Opera: Boston Symphony Orchestra • Meredith Hansen
Divine Competition: Thriving as a World-Class Soprano
Opera may sound like divine expression, but behind the curtain lies a fiercely competitive world where only the most adaptive survive. In this episode, Meredith Hansen — celebrated soprano and international performer — takes us inside the high-stakes universe of symphonic performance.
We explore what it takes to thrive at the top in a field flooded with elite global talent: the discipline of vocal survival, the politics of casting, the tension between tradition and innovation, and how true differentiation happens when the same arias have been sung for centuries.
This is a masterclass in performance, resilience, and the strategic evolution required to stay relevant in one of the most tradition-bound art forms on Earth.
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Soprano Meredith Hansen, with degrees from the University of Connecticut and Boston University, has joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in productions of Carmen, Daz, Reinhold, and Goterdamerum, as well as Prince Igor, Lady Macbeth of Mitsinsk and Serrano.
She's made numerous appearances with Boston Lyric Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston, and Tang Wood and at Carnegie Hall, and has enjoyed engagements with other performing arts associations in the Boston area and across the country.
This most recent season, in addition to being the soprano soloist for GM Corral's performance of Most Arts Requiem, she was the soprano solos for both the Waterbury Symphony and the Hartford Corral's highly acclaimed performances of Handel's Messiah and Box Magnificats, and was the soprano soloist for the MIT Symphony Orchestra and MIT Concert Choirs performance of Rafe Vaughn Williams AC Symphony, for which the Boston Music Intelligencer and Hansen's personal debut of this important work said
2:11
soprano merit.
Offense and seesaw.
Between gleaming tone and endearing sympathy flaunt out OC conveyed as much respondents as distance as their line sword over the ensemble.
Meredith, it is so great to see you again.
2:27
Thank you for being at a Natural selection.
2:30
Speaker 1
Thank you.
My pleasure.
2:31
Speaker 2
I've got to admit that that bio read like a tongue twister for me.
2:36
Speaker 1
I know I sent you, I sent you a really good one and that's the short 1, so you're welcome.
You did great.
2:42
Speaker 2
I I've been practicing all night.
I always start with the same question, just to level set and give the listeners a little bit of context.
So from your own words, can you please tell us what need or impact drives your work and how do you view your role in addressing it?
2:57
Speaker 1
Well, music is the universal language, isn't it?
One of my favorite quotes from Leonard Bernstein is music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable.
And we as as a species, humanity needs the arts, needs music.
3:16
Music has such a dramatic impact on our bodies, our souls, our neurological system, our health, our spirituality, and without art there is no life in my opinion.
So I am honored and privileged to have a part in pushing that forward in the world, whether it's to a small community orchestra, an audience, or the stage of a more well known concert hall.
3:45
And it I take it as a very serious responsibility to share what I have with the world.
3:54
Speaker 2
And I've known you for, I mean, we were talking about this before about two decades.
And and I, since I've known you, you were in this, but I never really asked you what first drew you into opera.
You know, when, when did you realize it was more than a passion?
4:10
It's something that could be part of your life's work.
4:13
Speaker 1
Well, I I initially wanted to be on Broadway.
I had gone to my first opera when I was 7.
My mom took me to Lava One, which is kind of the the quintessential perfect first opera for any of it.
She just was curious if I respond to it or not.
4:29
She had a friend and a cast and I was just completely enraptured.
I was so taken and by it, by the the power of the music and the sets and and the costumes was just extraordinary to me.
And I continued to love opera throughout my childhood and my teenage years.
4:45
And after my freshman year of high school, I had had the the distinct pleasure of singing the lead in the School Musical, which was by vibrating.
And my parents said, OK, you know, if you, if you want to, you know, do something with this, we'll, we'll get you some lessons.
5:02
And I was introduced to my first voice teacher with whom I'm still in contact in, in Massachusetts.
And she, you know, she heard me sing and I forget.
I probably brought something musical theatre.
And she said, OK, all right, well, you know what?
We can work on the musical theatre stuff.
5:18
I'd be happy to teach you and let's, you know, let's see what we can figure out together.
But she also gave me some classical pieces as well from the 26 Italian Aria anthology, which is like, it's whatever, it's whatever student voice student starts with.
5:34
And so we went through a couple of weeks and one day after we've been, you know, taking lessons for, I don't know, about a month, she said to me, look, it, I understand that you want to be a Vita or you want to sing in Les Misers or Phantom of the Opera or Rodgers and Hammerstein.
She's like, and that's great.
5:49
You could totally do it.
But I really think that you should consider moving in a more classical direction.
And I was kind of astonished by that.
Like, I knew I loved opera, but it never occurred to me that I could actually sing it.
6:04
So we went in that direction.
And there's a lot of story between that conversation and our conversation, of course.
But I went through undergraduate and graduate and I went through some really discouraging times throughout all of that, especially after I got out of grad school and was, you know, doing auditions and being like first runner up in a lot of things.
6:27
And just got really discouraging.
And I was ready to walk away from it completely when my career did kind of a 180 and LED me down the path that I've been on for the last 15 or 16 years.
6:38
Navigating the Fierce and Brutal Opera Competition
Before we move on to the competition and the innovation in the field, since you were talking about the the, the voice lessons and I should send you my daughter because she loves to sing and she was just nominated for being the lead singer in a play she's in.
She's going to kindergarten.
She's very young.
6:54
Speaker 1
Oh my goodness.
6:55
Speaker 2
But it also this question hits home.
Do you believe that vocal talent is innate, or is it more about conditioning, discipline and adaptation over time?
7:05
Speaker 1
I mean, you're not the first person to ask me that question.
I, I do believe that anybody can study and become knowledgeable and learned, but there's got to be something in there to start with.
7:24
You've, you've got to, I know musicians who have read every book, taken every class, gotten every degree, and they may not have the career that they would like to just because it's just not the right fit.
And when you add the competition that we're going to get to in a minute, that's within the, the business within the art form.
7:45
It's it's more than just what you study.
7:49
Speaker 2
Yeah, I, I suspect it's like any other field.
When you get to those elite levels, the difference between top ten and top one or two is magnified by these tiny imperceptible differences.
Sometimes it's like a 1 little genetic difference, an extra bit of training, an extra bit of practice, you know, but it's, it's only perceptible of those levels.
8:14
It's kind of like when I see like Tour de France, I see a bunch of grown men riding bicycles.
But I'm sure somebody who's trained can see all kinds of strategy that's completely invisible to people at my level.
And I feel like a lot of these art forms as well.
It's, you know, at a certain level, the the composition is fierce and the innovation is tremendous, but it falls kind of shy of people like myself being able to spot it.
8:37
And so with that, you know, for those of us that are unfamiliar with the world of opera, how would you describe the competitive landscape at the top levels?
8:46
Speaker 1
Oh boy, how much time do we have before I before I answer that, I do want to just kind of speak to something that you said in terms of like the top 10 versus the, the top one or two.
You know, and the people that are are #9 or #22 are often extraordinarily talented, you know, for we talked a little bit about, you know, ballet and Symphony work being competitive.
9:10
And like for every Tyler Pack, who's the prima ballerina for the New York City Ballet, there are 100 really talented ballerinas who in different circumstances may have been there.
She is very special.
I don't mean to say otherwise.
You know, for every Rachel Willis Sorensen, who is just a glorious singer singing all over the world right now, there are 100, I would even say hundreds of really wonderful Sopranos out there.
9:36
And so it's not, it's not only about the study and the genetics, it's all, it's also about connections.
So the competition, gosh, it's pretty.
It's pretty intense.
I'm not going to even try to sugarcoat that.
9:53
It's discouraging, it's brutal, it's often unkind and unpretty.
And for some, and I would include myself in this, it's also motivating.
You know, I see an artist that I really admire and it, it makes me want to be a better artist myself.
10:15
And am I where I'd like to be in my career?
Not exactly.
But I know that I'm, I've done, I've done a lot of the things that I wanted to do.
And I know that for every role that I've had, there was somebody else who wanted it but didn't get it.
10:32
And for some of the people I see singing on stage and like, why wasn't it me?
I mean, that's not a very pretty thing to say, but it's, it's real.
And so it can be a lot of people, a lot of artists don't advance because it just, it really is brutal what it does to the mind, the body, your family, your finances, it's there's so many aspects to it and it's just not always the way people want to live their lives.
11:00
Speaker 2
Yeah, the, the closest that I can get to is I grew up playing tennis and so I have a window into what competitive tennis looks like and, and in some cases professional tennis as well.
And you know it, interestingly enough, the people that do the best in tennis are the ones that love the competition.
11:16
Back to what you said, right?
It's like when you look at somebody who's really good and motivates you versus discouraging you.
If you get discouraged by that, then it's hard to overcome that.
But if you're motivated by the competition, then that's at at the tennis level, that usually is a sign of somebody who's going to have a longer career because they just enjoy the challenge.
11:38
But it's, you know, it doesn't make it any easier.
And so within that span of competition, opera's filled with extraordinary global talent like you mentioned, and they're all competing for very limited positions.
You know, it's not like there's endless amounts of Sopranos and positions out there and or even operas.
11:57
What does it take to not just thrive, and not just survive, but thrive in such a saturated field?
12:04
Speaker 1
The field is very, very overcrowded, that is for sure.
It takes a lot of guts, very thick skin and the right mentality.
You know, as you were just saying, there are a lot of parallels between what you were talking about in terms of being motivated by wanting to be better.
12:24
It's the same for us.
And it's, it's not just always about wanting it really bad.
There are a lot of other like environmental and logistical factors, financial, familial, you know, and often it is who you know or where you've gone to school and you know, occasionally you'll see, you'll see, you know, occasionally you'll, you'll hear a singer and you'll, you'll kind of joke like what, how did they get that role or whatever.
12:50
But that aside, there's a funny expression that has always stuck with me.
She who laughs, laughs.
And you've got to keep a certain you've got to keep your eyes on the prize, but also have a certain amount of the ability to, you know, laugh and laugh at yourself.
13:08
Sometimes it's it's brutal, like I said, in it, when you factor in, you know, companies and critics and just the the other factors, whether or not you want to be away from your family or whether or not you can afford to go to another state or another city to sing this audition or or whatever it.
13:31
There are too many factors to even tie in, But that's some of them I guess.
13:37
Speaker 2
Yeah.
And, you know, unlike sports or technology, where you can kind of see pretty clearly what success look like, success in opera isn't always visible to the public.
How is success measured in your world?
13:54
And are there invisible competitions that are playing out that we don't see from the outside?
14:01
Measuring Opera Success and Unseen Casting Factors
Well, so first, what does it take?
What does success look like to me?
And you're right, it's absolutely different for everybody.
Some people, some artists, some outstanding artists have absolutely zero desire to travel all over the world and leave their families, but have zero desire.
14:17
Success to them is not singing at the Met or singing with the Boston Symphony.
Success to them is feeling artistically fulfilled.
And that certainly is part of what drives me.
I feel, and I mean I'm, I'm no different than my colleagues.
14:33
I'm my own worst critic.
And I think it's Beverly Sills, the Great American soprano who's quoted as saying something along the lines of in my career, there were three performances that I was happy with all over The rest of the time, I was just doing my best.
14:52
And she was one of the most, you know, brilliant, celebrated Sopranos of the 20th century.
And so, I mean, she's saying that success to me is being artistically fulfilled, whether it's working.
And that can look like anything.
You know, the GM Chorale that you mentioned in my bio is a beautiful, small, wonderfully run organization here in Connecticut.
15:12
And I just got to sing the Mozart Requiem with them.
And it was so unbelievably it, it, it filled my soul.
And that's a piece that I've sung a bunch of times and it's just so glorious.
And I find something new every time I sing it.
And that's success to me.
And being able to see my family in the audience, that's success to me.
15:33
You know, overcoming a difficult passage or peace or or note that I being able to feel successful in that, that's success to me.
15:42
Speaker 2
I can't I, I'm not much of a singer, but I can only imagine the stress of being in front of thousands of people and and your voice is your instrument, right?
And you've been refining and perfecting it over all the years that you've been practicing and taking lessons since you were a child.
15:58
I guess you know, they're one of them is your voice, I guess from the, from the start.
How do people judge a voice as to being worthy of the soprano position when you have so many really good singers?
16:14
Speaker 1
It's No2 ears are the same, you know, So when people ask, even my own, my own spouse, when they'll ask me, they will say, well, I I don't know anything about opera.
I said, you have two ears.
You know, that's, that's all you need.
You know, everybody will hear things that a different way.
16:31
And a lot of times in casting, like in ensembles, when it's it's an opera with a cast, a lot of it is about how voices are going to sound together.
And because in over the years, I've learned that it can be as as important as how are these voices going to sound together, or it can be as seemingly trivial of as this.
16:55
We can't cast that soprano because she's going to be taller than the tenor.
I mean, it really can get that, you know, and even though we're usually wigged, somebody will say, oh, I wanted a redhead rather than a burnout.
I mean, it really can get that granular.
And the people who get the positions, they're, they're just, as I said, they're just too many factors to name.
17:16
But sometimes it can be as simple as appearance and what the casting director is looking for.
17:25
Speaker 2
That's interesting.
Yeah.
So very much like movies, you're, you're cast into a role.
It's not just your voice that's a plays a major role, but you're also playing a character.
17:35
Speaker 1
For sure.
And so that's part of the package and that part of the one of the ways that we have to kind of keep reinventing ourselves.
And to tag on to that, you know, this is kind of always been the case, but even more so in the last 2025 years.
Appearance, particularly for women, is often a huge factor.
17:55
And for some impresarios, casting directors, music directors out there, it is all about the, the voice.
They don't care if you weigh 150 lbs or £350 if you have the voice and the sound that they're looking for.
And that's, I mean I, I, and many people think that's the way it should be.
18:11
It should be all about the voice.
But the physical appearance is also a big factor in casting.
18:18
Speaker 2
Interesting.
And again, I'm a lot of my questions are coming from a very naive place when it comes to singing a a very famous piece.
18:36
Balancing Tradition, Innovation, and Role Preparation
Is it about singing it to its purest form of which it was defined hundreds of years ago, or is there an element of interpretation that each singer brings to it?
How much of that innovation do you bring to the table versus your judge then how well you perform the piece that's been performed for hundreds of years?
18:56
Speaker 1
That's a great question.
And and you know, you could ask 10 people and not get the same answer.
There are, I think, aspects of what you could call tradition in certain pieces.
And a lot of the stuff that I sing, not all, but a lot of the stuff I sing currently is, is kind of pretty well known in the world.
19:15
And so always somebody's going to say, oh, well, Maria Callas sang it better or Beverly Sils held that high E flat longer.
But I genuinely try to honor what the composer has asked of the singer and bring a piece of me into that as well.
19:34
You know, that can that can get dangerous when you sing as a soprano or well, for as anybody as a singer.
When you sing characters who are a little bit off balance, like you don't want to get too lost in that.
But you just, you weren't You learn how to walk that line between bringing yourself into it in your own interpretation and also staying true to what the composer has asked.
19:58
Speaker 2
By composer, you're talking about like the person that wrote it, not the conductor.
So you're talking about the composer, not the conductor.
20:05
Speaker 1
Yeah, but with the composer, what you know, Mozart, Beethoven, Verity, although that's a really, that's a really good, that's a really good comment and kind of follow up question.
Because there are times when either the stage director or the orchestral orchestral director, conductor will either, well, it can go one of two ways.
20:28
Well, it can go one of a million ways, but one way it can go is this is exactly what the composer wrote.
This is exactly what we're going to sing.
And then sometimes you can be asked also to interpret the, the words in a way that might not feel comfortable or relevant to you as an artist.
20:50
And that's kind of, I just said, it's kind of convoluted what I just said.
But there are a lot of productions of traditional operas that the director is determined to make their mark on it.
So they take it in a very different direction.
21:06
And it's interesting because, you know, there are roles that I've repeated that I've sung more than one time and they're never almost never the, the the same thing twice.
So you can, it's just a little different every time in terms of what you want to present as an artist and what you're being asked to present by the people who are putting the production together.
21:30
Speaker 2
I, I guess this, this art form is known for revereing tradition.
And yet you and I spoke a little bit about there is innovation now there's clearly competition.
So with with a again, an art form that revere's tradition, what's that balance between reverence and reinvention?
21:48
And where does innovation fit into?
21:49
Speaker 1
This field.
Oh, that's such a great question.
I think the scales tip differently every time.
And that's not not to be vague, but you know, it depend will depend a lot on who you're working with, you know, who is directing, who is conducting.
22:07
Certain conductors are very, as I said, vary by the book.
They don't want anything, you know, they don't want you throwing an extra high C here and there.
They don't, you know, they don't want you doing something that the stage director might not want you doing something physical that that you know, so and so didn't do 20 years ago.
22:25
And actually what's interesting is this kind of comes in so when you're doing a production at the Metropolitan Opera, unless it's a brand new, like built from the ground up production.
And I, I have had an opportunity to be involved with one of those, which was really kind of special.
22:40
That was Prince Igor.
But when you're doing Carmen or even the Lady Macbeth of the sense, the Shostakovich, those are what are called revivals.
So that's in production that's been done in a previous previous season, often more often than not with a previous with a different cast.
22:59
And those are brought back onto the stage.
And there is the expectation that you're going to, you know, you're not going to change the choreography in Carmen or you're not going to you're not going to put, you know, you're not going to have a different costume than the person who sang Lady Macbeth before.
23:17
And you're not there are certain, I guess there are certain rules that do need to be followed.
And that case and I, I hope that I didn't just contradict myself in terms of it being different every time.
That's that's an example of there being some continuity because that's the production that was put together.
23:33
Did I just completely contradict myself?
Do we need to edit that out it?
23:37
Speaker 2
Made sense to me for sure.
So, so I guess, you know, if we get concrete, I, I'm not an actor either, but I hear about the process that actors go through to get into character.
And it sounds like when you're cast into something, you're cast into a character, right?
23:54
Carmen or something like that, where you're playing now, you're not only singing the song in its truest form, but you're acting the role of a character on stage.
So what does the process look like for preparing for a role?
How much of that is technical?
How much is emotional or psychological conditioning?
24:10
I know that actors go through a lot of this, so I can't imagine it's that much different for your world.
24:15
Speaker 1
I would say not, you know, and as opera singers, people don't think of it this way, but we are, we are Olympian athletes to be able to stand on a stage for two, 3-4 in the case of Greta Dameron, ours, and use our bodies not just physically, but vocally and artistically and emotionally.
24:38
I mean, so much goes into that.
And so to talk first about, you know, the physicality of it, we have to be in good shape.
We can't, you know, it doesn't mean we need to, you know, run 10 miles three times a week, but we have to have an inner strength.
We have to have an inner strength emotionally and physically.
24:55
You know, a lot of singers, you know, do work out regularly and, and a lot of singers have a really wonderful yoga practice.
I'm, I'm actually a 500 hour registered yoga teacher and a lot of singers swear by Pilates because we have to have that strength.
25:12
And often we're wearing costumes that are, you know, wearing a corset or wearing heels or, or both or that are heavy.
So there is a great deal of, of physical preparation that goes into it.
There's a great deal for me personally, I always, always want to research the opera itself, the composer, what was going on globally at the time.
25:35
You know, I love, I, I love the study.
Like I, that's, that's kind of my favorite part of, of the, of the whole process is the, is the studying and the research because I'm kind of a history nerd.
But there's that.
And of course, of course, it should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway.
We have to know what we're saying when we're not singing in, in our own native tongue.
25:55
And I personally tend to sit there with a dictionary and translate everything.
I mean, my Italian and my French is pretty good and I can usually, you know, get the gist of what I'm what I'm looking at, but I always check, I always translate everything.
26:10
But then there is there is the mental preparation and there is the emotional preparation.
And if you're singing a character like for example, the role of Mimi in La Boheme, which is something that I think it's very emotional, I'm going to get emotional talking about it.
26:26
It's very emotional role.
But you have to get the tears out in the practice room because in order to physically sing with a lump in your throat, that's, I mean that, that expression, but it's, it's literal.
You've got to, you've got to find the line between bringing the extreme emotions that are required for a role like that and being able to physically do it.
26:52
I had a great coach in Boston, Jeffrey Stevens, who I'd worked with at BU, and we were first working on Contessa from the North City Figaro, which is a role that I've sung a couple of times.
And I was, I was working on her second Aria, which is an Aria of a woman who's just been completely heartbroken and abused and deserted by her husband.
27:17
And she's recalling their previous days.
And I mean, I just, I couldn't get through it.
Like I was, I felt so bad for this, this, this beautiful woman.
And Jeffrey said to me, he says, you know, he says, hold on a second here, Meredith.
He says, nobody in here but us chickens.
27:33
Just let whatever come out.
And if it's not your most beautiful sound, we're just going to go with it.
I'm not recording you, you know, you're not going to sing this tomorrow.
Let's just.
And that always stuck with me.
And so having a coach that I love and trust to be able to kind of add that to my toolbox of of ways that I learn a role was it was invaluable.
27:57
And that was probably close to 20 years ago.
So yeah, there's just, there's a lot, a lot of a lot of the, the prep that is, is so important to me anyways.
It's largely mental.
28:13
And I get as much from sitting down with my score and just looking at it or reading through it as I do sitting in a practice room singing through it.
28:23
Speaker 2
It's amazing.
It sounds like some of these roles are very emotional, but you have to balance that the the feelings so that they come through in your rendition, but not so much so that it becomes sentimental.
28:40
Speaker 1
Sure.
I mean, yeah, yeah, you kind of nailed it.
You kind of nailed it.
You that's that's a big part of the that line and it's a it's a delicious line to walk, but it's not always an easy one.
I.
28:54
Speaker 2
Can imagine.
I mean, I I get choked up to singing a good song.
I can imagine.
29:00
Field Evolution and Personal Resilience in Opera
Yeah, sure.
Fun of an audience and, and how much does the environment affect your performance?
You know, because you travel all over the world.
So it's not just that the Boston Symphony Orchestra, you go you, you travel and so does the the audience, the venue, the country.
29:16
Do these things kind of affect your performance or your mindset?
29:20
Speaker 1
Oh for sure.
I need to be clear, I haven't sung in Europe in quite some time, but I'm my career has been almost entirely domestic.
Oh, God, yeah.
I It's funny, I had a feeling you were going to ask something about that.
29:35
I've sung a couple of times with the Helena Symphony in Montana.
Beautiful part of the country, not the same altitude as our lovely New England.
And often when a Symphony or an opera company is, is engaging singers who are not from that area, they actually will encourage and allow us to come out a day or two before rehearsal start to get used to the altitude because it really does have an impact on and people are are often surprised how much of an impact it does have.
30:06
I mean, that's an example certainly.
As you said, our voice is our body is our instrument.
Our voice is our instrument.
If we get a cold, we Can't Sing.
If we Can't Sing, we have to cancel.
We cancel, we don't get paid.
So keeping keeping ourselves healthy.
But in terms of environment, I guess is really what you're asking.
30:23
I mean, yeah, you could be in a hotel, even a really nice hotel that has dust and mold.
You it could be allergy season.
So even the smallest thing can have a pretty profound impact on our ability to do our job well.
30:39
Speaker 2
Sounds like you have to travel around in a bubble.
30:42
Speaker 1
It sometimes feels like that.
It really does it.
It really kind of does.
And like I, I have continued often to wear a mask and actually, frankly, singers were wearing masks on airplanes long before we were dealing with with COVID.
30:59
But I, I tend to be really careful, you know, if, if my child has to go to a birthday party the day before I have a rehearsal, my spouse gets to deal with that because I don't want to be surrounded by small humans that are, as we call them, Petri dishes.
And I don't want to have to raise my voice.
31:15
And so, I mean, there's a lot of factors.
I I'm sure some folks would look at me and think that I'm being over dramatic, but it really is.
It's a real thing for us to have to keep on top of.
31:26
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.
I mean, one case of the sniffles or any number of different things could all to your career significantly.
If you have a major performance and they have to cancel it because you went to that birthday party, I can imagine these things are impactful.
So, you know, if we think about the the field itself, it's historically been seen as a very refined maybe Eurocentric world.
31:50
Are there are you seeing any shifts in who gets opportunities or how it's evolving?
I mean, from my perspective, I know for example, Andrea Bocelli, he's more like a popularist, right, When it comes to opera.
Is there more of that or or does the field very much stick to the traditional forms?
32:13
Speaker 1
So it used to be the case that an American singer couldn't get hired in America until they'd sung in Europe.
That's that's less the case now.
You do still see a lot of European singing in America and and vice versa.
In terms of it being considered a high art form.
32:30
I do really think that the the landscape of the industry, there are a lot of people in a lot of companies that are trying to change that by by offering more specials for people under 30, people under 40 to be able to get tickets.
32:46
Or there have been, there has been a huge surge forward, at least I think in opera companies doing works by living composers like you're not just opening with Traviata or Boem or Carmen.
33:02
In fact, the Met itself in the last, I want to say 3 out of The Four Seasons have opened their season with a brand new opera that's that's either never been seen before.
It's been Co commissioned like, but it's been written within the last 10 to 20 years.
33:18
And it's kind of amazing really, because you know, when you think, I mean, Leonardo de Figaro was considered new and modern when it came out.
And, you know, you hope that these things that are being put on stage by these living composers, you know, will continue to become more and more iconic, just like the operas that Mozart wrote.
33:39
A lot of a lot of the larger, a lot of opera companies are, are changing their landscape a little bit in that they're including something that would be considered musical theatre in their season.
It's not just for stage operas.
33:55
Boston America Opera itself last season did what I understand was a really beautiful production of Carousel.
You know, and that's, that's new, that's fairly new for them.
And it's, it's kind of a, it's a risk to take when you're trying to both maintain and retain your, forgive me, but donors and your your regular public, but also appeal to a different audience.
34:17
Speaker 2
And we talked, you know, I mentioned Andrea Bocelli.
What does the field think of people like that popularize the music in Hollywood, like Hans Zimmer, John Williams, from the outside in, again, not knowing anything about opera or symphonies and so on.
34:33
Their music is gorgeous and it's popularized across millions or billions of people.
When it makes it into a a movie, is that an extension of the field?
Do you see it that way?
Or does does the field see it as totally separate?
34:49
Speaker 1
Well, I think you ask anybody that, they will all say John Williams can do no wrong.
And if you say otherwise, that's probably a you problem, not a not a John Williams problem.
It's, it's interesting because when I went to school, I, I did have classmates who were composed or composition majors and some specifically wanted to go into film screen writing or, or scoring, I should say.
35:13
And I suppose there are probably people that will say, oh, well, I mean, Hans and there is no Mozart.
I think that people's talents come in different shapes and sizes and forms.
And so I don't know if I'm, I'm really answering the question, but do I think that do I personally think that the the scores that are coming out in Hollywood, if they're well written, are as valuable as, you know, a Brahm Symphony?
35:42
Yeah, I do.
And it's funny because actually a lot of what we listen to with my My Small Human is they really like, they love film scores And they they are really, that's what we find ourselves listening to the, the instrumental.
35:57
And he's known he he's known the, the word score, you know, in reference to a movie for a really long time.
We were riding in the car not that long ago, well, maybe a year or two ago.
And he said, Mama, could you please put on the score to Star Wars?
36:13
And I'm doing something right.
I'm sure.
I'm sure there are purists out there when it comes to orchestral music.
I don't think I'm one of them.
36:24
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.
I remember when my wife was pregnant with both our kids, I actually put together recordings, compilation of scores from, you know, some of the some of the ones that were most meaningful or emotionally evocative.
36:42
So each child has kind of like a whole composition that I put together for them from these movies that affected us so much.
36:50
Speaker 1
That's really beautiful.
36:52
Speaker 2
So looking across your career, Meredith, what traits have helped you endure and evolve where others may have stalled?
There's.
37:04
Speaker 1
Nothing else in my family will certainly attest to this.
My stubbornness.
There has been much that I have been willing to sacrifice on a personal level.
And I think my quest for learning and evolving and even reinventing myself on a couple of occasions through my, my 20s and my 30s and I, I've, my voice has changed over the years.
37:32
And so I've accepted that change and, you know, repackaged myself and gone on with that until it's time to OK, my voice has changed again.
In fact, right now as we speak, I'm in the middle of rebranding myself, repackaging myself with new repertoire because my voice has changed.
37:49
So I mean, I think willingness to be flexible in that regard and it, but not just that regard, willing to be flexible with directors, with colleagues, with, you know, with different situations has always helped.
And I, I've, I've got some traits of the people.
38:05
Please for that can go, that can go either way when you work in the, the arts.
But I would say that definitely my, my stubbornness, my commitment, my love for what I do.
I mean, my dad really wanted me to be a double major in College of performance and education.
38:23
And I said, listen, teachers do God's work, but I know that's not what I want.
If I don't wind up doing this, performing for career, I will probably go in a completely different direction.
But even through that, I just kind of stuck with it.
I knew it was what I wanted, and I kept my eyes on the prize.
38:40
And that's not that is easier said than done, for sure.
And just because somebody stops at a certain point of their career, it doesn't make them failure.
It's just that was the time that they were at the end of the road.
38:53
Motivation, Performance, and Lasting Career Lessons
Yeah.
38:54
Speaker 2
It makes total sense.
What motivates you, you know, in, in throughout your career, obviously you've like you said, you've reinvented yourself.
Clearly you have a passion and a love for the field since you were a child.
What is that?
39:09
What's that motivation?
What is that energy that you draw from to keep reinventing yourself and have being such a long, wonderful career?
39:17
Speaker 1
Well, I mean, if nothing else, I love the fact that the scenery changes, like literally and figuratively the scenery changes.
And that has always kept things very interesting for me.
The opportunity to work on something new, the, the pleasure and the thrill and the rush of being asked to step into a large role or or any role really, with a, with a company, something that you've wanted to work on all your life and you finally get to do it.
39:45
The other thing too is when we were speaking earlier about kind of the, the physicality of singing, I personally, I, my body, my head, my brain, my head to toe and like physical enjoys the physical sensation of singing.
40:00
And so that's it's just something that I, I, I love, it does my brain good, it does my body good, it does my heart good.
As far as also what motivates me, I mean, I like, I like a challenge.
And this certainly is a challenge, to say the least.
40:17
My family motivates me, my colleagues motivate and inspire me, and what I see in my own head when I'm intentionalizing things for my future is what kind of keeps me going.
40:29
Speaker 2
You mentioned earlier, and I'm going to mutilate this because I don't remember the name, but you mentioned the famous maybe soprano.
That said, she's only had three amazing performances and all the other ones she was just trying to stay abreast.
40:39
Speaker 1
Or yeah, Beverly Sales.
I was paraphrasing a little bit, but the other ones, the it's just as all the others.
I was just doing my best.
40:45
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, I was paraphrasing.
You're paraphrasing.
So I'm sure between the two of us, you got a totally.
40:49
Speaker 1
Something is going to call it and be like, oh, that?
That's a problem.
Meredith Hanson, you know what you're talking about.
40:55
Speaker 2
But to that point, though, have you had any of those performances where you just felt you were in a zone that was hard to describe?
You know, I think about as you were talking about the things they motivate you, I was thinking about golf.
It's it's a common joke that you know that one drive that you have, they just felt so good is what keeps you coming back.
41:17
Even though you hit fifty other ones shanked into the woods.
So are where did you have you had moments like that, that you just hit it so well and deliberately so perfectly that that's there's the motivation to get that feeling once again?
41:34
Speaker 1
I'm, I'm laughing for two reasons.
I'm learning golf.
My husband is teaching me golf.
He's an excellent golfer.
He would tell you otherwise, but he's a very, very good golfer.
I'm also laughing because yes, I have had the an experience like that and I would never go so far as to say it was flawless.
41:50
But it was a performance that I walked out of.
And it was, I was singing the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Boston.
And it was a Sunday matinee and I after we had opened on Friday.
And I just felt so connected to her, to my colleagues, to the production.
42:09
Like I, I just felt like there was something coming out of me that was, it was just really connected.
The thing that's funny about that is that that show, that particular performance was reviewed it well, I mean, usually there's there's a couple of reviews for shows like that with companies like that.
42:29
But.
And I was eviscerated by an art.
But, you know, yeah, don't sound so surprised.
I've been fortunate.
I haven't gotten too many really shocking reviews in my career.
But an art critic in the Berkshires just ripped me to shreds.
42:49
And I was like, I was, I guess nothing really surprises me because everybody hears things different.
But it was just such a, such a contrast to how I had walked out of that show feeling.
And then what he had to say to me.
And I, I, I, it bothered me for a while.
I generally try not to read reviews during the run of a show, But it was, it's just so funny because yes, I, I have felt that and I know what that feeling of flying is like.
43:15
And then somebody, like I say, completely eviscerated me.
It was, it was more funny than anything else.
I wouldn't say that I've, I've had three perfect performances in my life.
I don't even know if I've ever had had a perfect performance.
But we are up there.
They're doing our best, putting ourselves out there, making ourselves vulnerable on so many levels.
43:31
And you know, what she said is always, what Beverly said has always really stuck with me in that.
And if she's saying that, I mean, come on, give myself, grant myself a little grace.
43:42
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean it, it sounds like an incredibly stressful environment.
It's, you know, from, from just the, you know, power that we've been talking.
It's a field that is so driven by your inner passions and there's so much emotion and feeling and not only why you do it, but how you do it and how you interpret a piece and how you perform it.
44:03
And yet you have to be the consummate professional because you're also operating in a very, I don't want to say cutthroat, but it sounds like it's a very stressful and maybe somewhat mechanical environment, which is like, you have to perform, You have to be there a certain time.
44:21
You are allowed to innovate versus not innovate, innovate.
A lot of things are kind of defined for you and you're put into a place and says, you know, you have to perform within this box, but yet you're driven by the emotion.
And so that those two worlds collide in such a splendid and and and terrifying way and, and you have to keep it all together.
44:41
Speaker 1
Well, you have to keep it all together.
And one thing you know, and all of what you just said is true, you show up, you, you do what you're told and you have to do all those things, even if you've just had a fight with your partner or your child is sick or, you know, you just got some.
44:56
I was involved with the production once when I was dealing with some very significant health challenges.
And it didn't matter.
I still had to.
My voice was fine.
My body was more or less fine eventually and I had to show up anyway and do my job.
45:15
And so you have to leave a part of your as much of the you want to bring yourself into the art form, you've also got to leave a part of yourself at the door.
45:24
Speaker 2
Interesting.
So Meredith, I mean, you've been so generous and this has been fascinating for me.
It's it's a world that I have known nothing about in this hour has impact so much for me.
But if I could ask you one more question when it comes to career longevity, what's something about sustaining a career in opera that you only came to understand after years in the field that no amount of Conservatory training could have prepared you for?
45:55
Speaker 1
If anything, I came to understand and appreciate more the way that I was trained.
It's not uncommon for young singers, and I'm talking like Conservatory age, 20s, even 30s, to get into repertoire that they may sing one day or they may not kind of before they're physically and vocally ready.
46:18
And I remember my teacher from undergraduate at University of Connecticut, who I miss so very much, kind of figuratively sitting on me when I'm like, oh, I want to sing this, I want to sing this.
And she's like, you will not sing this.
Here's what we're going to work on.
46:34
And she was that I was mad at the time because I, you know, 20 year olds think they know everything.
And but she was right.
And so I guess that's something that I can't, I came to really appreciate in terms of things that I could.
46:49
I guess that's one of those things that I could never have known.
And, and conversely, she said to me, oh, well, you know, someday you're going to sing Provatori.
And I was like, there's no way I'm going to sing that role.
Like that's never going to be in my voice.
And she was right because she's laughing it up and and in the other world.
47:06
But you definitely gain sight and insight the further along you go.
At least that's the hope You hope that you, that an artist learns along the way.
47:20
Speaker 2
And I guess maybe just as a follow up extension to that, it's not a different question because I said it was the last question.
It's an add on what, what advice would you give to future artists in this field given what you just said?
Right.
I mean, all the experience, all the learning of the, you know, these lessons learned from a career in this.
47:42
Obviously there are hundreds and thousands of people right now fantasizing about being either an opera or Broadway or any number of different ways of expressing themselves in art forms.
What advice would you give to you know that college student or to my daughter that loves to sing?
48:02
Speaker 1
Barbie it for me to give advice, but I think if I could say one thing, and this is again, this is something that came from my teacher, an undergraduate, Virginia Pyle.
Every artist has to have somebody in their life, whether it is a sibling or a friend or a parent or a partner that they know that they can count on without any hesitation.
48:26
Because that grounding is something that this career is not going to give you, no matter how much you may accomplish, no matter how much you love what you're doing.
There's not a lot of things in this career that will ground you.
And on top of that, don't surround yourself with too much noise.
48:47
Have a couple of people on your team, a coach, a teacher, a manager, an agent whose ears and voice you trust.
There can be a lot of noise in this community in this career, whether it's from coming from critics or it's coming from people telling you what they think that you should be singing or not be singing.
49:10
It's very easy for a young singer to be seduced by, you know, a general director telling them that they want to, they want them to sing Tosca when they're absolutely not ready physically or vocally to sing Tosca.
That's why you need a small team who you can really trust.
49:27
And that's always been the case with me.
I can't have too many voices in my head.
I can't have too many cooks in the kitchen.
But if I was going to say one thing, it would be find somebody in your life that grounds you.
Find interest outside of music, for sure.
49:43
I'll add that in there.
And find, make yourself A-Team, a small team that you know that you can count on.
The same team that'll tell you you sound great, and the team, same team that'll tell you there's something about this that needs to be fixed.
49:57
Speaker 2
Well, I, I think that's probably very useful in opera.
It's probably very useful in life.
I mean, we should all have that kind of a team, right?
So with that, Meredith, thank you so much for your time.
It was such a pleasure catching up with you after so many years that we haven't talked.
We really should remedy that.
50:13
Congratulations, Congratulations in such a a decorated career.
I'm super proud of you and, and proud of knowing you for all this time.
And, and thank you for taking the time to be with us at our Natural selection.
50:26
Speaker 1
It's been my pleasure.
I'm so proud of you as well and all of your accomplishments.
And please, let's not wait.
Let another 20 years pass before we connect.
