Genaux2

The opera world wanted to hear more. In the fall of 1997 Matthew Epstein mentioned that she might want to develop her repertoire in new areas. “You need to sing Hasse,.” he said, almost out of the blue. One simple sentence, but to Genaux it was a revelation. “Who in the world is Hasse?” she recalled thinking. “But lo and behold, an audition comes up the next month for a Hasse opera at the Staatsoper Berlin with René Jacobs conducting.” While she knew that Jacobs was a Baroque specialist, she had no idea what arias to take with her to Berlin for an audition. “I had never sung any Baroque opera at this point, and had no idea what it entailed, but I brought Malcolm’s aria from Rossini’s 'La donna del lago’ as well as two of the Hasse arias that the Staatsoper had provided.” The audition went well, she said, noting: “This was the second time that I was hired on the spot and I couldn’t believe it.”

Of her introduction to Baroque music, and Hasse’s “Solimano” she remembered it as “one of the richest experiences I have ever had, full of new possibilities, new musical colors,” including a new appreciation for working with an original-instrument Baroque orchestra. While “modern orchestras can do a wonderful job with Baroque music,” she said, “. . . the color of an original-instrument orchestra is incomparable when performing the Baroque repertoire.”

A CAREER ALTERING CHANGE. LOOKING BACK:
To understand how she evolved, to where she is today, it’s important to understand how she came to be a mezzo-soprano. If a large part of her repertory is pants roles, it’s hard to imagine a soprano making the leap as successfully as she. Something had to change; something did change.

She studied as a soprano in her early career under the tutelage of her first voice teacher, the late Dorothy Dow, a cautious teacher who recommended that she not major in music “as the voice was a very tenuous instrument on which to base one’s entire future." Genaux said she seriously considered the alternatives and “had actually gotten low enough to decide that the idea of becoming a starving artist looked better to me than what I had to look forward to in my current study.” Dow advised that if music was in her heart she needed to transfer from the University of Rochester over to the Indiana University School of Music. “I was scared to death,” Genaux recalled, “at the idea of being a music major because now all the eggs were in the one proverbial basket and if I didn’t make it, I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

Her “champion” as she referred to Dow, not only gave her good advice and ample warning of the tough road ahead, but was the one who acted as a “shield” who could answer tough questions posed by a skeptical father who wondered about

the efficacy of a singing career. “I, of course, had no idea what the answers to these questions were.”

She made the transfer to Indiana University and studied with both Virginia Zeani and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. Things were about to change. In Zeani, this Alaskan girl who grew up to value masculine traits, observed a woman of elegance, “a beautiful woman” whom she “had never really seen anyone like” before. It was Zeani who in 1989 recommended that she consider studying as a mezzo-soprano. “I had always studied as a soprano,” Genaux recalled, “and that was a pivotal moment for me. I remember not being able to sleep for three nights thinking about it.” She was only nineteen at the time, when Zeani asked, “’Do you feel like a soprano or a mezzo-soprano?’ and I had no idea what she was talking about,” Genaux explained, “I only felt like a terrified nineteen-year old at that point.”

Doubtful at first that there were enough roles for mezzos, Genaux said she began digging deeper, and to her amazement, found the operatic repertoire filled with opportunities. “I finally understood what Ms. Zeani was talking about.” The possibilities for singing all sorts of parts in the opera repertory were vast.

While Zeani redirected her fach to the mezzo roles, Rossi-Lemeni, in whom she saw a grandfather-like figure, inspired in her a new-found confidence. “Working with him I began to believe in myself not only as an artist, but as a person.”

Upon graduation in 1992 she auditioned and was accepted to study at the Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera (EPCASO), where she met her current voice teacher, Claudia Pinza. “I have been studying with Ms. Pinza for fourteen years now,” she said, “and I can’t begin to say how much I have learned and continue to learn from her.” It was while in Italy, she said, that her talent for performing the masculine roles flourished, and where relearning how not to be feminine became important again. In Italy, she said, she worked hard to pick up the on the physical and cultural language of femininity as much as the Italian spoken language itself. “Just when I thought I had that learned, I started getting trouser roles and had to start all over again. I went from wearing high heels all the time, so that I wouldn’t have problems walking on stage as Rosina and other gals I was playing, to six straight weeks in a more masculine shoe.”

And the roles kept coming.

A SINGER WITH MORE TO OFFER:
While much of the focus here has been on Vivica Genaux the Rossini specialist, the Baroque sensation, this singer is capable of much more than the light romantic comedy and trouser roles she has perfected. Listen to the warmth her instrument brings to the German language when she sings from the works of Carl Loewe: “Du Ring an menem Finger,” “Non hast du mir den ersten Schmerz Getan,” and “Traum der Eignen Tage,” [also on this DVD] and a new appreciation for tonal clarity and amazing studied technique emerges. Doubt me? Well, her press pack contains twenty-three pages of excerpts from the world press, praising her “thrilling accurate coloratura,” and “impeccable vocal technique,” attesting to the fact that her voice is truly special. Words like “amazing,” “astounding,” and “spectacular,” roll off critics’ tongues with the kind buttery sincerity more akin to adoring fans than impartial, distant journalists.

In spite of her success, Genaux still sees herself as perfecting what she will one day

become and talks candidly about the people who helped along the way on her amazing ride to the top. “I feel my technique is improving constantly, and my muscles are developing to a point where I can really control what I’m doing from moment to moment. I am always trying to sing better, trying to be in touch with my body and my psyche on stage and off, and am lucky to have my teacher who always makes time for me.”

One senses from watching her video, from reading her responses to questions and reviewing the depth of the answers she volunteers that in spite of her enormous success and talent, Vivica Genaux is the very same person she was when she started -- only better. She’s someone who still values friendship and loyalty and, as the characters she likes to portray, still has enough humanity and humility to count a friend her greatest asset. “I think that my success in my personal relationships,” she concluded, “has helped me more than my success in my career. I have a very solid team of people around me who love me for myself, not for my career, and I think that has helped me become a better artist and a better person.”

That’s Vivica Genaux!