My Dream Roles

Hello Hello!

It feels like it's been forever since I posted, honestly time has been flying by! I went through a couple of weeks where I had no ideas on what to write about, and a few suggestions later, I've finally found something to write about!

Now, I've created a list of the top roles that I would like to perform. They kind of bounce around when it comes to Fach but at the moment I am only 17 and I am not sure yet where my voice sits. (But at the moment, as silly as it sounds, I am considered a dramatic coloratura mezzo-soprano.)

The Baroque Era is one of my favourite times in music. It was a big turning point where music started to grow and a very unique and articulate style of music started to form.
The Baroque era is just so eccentric and pompous that I can't help but laugh every time I do a work from this time. My alter ego (the equivalent to Mindy Lahri's Beyonce Pad Thai) is some pompous singer from the Baroque era who wears a giant dress with crazy hair and gloves. (It sounds ridiculous, but it honestly helps the nerves, I swear.)
Two roles that I would love to sing from the Baroque era would be Dido from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell and Cleopatra from Giulio Cesare by Handel.

At the moment, there are so many roles and operas that I have not discovered. Being the kind of person that I am, I enjoy sticking around comedies (opera bouffe) because I am not one to mope around. Dramatic operas makes me feel sad..as they should. 

As an artist, I feel that there is a time and a place where you need to learn to take a past experience and sympathize/empathize with the character. I believe that learning how to perform a character in a tragic opera is a skill that every self-respecting performer should learn. That way you can give each character their own personality and play them with integrity. Some of the more dramatic opera characters that I would love to play would be Charlotte from Werther and Mimi from La Boheme. 

Both of these operas are extremely tragic and heartbreaking. I've sung Charlotte's main aria (Va! Laisse Couler mes Larmes) and the work is absolutely beautiful...not to mention listening to recordings of Jonas Kaufmann sing the role of Werther makes me cry everytime.

Mimi in La Boheme is legendary. All the greats have sung this role and apparently has become more common to have a Mezzo-Soprano sing this role as well! I feel that singing such a classic role would add some stability to my repertoire since it is quite commonly performed. 

                         

(Charlotte from Werther)                                                (Mimi from La Boheme)

Now that I've previously mentioned my love for comedies and you may have picked up that I'm kind of in love with Mozart, some of the roles that I would love to play would be Pamina and/or Papagena from the Magic Flute, Dorabella from Cosi Fan Tutte and finally, the great Cherubino from The Marriage of Figaro. 

There is something very simplistic and soothing about listening to Mozart, but recently I have discovered the true art that is Mozart's repertoire. While it looks simple and light, it's honestly some of the tougher repertoire that I've sung in most recent occasions. 

Starting with the Magic Flute, these characters are very different, Pamina is on a quest and has to go against her mother's wishes and Papagena is just a quirky character that makes people laugh especially when she is paired with her zany boy-toy (or I guess Bird-Toy), Papageno! 

For Cosi Fan Tutte, singing the role of Dorabella would be another stable choice since it is often performed and she is also a little bit air headed, which is always fun!

Now, on to Cherubino. Since last year, I have LOVED this character. He is absolutely crazy and hilarious, and recently seeing Wallis Giunta play the role of Cherubino, i'm officially in love with this role. Mozart literally wrote him to be Cupid, which fits perfectly...ish in The Marriage of Figaro. Let's be real here, he's half the reason for the "Very Crazy Day". 

I usually get stuck singing these power hungry, villainous roles when in truth, I am nothing like that. While everyone loves a good villain, that's the beauty of Mozart. His Villains/Antagonist characters are often devious or buffoon-ish and sometimes absolutely bat-shit crazy (i'm looking at YOU, Queen of the Night...) which is part of the reason that those characters are so lovable. I'd also be honoured to sing a role like that, but for the moment, I'm happy with a small change in atmosphere. 

Now following the story of Figaro, I would love to sing Rosina in the Barber of Seville.  My idol, Joyce Di Donato, has sung this role numerous times with numerous orchestras and has even performed this role with a broken leg! It looks like such a fun time, plus, who wouldn't want to throw a tantrum on stage!

Rolling with Rossini, I would also love to sing Angelina in La Cenerentola. This role has one of the hardest Mezzo arias known to man kind. I have a copy of the score and  the amount of options for runs and trills and ornamentation in the score make my mind melt. This character is so iconic and challenging so I think being able to play one of my favourite beloved princesses (Cinderella) on stage would probably make my inner child scream. 

There are definitely more roles out there that I would love to explore and fall in love, but for the mean time, this list is alright with me! Perhaps in the future I will write a revised list of roles or even go into deeper explanation! If you have any ideas on what you'd like to see next, just leave a comment in the comment section below! I've also included the links to some of the key aria's attributed with the roles mentioned, so feel free to check those out too! Many thanks to my friend, Amy, for giving me the writing prompt! 

I hope you enjoyed this post and a few facts about me!

Until next time,