These few introductory words delivered via e-mail and on the phone reveal the smoothness, poise, personality, and charm of renowned dramatic soprano Christine Brewer, who will be the recipient of one of Mu Phi Epsilon’s high honors—International Sterling Patron.

Hailed as a singer with “a voice like molten gold,” Christine has appeared under the batons of Kurt Masur, Robert Shaw, Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner, and Leonard Slatkin—to name a few! Her operatic and recital repertoire ranges from Gluck to Mozart to Schubert to Strauss, Wagner (most notably as Isolde in Tristan Und Isolde), and Benjamin Britten, and she has more than a dozen acclaimed recordings to her credit. But with all that she has accomplished, both musically and professionally, ask anyone who has worked and talked with her and they will maintain that Christine remains at her core a small-town woman with an easy laugh, a wide-eyed wonder and appreciation of her musical fortune and gifts, a strong Protestant work ethic, a down-to-earth Midwestern sensibility, and a gracious heart.

Whether it’s traveling around the world performing in operas and concerts, devoting her energies to sixth graders in the coal miner’s town of Marissa, Illinois (taking on her trips a traveling teddy bear and giving the children access to her rehearsal of Strauss’ “Four Last Songs” with the St. Louis Symphony), or spending quality time with her family and church, Christine stays on the go, her career in high gear. Marcus Wyche, Delta Delta, Washington, D.C. Alumni, was able to catch up with Christine during one of her days off from a recent run performing as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Donald Runnicles and the San Francisco Opera.

What’s a typical day like for you from start to finish? For instance, what do you do for Fidelio?

Well, on rehearsal days, it’s six hours a day, six days a week. We get one day off—that’s typical for most opera houses under Guild contracts. If it’s a new production, sometimes you’ll have four or five weeks of rehearsal. If it’s like this one (Fidelio), a revival, we have three weeks of rehearsal, so it depends. And so those days/weeks are grueling—on a day off, it’s all I can do to get my laundry done. But once the show opens and starts running, and there are days off in between, then you can get back into a normal [routine].

On the day of performance, I get up and take a swim. (I try to stay in places that have pools.) Then I come in and have some breakfast. I might sing a little bit in the morning but I don’t really have to worry about warming up too much. (If I’ve been singing throughout a week or month, I’m pretty much warmed up when I get up in the morning.) So I may sing a little bit, I may go do some grocery shopping, I do something that’s not really related to the music. I take a walk, or go to the store, or shop. In the early afternoon, I sit and go through my whole score and just whisper through everything. I speak through the texts of the arias and the ensembles. Then I nap for an hour or two, get up, and eat a light soup and sandwich around four o’clock. I like to go to the theater early so I usually go a couple of hours before curtain. And that’s kind of my day. It’s a little boring, I guess, kind of quiet, but that’s what I do.

You’ve done so many different roles—Mozart (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Electra in Idomeneo), Wagner (Isolde in Tristan Und Isolde, Brünnhilde in Die Walküre), Beethoven, Benjamin Britten (Lady Billows in Albert Herring, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes). Is there any role that’s harder to do in terms of preparation? Or is Wagner the hardest to prepare?

There are some Strauss roles that I think have been equally as difficult. Helena (Die Ägyptische Helena) was one that really took a lot of preparation. Also, Chrysathemis in Elektra. Strauss and Wagner are probably the two most difficult composers I’ve sung to date. Britten is of course not a problem with the language, but musically is more difficult, a little trickier rhythmically and harmonically than the Wagner would be, so that poses a different challenge. I just try to allow enough time in the new role to make sure I really let it settle into my body before I start the rehearsal period.

Wagner is often a love-or-hate proposition, and for many listeners it’s hard to disassociate Wagner’s music from his frailty and anti-Semitism. Have you ever had any of those negative feelings or come across them in other musicians?

Not really with other musicians. I sometimes have partners at dinner parties who chastise me for singing Wagner, and ask how in the world I can sing music written by such an anti-Semitic person. I just have to say there’s probably a lot of music that people wouldn’t sing if they really knew what the composers’ lives were really like, if that were the criteria for choosing music to sing. And so I have to look at him purely as a musician. Certainly everyone has their taste. There are some people, when I say I love to listen to Dolly Parton, who just cringe and say, “Oh, my God, how can you stand to listen to that country music?” I’m not going to change their minds on it and they’re not going to change my mind. All the music I sing, I choose to sing it because I love the music, or it speaks to me in some special way. And Wagner’s music, I think, is brilliant.

What about “divas”? Are they really as numerous in the opera world as the press and other musicians sometimes make them out to be?

Well, actually I have to say I’ve been fortunate to work with people who are really down-to-earth people, who are just there making music. But there are divas out there, too. And, you know, if you were interviewing my husband or daughter they’d probably say that I was a diva [laughs]. It just all depends on how you want to define it.

You can’t go over in this life if you don’t have confidence, and a lot of it. There are times, maybe, that we do cross the line, and we don’t realize it. You’re like, “Oh, that was maybe a little too snotty or arrogant.” But that’s when my husband and daughter usually bring me back down to earth: “Get in here and help me do the dishes!” [Laughs]

What’s it like with the larger-than-life nature of opera as compared to something more intimate like a concert recital, where it’s perhaps just you and a piano accompanist?

No matter what I’m singing, I really try to bring some part of me, my personal life into it. So even if it’s big, Brünnhilde or something, I try to find some part of her that is human. But it is a lot different than doing recitals. Certainly, recitals make me more nervous, but I think that’s also what gives me more excitement to do them. It’s that sort of thrill of knowing that you’re pretty exposed out there, it’s just you and the accompanist.

What is your familiarity with Mu Phi Epsilon?

I’ll be honest. I did not know anything about the organization. I went to a small Methodist college in Lebanon, Illinois, where my husband and I actually ended up buying a house and moving. I was in music education and we didn’t really have Mu Phi Epsilon when I was in school. So I was not familiar with it until Fran Irwin wrote to me several months ago.

I had a master class a couple of days ago in San Jose State. My good friend is Erie Mills, with whom I’ve sung a few times in London, Santa Fe, and St. Louis. She now is on the voice faculty at San Jose State, and she is a member. She has a chapter that’s started there. She was very excited when she heard about me becoming a Sterling Patron. She said, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know about this,” until someone had sent her an e-mail. So Erie belongs, and I guess she has for quite some time and now some of her students also belong.

Many members of Mu Phi Epsilon are collegiate performers at the beginning of their careers. What advice would you give young singers?

Whenever I do master classes, one of the things I tell the students repeatedly is not to compare themselves to other singers. Because singing is such an individual thing, and everybody, every voice, develops at a different pace. It’s not like piano or violin. We hear these prodigies who begin playing practically from the time they can walk, and they can become quite expert on their instrument so much younger. And singers develop at a slower pace. The voice develops at its own pace. My kind of voice developed much later than, for instance, Erie Mills’ voice, who is a light coloratura soprano.

I would get so frustrated when I was in college because I would look at some of the other students who were singing much bigger repertoire. I asked my teacher, “Why can’t I sing something from an opera?” He said, “Your voice isn’t ready for it.” So I concentrated on art songs, German lieder, and things that were a little bit better suited for a younger voice. I think that might be one of the most important things kids can be careful of, not comparing themselves to each other, because every voice develops at a different pace. Mine didn’t really come into its own until I was well out of college. So, patience, not comparing, and not trying to say, “Well, why can’t I sing this bigger repertoire right now?”

It’s tough, though. Many of the kids now are so geared that they’ve got to get a job as soon as they get out of college, they’re desperate, and in singing that’s not always practical. Many times we have to do other things while we’re waiting for the voice to actually catch up. It takes a lot of perseverance for these young kids.

What about on the business end? Contracts, artist management, choice of repertoire, networking?

When I finally decided I was going to do this, I had no idea about management, or how to get management, and I would just call opera companies if my husband and I were going to be on a little vacation in Minnesota or something. I would call them up, and say, “Hey, can I come and audition for you?” I totally was out of line, and of course the pat answer I got was, “When you get management, have your managers call us, and we’ll set up an audition.”

I did call conductors in the St. Louis area and auditioned for them. I think that’s the sort of thing a young singer can do. And I sang with the Bach Society and some of these smaller groups when they did things like Haydn’s Creation. They didn’t pay a lot, but it was an opportunity for me to learn the repertoire, sing it with an orchestra, sing it with a chorus, in a sort of semi-professional way. I think that’s a good thing for young people to do, to contact some of the local conductors in the city where they’re studying, and see if there are some opportunities to maybe sing a concert with them.

I was fortunate with the management, because after I won the Met Auditions [in 1989], I had several managers approach me to see if I was interested. I guess the young people now (when they get out of Conservatory or out of graduate school) make a trip to New York and audition for management. I think it’s good for them to ask questions of people who are in the profession. I’ve had young people ask me about my managers and what sort of things they should look for in a manager. I would say, when you’re looking for a manager, look for someone who truly is a manager—not just a booking agent, but someone who truly is going to sit down with you and look at the big picture.

I still do this with my managers. We say, “Okay, in five years, where do we want to be? How do we get there?” And that’s the kind of thing, especially important with a young singer, especially a voice that’s going to get bigger, to say, “Okay, if you’re going to be singing Wagner in ten years, how do we prepare you for that? Can we do a concert somewhere along the line? Do one after an opera?” You need someone who’s got the knowledge and the wherewithal to help manage the career. And I think that’s the key thing. It’s very, very important. So that would be a couple of business sort of things I would give as advice to young singers.

With today’s recording technology, would you also recommend making a demo CD?

That’s an excellent idea. And I think, also, to put together audition repertoire. One of my coaches, years ago, made a good comment to me when I was starting to audition. He said, “When you do auditions, don’t try to just inundate [them] with twenty-five different things that you can sing in seven languages. Hone it down to what you sing, or what you feel you sing, better than anyone else, that they’ll remember you.” And they’ll say, “Oh, yes, she’s the Mozart singer, she’s the one who came in and sang a couple of fantastic Mozart arias.” Or, “She’s the German singer—she did all the beautiful German repertoire.” Because if you come in and sing ten or twelve different things, it can be confusing and you get lost in the shuffle. And you’re not going to be as good on everything, so it’s better to really hone in on a couple of things that you’re really good at, get it coached to a point that you feel like you’re really confident, and that’s packaged together. That’s what you take with you when you audition for management, conductors, or directors of opera companies.

Tell us about your travels abroad.

I have to say, I just feel like I’ve had such extraordinary good fortune. It probably sounds trite to say, “Oh, you know, it’s so great to get paid to do what I love to do,” but it is great, and I get to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world. I’m making friends in these places, and it’s nice when I go back. When I’m in other countries especially, I do feel it’s my responsibility to be a goodwill ambassador from America. I feel I can do that, not only with my music. I think it’s important when we have jobs like this, to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward not only as musicians and artists, but as Americans. I feel like that’s a part of my duty, part of my mission.

What is the latest with the “Opera-tunities” program?

It worked out great this last year, because we were rehearsing a couple of afternoons and the kids were able to come on a field trip. I don’t know how it will work this year. Last year, I was singing “Four Last Songs,” so I was the only performer. This year it will be the Mozart Requiem. I’ll have to get permission from the other soloists, the chorus, the orchestra, and the conductor, and it might be a little trickier because the rehearsals will be at night. So I haven’t told the kids yet, because I don’t want to get their hopes up. The teacher and I are talking around some ideas.

You also care deeply about those stricken with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)…

There’s a wonderful branch [of the ALS Association] in St. Louis, and they do a walk every year. My husband has walked. We raised quite a bit of money last year from our friends who sponsored him, and this year I’m doing a recital in May in St. Louis for a group that’s called Hope Happens. Hans Vonk, who was the conductor for the St. Louis Symphony for a few years, died of ALS, and his widow is very involved with this whole process. When she found out that my mother had died of ALS about eight years ago, she contacted me to see if I’d like to be involved in some way. And I said, “Absolutely. I would love to do a concert.” So [St. Louis Symphony Concertmaster] David Halen, Orli Shaham [wife of symphony director David Robertson], and I will be doing a concert in May. It is something I’m very hopeful we’ll find a cure for, and if it’s something I can do to help raise awareness and raise some funds, I’m definitely into that.

Congratulations on the positive critical and popular reception on your recent CD, Strauss – Complete Songs, Volume 1.

That was one project I was so excited about. When Roger Vignoles told me that he was being asked to do the series, he said, “I want you to be on the first recording.” I was very excited about it, and it was just one of those sessions that we both felt—you know how you sometimes feel all the stars lined up? We both were in good mental and physical shape, we had just done a recital at Wigmore Hall in London, and had performed a lot of those songs on the recital. So I was as prepared and as excited as I’ve ever been for any of my recordings. I was thrilled to get to do it. I’m really happy with the recording, and I know Roger is, too.

What are some recordings you’ve got on the horizon that you’re excited about?

Well, I’m really excited to record Fidelio in German. I was happy to do it for Chandos, they’ve got this wonderful series of doing operas in English, which I think there is an audience for that. And I think certainly the German repertoire translates into English much better than the Italian or French repertoire does. I had no problems with recording that in English. But I’m really excited to do it in the original language. I think that will be a very interesting project.

Of course, I’m thrilled to be doing the “Four Last Songs.” Finally, something I’ve really waited to do! I don’t think those songs should be sung by someone in their twenties. I think they’re songs you have to have lived a little bit of life to understand what they’re really about. And I certainly feel like in the ten years I’ve been singing them, I’ve grown with the pieces, and they mean something different to me than they did before my mother died, for instance. So it’s not just the vocals that are better, but just the life experience; I feel better for those pieces.

What else is coming up? Well, I’m sort of working on a project, again with Chandos. I’m not sure how we’re going to approach it. I’m collecting the kinds of songs that Kirsten Flagstad, Eileen Farrell, and Helen Traubel [sang]—the women who were singing the big Wagnerian roles. What did they sing when they sang recitals? I’m collecting old programs, the kinds of things they would have sung for encores, or the last sections of their programs. I’m gathering up the music for that right now, and I’ve been putting them into some of my recitals. The poems aren’t always the best, but the music is just out of this world. So that’s an ongoing project.

Any last thoughts for our Mu Phi readers?

I do think it’s very important when you have a job like this. I honestly feel like this is a gift. Certainly, I have to work to learn my music. But the instrument was what I was born with. And so, I think we are responsible when we have a gift of music, to not only share it with others, but to work to make it the best we can, really. That’s kind of my work ethic, and my goal.

Article created December, 2005