Singer-Actor or Actor-Singer?

I really enjoyed this week’s discussion on William Bolcom’s “A View from the Bridge.” In particular, the article we read between Bolcom and Herwitz was of particular interest. Being able to see the way Bolcom approaches his artistic endeavors gave wonderful insight to his compositional process.

I didn’t really know too much about Bolcom before reading the article, so it was especially interesting to read about his musical theater background. The fact that he was looking for actors who could sing for his “actor-operas,” rather than the other way around, was enlightening. We spend so much time on our craft really trying to hone a beautiful sound, that we sometimes forget the other side of our art. Opera singers have been accused for so long of just parking and barking. It would explain the stigma placed on us as a whole. Even Bolcom talks about opera singers and their “airs.”

It is great to have a chance to toss the stereotype out the window. I think many of us in the business know that the voice should come first and foremost before any other considerations, but what is the voice without the drama behind it? It’s one thing to know how to match a pitch, it is quite another to know how to sing in such a way that people are moved by what you’re doing. Our professors would put it down to “having something to say.” I believe this is what Bolcom was looking for when casting his operas.

I would be interested to know what Bolcom would say about the educational institutions singers come from. We put a lot of focus on our musical training, but I feel like many of us are lacking in acting skills. I don’t mean that we don’t understand the emotions or the type of characters we are portraying. It’s more about the movement on the stage, and the carriage than anything else. I would love to see an equal focus on singing and acting in our operatic educations. After all, we are “singing actors,” are we not?