I knew anything about singing, and I remember her singing and being like, “what is that? What she is doing is so cool; I want to do that.” I heard her one other time in San Francisco before we met, which is crazy! 

Aimee: You were mostly in children's choirs and doing bits of musical theater, but when you were in high school, what made you want pursue it in college? 

CS: Good question! During my sophomore year, I started taking voice lessons, and then I went to a festival choir program in Idyllwild, California, that summer. One of the summers I was there, we did the Durufle requiem and then when I went the next summer, we did Mozart’s Requiem. The final concert was at Disney Hall, and Grant Gershon was conducting, and he had gone to Idyllwild as a child. On our very first day, he said, “you know, some of you will get to the end of this two weeks, and you'll have had a lovely time and you'll go home and go on with your lives, and that's excellent. For some of you, this is going to be a transformative experience, and you'll decide to dedicate your lives to this because that's what happened to me.” Obviously, he's one of the greatest conductors, so hearing him say, that was kind of the moment for me where I was like “that's it, here I go,” and I had no idea what that meant. For context I was not like, “OK, now I'm going to be an opera singer.” I just knew that my life was devoted to music, so that was kind of my turning point in high school.

Aimee: What schools did you apply to for your undergraduate studies? 

CS: I applied to mostly liberal arts schools. I was very young going into college because I graduated high school at 17, so for my freshman year, I was 17 for a chunk of it, which is wild to think about. I moved when I was an actual child, out of my parents' home and across multiple states to go to college. I was mostly looking at liberal arts schools because for whatever reason I was set on not wanting to go to a Conservatory or a big school, and I kind of looked all over. I knew for sure the two schools I ended up deciding between were Santa Clara in California and the school I ended up at, which was University of Puget Sound up in Washington. Similar size schools and both liberal arts colleges. I don't remember any of the other schools I applied to. 

Aimee: Let’s talk about your undergraduate experience. What was your experience in school?  

CS: I think I grew a lot as a musician, but not necessarily as a singer during that time. My technical journey has had so many ups and downs and discoveries, and undergrad was an interesting and sort of challenging time in that regard. In the long run, I think it ended up clarifying a lot for me. There were a few challenging experiences during undergrad where it was some of my first experiences hearing no in a big way. I kind of felt like the small fish in a small pond, which at the time was very painful. I did not feel seen or supported in the way that I needed while I was there. I look back on it and I'm like, “hmm, yeah. I was 19 or 20 when some of these things were happening, and now as a teacher, I find it really irresponsible for a teacher or a mentor to tell a singer of that age anything really definitive, like this is what you need to do to make it or you never will make it.” As a teacher, I would never say that to a student because you just don't know, you really don't have any idea, especially when a singer is 19. It was kind of an odd time in my career, but I learned a lot. I think the thing that I loved so much about having a liberal arts education is that I really learned how to learn, and it really fostered my curiosity. Those things were important to me about that experience. I also got to do amazing things. Some of those obstacles in my way made me get really creative, so senior year I ended up being part of the contemporary ensemble as well as the Chamber ensemble. I didn't have a role that year, so I think that was an important thing that has continued for me was my curiosity. 

Aimee: During your undergrad time, did you have any roles?  

CS: My school was an undergraduate only program, so I was in the chorus for The Magic Flute my first year, and I think I did some opera scenes from Dido and Aeneas. They did a musical every four years, so I was in the tap chorus for Anything Goes. I'm not a tap dancer, but I faked my way in really hard. We did Too Many Sopranos, and I had a role in that, but it’s pretty much only done at universities because it's bananas, quite literally too many sopranos. Then we did the Pirates of Penzance, and I was in the chorus for that, so little things here and there, but no major leading roles. I did a summer thing where I got to play Cunégonde in Candide, so that’s undergrad in a nutshell. 

Aimee: When you played Cunegonde, was that at young artist program?  

CS: Yeah, I guess so, but I did it a while I was in high school and then after my freshman year of college. I did have an opportunity to do a program in high school through the Boston Conservatory Vocal Choral Institute, and then I did this summer program in China. When I went to the one in China, it was kind of an odd situation because my teacher ended up not being able to go because she was dealing with some health concerns at the time. Within days before we left, she wasn't able to come with us, so I would say that was probably the first kind of out of the frying pan and into the fire kind of thing, like “here we go, let's see what happens,” but I liked it, and I had a good experience!  

Aimee: Did you start auditioning for any sort of young artist programs in your undergrad? 

CS: No, I didn't do any of that. I didn't even really know about them. The first program that I really did was after my senior year, the Up North Vocal Institute, and this one felt more like my first program.

Aimee: What did you do after your undergraduate degree? 

CS: I took a lot of time off.

Aimee: How much time did you take, and what were you doing during that time? 

CS: This is sort of connected to the mindset I was coming out of undergrad; I had applied to grad school, and I got into one school, but I just decided that I was not ready to do that.  I applied to grad school three times. I applied my senior year, and I was like, “nope,” which at the time was sort of a dramatic choice because the teacher that I had at the time was a firm believer that if you didn't go straight in, it was unlikely you'd go back. I had that in the back of my mind a little bit, but I knew that I'm not going to go before I'm ready.  If I don't believe that it's meant to be, then I won't go back.  So, I moved back to Los Angeles where my parents were and I certainly didn't feel strong, but looking back on it, I think maybe I was just really stubborn, and I just auditioned for anyone who would hear me. I look back on this, and I was 21 when I graduated, an itty-bitty baby with no arias learned in undergrad. 

I had a lot of rules kind of running during that time and, and then I was sort of learning how to break them at any opportunity, so even through an e-mail to Los Angeles Opera, I was like “dear Los Angeles Opera, I just got my bachelor's degree, and I would love to sing for you. Here's my resume with two things on it.” Who knows where that came from, but I had gumption. Obviously, LA Opera did not write me back, but I started putting myself out there a lot, and I started finding some success, which was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It showed me that the rules don't need to exist, so my first year out of undergrad, I think I did three or four productions, one of them being in the chorus of Sweeney Todd with the Pacific Opera project. Then I did a winter program with Opera Works, which totally changed my life, and I found some really important mentors. They were very much about breaking the rules, so that was great for me. Then I started working with an Alexander technique teacher, and then I did my first professional role that year as well, I sang Barbarina professionally that spring and I did a workshop of new pieces and with the industry in Los Angeles. I started working a lot with them. Over those couple of years, I was doing some day jobs and making barely any money and then gigging.  I'd say I didn't have a teacher at the time, I was just doing stuff. I was scared to find a teacher. I took a lot of teacher first dates with where I was. I did my own thing, and it went well as a 22-year-old with no clue what I was doing. 

Aimee: You had this successful post-grad experience, how long was it until auditioned again for graduate school? 

CS: My senior year during undergrad I applied, and I ended up deferring with the schools I got into, and the plan was to apply again and then just see where else I got in. I reapplied that fall, which would have been fall 2012. I don't think I got in anywhere, I thought “you know what, I don't want to do this. It's just not the time.” So, I didn't. With the school I deferred that, I knew that it was not a good fit, so I just stayed in LA for a few years. Then in April 2014, I was gigging somewhere doing Turn of the Screw, and shortly after that production, my father suddenly passed away, which upended my whole world in very obvious ways. His death pushed me to the next step because I still had grad school in the back of my mind that, and things were going very well, but I felt like I didn’t know how to sing, so I knew it was time to find my teacher and to go back to school. Then I applied that fall, and started school that next year in 2015. 

Aimee: Where did your complete your masters? 

CS: I went to the University of Kansas to study with Dr. Maria Kanyova because that's where she was teaching. KU was an absolute afterthought for me because at this point, my priorities had completely changed for grad school, which is why I'm such a huge proponent of taking time off. I had applied to completely different schools the last round, and I was set on going to either coast because I wanted to be where the people are and do the thing. But my highest priority was finding a teacher and finding a technician. I took a ton of lessons. I went on a huge tour of all these different schools, and I had this experience of “Okay, this was okay, this one is fine. I don’t think this person would mess me up too badly.” I had those kinds of feelings about things. One of the people who was writing my recommendation letters was a on faculty at KU, and he sent me Maria's bio, and said, “I know you're looking on the coast, but just give it a little thought.” Then I read her bio, and I was thought, “oh my gosh, wait a minute, this might be it.” It was a super easy application. I'll just send it in, so I sent it in, and I got an audition, you know, the whole 9 yards, but she was not at my audition even. At that point, it was one of a few schools that I got into, and I was leaning towards it, but I was thought I cannot move my entire life to Kansas without at least meeting her and talking to her. We did like a 20-minute Skype lesson or something, and pretty much within the first 5 minutes. I knew she's the one. It was like love at first sight, and the rest was history. She got a new job at UMKC part way through my first year, and I had the option to either stay at KU and finish my degree, or to go with her, and why would I not go with her since I moved all the way here to study with her? I essentially started my master's over, which was hard, but UMKC ended up being a better fit, and I would have never looked for it had Maria not moved schools. 

Aimee: That’s an awesome journey! Did you have any roles at UMKC during your Master’s? 

CS: We did Suor Angelica, and I was Suor Genovieffa. Then we did Amahl and the Night Visitors and my 24-year-old 5-foot self played Amahl. I had played a shocking number of pants roles just because of my stature and my size and everything and my voice type as you know, 23-year-old white soprano. I wasn't in the spring production. We did opera scenes, and I did two or three scenes from Rigoletto as Gilda obviously. 

Aimee: During your master’s, were you auditioning for any summer programs? 

CS: I did auditions, but for those first couple of years of my masters, I was mostly auditioning for paid to sings. I think the second year of my masters, I may have gotten some auditions like for Des Moines Metro Opera, and I auditioned for them and some other ones. After my first year, I went to Opera in the Ozarks, but I was mostly auditioning for like Seagle Brevard, Opera in the Ozarks, that level of program. 

Aimee: Was your goal to get a pay to sing or to get something different?  

CS: At the time, I was just looking for the ways to move forward. I mean, it would have been preferable to be paid. I did a few of these little programs when I was younger, but as far as like in my adult career, Opera in the Ozarks was the only pay to sing that I've done. It was a challenging experience in a lot of ways, and I realized pretty early on that I was going to have an unconventional path partly because I didn't even really start auditioning for programs or YAPs until I was 25 or 26, at which point people thought it was old, which is hilarious. I think I was just looking for that experience. I learned many important lessons that I wasn’t anticipating learning that summer in Arkansas that were challenging to learn, so I was over it then. I kept auditioning for paid YAPs after that, but I knew that that was not really gonna be my path. 

Aimee: Were you content with your path or did you wish that you would have had a somewhat similar path to the typical YAP? 

CS: I think that the honest answer is probably both. I think especially as I've gotten older. The what ifs are not necessarily always helpful. Sometimes I totally do wonder what that path would have been like, but I think it was really laid out for me early on with the experience I had coming out of undergrad and having this “you're going to tell me no, and that's fine. You're allowed to tell me no, but I'm going to show you a yes over here.” That's just always been my strength is finding the next thing to say yes to, so like I would cold e-mail companies, and say “hey, hire me please.” And honestly that is how I found the bulk of my success. I kept auditioning for people and YAPs and everything, but the most fascinating is I got the most auditions for apprenticeship programs when I was like 30, 31, and 32 because that's when I was the best so far. The age thing is a funny one to me, so I don't know what that says about me or about the industry, but you know, there it is.

Aimee: I totally understand all that. Did you go straight from your master's to your doctorate? 

CS: I did! Seven years straight in school after being out for three, so that was wild. 

Aimee: What shows were you in while you were there?  

CS: So going into my DMA, I did a professional festival in Maine. I sang the Dew Fairy and covered Gretel in Hänsel and Gretel professionally and then sang Annina in La Traviata. When I started my DMA in the fall of 2018, I kind of felt like my life started there.  I covered Serpetta in La finta giardiniera that fall, then I sang Adele in the spring in Die Fledermaus. Spring 2019 was a very full year, and this was also the point when I started auditioning a lot. I contacted a small company in Ohio that was just getting started. We corresponded, but I didn't hear from them for a long time.  I had sent them some materials, and then five months later, they got back to me, and they were like the role is yours if you want it, here's the fee and here's the timeline. I sang Adele at school and then I left two or three weeks early from the semester to go sing Despina in Cosi fan Tutte in Ohio. I got the contract in January, so early in the semester, I went to my professors to tell them of the opportunity, and they accommodated me. After my contract in Ohio, I did a German intensive abroad that summer, then I came back and sang Nannetta with Lawrence Opera Theater. Then I had a week off and went up to Chicago to sing a tole and then came back and did Belinda in Dido and Aeneas. It was like boom, boom, boom, boom.  

Aimee: You have had a lot of amazing success, so how do you handle rejection? 

CS: It depends a lot of times. I have an e-mail folder in my e-mail of my rejection letters and I keep all of them. Some people think I'm nuts for doing that, but for me it's been helpful to see that I didn't get past the prescreening five years ago, but now I'm wait listed for the program. I have had a few of those moments, or like this company didn't hear me three years in a row, and now they're hearing me and. My new thing in thinking about rejection, and just this career is like planting seeds. I got big into gardening during the pandemic too. That's how my sanity survived. I think of it as some seeds are going to pop up right away like, your radishes are going to be ready in 30 days. For some reason it might just not be in the right soil that year or they might need a different sun. Or maybe you didn't do anything and it for whatever reason they just are taking longer to sprout. I'm trying to think of it more in that way of being in it for the long haul, and not the next audition. I just try to keep that perspective. When it does really hurt, I just give myself time, which is a luxury sometimes because sometimes you got to suck it up and do the next thing. I had one rejection last January that was really hard for me because I felt good about the work that I did, and then it didn't happen. I really was upset about it, and I just really gave myself time to be like that sucks, that really sucks. I think like giving myself that time to wallow a little bit helps. Then just like release it and let it go.  

Aimee: I completely understand and resonate with that. What are your performance goals for the future?  

CS: I have certain things that I would really like to see happen for me, but I feel like it’s especially hard right now to make a plan in the industry because the industry does what it does and it is changing a lot. I have certain roles that I would love to sing, and I have houses that I would love to sing at and the level that I would like to see my career get to. In the next five years, I don't have a set like “okay, next season I'll be singing at these five places” because maybe it'll be this way, and it'll be this way, I just don't know. One of the things that I had this year was that I really wanted to sing a Messiah, and then I just got a contract for one about 2 weeks ago, so this was a concrete thing that I wanted. As far as like, a five-year plan, I'm more of a go with the flow with some structure. 

Aimee: Last question, because our industry is so saturated with sopranos, do you have any ideas on how companies can provide more opportunities or like make it more equitable?  

CS: I have a few ideas, but it’s tricky. Some people have talked about the equity practices that take place in orchestral auditions that could be transferred over like the blind audition, but so much of what we do is also so expressive, so that doesn't necessarily work so well. I think fostering more original works that have more roles for women and for sopranos and mezzos. I also think reimagining some works that are in the cannon in slightly different ways, like the doctor in La Traviata was played by mezzo, rather than a baritone. Being open to more creative casting for some of these comprimario roles could be a way to open some doors.  I think having more singers in positions of company leadership would be really great and important maybe even the playing field. 

Aimee: Those are all great things! Anything you’d like to add? 

CS: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me that I've been working on the past couple of years is besides, singing skills is my mindset about all of it. I think it can be really tempting to be beaten down by this industry for some legit reasons. That's the thing. It's nice to get paid, but the integrity, purpose, and calm of setting out to do a thing, that’s the perspective that keeps me going.