1
00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,519
Speaker 1: Welcome to The Laverne Cox Show, a production of Shondaland

2
00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:09,040
Speaker 1: Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.

3
00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,000
Speaker 2: I felt like I was juggling stuff, just things that

4
00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,080
Speaker 2: needed to be juggled and it needed to stay in

5
00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:16,960
Speaker 2: my life. And then there were things that I didn't

6
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,160
Speaker 2: need to juggle, that didn't need to be in my life.

7
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,319
Speaker 2: But at you know, at twenty two, twenty three, twenty

8
00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:27,120
Speaker 2: four years old, it's hard to figure that out and

9
00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:27,760
Speaker 2: you're grieving.

10
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:29,200
Speaker 3: That's hard.

11
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:44,880
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Laverne Cox Show. My name is Laverne Cox.

12
00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,960
Speaker 1: I love a diva. What can I say? Diva worship

13
00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,960
Speaker 1: is a huge part of my life. I don't know

14
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,960
Speaker 1: what that's about. It started early and I I just

15
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,360
Speaker 1: can't quit a diva. And the quintessential diva for me

16
00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: is the operatic diva, specifically the soprano. And I'm so

17
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,600
Speaker 1: excited that I get to have a conversation with one

18
00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:25,520
Speaker 1: of the world leading operatic sopranos, Angel Blue. And you know,

19
00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,680
Speaker 1: Angel is a diva, but she's not a diva in

20
00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,319
Speaker 1: any way that would sort of be pejorative about a diva.

21
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,720
Speaker 1: She's a diva because she's the prima donna of the

22
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,039
Speaker 1: opera world because she sings lead roles in opera houses

23
00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,120
Speaker 1: all over the world. But she's one of the sweetest

24
00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:47,360
Speaker 1: people I've probably ever met. She's so humble and she's

25
00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:54,520
Speaker 1: so just kind. And in twenty nineteen, she opened the

26
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:59,520
Speaker 1: Metropolitan Opera's season I'm Saying Best to a title role

27
00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,400
Speaker 1: in George Gershwin's Porgy invest And I got to go

28
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,600
Speaker 1: to the dinner after the premiere of the opera and

29
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,960
Speaker 1: I met Angel for the first time, and she just

30
00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 1: gave me a really big hug, and we've been friends

31
00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,320
Speaker 1: ever since. I just want to chat with her about

32
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,400
Speaker 1: her career, about life, about singing, and we do it

33
00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,520
Speaker 1: anyway privately, so I thought, why not do it in

34
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:28,239
Speaker 1: public for all of you. So here we go. Angel

35
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,639
Speaker 1: Joy Blue is a two time Grammy Award winning operatic

36
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,280
Speaker 1: soprano who has performed in over forty countries with the

37
00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,240
Speaker 1: world's most esteemed orchestras and conductors. She's sung many of

38
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,000
Speaker 1: the most iconic roles in opera, like Violetta in La

39
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,640
Speaker 1: Traviata and the title roles in Tosca and Aita. This season,

40
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,840
Speaker 1: she'll be debuting the role of Leonora and Verti's Ilchovatore

41
00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,840
Speaker 1: at the San Francisco Opera. Angel opened the Metropolitan Opera's

42
00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,000
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen twenty twenty season a new production of Porgy Invests.

43
00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,200
Speaker 1: She also opened the Mets twenty twenty season with a

44
00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:02,520
Speaker 1: new opera Fire Shut.

45
00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:03,280
Speaker 4: Up in My Bones.

46
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,640
Speaker 1: Angel Blue was originally a California girl and completed her

47
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,800
Speaker 1: musical studies at UCLA. But now when she's not performing

48
00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,600
Speaker 1: all over the world, she lives in New Jersey with

49
00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:21,120
Speaker 1: her husband and son. Please enjoy my conversation with Angel Blue.

50
00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:27,040
Speaker 1: That's my dad that you see back there, and also

51
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:28,440
Speaker 1: see a Lantine Prize poster.

52
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:29,840
Speaker 4: I'm trying to think of that photo.

53
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:31,960
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of where that photo is from

54
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,760
Speaker 1: Lantine Price in the next seventies?

55
00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,320
Speaker 4: Price is that? Is that an opera news cover? What

56
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 4: is that? Just price?

57
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 3: That's from her Carnegie Hall recital, I believe, and that.

58
00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,480
Speaker 1: Was what did her Carnegie Hall debut in sixty five.

59
00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:48,320
Speaker 1: It's the sixties. Now that looks more like seven.

60
00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,480
Speaker 3: That's that's the that's in the seventies. But I don't

61
00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:51,880
Speaker 3: actually know.

62
00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:52,520
Speaker 4: I had to look.

63
00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,680
Speaker 2: There's another picture of her underneath that, and and it

64
00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,640
Speaker 2: covers up the date. But next to her is Grace Bumbry.

65
00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,640
Speaker 2: These are my wall of my favorites. You can't see

66
00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,520
Speaker 2: this side this. I have the old met here, I

67
00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 2: have pictures of my the new opera singers of today.

68
00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:10,320
Speaker 2: But then I have my dad. Of course, my dad's

69
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 2: all over this wall. And then my voice teacher Vladimir

70
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,680
Speaker 2: turn off. He's up a little bit higher. You can't

71
00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:16,720
Speaker 2: see him. I'm gonna try to.

72
00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:18,320
Speaker 3: Let's see if I can move you.

73
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's Vladimir. And then I have Maria Collis. Where

74
00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,280
Speaker 2: is she? She's here? And this is at the top

75
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,360
Speaker 2: is I got that from La Scala. That's where it

76
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,040
Speaker 2: says La Traviata. The first name says Angel Blue, and

77
00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:33,320
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I have to have one of those.

78
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,719
Speaker 2: I also have a really big one, ye, but I don't.

79
00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:37,360
Speaker 2: I don't know where to put it yet. It's kind

80
00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:39,360
Speaker 2: of weird to put up posters, so I haven't. I

81
00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:40,200
Speaker 2: haven't done that yet.

82
00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:41,760
Speaker 4: It's not in my apartment.

83
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,960
Speaker 1: In my La apartment, I have like almost every magazine

84
00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,640
Speaker 1: cover I've been on posters. They're hir La apartment. They're everywhere.

85
00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,559
Speaker 1: Oh yes, it's a mess anyway, Hello, Angel Joy Blue,

86
00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast. How are you feeling today?

87
00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:57,480
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm so.

88
00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,640
Speaker 2: Happy to be here with you. You know, I adore you,

89
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:01,960
Speaker 2: so thank you for inviting me to be here with

90
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:02,159
Speaker 2: you and.

91
00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:02,839
Speaker 3: Share this time.

92
00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:04,760
Speaker 4: I adore you as well.

93
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,400
Speaker 1: I love that we just got started talking about like

94
00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,880
Speaker 1: your opera inspiration and all the divas that you and

95
00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:16,960
Speaker 1: I both love, and you just mentioned Lascala and I

96
00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,240
Speaker 1: just God, le Scala. I mean, it's just it's one

97
00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,520
Speaker 1: of those things if you're an opera fan. For those

98
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,680
Speaker 1: people who aren't opera fans, Lascala is kind of the

99
00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,479
Speaker 1: temple of opera. I mean, the med is incredible, but

100
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:33,200
Speaker 1: if you know opera, the Lascala Opera House is one

101
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: of the temples of opera.

102
00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:35,880
Speaker 4: And you've sung there many times.

103
00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,520
Speaker 1: And you are the first black woman to sing Violetta

104
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,360
Speaker 1: at Lascala, the first black woman to sing Violetta in

105
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 1: La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera.

106
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,120
Speaker 4: And I believe it cover of Garden as well. Am

107
00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:46,640
Speaker 4: I correct?

108
00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:47,279
Speaker 3: I think so?

109
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,839
Speaker 1: Yes? And your voice teacher when you were twenty years

110
00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,280
Speaker 1: old said to you when you shared it that you

111
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,600
Speaker 1: wanted to sing Violetta and Traviata, that there would never

112
00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:59,560
Speaker 1: be a black traviata. I saw that quote, and I

113
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:01,800
Speaker 1: do you know why your voice teacher said there would

114
00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:03,120
Speaker 1: never be a black luchrabiata.

115
00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:04,680
Speaker 4: What do you think that's about.

116
00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:05,599
Speaker 3: I think it wasn't.

117
00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:07,760
Speaker 2: Actually my voice teacher was a voice coach, but I mean,

118
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,200
Speaker 2: I think at the time it was just it was

119
00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,559
Speaker 2: more of me and how I was as a singer.

120
00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,280
Speaker 2: At the time, I was young, and it was really

121
00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:17,039
Speaker 2: hard for me to learn music. It was really hard

122
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,320
Speaker 2: for me to understand the Italian and to understand phrasing

123
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,080
Speaker 2: and all of those sort of simple things, you know,

124
00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,720
Speaker 2: the basics of opera. Also, I believe it that it

125
00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,560
Speaker 2: was said to me because at the time I was

126
00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:34,000
Speaker 2: doing beauty pageants and my talent song was opera. People

127
00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,320
Speaker 2: might not like that I call simply libra a great

128
00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,440
Speaker 2: aria a song, but essentially that's what it is. And

129
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,599
Speaker 2: so my talent song was simple and libera, and at

130
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,120
Speaker 2: the time I was singing it all of the time,

131
00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,160
Speaker 2: and I wanted to sing that somewhere anywhere, you know,

132
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,159
Speaker 2: and my big dream was to sing it at Las Gala.

133
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 2: So I was told, you know, that's a big dream, Angel,

134
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,840
Speaker 2: have a little more achievable dream. And I think it

135
00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,560
Speaker 2: was just mainly said because it hadn't been done before.

136
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,400
Speaker 1: But what if the race piece? What's confusing to me

137
00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,400
Speaker 1: is the black boleta? Why the black part? I mean,

138
00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,479
Speaker 1: for any for any singer to aspire to sing at

139
00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,880
Speaker 1: les gala is a big deal, you know, And if

140
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,920
Speaker 1: anything you're saying traviata is a big deal. It's very difficult.

141
00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:15,960
Speaker 1: But why the black piece.

142
00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,480
Speaker 3: I don't know. I would probably, I think because it

143
00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:20,800
Speaker 3: hadn't happened. Honestly.

144
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,000
Speaker 2: I think it's just it was just probably the time.

145
00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 2: And and really why say the word black? Probably because

146
00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:32,120
Speaker 2: that's that was that's their own limitation. That was not mine, clearly,

147
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,600
Speaker 2: you know, in my mind. And this man was wonderful

148
00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,720
Speaker 2: man behind me, my dad who's constantly pushing me. At

149
00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:39,800
Speaker 2: the time, my dad was alive, and he's just telling me,

150
00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,760
Speaker 2: you know, Angel, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

151
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,600
Speaker 2: And and I've just lived that with that sentiment in

152
00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:46,000
Speaker 2: my heart.

153
00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:48,480
Speaker 3: Black or not black, you know what I mean.

154
00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,679
Speaker 2: My My goal has always just been to sing opera,

155
00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,320
Speaker 2: and there's always these people that come in and try

156
00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,680
Speaker 2: to dismiss your dreams, or lessen what you want to do,

157
00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,040
Speaker 2: or make less of who you are, and I refuse,

158
00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,120
Speaker 2: I refuse to let that happen. You know, by God's grace,

159
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,080
Speaker 2: I pray that God helps me with that, but I

160
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:09,240
Speaker 2: refuse to let that happen.

161
00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:10,480
Speaker 4: Amen.

162
00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,720
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's something about Violetta being a cortesan,

163
00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,520
Speaker 1: But then you think about a Carmen or a Dali La,

164
00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,920
Speaker 1: who are you know, less respectable? So I really don't understand. Yeah,

165
00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,640
Speaker 1: I don't get it. But how wonderful can you take

166
00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,600
Speaker 1: us back to you had already sung at les Cale,

167
00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:30,760
Speaker 1: if I recall if you were a last minute replacement,

168
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,240
Speaker 1: if you had a few weeks to prepare. You had

169
00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 1: just debut the role at Covit Garden, And can you

170
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:39,320
Speaker 1: take us back to preparing getting the call?

171
00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,080
Speaker 4: It was historic? What was going on for you?

172
00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,080
Speaker 3: Yes, well, you know our words are powerful.

173
00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,480
Speaker 2: We've talked about this and you've been a really big

174
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:49,319
Speaker 2: supporter of mine.

175
00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,520
Speaker 3: And I have to speak the right things. I know that.

176
00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:51,840
Speaker 3: You know.

177
00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,160
Speaker 2: I'm learning that as I get older, and I'm seeing it.

178
00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:01,000
Speaker 2: I made my debut at Covent Garden in January of

179
00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, and I had just sung the opera and

180
00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:06,080
Speaker 2: I went to my room and I was just sitting

181
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,800
Speaker 2: there and it was kind of contemplating the evening, and

182
00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,400
Speaker 2: out of nowhere, I kind of looked up and I said, Lord,

183
00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:14,679
Speaker 2: if you had it for me to sing this at Lascala,

184
00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,040
Speaker 2: I would, And I just thought, if it came to it,

185
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,360
Speaker 2: you know, I was like, Wow, you're prepared. You're really

186
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,880
Speaker 2: prepared for this role. But three years prior to that,

187
00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,240
Speaker 2: I had been telling people, my close friends. I had

188
00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,840
Speaker 2: been saying things like my dream was to sing La

189
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:34,400
Speaker 2: Traviata at teatra A, Lascala and Milan. So I went

190
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,920
Speaker 2: home after I sang at the Royal Opera House, and

191
00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:40,480
Speaker 2: you know, my husband and I were getting ready to

192
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,280
Speaker 2: go to Napa, California. At the time, I lived in California,

193
00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,199
Speaker 2: and we were getting ready to drive up to Napa.

194
00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,760
Speaker 2: I was going to sing at Festival del Sole. And

195
00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:52,440
Speaker 2: I woke up. My manager texted me and he said,

196
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,240
Speaker 2: call me as soon as you get this. And I

197
00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:55,920
Speaker 2: called him and he said, Angel, would you like to

198
00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,520
Speaker 2: sing La Traviata at Lascala? And I said, yeah, yeah,

199
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,319
Speaker 2: of course, you know, an opera they schedule things years

200
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,199
Speaker 2: and years in advance. I'm thinking, okay, it's going to

201
00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,160
Speaker 2: be in like twenty twenty five, and I.

202
00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:09,920
Speaker 3: Said when is it?

203
00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,160
Speaker 2: And he goes, next week and I said next week

204
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,240
Speaker 2: and he said, yeah, next week, and so I said.

205
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:19,000
Speaker 3: You've got to be kidding me.

206
00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,840
Speaker 2: He goes, no, honey, it's next week, and I said okay,

207
00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:23,920
Speaker 2: and he said, you can go to Festival del Sole

208
00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:25,679
Speaker 2: and then you're going to have to pack and you go,

209
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,560
Speaker 2: and oh, Laverne, I was ready.

210
00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:29,880
Speaker 3: Oh thank god.

211
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,760
Speaker 2: I was ready, because, like, you know, when you get

212
00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,120
Speaker 2: an opportunity like that, and if you're not ready, that's

213
00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,840
Speaker 2: just a like it feels devastating, you know. But I

214
00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:40,800
Speaker 2: was so thankful at that time that I was ready,

215
00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,280
Speaker 2: and I was. My husband was excited, and I looked

216
00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:44,920
Speaker 2: at him and I said, I'm going to go to Italy.

217
00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:46,960
Speaker 3: And he was like, go go, this is awesome, this

218
00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:47,600
Speaker 3: is great, you know.

219
00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:50,280
Speaker 2: He was thrilled, and of course my mom, my family,

220
00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:51,000
Speaker 2: everybody was.

221
00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,720
Speaker 3: And I'm just I'm.

222
00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:55,480
Speaker 2: Thankful that out of all of the opera singers, because

223
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,600
Speaker 2: we know there's so many, out of all of the sopranos,

224
00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,680
Speaker 2: out of all the people that they could have asked

225
00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,360
Speaker 2: to come, you know, sopranos right there in Milan, right

226
00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,160
Speaker 2: there and around the city, or just on a train

227
00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:10,160
Speaker 2: ride to Milan. You know, they asked me to get

228
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,320
Speaker 2: on a plane all the way in la and come

229
00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,679
Speaker 2: over and sing. And I will forever be grateful and

230
00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:17,920
Speaker 2: so thankful for that moment forever.

231
00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:19,760
Speaker 3: Yeah.

232
00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,600
Speaker 1: So you get there and you're singing with Placid Domingo,

233
00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,760
Speaker 1: who you won his competition and had worked with him before.

234
00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,520
Speaker 1: Talk to us about just getting there in the rehearsal process.

235
00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,280
Speaker 1: So you have a week. So what was it like

236
00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:33,520
Speaker 1: once you arrived?

237
00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,240
Speaker 2: It was amazing. I had been to Milan before several

238
00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,120
Speaker 2: times before. I actually did a tour of Italy when

239
00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:41,800
Speaker 2: I was twenty six years old, so I've been all

240
00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,920
Speaker 2: over the country. I understand the culture very well. I

241
00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:46,680
Speaker 2: guess I could say I was immersed in the culture

242
00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:51,800
Speaker 2: when I was younger, and I felt like a rock

243
00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 2: star truly, because the people in the city of Milan,

244
00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,360
Speaker 2: just the vicinity of the opera house is this gorgeous

245
00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,560
Speaker 2: place called the Walmot, this big church and all of

246
00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,200
Speaker 2: the restaurants and the people they knew that I was

247
00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:10,320
Speaker 2: coming to sing, so I'm walking down the street and

248
00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,400
Speaker 2: the people in the restaurant are like, they don't call

249
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:14,840
Speaker 2: me angel they call me Angela.

250
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:15,640
Speaker 3: And so they're like.

251
00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:20,600
Speaker 2: Angela, Angela, to to to doi Angela. And I'm like, what,

252
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,240
Speaker 2: you know, who are these strangers saying toy toy toy

253
00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:24,480
Speaker 2: to me?

254
00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,720
Speaker 3: And I'm saying, you know, gratia, thank you, thank you.

255
00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,720
Speaker 1: Oh yes, toy to toys like it's break a leg

256
00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,280
Speaker 1: or good luck, it's good luck.

257
00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:35,199
Speaker 3: For yes, good luck for opera singers.

258
00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,040
Speaker 2: And I went to this restaurant, and I think this

259
00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,200
Speaker 2: is what really kind of hit me the hardest, was

260
00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,040
Speaker 2: that I went to this gorgeous restaurant. I had this

261
00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,920
Speaker 2: delicious lasagna, and the gentleman who brought me my food

262
00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:51,920
Speaker 2: looks at me and he says, you are the first

263
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,439
Speaker 2: black traviata. And I said, am I, And I mean

264
00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,120
Speaker 2: I didn't know, Hello, No, do you like the food?

265
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:01,000
Speaker 2: Do you want anything else? None of That's what he

266
00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,559
Speaker 2: said to me, and in English too, and and I said, oh,

267
00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,200
Speaker 2: I said, am I. And he said you will be perfect, perfect,

268
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,080
Speaker 2: and if you're hungry, come here, and I said, okay.

269
00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:12,560
Speaker 3: He said, we want to make sure that you do

270
00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:14,520
Speaker 3: a very very very good job.

271
00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,000
Speaker 2: And I just that that just made me feel you know,

272
00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,480
Speaker 2: I think that was a beautiful just a wonderful experience,

273
00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:22,240
Speaker 2: a wonderful moment.

274
00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,360
Speaker 1: But so beautiful about that moment is that there's a

275
00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,680
Speaker 1: city that is that immersed in opera, that that they're

276
00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,120
Speaker 1: so excited, absolutely, and and that he knows it's this

277
00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,080
Speaker 1: a random person coming up to you and telling you

278
00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:36,880
Speaker 1: that you're making history. Yes, there's something so beautiful about that.

279
00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,400
Speaker 1: And I love that we have some video of the moment.

280
00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,880
Speaker 1: There's some wonderful video with you and Domingo that's online.

281
00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:48,280
Speaker 1: And David Carlin of boch Track wrote of your co

282
00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:53,120
Speaker 1: Garden debut in Traviata Blues voice his complete security of pitch,

283
00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,760
Speaker 1: a warm bath of a timber, and a lovely sense

284
00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:59,720
Speaker 1: of lilt and shape to the phrases. She also has

285
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,880
Speaker 1: the ability to make you utterly believe in what you're seeing.

286
00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:05,760
Speaker 1: In the deathbed scene, I don't think I've ever seen

287
00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,360
Speaker 1: a more convincing interpretation of a woman who is desperate

288
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,240
Speaker 1: to summon up strength but is simply incapable of standing straight.

289
00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:17,600
Speaker 1: Her interpretation of the end with Violetta's last false hope,

290
00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:23,360
Speaker 1: flaring brightly before fizzling to nothing with spellbinding, and she

291
00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 1: excelled in pure vocal terms with a strong delivery of

292
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,400
Speaker 1: the big aria, sempre libra and adir de pasto.

293
00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:31,760
Speaker 4: I love.

294
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:33,640
Speaker 1: I mean, reviews are sort of whatever, But what I

295
00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:35,600
Speaker 1: love about that review is that I had the pleasure

296
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,600
Speaker 1: of seeing you seeing Traviata at the Met when you

297
00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,080
Speaker 1: made your role debut there earlier this year. I got

298
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:48,440
Speaker 1: to be in the audience and I felt, I mean,

299
00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,960
Speaker 1: I guess it's my favorite opera and it just it's

300
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,520
Speaker 1: I'm always deeply moved by it. But that scene, the

301
00:14:54,520 --> 00:15:00,240
Speaker 1: adio scene, that scene was so I just don't even

302
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,800
Speaker 1: have war it's forty. It was just so moving and

303
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:20,840
Speaker 1: the acting. Actually, I have a little recorded when you

304
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,000
Speaker 1: hear that, When you hear that, what comes up for you?

305
00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,960
Speaker 1: This role that is meant so much to you that

306
00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 1: you aspired to saying that you've made history to saying

307
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:32,040
Speaker 1: I guess I just.

308
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,600
Speaker 2: Think that it's true. You know, she calls herself a

309
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:40,400
Speaker 2: fallen woman, and she asks God to help her to

310
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,280
Speaker 2: have mercy on her and that moment, and you know

311
00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 2: you said earlier, what's the difference between Carmen and Dalila

312
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:55,200
Speaker 2: and Violetta. Dalila is she's kind of, you know, my opinion,

313
00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,480
Speaker 2: she's wicked. Carmen my opinion, she's wicked at their core

314
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,240
Speaker 2: there there, it's a selfish kind of a thing.

315
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:02,720
Speaker 3: I would say.

316
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 1: Carmen's independent, Yes, she and Cavalier Dadila's Wickedrmon is independent

317
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,880
Speaker 1: and it could be read as wicked for sure, because

318
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 1: she gives no abs.

319
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:21,360
Speaker 4: She's like Libra was born and free, I will die.

320
00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:26,400
Speaker 1: She says that there's a defiance that Carmen has is wicked.

321
00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,960
Speaker 4: But with the Violetta, you say, the difference for you, I.

322
00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:33,080
Speaker 2: Think is that she's a self sacrificing woman. She's a

323
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,440
Speaker 2: woman who's willing to put her needs, her desires, what

324
00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,840
Speaker 2: she wants aside for other people. And I think what

325
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:42,720
Speaker 2: she said is very true. I would call Carmen defiant.

326
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,160
Speaker 2: That's a better word than wicked. Is that she is

327
00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:47,880
Speaker 2: definitely defiant, going to do what she wants to do.

328
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,880
Speaker 2: But I think that's interesting because they are all this

329
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,560
Speaker 2: sort of courtisan kind of a thing. But but with Violetta,

330
00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:57,920
Speaker 2: I think in her heart, at the core of her

331
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,160
Speaker 2: of her person, she's someone who deeply cares about other.

332
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,119
Speaker 1: People and wants to be loved and wants to be loved,

333
00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,560
Speaker 1: and it is indeed in love in a really beautiful way.

334
00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:10,200
Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah.

335
00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,320
Speaker 1: And she the way she dies too, is very different

336
00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:14,679
Speaker 1: than a carman.

337
00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,000
Speaker 2: And she she has the opportunity to have her whole

338
00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,320
Speaker 2: family around her, you know, her, the people who care

339
00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:21,439
Speaker 2: about her the most when she's dying. I suppose all

340
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:23,920
Speaker 2: of that just kind of you know, when I am interviewed,

341
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:25,560
Speaker 2: I talk about my dad a lot, and you know,

342
00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,400
Speaker 2: I've spoken to you a lot about him. And when

343
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,119
Speaker 2: my father passed away, all of us were there. We're

344
00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,520
Speaker 2: five children, and we were all around the hospital bed

345
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:36,399
Speaker 2: and my mom was standing there at the head of

346
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,040
Speaker 2: the bed, you know, looking over my dad. And that's

347
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,400
Speaker 2: the you know, if you're gonna go, that's a beautiful

348
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,120
Speaker 2: way to do it with the people that you love

349
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,320
Speaker 2: the most around you. That's the beautiful thing about La

350
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,320
Speaker 2: Traviata to me is that in the end, she really

351
00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:50,640
Speaker 2: does she gets what she wants before she goes to heaven,

352
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:51,119
Speaker 2: I believe.

353
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:52,160
Speaker 3: And that's all that love.

354
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,960
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, Angel's father was a minister

355
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,160
Speaker 1: and her first boy teacher. He started training you when

356
00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:59,280
Speaker 1: you were six years old, I believe. Do you want

357
00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:00,680
Speaker 1: to say a little bit of your father?

358
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was just a like you. He's from Alabama.

359
00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:05,720
Speaker 2: How do you not like him? You know Bama people.

360
00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,119
Speaker 2: And as you said, he was a minister. He was

361
00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,040
Speaker 2: a pastor for gosh, I want to say that. My

362
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,640
Speaker 2: parents minister for like thirty five thirty six years. And

363
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,000
Speaker 2: he was a classically trained singer. So my dad, when

364
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,720
Speaker 2: he was younger, they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and he

365
00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,800
Speaker 2: went to the Cleveland Conservatory of Music, and he studied voice.

366
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,639
Speaker 2: He sang under James Levine and the chorus. And you know,

367
00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,080
Speaker 2: he loved opera. And what's great is it's kind of

368
00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:36,200
Speaker 2: a generational thing. So my grandfather, Grandpa James, he liked

369
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,640
Speaker 2: Enrico Caruso. Don't ask me why a coal miner from

370
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 2: Alabama likes Enrico Caruso, but he did. And he was

371
00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,040
Speaker 2: in a barbershop quartet, and so then of course my

372
00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,320
Speaker 2: dad picks that up. He falls in love with like

373
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,800
Speaker 2: uc Burling and Luciano Pavarotti and of course Placido Domingo,

374
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,119
Speaker 2: and that was a very crazy connection for me. Because

375
00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:55,280
Speaker 2: I ended up singing with my show Domingo for years,

376
00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,199
Speaker 2: you know, and he became my mentor. And that was

377
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,520
Speaker 2: so strange because when my father passed away, it was

378
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,040
Speaker 2: about I think two months to the date that I

379
00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:06,800
Speaker 2: met my shro Domingo, and it was.

380
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:08,639
Speaker 3: Just very, very wild, you know.

381
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:10,919
Speaker 2: It was amazing actually, because my dad kept saying, when

382
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,240
Speaker 2: you sing for Domingo, he's gonna love you and he's

383
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,639
Speaker 2: gonna help you, you know, and that he did. But

384
00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,479
Speaker 2: my father was just someone who really loved opera and

385
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:19,919
Speaker 2: it brought him a lot of joy.

386
00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:20,760
Speaker 3: You should have seen.

387
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,000
Speaker 2: He had the biggest smile and he would listen to

388
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,840
Speaker 2: like he would listen to like Polyacchi.

389
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:28,040
Speaker 3: Polyachi is the clown.

390
00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:32,120
Speaker 2: The opera is the clown, and this man is he's

391
00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:34,600
Speaker 2: lamenting in this aria. And my dad would have that

392
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,560
Speaker 2: on so loud in the kitchen, I mean loud, but

393
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,639
Speaker 2: he was joyful and he'd be smiling and all of that.

394
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,280
Speaker 2: That's that's one of the main reasons why I sing,

395
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,120
Speaker 2: because opera brings me joy, you know. So that's that's

396
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,080
Speaker 2: a tiny tiny bit about my dad. He was an

397
00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:51,119
Speaker 2: amazing man. I'm very honored. I will always be honored

398
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:51,560
Speaker 2: to be his.

399
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,840
Speaker 1: Daughter, and singing is a connection to your father as well.

400
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,960
Speaker 1: I was just thinking about how and I got very

401
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:02,520
Speaker 1: emotional thinking about your father passing and then facilitating in heaven,

402
00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,200
Speaker 1: facilitating that meeting with Domino, facilitating.

403
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:06,720
Speaker 4: Yes, so many things.

404
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,280
Speaker 1: The gift for me of the people who have passed

405
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,879
Speaker 1: in my life that I feel like they've become my angels.

406
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 4: I really do. I keep very emotional with because I

407
00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:15,920
Speaker 4: have a lot of angels.

408
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:21,439
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. So he's clearly I mean, yes, las Gala,

409
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:22,960
Speaker 1: all the things, all the things.

410
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:24,159
Speaker 4: You know, he's your angel.

411
00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:25,280
Speaker 3: You want to know something weird.

412
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 2: Yes, I don't normally talk about this, but since she

413
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,920
Speaker 2: said that you said angels and then you said las Gala,

414
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:34,040
Speaker 2: this might sound weird, but this happened to me.

415
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:34,880
Speaker 3: After rehearsal.

416
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,679
Speaker 2: I was we were doing Act two and I was

417
00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,760
Speaker 2: rehearsing with my Sto Domingo and the scene between the

418
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:46,480
Speaker 2: character Violetta and her boyfriend's dad Germont, and we rehearsed it,

419
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,800
Speaker 2: and I went and I grabbed some water in my

420
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,480
Speaker 2: bottle before I went back to the hotel. And as

421
00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,400
Speaker 2: I'm filling up this water bottle, I had the strongest,

422
00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,840
Speaker 2: strongest sensation that my dad was standing behind me with

423
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:04,639
Speaker 2: big smile, and it was so real that when I.

424
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 3: Was like, wait, is he there?

425
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 2: And I turned almost like, you know, did Dad just

426
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,120
Speaker 2: skip off to Italy and not tell us there's something?

427
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,480
Speaker 2: And I turned around and of course he wasn't standing there,

428
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:15,359
Speaker 2: but it was like his presence was there. It was

429
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,080
Speaker 2: just it was like the Lord was letting me know

430
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,520
Speaker 2: that my dad can see what I'm doing. You know,

431
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:22,439
Speaker 2: he could see that. I guess he always told me

432
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,600
Speaker 2: that I would sing. He always said that. You know,

433
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,040
Speaker 2: it's a blessing when you have a family member or

434
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 2: anybody in your life, a coach, somebody who really encourages

435
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 2: you like that and is constantly letting you know when

436
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 2: you don't feel like you can sing, or when you

437
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 2: don't feel like you're good at what you do, or hey,

438
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,679
Speaker 2: there's no hope here, it's wonderful to have that person

439
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 2: who's like, no, you're doing the right thing. You just

440
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,560
Speaker 2: keep like I said before, you keep going, You keep going,

441
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,040
Speaker 2: you keep going. He's an angel. You'll win if you

442
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 2: don't quit. My dad used to always say that to me,

443
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,840
Speaker 2: and I do in my own way. I feel like

444
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,880
Speaker 2: I've won, you know, and he's over my shoulder now,

445
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,040
Speaker 2: But he really is, you know, he really has been

446
00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,639
Speaker 2: such a driving force and a huge blessing to me

447
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,080
Speaker 2: in this opera career. And when I was getting that

448
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,480
Speaker 2: water at Lascala, I took that to mean that he

449
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:07,360
Speaker 2: could see me there.

450
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:09,280
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Oh that's so beautiful.

451
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:27,440
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Alrighty, we're back. I remember seeing

452
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,199
Speaker 1: an interview that you did, and I remember when you

453
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 1: were at UCLA and.

454
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 4: Some of the struggles you had there.

455
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,119
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you want to talk about that,

456
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: because I think, you know, you said you were having

457
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:37,399
Speaker 1: trouble learning music and what was that about?

458
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,440
Speaker 4: And has that shifted for you? Is it easier to

459
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:40,320
Speaker 4: learn music now?

460
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 2: First, I want to say thank you for the question,

461
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,840
Speaker 2: because I think sometimes maybe now opera singers are more

462
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 2: open to talking about their struggles in music. I'm very

463
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 2: thankful that my parents gave me piano lessons when I

464
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,320
Speaker 2: was little. My mom taught me first, and then I

465
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 2: had a piano teachers, very similar to how I study voice.

466
00:22:58,320 --> 00:22:59,360
Speaker 3: I play several instruments.

467
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,920
Speaker 2: I play the badly, I play the alto saxophone, but

468
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 2: I still pull it out every now and again. I

469
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 2: have my bass guitar right here, So I'm a musician

470
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 2: for sure. But Opera presented the problem of learning quickly.

471
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,760
Speaker 2: How do you learn fast and efficiently? And so right

472
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,239
Speaker 2: now I'm working on Il Trovatore. That's the next thing

473
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 2: I have coming up, and I'm gonna show you.

474
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,879
Speaker 1: And you haven't sung Chrouvatori yet. You were supposed to

475
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,640
Speaker 1: debut trovatory if I recall, during the pandemic and at

476
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,280
Speaker 1: La Opera, and obviously the pandemic happened, and so where

477
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 1: are you singing Trovatore in the fall?

478
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,440
Speaker 3: I think San Francisco Operas in September.

479
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,800
Speaker 2: So I'm just going to show you, so basically, with

480
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 2: the music, what really has helped me. And this is

481
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,520
Speaker 2: gonna this is I'm just being totally real right now.

482
00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 2: This is like my diary, but with the music, I'm

483
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,719
Speaker 2: gonna put it here if you can see it, like

484
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 2: you see those you see those big lines, right, so

485
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 2: those lines are my saving grace, These vertical lines going

486
00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,240
Speaker 2: up and down, and those are just.

487
00:23:59,160 --> 00:23:59,879
Speaker 3: The big beats.

488
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,000
Speaker 2: That was the hardest, which is weird because I play

489
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 2: the bass, so I of course, understand the rhythm, you know,

490
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 2: But that was the hardest thing for me, was to understand.

491
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 3: Rhythmically just how things work.

492
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 2: When I started getting better at Italian, then I understood

493
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 2: that the rhythm was inspired by the words, by the text.

494
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 2: And when I understood that the music was inspired by

495
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:32,879
Speaker 2: the text, the text inspires the acting, the drama essentially,

496
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 2: and sometimes the dramas really heavily in the orchestra. Sometimes

497
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:42,560
Speaker 2: the dramas it's always going to be in the text,

498
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,359
Speaker 2: but most of the time it's in the rhythm.

499
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:46,159
Speaker 3: All of those things just kind.

500
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 2: Of came to me, but I didn't really understand that

501
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,640
Speaker 2: when I was, you know, twenty twenty one years old

502
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:00,520
Speaker 2: at UCLA, and I had an interesting time because I

503
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,880
Speaker 2: was doing I was my father passed away, and when

504
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 2: my dad passed away, I dropped out of the opera

505
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 2: at UCLA. At the same time, though I was an

506
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 2: intern at La Opera for the Young Artist Program, I

507
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 2: was also doing Miss California at the time. That was

508
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,280
Speaker 2: my last year at Miss California. Was just a ton

509
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 2: of things going on musically. I felt lost because I

510
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 2: felt like there were you know, opera is filled with

511
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 2: many facets there's just they're sorry, there's so much to it,

512
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,439
Speaker 2: and I just having all of these I felt like

513
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 2: I was juggling stuff just in things that needed to

514
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 2: be juggled and it needed to stay in my life.

515
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 2: And then there were things that I didn't need to juggle,

516
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,360
Speaker 2: that didn't need to be in my life. But at

517
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 2: you know, at twenty two, twenty three, twenty four years old,

518
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 2: it's hard to figure that out and you're grieving. That's hard.

519
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,399
Speaker 2: So that really when I talk about this ruggle, the

520
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 2: struggle for me was the struggle of how do I

521
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 2: learn this quickly? You know, singing is I would say,

522
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,000
Speaker 2: it's like being an athlete because the thing has to

523
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 2: be in your body when you get on stage. You

524
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 2: don't want to be thinking, oh wait, what's the next note,

525
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 2: Oh wait, what's that word? Oh no, you want to

526
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 2: be on autopilot and just be able to go. So

527
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 2: all of these things were just kind of going on

528
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,399
Speaker 2: at that time. And you know, I'm well past twenty

529
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 2: four years old now and I still look at that

530
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 2: time and I think, wow.

531
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 3: How did you get through that?

532
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:29,080
Speaker 4: How did you get through.

533
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 2: I mean, I honestly I think my for sure, my

534
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 2: faith one hundred percent. My faith and my family helped

535
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 2: me a lot. You know, I had my mom, I'm

536
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,400
Speaker 2: I'm number four or five, and everything was keep going,

537
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,680
Speaker 2: keep going, keep going. Well, remember Dad said, Remember Dad

538
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,920
Speaker 2: used to say, there was one point.

539
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 3: I know that people can't see me. But at one

540
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,800
Speaker 3: point I started breathing with my shoulders, and so I

541
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 3: was taking breaths and lifting up my shoulders and my sister.

542
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 2: My sister said, ain't to remember Dad. I said, you see,

543
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:02,520
Speaker 2: you need to be relaxed. And I had to remember

544
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 2: those things. I had to just remember. I guess my

545
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,320
Speaker 2: roots and what they were. But also, you know, I

546
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 2: will tell you this. I know that God gave me

547
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 2: the talent that I have for a reason, and I

548
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 2: know that he said He'll never leave me or forsake me.

549
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 2: And even in those moments where I feel like I'm

550
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,919
Speaker 2: alone or like I'm forsook, I'm not, and I have

551
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,360
Speaker 2: to remember that. I think, you know, it was important

552
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,280
Speaker 2: to try to just keep going, and as hard as

553
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:28,919
Speaker 2: that was, I did.

554
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 3: And then I had the opportunity also to go to Europe.

555
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 2: By that point, I was twenty six, and that really

556
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 2: helped me a lot, because I saw a different, completely

557
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,439
Speaker 2: different side of opera from the European perspective. And I

558
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,959
Speaker 2: believe with all my heart that Europe gave me my career.

559
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 2: The career that I have today, I have because I

560
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,400
Speaker 2: went to Spain, because I went to Italy. I spent

561
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,480
Speaker 2: all those years in Germany. Still don't speak very good German,

562
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 2: but I've spent so much time there in Austria and

563
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 2: all of those places, learning, you know, And thankfully I

564
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,160
Speaker 2: still can say that I still travel to those places,

565
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,359
Speaker 2: still learning, you know, still trying to keep going, keep going,

566
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 2: keep going, keep going.

567
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,359
Speaker 1: Wonderful, amazing, Oh gosh, I love, love love this. So

568
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: you recently made your debut as Aida, the Ethiopian Princess

569
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:20,959
Speaker 1: at Covin Garden.

570
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 4: How did it feel?

571
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: Ada is one of those tricky opera It's because it's

572
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: very for those people don't know opera. It's there's very

573
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 1: legato singing that's required, and then there's very dramatic singing

574
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: that is required. So how was it singing Ada?

575
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 3: Yes?

576
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 2: Honestly, three words. It is hard. You know, it's hard.

577
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 2: It's not an easy role. It's just it's not And

578
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 2: I think what makes it so hard is that it's

579
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 2: so it's weird because there's not a lot of music,

580
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 2: it's not a lot of singing.

581
00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 3: It's the title character.

582
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 2: So with the title character, that comes a lot of

583
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,040
Speaker 2: pressure just period, just psychologically, just thinking the opera's called Ada,

584
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 2: I'm singing Aida, you know, just whatever that means in

585
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 2: your mind. So there's that whole sort of obstacle first,

586
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 2: and then after that there's all of the things that follow. Musically,

587
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 2: I think of everything as just being lyric. I try

588
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 2: not to think, oh, this is the strongest part of

589
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 2: the opera and I have to give it all.

590
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 3: I don't.

591
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 2: I try to just be as lyrical as possible. And

592
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that comes with what the

593
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,160
Speaker 2: composer is asking the singer to do. You know, don't

594
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 2: do something the composer doesn't say to do, and go

595
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 2: with what the conductor is doing. I'm not a singer

596
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,480
Speaker 2: who tries to out sing the orchestra or do something

597
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 2: different than the orchestra is doing.

598
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:44,760
Speaker 3: That's weird, you know. I want to be with them

599
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 3: because we're an ensemble.

600
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 2: So I mean with that, I have to say my

601
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 2: favorite part of Ada was the hardest part was Act three.

602
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 2: Act three is wild, so you start out with this

603
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 2: O paty Amiya al patrey Ama is my homeland. She's

604
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 2: talking about where she's from and and how she misses it.

605
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,720
Speaker 2: She describes where she's from, she says, you know, these

606
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,360
Speaker 2: the fresh valleys and the.

607
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 3: Rolling hills, and she misses it.

608
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 2: And then she has to sing this beautiful hopefully piano

609
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,880
Speaker 2: high sea. Yeah, and and then and how do you

610
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 2: how do you explain a high sea? I don't know

611
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 2: how to explain a high seat.

612
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: It's a it's a really high note. It's a you know,

613
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: for a soprano. It's one of those money notes for

614
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 1: a soprano that you gotta you gotta have a high sea,

615
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,400
Speaker 1: you know, right, Yeah, it's a it's a really high note.

616
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 4: I'm trying to think.

617
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 1: Oh, for Beyonce fans, Beyonce in Emotions with Destiny's Child,

618
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: that note Beyonce hit in her head voice is a high.

619
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 3: High see that's right? Well well, well, yes, yes, that's right.

620
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 4: That's a high seat.

621
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 3: And it's not easy to sing a high see.

622
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 2: It's it's it's easy if you're just shouting it out,

623
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 2: you know, if it's like a loud high sea.

624
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 1: But it's the phrase in O Patriamia. It's the climb

625
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 1: up to the sea. It's something I do. It's just

626
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,600
Speaker 1: as an exercise.

627
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,240
Speaker 3: Yes, and it's a very good exercise.

628
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 2: And every I think the thing that's probably I would

629
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 2: say scary about it is just that everybody knows it's coming.

630
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 2: And you know, for myself, I enjoyed it because that

631
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 2: aria for me, where it sits in my voice is

632
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 2: an easier place for me to sing. So I was

633
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 2: okay with it. You know, I'm not going to say

634
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 2: that I landed the high seat perfectly every single time

635
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 2: I sang it, but I definitely felt more comfortable in

636
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 2: that section than I did in the section that follows it.

637
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 3: After the duet with her dad.

638
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 2: So her her dad comes in in act three after

639
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:41,080
Speaker 2: she sings this beautiful Aria and basically tells her off

640
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 2: because she is in love with the enemy.

641
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 3: She's in love with.

642
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 4: The enemy as it is a mess.

643
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 2: And her dad comes in and he's getting on her

644
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 2: and telling her that you know you're not my daughter,

645
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 2: You're the slave of the pharaohs, is what he says

646
00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 2: to her. Then after that they reconcile by her saying, Okay,

647
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 2: you know, I'll do this for my country, basic spy

648
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 2: on radom as yes, to find out where the enemy's

649
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 2: army will be going. And then the next thing that

650
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,720
Speaker 2: happens is her boyfriend comes in and that whole part

651
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:17,000
Speaker 2: is very dramatic, but it's low. It's all low in

652
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,880
Speaker 2: the sopranos voice. So in that moment, I thought, you're

653
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 2: just talking, You're just speaking, don't try to be super loud.

654
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 2: And I we had a great conductor. His name is

655
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 2: Sir Mark Elder, and you know, he was very sensitive

656
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 2: to the fact that that's not the strongest part of

657
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 2: my voice. Of most sopranos, that's not the strongest part

658
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 2: of their voice. And he's like, don't worry, don't worry,

659
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 2: you can you can still be heard. So I don't

660
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 2: know my experience with Aida. It's hard, but it was

661
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 2: definitely a challenge I welcomed. I look forward to singing

662
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 2: it again. I don't believe I have it in my

663
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 2: schedule until I want to say, twenty twenty four, twenty yeah,

664
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:56,000
Speaker 2: twenty four next year.

665
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 3: The end of next year, okay, And so I'm looking

666
00:32:58,240 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 3: forward to it.

667
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 2: But it's you know, it's it's totally different than ltraviata,

668
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 2: and it's totally different than if I had to put them.

669
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 3: You did not ask me this. I'm just this is.

670
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 2: Just me thinking verity because I've been reading this book

671
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 2: on him, and I knew he was amazing, but I

672
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 2: didn't know how amazing until I started singing all of

673
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 2: this music. Yeah, I would say Traviata's first is second,

674
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:21,960
Speaker 2: and then Aida is third.

675
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:23,600
Speaker 4: For me in terms of your favorites.

676
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 3: I think, so yeah, yeah.

677
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,000
Speaker 2: Also, you know, I you know, you have you go

678
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 2: through the evening being called names and stuff, and you know,

679
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 2: having this crazy duet with I'm nerst.

680
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 3: That's not easy either.

681
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 4: Oh damn oh the judgment girl.

682
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: Is because I'm nerss but the people for the people

683
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 1: who don't know it and Radames are officially together. Yes,

684
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 1: so Radam is it's cheating right on, I'm near neres

685
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: with you with Aida. Yes, So she's confronting her and

686
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 1: she's like, girl, yes, why you with my man? And

687
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 1: you're you know, you're supposed to be my servant, my slave.

688
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 1: But Aita says she's never slave, always a friend, says

689
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: she never bow damn nears.

690
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 3: Do you see those clips of Price?

691
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 2: If you see those clips of Price, there's there's a

692
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 2: video of her with Simon Esti's I believe it's from

693
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 2: the met I think it's her last Aida in nineteen

694
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 2: eighty two.

695
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 1: Yes, eighty five, it was her last Ada eighty five.

696
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 3: Thank you.

697
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 2: And he what is his name, the dad Amanaziro, father

698
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,839
Speaker 2: of Aida. He pushes her and she goes clear to

699
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 2: the ground, clear to the ground, and then she does

700
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 2: this thing where she looks up and she puts her

701
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 2: hands up and I was like, wow, that's nice. You

702
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 2: know that is her father and he is the only

703
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 2: one who has that kind of control and and say.

704
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:35,640
Speaker 3: So over her.

705
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 1: There's this beautiful story that Simon Estis tells when they

706
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 1: sang for the first time together in San Francisco, where

707
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: she just she was like, there's a black king. She

708
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: was still I think it was it was Aida, I think,

709
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 1: and she and he was playing her father. I think

710
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 1: it's the late seventies. She was just so excited. Yeah,

711
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 1: there was a black man, you know, because you know

712
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 1: they're black men and operate. It's been it's been a struggle,

713
00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,880
Speaker 1: a different kind of struggle than for black women. And

714
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,239
Speaker 1: she told him it can be harder for you than

715
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 1: it was for me. Anyway, Liantin stories. I could go

716
00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 1: on with Lintin stories for the rest of.

717
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 3: The I know you love her.

718
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: You are a two time Grammy Award winning opera singer

719
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,839
Speaker 1: for your recordings of Porgy and Best and Fire, Shut

720
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 1: Up in my Bones, congratulations. You also opened two different

721
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 1: seasons of the Metropolitan Opera in those operas, and I

722
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 1: remember we had dinner and I was just like, girl,

723
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: you're opening the met singing Best.

724
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 4: Do you feel like that, bitch?

725
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:31,280
Speaker 3: No?

726
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,719
Speaker 1: And you're so humble, You're so humble, But I'm a

727
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 1: girl like girl, You're opening the Met like you were Best,

728
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 1: and you're opening the season and you've done it twice

729
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 1: now and one two Grammys. Can you talk a little

730
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,839
Speaker 1: bit about I mean, obviously Best and Fire are two

731
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: very different operas when it's twenty first century, when it's

732
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,160
Speaker 1: twentieth century, very different roles. Can you talk a little

733
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,759
Speaker 1: bit about the difference between singing those and if you

734
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 1: want to tell your Grammy experience and.

735
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 4: Why are you laughing? Why are you laving?

736
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm laughing because I feel like.

737
00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:11,240
Speaker 2: I feel like saying that I have two Grammys is crazy,

738
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,640
Speaker 2: But I know that I know that They're not a

739
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:18,400
Speaker 2: result of me, just me. You know, when I was

740
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 2: talking about Aita, I mentioned that me and the orchestra,

741
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:24,879
Speaker 2: the conductor were all and ensemble. And when I think

742
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,760
Speaker 2: of Porgy and Bess and Fire, shut up in my bones.

743
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:31,280
Speaker 2: I don't know that I've ever been in an opera

744
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:37,640
Speaker 2: where the cast, everybody, everybody involved was just it felt

745
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,879
Speaker 2: like one hundred percent on board. So when you say

746
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 2: two time Grammy winner, and I just think, you know,

747
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 2: I'm really thankful that I was a part of that.

748
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,879
Speaker 2: I'm really thankful that I got to be in those

749
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 2: casts with those amazing artists, with that orchestra, the med

750
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:51,040
Speaker 2: orchestra is.

751
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:52,680
Speaker 3: Just they're on another level. You know. I just went

752
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:53,879
Speaker 3: on thank God, I just went on.

753
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 2: Tour with them and working with Uniquenesce again, David Robertson

754
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,600
Speaker 2: and James Robinson as the director. It was just really great.

755
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, you do I feel like

756
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 2: that that girl. No, I feel like that girl who

757
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 2: has a whole bunch of books in her hand and

758
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 2: she's like, I gotta go study, I gotta go work

759
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 2: on this.

760
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 3: I gotta go.

761
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 2: I'll see you okay dinner tonight. Okay, great, I'm gonna

762
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 2: try to be finished by okay. Oh that's how I feel,

763
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 2: because I think that I heard Renee Fleming say that

764
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,560
Speaker 2: she was asked, does the pressure go away as you

765
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,920
Speaker 2: get higher and higher in your job or you you know,

766
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 2: you grow more and more in your career. Does the

767
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,720
Speaker 2: pressure go away? Is there every time where you feel like, okay,

768
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 2: I've arrived? And she said no, she said, if anything,

769
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 2: it gets worse because you're constantly working to stay on

770
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:47,040
Speaker 2: a certain level and to maintain what you've done.

771
00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, it actually does.

772
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 1: It gets harder. I feel it gets harder too, And I,

773
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,640
Speaker 1: you know, it's so funny. I just did a show

774
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:55,800
Speaker 1: in Savannah. I was shooting a show and I was

775
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 1: starring in it and producing it and co created it

776
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:01,920
Speaker 1: and it was part of my personal story and it

777
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 1: was so I was I was like, I gotta go

778
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:05,959
Speaker 1: home and go to sleep, and I got a prep

779
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: for the next day, and it's just such like it's

780
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 1: just so much work, That's what it is. So I

781
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,880
Speaker 1: feel you So it's like, now I gotta go study, yeah,

782
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,560
Speaker 1: and singing opera, you know, I do a little chirping

783
00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,080
Speaker 1: here and there, and it's so I did a recording

784
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 1: session in December of some arias and acoustic whatever and

785
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 1: in some beautiful gowns. I don't know if you know

786
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,759
Speaker 1: they're reading frankmen quote beautiful gowns. And that's what I

787
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: would say about my unvocal per formance back in December,

788
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:37,960
Speaker 1: beautiful gowns, and so I literally wanted to I went

789
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,319
Speaker 1: to re record some of them yesterday, and we'll see

790
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 1: if it's better.

791
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,840
Speaker 4: It's just it never stops being hard.

792
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 1: So I love that you say when you think about

793
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 1: those experiences, you think about all the people and the support,

794
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: and that it is a group effort and that it

795
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:55,319
Speaker 1: is an ensemble, because that's my experience too, you know,

796
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,880
Speaker 1: the sag Wards or the Emmy I have that. You know,

797
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 1: it's something that I share with colleague.

798
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 4: Okay, it's that time again.

799
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. We're back. You know you're working

800
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:28,320
Speaker 1: on chu Vittore and we've heard a little bit of

801
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:31,000
Speaker 1: your TROUVATORI when you were doing still on social media

802
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,600
Speaker 1: and you did a virtual concert. You sang a note

803
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: in your basement, I think, and you also say have

804
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:41,240
Speaker 1: sung that I'm aware of twice dal More.

805
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:43,440
Speaker 4: I never say that, right.

806
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,960
Speaker 1: Rose, you sang it in Philadelphia, and you sang it

807
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:54,399
Speaker 1: at the met New Year's Eve.

808
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 4: I love you and that music, and it.

809
00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:58,920
Speaker 1: Was it was so good. The Philadelphia one was like,

810
00:39:58,960 --> 00:39:59,920
Speaker 1: you really killed it.

811
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 3: Thank you.

812
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 1: I was talking to my voice teacher about Trovatore. It's

813
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 1: written in such a beautiful way, and Ira says that

814
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 1: it's really Verity's last sort of beil canto opera. There

815
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,799
Speaker 1: were different periods and Artie's life in terms of how

816
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 1: it evolved, and there's something that so makes so much

817
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:42,240
Speaker 1: sense about the way that Trovatore is written that is wonderful.

818
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: Can you talk about the differences between Ada and Traviata

819
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,239
Speaker 1: and what you're finding is you prepare to sing Leonora.

820
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 3: Well Ada and Aida was written.

821
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 2: I believe it's twenty years after La Traviata, And so

822
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 2: if you think just in terms of us as you know,

823
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,000
Speaker 2: how I was when I was twenty versus twenty years later.

824
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, very different person. Some of the.

825
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 2: Ideas in my head are still the same, you know,

826
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 2: I believe my heart's still the same, but I'm much

827
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:12,879
Speaker 2: more organized, but a different person, you know. I even

828
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,360
Speaker 2: I approach music differently. I'm married, you know, I approach

829
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:22,040
Speaker 2: having a relationship differently. The biggest difference I would say

830
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,360
Speaker 2: in the music for me, as I would call myself

831
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:25,800
Speaker 2: a new bi Veriti in soprano.

832
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 3: I just made that up right now. And I say

833
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:31,120
Speaker 3: that because there are people who have been singing Verity

834
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:32,279
Speaker 3: for you know.

835
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,839
Speaker 2: To that twenty years, that thirty years, and their take

836
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,040
Speaker 2: on it will be vastly different than mine. As someone

837
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:41,840
Speaker 2: who loves La Traviata, not just singing it, but just

838
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:44,440
Speaker 2: loves the opera, I would say that I'm more in

839
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 2: touch with the Liltrovatore at the moment, probably because it

840
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,719
Speaker 2: was written at the same around the same time I

841
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 2: think it was La Traviata Rigoletto, and also that Verdi

842
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,800
Speaker 2: wrote is kind of considered his trilogy.

843
00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,359
Speaker 3: And then, of course, you know, years later he has

844
00:41:59,400 --> 00:41:59,920
Speaker 3: this Aida.

845
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,680
Speaker 2: But I find what's fascinating about it is that the

846
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:11,720
Speaker 2: youthfulness I feel of Leonora and Violetta is I feel,

847
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 2: my own opinion is that it's really embodied in where

848
00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 2: he writes the music for the soprano versus ada. Even

849
00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 2: though she's supposed to be a young princess, it's more

850
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 2: for a mature woman, you know, and I consider myself

851
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 2: a mature woman for sure. But I mean for me,

852
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 2: you know, Laverne, I said this when we were having

853
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 2: dinner a few months back. I approach music, all of

854
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:38,759
Speaker 2: it the same way, all of it.

855
00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 3: You know.

856
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:41,239
Speaker 2: I want to try to sing it as best as

857
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:46,440
Speaker 2: I can and just let that be. Let that be

858
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:49,719
Speaker 2: it for me. I'm not trying to copy anybody. I mean,

859
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:51,799
Speaker 2: I listened to a ton of sopranos. I listened to

860
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 2: sopranos today who sing the same repertoire that I do.

861
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:56,880
Speaker 2: Because I'm trying to learn. You know, we're all singing

862
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,719
Speaker 2: the same music. But what's great about it is that

863
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,200
Speaker 2: we're bringing You know, you said that you were in

864
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:07,399
Speaker 2: Savannah shooting talking about your story that's unique to you.

865
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,319
Speaker 2: And when you take your story and you put your

866
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,360
Speaker 2: story into verity from eighteen fifty three, I take Angel

867
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:16,439
Speaker 2: Blue from Apple Valley, California, who went to school two

868
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:19,399
Speaker 2: hours away from her house in La in East LA

869
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:20,319
Speaker 2: and then had to.

870
00:43:20,239 --> 00:43:21,240
Speaker 3: Go back on metrolink.

871
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 2: When I put all of that into La traviata, into iltrovatore,

872
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:29,759
Speaker 2: into Aida, then that's my Aida, that's my trot, that's

873
00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:30,759
Speaker 2: my traviata.

874
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:32,680
Speaker 3: Because that's my story, you know.

875
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,080
Speaker 2: And and I don't know if I'm answering the question,

876
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:41,280
Speaker 2: but for sure those facets that that is essential to singing,

877
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:43,640
Speaker 2: is bringing who you are into the music. I'm not

878
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 2: trying to be Lantine Price. I have the utmost respect

879
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:48,720
Speaker 2: for her. I have the utmost respect for Miss Grace.

880
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:50,920
Speaker 2: I mean miss Grace. I had the ability to call

881
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 2: Miss Grace on the phone a legend and ask her questions. Sorry, yes,

882
00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 2: Grace Bumbreak. And I could call her and ask her.

883
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,320
Speaker 2: And I said to her, I said, should I be singing? Aida? I,

884
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:03,920
Speaker 2: you know, be honest with me to trust me. She

885
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:08,280
Speaker 2: was honest with me too, She said she was honest

886
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 2: with me, you know. And she she said, of course

887
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 2: you should. Well why not, you know? And and I said, well,

888
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,920
Speaker 2: you know, I haven't done the other the other verity.

889
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,120
Speaker 2: She said, there's no recipe for this thing.

890
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,439
Speaker 1: There really isn't a recipe. So you got to coach

891
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:26,640
Speaker 1: with Miss Brumbery, yes, on some of AITA before she passed,

892
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 1: and you did not get to.

893
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 2: No, no, we didn't get to coach. I was going

894
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 2: to go see her in Vienna, but it didn't It

895
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:34,400
Speaker 2: didn't work out with my with my schedule and with

896
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,799
Speaker 2: hers good grief. I mean, she was busy, but you know,

897
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 2: I I cherished those moments of just being able to

898
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:44,160
Speaker 2: talk to her about opera in any way, but not.

899
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:45,840
Speaker 3: Not just opera. You know. We had a bit of

900
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:46,799
Speaker 3: a chat about.

901
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 2: Life too, and actually she she you know, she's actually

902
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 2: one of the first people when I said to her

903
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:54,600
Speaker 2: that I feel like I have to have social media,

904
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:57,680
Speaker 2: and she goes, but why she always had this grandmother

905
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:01,759
Speaker 2: thing with me, which I but she was just really

906
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:04,600
Speaker 2: a lovely woman. I mean, whenever I saw her, I

907
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:06,440
Speaker 2: just kind of always felt like I just needed to

908
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,840
Speaker 2: say thank you, you know, just thank you, thank you

909
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:14,120
Speaker 2: so much for the excellence that you showed. I mean,

910
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 2: what a great name for her to grace for such

911
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 2: a time as that, you know, for the time that

912
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,840
Speaker 2: she lived in, To be able to have grace, to

913
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 2: be able to move through the world elegantly, at a

914
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:28,799
Speaker 2: time when people didn't want to see you, didn't want

915
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:31,480
Speaker 2: you to have a place, absolutely, but boy did she

916
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 2: have a place, and boy did she still have one.

917
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:34,800
Speaker 4: For the listeners.

918
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 1: What Angels referring to is that in the nineteen fifties

919
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:40,680
Speaker 1: and sixties for black opera singers, it was very difficult.

920
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:43,720
Speaker 1: There were a space that had been created by Marian

921
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:47,840
Speaker 1: Anderson and Liantine Price, but it was still very difficult.

922
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 1: And Lantine would never speak of the difficulties others would,

923
00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:52,080
Speaker 1: which I found really interesting.

924
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 4: Grace did a little bit.

925
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,680
Speaker 1: You know, there was just a lot of racism all

926
00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 1: over Europe and the United States that they dealt with,

927
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,160
Speaker 1: and every single one of these singers from that generation.

928
00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:04,680
Speaker 1: When you hear Shirley Vouett speaker, Grace Bumbry or Martina

929
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,040
Speaker 1: Arroyo or miss Price or Mary Ninson, all of them

930
00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:08,920
Speaker 1: talk about faith.

931
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:10,840
Speaker 4: All of them talk about faith. And I because I

932
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 4: think about.

933
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,840
Speaker 1: You know, how does one with Liliantine, for example, in

934
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,160
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five, when she sang Tosca on NBC and

935
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:21,319
Speaker 1: they were protests, people were protesting in BC. Can you imagine,

936
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:24,080
Speaker 1: you know, you're singing the lead as you're singing Tosca

937
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 1: in English on TV, like it's you know, she's the

938
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,880
Speaker 1: first really black person.

939
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 4: To have any leading role on TV in nineteen fifty five.

940
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 1: It's the early stages of television and people are protesting

941
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:36,520
Speaker 1: an opera. They didn't air it in the South and

942
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,279
Speaker 1: her home state didn't air it, you know, and she

943
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:41,799
Speaker 1: whenever she talks about it, she says, all I was

944
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: focused on was had I rehearsed enough with my flexibility

945
00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:47,160
Speaker 1: where I needed it to be so I can make

946
00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 1: the impact that I needed to make. I just when

947
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:52,840
Speaker 1: I think about that, it just endlessly inspires me, because

948
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,080
Speaker 1: it just she always talks about keeping first things first.

949
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:59,160
Speaker 1: It's like that, it's all this she calls it fluttering

950
00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:01,680
Speaker 1: and noise, and it's you just have to focus on

951
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:05,320
Speaker 1: first things first. And that is such an incredible lesson

952
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:08,400
Speaker 1: for everyone. But then what a path you know that

953
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:11,759
Speaker 1: was laid for you, specifically for opera singers, but I

954
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:14,520
Speaker 1: take it as a path for me too as an artist,

955
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 1: as an actor and the other things that I do.

956
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,520
Speaker 1: Speaking of, you know, these sorts of things. You made

957
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:26,920
Speaker 1: headlines last year when you dropped out, and you can

958
00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:28,480
Speaker 1: say whatever you want to say about this, but I

959
00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 1: know you haven't really talked about this since it's not

960
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:33,360
Speaker 1: that I'm aware of publicly.

961
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:35,440
Speaker 4: And it was Rome.

962
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:38,480
Speaker 1: I think it was Arena Diva Arona and a natreb

963
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,319
Speaker 1: Coo had sung I eat a in black face, and

964
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:45,319
Speaker 1: that it's a tradition that his really existed in opera

965
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:48,600
Speaker 1: for since I eat it his existence, since it's exception.

966
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:52,239
Speaker 1: So Otelo and I Eat are often song If a

967
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:56,279
Speaker 1: white singer sings those roles, historically they would wear a

968
00:47:56,280 --> 00:48:00,160
Speaker 1: black face. And you decided you were supposed to to

969
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:04,240
Speaker 1: sing tabaata at the arena diparona, and when you saw

970
00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:06,759
Speaker 1: and found out that they were still doing blackface, you

971
00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:09,120
Speaker 1: decided to drop out. What would you like to say

972
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:14,040
Speaker 1: about that decision? By a year later and it was

973
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:16,080
Speaker 1: a moment. It got a lot of press, and you

974
00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:18,320
Speaker 1: also went off social media around the same time that

975
00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:19,240
Speaker 1: you withdrew.

976
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:20,920
Speaker 3: Yes, Well, you know.

977
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:23,799
Speaker 2: I feel like, first of all, I want to say

978
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 2: I love an A a Chrepco. I've always liked her.

979
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 2: I first heard her sing when I was about I

980
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 2: think I was a junior in college and she had

981
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,080
Speaker 2: her album called Simply Libera And because I sang the

982
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,880
Speaker 2: aria and pageants, my dad bought her CD for me

983
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,399
Speaker 2: and I listened to it in my car all the time. So,

984
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:45,279
Speaker 2: you know, I think the first thing I want to

985
00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:49,120
Speaker 2: say is that it should be known and hopefully most

986
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 2: people do know that I adore her.

987
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 3: I adore her artistry, so.

988
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:55,160
Speaker 1: It wasn't about her. It wasn't about her.

989
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,440
Speaker 2: But I've never said that, you know, I've never and

990
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:01,200
Speaker 2: I don't really know if there's anything to say about

991
00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:04,279
Speaker 2: my decision. You know, I'd still stand firmly on what

992
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 2: I said because I believe what I said. You know,

993
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:09,600
Speaker 2: it wasn't I'm not somebody who I mean. I get

994
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:12,480
Speaker 2: attention when I stand on stage to sing. Sometimes it's good,

995
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:15,920
Speaker 2: sometimes it's bad. So it's not like I was saying

996
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:18,280
Speaker 2: that to get attention or anything.

997
00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:20,160
Speaker 4: What did you do? Can you? Can you remind the

998
00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:21,200
Speaker 4: audience what you said?

999
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:27,880
Speaker 2: Well, with some help from my publicist, I basically I

1000
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:31,200
Speaker 2: saw photos just to explain what happened. I was in

1001
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 2: I was singing in Paris, so I'm an international opera singer,

1002
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:36,319
Speaker 2: so I sing all over the place, thankfully. And I

1003
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:40,360
Speaker 2: was singing at Paris Opera and I was in the

1004
00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:43,520
Speaker 2: bed with my husband and we were looking at pictures.

1005
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:46,360
Speaker 2: I was scrolling on my phone and I got a

1006
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,359
Speaker 2: text message from a friend that said, have you seen

1007
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,719
Speaker 2: this photo? And it was initially a picture of a

1008
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,600
Speaker 2: dancer at Arena di Verona, which by the way, is

1009
00:49:54,640 --> 00:49:58,280
Speaker 2: an amazing opera house, and I just want to say

1010
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,759
Speaker 2: what a privilege it is to be asked to sing there.

1011
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:05,600
Speaker 2: And I've been I've been contracted there twenty twenty, twenty

1012
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:09,239
Speaker 2: twenty one, and twenty twenty two, and you know, you

1013
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:10,879
Speaker 2: know they and they did ask me to come back

1014
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:13,239
Speaker 2: this year, but I wasn't able to because I had

1015
00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 2: previous engagements. But I was looking at this, at this photo,

1016
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:18,960
Speaker 2: and I thought, I said, well, what is this? And

1017
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:21,279
Speaker 2: my friend said this is this is their production of

1018
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:24,960
Speaker 2: aida at at Arena di Varona. And I said, oh really,

1019
00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:27,960
Speaker 2: and then I said okay, I said, well, that's that's strange.

1020
00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:29,920
Speaker 3: I didn't know that that's weird.

1021
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:34,279
Speaker 2: And then probably about a day or two later, then

1022
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:36,360
Speaker 2: I saw because I'm a fan, I'm a fan of

1023
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,680
Speaker 2: Natrupko's and I saw it on her page and I

1024
00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:43,040
Speaker 2: also other people sent it to me. And you know,

1025
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:47,439
Speaker 2: all I can say, and you know, people can say

1026
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:49,879
Speaker 2: whatever they want to say. People will always say what

1027
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:52,680
Speaker 2: they want to say, and rightfully, so fine, you should

1028
00:50:52,719 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 2: be able to you know, hopefully it's not something that

1029
00:50:57,480 --> 00:51:01,560
Speaker 2: that's hurtful. But what I said after I saw the photos, sorry,

1030
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:05,399
Speaker 2: I'm all over the place. Leverne excuse me, what I want,

1031
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:09,120
Speaker 2: thank you. What I said was that what I saw

1032
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:13,239
Speaker 2: was blackface. To me, it was blackface. I understand people

1033
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:16,040
Speaker 2: are like, ah, but you know, there's it's just makeup,

1034
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 2: it's theater. I had a good friend of mine, actually,

1035
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:19,799
Speaker 2: he said, angels, just theater.

1036
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:20,359
Speaker 3: What are you doing?

1037
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 2: You know we wear makeup all the time. And I

1038
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:26,840
Speaker 2: said that I didn't agree with it. I didn't in

1039
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:32,360
Speaker 2: my heart. I didn't feel that. I didn't feel that

1040
00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:34,960
Speaker 2: I could go and sing La Traviata to the best

1041
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:39,880
Speaker 2: of my ability, knowing that understanding where this, where the

1042
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:43,239
Speaker 2: makeup came from, what the tradition stood for. I don't

1043
00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:45,360
Speaker 2: remember exactly what I said. I could probably find it

1044
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 2: on my phone somewhere, but but to me, you know, Laverne,

1045
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:52,680
Speaker 2: we're talking about La Traviata, We're talking about Il Trovatore.

1046
00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:55,400
Speaker 2: We've talked about Labohim. None of those characters are black.

1047
00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:58,440
Speaker 2: And I know the audience can't see me, but I'm

1048
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:01,359
Speaker 2: a five foot eleven and a half basically six foot tall,

1049
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,400
Speaker 2: plus sized black woman, dark skinned black woman. I have

1050
00:52:04,560 --> 00:52:07,680
Speaker 2: never been asked to change how I look to sing

1051
00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:11,600
Speaker 2: a role. I've played characters who are Parisian and dying

1052
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,040
Speaker 2: of consumption. I know I don't look like I'm dying

1053
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:18,080
Speaker 2: of consumption, you know. And and if the audience has

1054
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:20,400
Speaker 2: enough imagination to believe that I can be me me,

1055
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:24,400
Speaker 2: or that I can be Violetta, then surely a great singer,

1056
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:27,760
Speaker 2: those great singers who come through Arena di Varona don't

1057
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,600
Speaker 2: necessarily need that makeup. That's how I feel. That was

1058
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:33,640
Speaker 2: just my heart, and I can understand. I totally understand

1059
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:36,200
Speaker 2: the opposite side of it, though. I understand, you know,

1060
00:52:36,280 --> 00:52:39,520
Speaker 2: someone saying, no, well Angel, you know they're taking it

1061
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:42,360
Speaker 2: too seriously. That's not The blackface is totally different. You know,

1062
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:44,960
Speaker 2: the makeup doesn't look like that. But to me, in

1063
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:48,959
Speaker 2: my heart, it didn't need to be done. And that's

1064
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:53,520
Speaker 2: not a fault on anyone, really, It's just what I felt.

1065
00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:56,480
Speaker 2: You know, you and I both we grew up in church.

1066
00:52:56,520 --> 00:52:59,359
Speaker 2: We've talked about our moms in church and how they are.

1067
00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,200
Speaker 2: And you told me that your mom will go in

1068
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:04,040
Speaker 2: to church and read people for film, and you know,

1069
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:09,000
Speaker 2: you know, and and we that's that's that's part of

1070
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:11,040
Speaker 2: our culture, that's part of who we are. There are

1071
00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:12,920
Speaker 2: people who don't like church there are people who will

1072
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:14,000
Speaker 2: get mad because you grew up.

1073
00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 3: In church, But what am I supposed to do change that?

1074
00:53:15,719 --> 00:53:18,120
Speaker 2: Because that's my heart, that's where I am, that's where

1075
00:53:18,120 --> 00:53:21,600
Speaker 2: that's that's me. And you know, I got off of

1076
00:53:21,640 --> 00:53:24,319
Speaker 2: social media because there was no reason to argue, There

1077
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:30,120
Speaker 2: was no whatever sparked that kind of conversation. I didn't

1078
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:32,440
Speaker 2: want to be a part of that because it was

1079
00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:35,040
Speaker 2: there was some of it that was really ugly and

1080
00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:38,879
Speaker 2: to miss Bumbry, that was very disrespectful and I wasn't

1081
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:39,960
Speaker 2: going to have any part of that.

1082
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:44,600
Speaker 1: So what I will say to you is that what

1083
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:48,000
Speaker 1: was lovely on social media. I follow a number of

1084
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:50,440
Speaker 1: you know, opera singers and and people who are just

1085
00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:53,680
Speaker 1: used to in the classical world. A lot of singers

1086
00:53:53,719 --> 00:53:59,160
Speaker 1: appreciated you making the decision that you made not to

1087
00:53:59,239 --> 00:54:01,319
Speaker 1: sing at a diva Vona. That there was a lot

1088
00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:03,920
Speaker 1: of love and there was a lot of understanding, and

1089
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:07,120
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people didn't fully understand until

1090
00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:10,239
Speaker 1: you've had that moment right that that I think you

1091
00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:14,000
Speaker 1: in withdrawing, even though it was just a very personal

1092
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,960
Speaker 1: decision for you, that you brought more attention to that

1093
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,319
Speaker 1: the fact that this is still happening in opera, and

1094
00:54:19,360 --> 00:54:22,239
Speaker 1: it's something that a lot of people do believe should

1095
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:24,160
Speaker 1: be reconsidered. I'm one of those people who thinks this

1096
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:27,600
Speaker 1: should be reconsidered. That we don't need the dog makeup

1097
00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:29,840
Speaker 1: for Aida. I don't think we need to do that anymore.

1098
00:54:30,120 --> 00:54:34,279
Speaker 1: So what was beautiful you know a year later, I

1099
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:38,000
Speaker 1: think you should hear is that. I think it part

1100
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:40,719
Speaker 1: of the conversation that happened. I think was necessary and

1101
00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 1: a very positive one because you made that decision. And

1102
00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:46,120
Speaker 1: I know that's not necessarily what you intended. You were

1103
00:54:46,200 --> 00:54:50,680
Speaker 1: just like you couldn't You couldn't thing there. You wouldn't

1104
00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:53,319
Speaker 1: have been able to give your best. But there have

1105
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:54,799
Speaker 1: been positive things that have come out.

1106
00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 2: Of it, and you shs and I do want to

1107
00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:59,160
Speaker 2: say the production they're doing this year doesn't have black face.

1108
00:54:59,360 --> 00:54:59,600
Speaker 3: You know.

1109
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,080
Speaker 2: It was the decision, I believe, of the director who

1110
00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:04,080
Speaker 2: decided not to go that route with it and to

1111
00:55:04,560 --> 00:55:07,520
Speaker 2: change it, you know. And you know Opas Opera is

1112
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:12,800
Speaker 2: such a fun, make believe place, and I understand that

1113
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:15,880
Speaker 2: that makeup is part of the make believe. I have makeup,

1114
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,480
Speaker 2: ron right, I have fake eyelashes and all of this.

1115
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:21,160
Speaker 2: You know, I forgot the nails, but I got makeup on.

1116
00:55:21,239 --> 00:55:23,239
Speaker 2: You know, my hair is straightened right now, and it's

1117
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:25,040
Speaker 2: not like you know, this is not how my husband

1118
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,040
Speaker 2: Adam sees me. He will not see me like this tonight.

1119
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:28,120
Speaker 2: I will look very different.

1120
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:31,200
Speaker 3: Okay.

1121
00:55:31,560 --> 00:55:35,000
Speaker 1: And opera is I mean, there's people are singing, everything's

1122
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:38,480
Speaker 1: there's something kind of ridiculous and wonderful about opera that

1123
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:39,040
Speaker 1: I love.

1124
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 4: You know.

1125
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:43,400
Speaker 2: I'm just thank you for asking me about specifically about that,

1126
00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 2: because I haven't. I've shied away from talking about it,

1127
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:49,880
Speaker 2: just because I don't want to have any arguments or

1128
00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:54,880
Speaker 2: heavy discussions about things. I mean, I don't know. I

1129
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:57,960
Speaker 2: love you, Laverne, and I enjoy spending time with you. You're

1130
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:00,960
Speaker 2: a wonderful person. You've been ever since I met you

1131
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:03,960
Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen. You've just been such a blessing to me.

1132
00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:06,879
Speaker 3: You know. That's all I have to say. I don't.

1133
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:08,600
Speaker 2: I mean, we can wrap on that if you wanted to,

1134
00:56:08,760 --> 00:56:10,680
Speaker 2: but I just I love you so much.

1135
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:18,120
Speaker 1: I love you too, Darling. I end the podcast with

1136
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:20,359
Speaker 1: the question what else is true? And it comes from

1137
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:23,239
Speaker 1: my therapy, my Tromber's therapy, and the idea of both

1138
00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:26,560
Speaker 1: and when life is challenging us, when things are really

1139
00:56:26,600 --> 00:56:28,759
Speaker 1: really hard, we can focus on that thing that's hard

1140
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 1: and difficult, or we can choose to focus on the

1141
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:35,120
Speaker 1: things that give us strength, the things that give us hope,

1142
00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:38,239
Speaker 1: the things that help us get through. And so for

1143
00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:41,800
Speaker 1: you today, Angel Joy Blue, what else is true?

1144
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:42,680
Speaker 4: That rhyme?

1145
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:48,440
Speaker 2: What else is true? It is just that, Oh Laverne,

1146
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:50,960
Speaker 2: don't get mad at me. I'm not trying to be preachy.

1147
00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:54,360
Speaker 2: God loves you. God loves you, God loves your audience,

1148
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:58,680
Speaker 2: God loves you. And I don't know what is true.

1149
00:56:58,680 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 2: It's just that I'm bless, I'm thankful, and there's a

1150
00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:05,680
Speaker 2: lot of hard things happening in the world. There's a

1151
00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:08,520
Speaker 2: lot of difficulty, a lot of things that are hard

1152
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:12,040
Speaker 2: to just get through. But you know, knowing that, knowing

1153
00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:15,680
Speaker 2: that there's a God in heaven who loves us for me.

1154
00:57:16,200 --> 00:57:17,320
Speaker 3: That's everything there.

1155
00:57:19,920 --> 00:57:22,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, what I would say to those people out there

1156
00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:25,240
Speaker 1: who are not necessarily religious, because I don't consider myself

1157
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:28,200
Speaker 1: a religious person, but I can consider myself a spiritual person.

1158
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:33,200
Speaker 1: I think it's believing in something bigger than you and

1159
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:36,720
Speaker 1: a power that is greater than you. I think it's

1160
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:40,000
Speaker 1: been very essential for my life. It's been very necessary.

1161
00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:42,360
Speaker 1: And I know I left the church, but I never

1162
00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:45,760
Speaker 1: left God. I never ever had a moment. I've never

1163
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:47,760
Speaker 1: ever had a moment in my life where I doubt

1164
00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:50,560
Speaker 1: it the presence of God in my life. I have

1165
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:53,040
Speaker 1: issues with religion, but I've never had issues with God

1166
00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:56,000
Speaker 1: and what God is doing and how God is operating.

1167
00:57:56,040 --> 00:57:58,920
Speaker 1: And I haven't always understood the path that my higher

1168
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:01,800
Speaker 1: power wants for me. But but I understand it better

1169
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:09,200
Speaker 1: by and bye, yes bye, and bye yes, yes, honey,

1170
00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:11,360
Speaker 1: we'll understand it better by and bye. That is a

1171
00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:14,640
Speaker 1: great note to end on. You're such a beautiful light

1172
00:58:14,800 --> 00:58:18,080
Speaker 1: and so talented, and I just I love I love talent,

1173
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:20,840
Speaker 1: and your in your heart is just as big as

1174
00:58:20,880 --> 00:58:24,320
Speaker 1: your talent. I love you, Angel, love you too, Thank you,

1175
00:58:24,400 --> 00:58:31,720
Speaker 1: Thank you, Angel Blue. Just to think about a voice,

1176
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:37,320
Speaker 1: particularly this Prano voice, that sound, that frequency is just

1177
00:58:37,440 --> 00:58:41,280
Speaker 1: the most beautiful thing in the world to me. Do

1178
00:58:41,320 --> 00:58:45,040
Speaker 1: you feel that that's a Prano frequency? That note, that phrase,

1179
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:51,440
Speaker 1: that vulnerability, that the fragility of the human voice the

1180
00:58:51,600 --> 00:58:55,920
Speaker 1: power at the same time, the fragile with the powerful.

1181
00:58:56,880 --> 00:58:59,200
Speaker 1: I just love it. I love it, and I love

1182
00:58:59,240 --> 00:59:02,160
Speaker 1: Angel and her commitment to the gift and to the

1183
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:07,480
Speaker 1: craft and to study. I love the idea of being

1184
00:59:07,480 --> 00:59:10,120
Speaker 1: a perpetual student. I feel like a perpetual student of

1185
00:59:10,200 --> 00:59:13,800
Speaker 1: life of art, and perhaps that's a life lesson. As

1186
00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:20,680
Speaker 1: accomplished as we all can be, we are still students. Historically,

1187
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:24,800
Speaker 1: Offers sing Hers to have been very mysterious and very aloof,

1188
00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:28,680
Speaker 1: and Angel is the opposite of that. Her transparency and

1189
00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:32,400
Speaker 1: her sort of sharing her struggles is something that is

1190
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:37,520
Speaker 1: so necessary because it's important for us to know that

1191
00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:43,000
Speaker 1: everybody struggles, that everybody goes through something. And I think

1192
00:59:43,480 --> 00:59:47,120
Speaker 1: the lesson for me is endless possibility through hard work.

1193
00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:50,280
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't want to like lean into

1194
00:59:50,280 --> 00:59:53,280
Speaker 1: bootstrapped narratives or anything like that, but I think there's

1195
00:59:53,320 --> 00:59:57,560
Speaker 1: just something wonderful about working hard and enjoying the process

1196
00:59:57,600 --> 00:59:59,920
Speaker 1: of working hard doing something that you love. You know,

1197
01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:02,720
Speaker 1: hard work doing something you hate is terrible. It's a

1198
01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:05,920
Speaker 1: terrible thing. But when you love something and you really

1199
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:08,520
Speaker 1: want to be good at it, you know, the work

1200
01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:11,920
Speaker 1: just comes because you're just so passionate. Angel and I

1201
01:00:11,920 --> 01:00:14,720
Speaker 1: think share that in common, the passion for the work

1202
01:00:14,840 --> 01:00:16,360
Speaker 1: and the passion for getting better.

1203
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:21,400
Speaker 4: Music.

1204
01:00:21,400 --> 01:00:25,160
Speaker 1: From San Francisco Opera is Elchobatore is courtesy of Angel

1205
01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:28,080
Speaker 1: Joy Blue, and a big thank you to the Philadelphia

1206
01:00:28,160 --> 01:00:32,000
Speaker 1: Orchestra for providing the audio of Angel singing Da Mozuale

1207
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:36,760
Speaker 1: Rose from Ilobatore by Verdi, which she performed with them

1208
01:00:36,840 --> 01:00:40,320
Speaker 1: in September of twenty twenty. She'll be back with the

1209
01:00:40,320 --> 01:00:49,840
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Orchestra next June twenty twenty four. Thank you for

1210
01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:53,000
Speaker 1: listening to The Laverne Cox Show. Please rate, review, subscribe

1211
01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:55,120
Speaker 1: and share with everyone you know. You can find me

1212
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:59,320
Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter aka x and TikTok at Laverne

1213
01:00:59,360 --> 01:01:03,760
Speaker 1: Coxon on Facebook at Laverne Cox four real. Until next time,

1214
01:01:04,400 --> 01:01:13,040
Speaker 1: stay in the love. The Laverne Cox Show is a

1215
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:17,400
Speaker 1: production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more

1216
01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:22,120
Speaker 1: podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,

1217
01:01:22,480 --> 01:02:53,840
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

1218
01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:20,080
Speaker 3: Can you be here