Boston
Singers' Resource News Bulletin, September 15, 2004
Since 1990, this dramatic soprano has developed a career that includes the worlds of both Opera and Musical Theater. This month she appears in the Lyric Stage's production of 'A Little Night Music' as one of the Liebeslieder. In March she will be singing with the Boston Lyric Opera in 'Eugene Onegin'.
Since 1990, the career
of VANESSA SCHUKIS* has evolved to include the worlds of both Opera and
Musical Theater. She is a 2004 finalist of the newly founded Classical
Singer Competition. She was a recipient of the Gold Award and the People's
Choice Award from the Vera Scammon International Competition in 2002.
In 2001, she was a semi-finalist in the Marjorie Lawrence International
Vocal Competition. Ms Schukis has been singing with the Longwood Opera
since 1993 where she has appeared in such roles as Baba the Turk (The
Rake's Progress), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Frau Reich (Merry Wives of
Windsor), Mrs. Ott (Susannah), Flora (La Traviata) and Zita (Gianni Schicchi).
She has also sung musical theater roles at the Charles Playhouse, the
Boston Publick Theater, and the Lyric Stage of Boston. She has been appearing
in lead roles with the Utah Festival Opera since 2001.
This month Vanessa Schukis appears in the Lyric Stage's production of
'A Little Night Music', as one of the Liebeslieder. The show will run
from September 10 through October 16. In October, she also will be singing
with the Raylynmor Opera and, in November, with the New England Light
Opera (Mark Morgan*, artistic director) in their Annual Gala concert.
Ms Schukis will be appearing with the Boston Lyric Opera in their March,
2005, production of Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin'. She spoke with BSR's
Joe Stroup about her early interest in music and about the course of her
career to date.
JS - Where did you grow up? Was there much music in your upbringing?
VS - I was born and raised in New Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. I started
very young playing the violin. I played all through college; not professionally
though, just for enjoyment. My high school didn't have an orchestra, but
they had a band. So in sixth grade I picked up the flute and, eventually,
the rest of the woodwinds. Later, my older
sister and I bought a piano; the whole family took piano lessons. I took
up percussion while I was in college, starting with auxiliary percussion.
Timpani became my percussion instrument. By the time I finished, I had
up become the principal percussionist of my college orchestra which was
also a community orchestra.
JS - So you've been able to pick up whatever you set yourself to do with
instruments since you were very young. When did you start voice lessons?
VS - When I was about 13. I studied all through high school.
JS - And with all this musical background, you decided to attend Moravian
College? What did you study while you were there?
VS - Both music education and performance. I first started out in performance
and loved the school so much I would stay there year round and take courses
just to ease up the course load. I found myself with an extra semester
and I decided to do my student teaching to have something to fall back
on. That's when I found out I could teach.
JS - What attracted you to the Boston area?
VS - I was teaching school in Pennsylvania. I taught everything; instrumental,
choral, general. But I wanted to be closer to a major city. I found a
job teaching school in Marblehead and began to fine-tune my career. After
a couple of years of teaching I got a job as a singing waiter at Romie's
Quarterdeck which was a great stepping stone for a musical theater performer.
It was great fun. Then I left teaching to pursue acting and did 'Nunsense'
for about a year in 1990 (with the National Company, starring Pat Carroll
and Alice Ghostley) at the Charles Playhouse.
JS - But we know you as such a fine singer of opera. How did you transition
yourself from being Sister Amnesia to singing roles such as Sieglinde
in 'Die Walkure'?
VS - Longwood Opera is where I got my start as an opera singer. I auditioned
for Scotty (Brumit*, co-founder of Longwood Opera) and was cast in a few
of their operas between 1993 and 1998. At the same time I was doing operetta
with the Boston Publick Theater and the Royal Victorian Opera which does
works written by W.S. Gilbert in collaboration with composers other than
Sir Arthur Sullivan. While I was in 'Nunsense' my voice had just blossomed;
it became so 'operatic'. So I found a teacher (Anna Gabrieli) who could
help me develop this instrument which had grown so big. She suggested
that I work on some Wagner and I found that it came easily to me. Then
she suggested that I needed to study further, to be singing in Europe.
JS - That's when you went to Graz with AIMS (The American Institute of
Musical Studies in Graz, Austria) in 2000. How did that come about? What
was the experience like for you?
VS - At first I thought "No, I'm not prepared to go". But after
about a year I applied to the AIMS program. And I wrote a development
letter to raise money explaining to people how they could donate to a
scholarship fund that would help me and be tax deductible for them. By
the time I got to Graz I had earned more than enough money for the program.
I was very fortunate that so many people believed in me.
JS - In addition to singing at Graz, you were also taking German lessons?
VS - I have to tell you, the first day I arrived in Graz I wanted to turn
around and come home because it was like, there's no way I'm going to
learn this language (laughs). I would take German class every day. And
I'd have German diction classes as well where a German language teacher
would work on your diction in the German aria. I sang every day in that
class. It was a great training ground for me. Really, anyone who is seriously
considering a career as a singer should attend AIMS. It was an excellent
opportunity to fine tune one's voice, network with the faculty and become
fluent in German. AIMS tests you to see if you have the guts and the stamina.
JS - After Graz things really began to fall into place for you.
VS - Yes. When I came back from Austria I felt that I had a very good
package in place to begin the audition process for bigger companies. First,
I got a call from Boston Lyric Opera which was looking for someone to
fill an open slot in the chorus. Then I auditioned at Utah (the Utah Festival
Opera Company). I sang 'Suicidio' (from Amilcare
Ponchielli's 'La gioconda'). I was offered a contract for their next season.
There I sang musical theater roles: Mrs. MClean in 'Susannah, Dinah in
'South Pacific', Sr. Margaretta in 'Sound of Music', The Wicked Witch
in 'The Wizard of Oz', Fruma Sarah in 'Fiddler', After my first year at
Utah I got a call from Boston Lyric again. This time to sing with their
touring company. I played the Marquise in (Donizetti's) 'Daughter of the
Regiment'.
JS - And then, in 2002, you received the Gold Award and the People's Choice
Award from the Vera Scammon International Competion. How did you hear
about it, it's a midwest competition, right?
VS - I heard about it while I was in Utah. Vera Scammon had come there
and had held a Master Class. It's pretty new. It started in 2001. The
reason she started it is for older emerging artist since, after the Met
finals, what do you have? So this was a good chance for me to sing. When
I did it there were about 40 finalists. On the last day finalists are
asked to sing in a concert, to a paying audience, as part of the competition,
in a beautiful concert hall out at Colorado State. I performed the 'Liebestod'.
The whole competition was a great experience. There were master classes,
a lot of networking. All the singers were very open and would freely share
how they worked on their
music, the technique and the interpretation.
JS - What's next for you? Musical theater or opera? How would you describe
your career so far?
VS - Musical theater still comes naturally to me. I don't have to 'work'
at it because it's just in my blood. And I've done 'Night Music' before
so it's fun to come back to it again (at the Lyric Stage). But opera is
clearly my first choice and I'm looking forward to working in 'Onegin'
with the Lyric in March. I've been developing some of the bigger rep roles,
too: Sieglinde (Die Walkure), Elsa (Lohengrin), Ariadne (Ariadne aus Naxos).
Also, I like to go back and sing concerts at Longwood because that's where
I got my start in this craft and I figure it's one way to give back. I've
been really lucky. For any young singer, I tell them, you know your best
bet is not to give up because you never know when you take the right or
the left what's going to be around the corner for you.
JS - You have an interesting story, thanks for it sharing with us. We'll
look forward to hearing about your next endeavors.
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LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
by Stephen Sondheim
Sept. 10 - October 16
Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon St., Boston
617-437-7172. www.lyricstage.com
With Maryann Zschau as Desiree, Bobbie Steinbach as Madame Armfeldt, Christopher Chew as Frederik Egerman and Drew Poling as Count Carl-Magnus. Featuring Stephen Marc Beaudoin*, Kaja Schuppert* and Vanessa Schukis*. Directed by Spiro Veloudos. Musical direction by Jonathan Goldberg.