The Life Story of Frederica von Stade: A Voice That Echoes Beyond the Stage | CLIP

[Music] did you have moments when you were down and then you felt like you can't do it anymore and how did you come out of it oh yes um not many where I I mean I've been down a lot and very worried about was I doing am I on the right path because because the voice is an instrument inside you and it uses your lungs and your breath and your you know the muscles the lower muscles to support it's an everchanging instrument it's like having an obo that's a new obo every day so we dealing with that and things affect it things fatigue affects it dryness affects it weather affects your voice to say nothing of emotion and sorrow or grief or joy all of the that are are part of it um so just like life that's never going to be in perfect sync never going to be a perfect coordination you know and most things aren't perfect and it's that striving that makes us keep doing it and keep trying and keep learning and keep keep on progressing so your voice for an opera singer the voice is the most important thing so it is yeah do you worry about losing your voice and how do you protect it to make sure oh wonderful question yes you're always worried about losing it because it's part of you um there's a wonderful little story about a colleague of mine who has been gone for many years his name is Thomas Stewart and he came out of a major operation i mean life-threatening operation and the first thing he did when he was in the recovery room is not think you know am I okay is it did the operation go well it was like is the voice still there is my voice all right that's the connection we have with our voices so when they're not functioning properly which they happens a lot you get colds or you get a cough or COVID um you are dealing with that and you you to keep your voice happy and healthy there's a lot you have to do you don't smoke drink as little as possible um hydrate all the time water warm water lemon there are all sorts of of of remedies that all of us have um rest rest is major because just like the rest of your body if you're a ballerina you have to be sure your legs can do what you're asking them to do and it's the same with the voice you're asking it to do flips you know go fast go slow go sing high sing low get the words across take a long long phrase that uses up a lot of breath along the way and you have to keep going until the very end of it um plus your the mental ability to remember the words that what this is soft this is loud this is mezoforte this is there's a lot going on all the time in the brain you mentioned luck plays a big role in in someone's career please please tell us more about that um it's that same thing that affects every profession being in the right place at the right time and very often it's a totally accidental i've had so many guardian angels in my career i could fill a book um people who have advised me to do go a certain way who have guided me through it who have taught me who have put up with me all of those things and then I mean for my example with the Met I got a prize in the Met auditions then I which meant I came back in in three months to compete for the absolute finals in that three months there was a walk out at the Met many people many I think it was I don't know if it was the chorus but people left and so the Met was closed it wasn't going to open and many of the artists who had been there for a number of years were worried about their futures so they took jobs elsewhere so there were these openings and there was an opening for I'm a was a compromario singer singer of small parts so there was an opening just when I was coming on scene um that's luck some would argue that you also make your luck because if you look at a pattern of the successful people Yeah they like you said you work hard you try you you know you don't give up you you fall down you get right get right back up well there is that absolutely but my main point is that many great voices and great talents are not discovered because maybe they were born in I don't know Portland Maine instead of outside of New York City so they didn't know what was available to them um many singers don't have huge careers because maybe they sang one wrong wrong wrong role they sang a role that was too big for them there's there's there's so much that goes into it which is happy happen stance um but the the main the thrust of it is the care that one has received i had one of the great managers of all time Matthew Epstein at the beginning of my career who managed Marilyn Horn and a lot of great names in singing and he knew just what I should do i didn't know he led me to roles that led to other roles um and that was lucky that I got together with him instead of another agent at the time so it is luck and I mainly think of it in terms of the many many talents that haven't had the good fortune that I've had and that's why you're working now for this wonderful organization that gives people this chance they give just the chance to and even if even if you know a lot of our graduates from Young Musicians Coral Orchestra don't become musicians a lot do but a lot become scientists or engineers it's just music is such a step for them to It gives you um positive feedback it gives you determination it teaches determination it teaches you patience it teaches you cooperation what is an orchestra but the absolute key to cooperation nothing can be done in an orchestra without everyone committing to the same end i have to tell you Steve that one of my dearest most beloved friends in the opera world was a gal named Jeng Sha and pro in my heart had probably the most beautiful mezzoprano voice I have ever heard and I've heard some great mezzoprano voices not only did she have this incredible voice an incredible musicianship she was a spirit that exploded around you her goodwill her kindness her humor i've I've never known anyone like this anyone that knew her absolutely adored her and her attitude towards she did make her own luck she was going to school in Washington DC and not really progressing the way she wanted to so she talked her sister into whose husband was um able to affect her moving to Philadelphia to go to the Curtis school because she wanted to study with a certain teacher um to say that she was very ill and needed the care of her sister so she went through this process to study with the right teacher and from there her career took off she knew what she needed she made that move but I agree that being good to other people brings goodness to you and I had a grandfather whose name was Skitty Vonada who was one of the kindest most generous men I've ever met in my life and I was like I was kind of like his dog i followed him everywhere when I could just right by his side on his day and everything he did was a gesture towards helping someone or making someone's life happier by his visit um it is so the way to go this sort of selfserving era that we're in now of what I want what I can get what I need to do to get this is not making us happy by any stretch of the imagination it's making us sadder and more troubled and less confident as human beings kindness is at the root of everything everything in my book and that's why it's so much a center of what we do with YMCO it is citizen citizenship is kindness religion is kindness um even and it's not to be noticed and it's not to be rewarded because a lot of people don't get any rewards yes but the process just makes you so much happier yes i I know people like that and indeed there not many but the fact that there are still people like that now when like you said everything it's self serving it's so amazing and and observing them it's inspirational because you feel that wow you know how does he do it you know the the the person who is the director of young musicians coral orchestra is such a man his name is Gichi Taylor he gave and gave he He was a graduate of the program then he had a career and came back to it to serve as an assistant to Daisy Newman who then ran the program his management of this program includes dealing with 65 kids listening to their practice on iPhones every night and telling them that they need to clean up their room because he can see their room he taking care by himself because he lost his wife of two babies three and a half and two um will help one of his families move into a new apartment will secure an instrument for another young person this man I mean if I had any sway in the Catholic Church and I am Catholic he should be sainted