BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Last year, we took you backstage with opera stars in our interview series Behind the Curtain.
This year, we’re going to take you inside the minds of these performers.
Our new series Blood, Sweat, Opera exposes the inner workings of the opera singer, from performance anxiety to memories; sources of passion to the thoughts that race as they perform.
The West Australian Opera states that, for us all, “blood is life-force, symbol, power, and passion”. So we’re teaming up to bring you exclusive and personal conversations with world-renowned artists.
And they each have opera in their blood.
Meet Emma Matthews
Emma is a highly acclaimed and awarded soprano, having received seven Helpmann Awards, nine Green Room Awards, the Mo Award and the Remy Martin Australian Opera Award; and Limelight Awards for Music Personality of the Year 2010, Best Performance in an Opera 2012, and Australian Artist of the Year 2016. She has performed with all the state opera companies and the major Australian symphony orchestras.
Emma is the head of classical voice at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and the patron of the Wesfarmers Arts Young Artist program with West Australian Opera.
Take us back to your earliest memories of wanting to sing opera. What were your dreams of the stage?
Actually wanting to sing opera happened when I was in Year 12 at Perth Modern Music High School. We went to see a performance of La Boheme, in the Australian Opera’s production, starring Deborah Riedel. It was huge and real and powerful, my heart exploded.
The same year, I saw The Mikado, with David Hobson. I wanted to sing with a leading man like that, one day!
Also, the mini series Melba on the ABC made a huge impact on me. I fell in love with Yvonne Kenny’s voice, and Voi che sapete. Melba’s life was so rich and yet so full of pain. I was fascinated.
Tell us about the memory of the first performance you gave that you felt was a ‘big break’, or made you realise: I can really do this.
My first big break was as a fourth year student, when I was at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. I won a competition to sing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and I sang Lucia di Lammermoor’s first aria with them. You couldn’t hear me — but I thought I was marvellous. I’d already been singing for a couple of years with West Australian Opera, but this was ‘big’ to me.
As you started to build up your career, what sources of passion did you draw from to push you forward?
Many people tried to bring me down early on, but that just made me really determined. I was hungry for it: I had the fire in my belly that you don’t see in young singers very often.
I also loved it. I loved the freedom, the make-believe, the romance, the huge musical canvas to explore.
I think it came down to always having a very romantic imagination, and desire to be admired.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way, which you thought would set you back or crush your confidence as an artist?
I’ve felt that growing older has really been a challenge. My voice is still young, but I’m a woman in her prime now — not a young girl anymore. Being told I no longer had anything to say as an artist, or as a woman, really knocked me.
I have built myself back up, and through my new role as a teacher and mentor, I have found my voice again.
I feel the voice is freer than it’s been in a long time. I love my voice and how it’s grown. I love that I can express my heart through music. Nobody will ever take that away from me.
Coming back to Perth, after 25 years with Opera Australia and living in Sydney, has been a huge change — but a super wonderful one. My boys and husband are happy, and I am incredibly fulfilled as a woman, artist and as a teacher.
What’s been your experience with performance anxiety?
I’ve rarely stood on stage and been beaten by anxiety, but I have a couple of times, and it was crippling. My anxiety always has a cause. Once I eliminate the cause, I’m okay.
I know now: be prepared; don’t allow myself to be bullied into feeling inferior; and be in control. Ultimately, the audience don’t want to know that you’re struggling. They want to be entertained. I turn it into anger, or determination, and that has worked for me.
What are the things that are going through your mind while you perform?
When I perform, I no longer think technically. I’m focused on my storytelling. If anything, I remind myself to breath deeply. But I’m not me, onstage. I’m the composer’s voice, the character, the music.
If I’m not these things, I shouldn’t be there.
Opera is in your blood. So how important do you feel it is to achieve a balance between this part of your identity and your ‘self’ off the stage?
It’s very important to have a balance. It’s been hard separating me from my characters sometimes. I’ve taken them home with me, on numerous occasions. Lulu was very hard to turn off from! But a hug from my boys, or a kiss from my husband, always brings me back to reality; also, picking up dog poo — nothing diva-ish about that!
It’s important to know who you are, and to love others. Because when the curtain comes down, it can be mighty lonely.
When you’re not singing, how do you physically care for your voice as well as your body?
Through my teaching at WAAPA, I am constantly using my voice, demonstrating, and keeping myself vocally fit. I always start the day with a vocal warm-up, scales, open mouth hums on ‘ng’. It’s quite early, generally about 7.30am, but from then on, I’m ready.
One of the biggest joys I have as a teacher is being able to teach by example. I’m not physically very fit at the moment — I enjoy my wine and cheese too much — but my voice and mind are!
To the young singers who also have opera in their blood, what advice would you give to forging a healthy career in this industry?
Do the technical work when you’re young: the scales, the vowels. Find the voice’s placement. Anchor your breath.
Get your understanding of languages, of musicality. Be hungry, but be patient too. Don’t sing roles too soon.
Have a mentor/teacher you can trust who will guide you. Be a nice colleague. Watch, listen and learn.
Be prepared, and then, be more prepared. Don’t give up!
Stay tuned as we join together with world-class WAO talent to bring you our next interview in Blood, Sweat, Opera!
(Updated 12 July) Emma Matthews performed with the West Australian Opera in Opera in the Quarry this 27 March, and Opera in the Pinnacles this 27 April.
Images supplied. Emma captured by Carolyn Mackay-Clark.
