8 May 2021 06:00 am Views - 932
Opera as a whole became more "epic", and the Romantic period composers like Bizet, Puccini and of course Wagner, started to explore the full scope of human passions and emotions in an unrestrained and unbridled manner, whereas the Baroque and Classical composers like Handel, Mozart and Donizetti, had taken a more formal, proper and "dignified" approach to musicalizing emotions. Menaka and I are both in absolute agreement that an operatic singer must keep all this in mind when performing onstage. There is no such thing as "singing opera" in general, without being mindful of the specific characteristics of each epoch. CONTEXT is everything!
Finally, there is the MODERN PERIOD of Opera, and although Menaka has taught her students many modern arias as well, in keeping with the syllabi of the Trinity College of London Exams and the Royal Schools of Music Exams for instance, I think it is safe to say that she and I both have a preference for the older periods. It is very important to us, and to Menaka's daughter Tiyanie as well, that we perpetuate the legacies of the Great Classical Masters the world over.
In fact, Menaka entrusted me with the task of directing a few operatic productions in Sri Lanka, soon after I graduated from the University of Southern California and returned to Sri Lanka for a few years. We staged Mozart's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO (in which I also portrayed the villainous Count Almaviva) and Rossini's THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (in which I also played the heroic Figaro), for example, in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and when I asked Menaka what gave her the confidence in me to let me direct as well as perform, she said that it was imperative that every teacher build up the next generation of musicians, by empowering them to carry the art form further and further into the future. To this end, she has also allowed other students of hers to direct, because she does not believe in hogging all the limelight herself, as it were. She sees herself as a Medium of Music, and does not make it all about herself. In fact, we also talk about the FALSE VALIDATION that so many uneducated, self-proclaimed performers seek on social media today. Many of these people think that receiving hundreds of thousands or even millions of "likes" for their internet uploads makes them great, but they are only fooling themselves, for they will never be taken seriously in the real world among consummate professionals and artists. To become an Opera singer or a Classical musician takes years if not decades of unbelievably hard work, and an artist's work will always speak for itself. Menaka and I, do not crave meaningless validation from the mindless masses on the internet, but instead cater solely to discerning people of quality and substance, which is what Opera and Classical Music are ultimately all about.
When I did a Solo Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, in October 2019, it was like the culmination of everything I had started to learn with "Aunty" Menaka in my early teens. I was able to sing the entire concert without a microphone, both the Classical and Operatic pieces, as well as the lighter Broadway and Hollywood musical numbers (which are usually sung with a mic), because as Menaka explains on today's show, a Classical or Operatic Voice is much more complex, with far greater depth and richness, capable of being heard across a large performance hall, and deriving all of its support from the diaphragm. Needless to say, the discipline and commitment it takes to achieve this is lifelong, and not for the faint of heart. Everyone needs a teacher like Menaka to inspire them and set them on the right musical track, as it were, and so I hope that all serious young musicians out there seek out teachers like her, and I wish Menaka a very happy Mother's Day, as I do all of you.