“For a while, I couldn't decide whether or not I should pursue singing in the opera or acting. And I'm glad that I chose the latter because I wasn't a very good singer.” ShouldActingSingingVery GoodSingersGladPursueLatterOpera Author:Christoph Waltz
“That was my way, and I also use the music after five years, I started hearing opera, opera, it was very good instrument to keep the spirit very strong because you feel like you are yourself singing opera, and I used to hear a lot of opera, they send me tapes.” WayFeelsYearsUseUsedSpiritStrongFiveLike YouSingingInstrumentsVery GoodHearingMy WayFive YearsOperaVery StrongTape Author:Mordechai Vanunu
“I told Hugh Hefner, "I have this crazy boyfriend." And Hef was like, "You're not going anywhere with a crazy boyfriend," and so he put me in a mansion in Bel-Air with an opera singing Chinese maid, and I was driving a Bentley, and a friend of mine came by and was like, "What is going on? Why are you living in this mansion?" And I was like, "Isn't this what happens when people move to LA?” PeopleHappensMovingAirCrazyMinesLike YouSingingDrivingChineseOperaMaidsMansionsBentleyOpera Singing Author:Pamela Anderson
“The shower is my time to open up my operatic chops, because of the enormous echo. You sound five times as big in the shower, so I break into some "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini 's Turandot or Pearl Jam. You've got to go big when you're in the shower. There's no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva.” BigsStarsSoundHalfBreakFiveRocksSingingEnormousMy TimeOperaEchoesShowersPearlsRock StarJamPearl JamSinging In The Shower Author:Josh Groban
“I always wanted to be a comedian. I loved comedy since I was a little kid, and while I was at university I started doing stand up shows. Once I realized that I was good at it I quit college and left although I had six months left. I went to England. I could have done the last six months but I realized that I was better at standup comedy than I was at singing opera.” LittlesDoneShowsKidsWantedLastsLeftComedyCollegeMonthsSixSingingEnglandUniversityI RealizedQuittingComedianOperaSix MonthsLittle KidI Quit Author:Jim Jefferies
“There's no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva.” FunnyStarsHalfRocksSingingHinduismOperaShowersRock StarFunny GraduationOpera SingersOpera SingingSinging In The Shower Author:Josh Groban
“People who have not done their research on me do not know that I am European, born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father from Napoli and a mother from Alabama who was singing opera and went to Europe, met my dad, fell in love, and then moved back to Rome, where I was raised, between Rome and Hamburg.” PeopleKnowsDoneMotherFatherBornDadMetsSingingResearchEuropeMovedRaisedMy DadItalianRomeOperaAlabamaDenmarkCopenhagen Author:Giancarlo Esposito
“Directing an opera is similar to directing a play. The singing must not get in the way of the drama.” WayPlayDramaSingingOpera Author:Bruce Beresford
“I've been singing my whole life, since I was a kid; but never formally as a career. I did it in plays when I was younger, and I sang all styles of music: everything from Italian opera to blues.” PlayWholeKidsCareersStyleSingingWhole LifeItalianOpera Author:Brittany Murphy
“When you sing opera you are very far from the people, you are onstage, and between you and the people there is the orchestra. So you have to launch your emotions very, very far. When you sing pop, you are singing very close - the microphone is very close to your mouth. You can whisper your emotions into the microphone.” PeopleEmotionSingingMouthsPopsOperaOrchestraMicrophones Author:Andrea Bocelli
“I am singing in an operatic voice for the public, to bring something more to Rock and Roll. Because in a Rock and Roll performance, the singer talks to the public whereas in Opera the singer only talks to a character, inside a story. The public sees this as a picture, I want to transport this picture into the room where the public is.” WantCharacterStoriesVoiceRoomsRocksSingingPerformancesSingersOperaRock And RollTransport Author:Klaus Nomi
“The trouble with the opera is there's always to much singing.” TroubleSingingOpera Author:Claude Debussy
“The only thing that really inspired me for singing was the movie and musical 'Phantom of the Opera.' I went to see it in the theaters, and I loved it so much. And when I got home, I started singing the songs around the house, and my mom thought I was really good, so she asked me if I wanted to do a talent competition. And I said, 'Yes, definitely.'” IfsSaidHomeWantedSongHouseTalentMomSingingTheaterCompetitionInspiredMusicalMy MomOperaPhantoms Author:Jackie Evancho
“One of my sisters wanted to be an opera singer. So, we spent a few dollars to try to train her, because Italian people would like to have an opera singer in the family. But she's got trouble coughing, let alone singing. One day, she was in the shower singing 'Madame Butterfly,' three days later the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor.” PeopleTryingWantedThreeTroubleOne DaySingingDollarsTrainSingersItalianMy SisterOperaButterflyShowersPearlsHarborsOpera SingersCoughing Author:Pat Cooper
“I do not understand where the idea came from that opera is only for privileged people, I am as happy singing before 70,000 people at the Millennium Stadium, as I am in front of a few hundred in a small concert hall.” PeopleIdeasFrontsSingingHundredHallsConcertsOperaPrivilegedStadiumsMillennium Author:Katherine Jenkins
“I guess I've done a lot of different kinds of performing at various times - opera singing, poetry reading, not least high school teaching - and I do enjoy it, at least sometimes. But I find it incredibly anxiety-producing and exhausting. Privacy is more congenial, and I go a little crazy if I can't spend a big chunk of every day, or almost every day, alone. Certainly I have to be alone to write.” IfsWritingKindLittlesI CanDifferentSometimesDoneBigsSchoolReadingEnjoyCrazyTeachingAnxietySingingHigh SchoolVariousPerformingPrivacyOperaDifferent KindsExhaustingChunksPoetry ReadingOpera Singing Author:Garth Greenwell
“My interest in women's voices started when I was in the boys' choir and we were singing in opera choruses. That was my first close-up experience with the female soprano voice. I was amazed at how it could be within the same scale but so different in quality.” FirstsDifferentVoiceInterestQualityBoysSingingFemaleScalesOperaAmazedChorusChoirSopranos Author:Alexander Chee
“I was singing when I was five years old. My sister and I both had the talent from mom and dad, and she was in opera and I was into pop and uh, rhythm and blues, anything, I was about a four octave singer.” YearsFiveFourTalentMomDadSingingPopsSingersRhythmFive YearsMy SisterOperaMom And DadFive Year OldsRhythm And Blues Author:Carl Gardner
“When I do operas, I'm not really singing very classically. I have a classical background as far as being a pianist and an oboist, but my voice isn't really classical in the operatic sense. But I certainly have a classical sensibility, so I'm comfortable being in that world.” WorldVoiceComfortableSingingBackgroundsOperaSensibilityPianist Author:Jason Graae
“When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas or a jazz singer like June Christy or Chris Connor, or approaching songs with the kind of mystical lethargy of Billie Holiday, or championing the downtrodden like Lotte Lenya. But I never dreamed of singing in a rock-and-roll band.” KindSongRocksBandSingingJazzSingersTeenagerHolidayOperaRock And RollMysticalJuneLethargyDowntroddenOpera SingersCallas Author:Patti Smith
“I trained with a guy named Tito Gobbi, who was the Marlon Brando of the opera world. Tito Gobbi was the greatest singing baritone in the opera world and I studied in Florence, Firenze, with him. That was my first love, as it was Frank Sinatra's, oddly enough.” WorldFirstsEnoughGuySingingOperaFrankFirst LoveFlorenceBrandoBaritonesTito Author:Robert Davi
“There was something in the bel canto, not just opera, but a certain style of Italian singing that I responded to deeply.” CertainStyleSingingItalianOpera Author:Robert Davi
“Concurrently, while I was in school, while I was winning awards for acting, I was winning awards for singing, in high school. One of the reasons why I decided to continue on with the acting was the opera world is fraught with a very long process, and I did love the acting, as well. The acting took off sooner, and then you get involved with that.” WorldWellsLongReasonSchoolWinningProcessActingInvolvedSingingHigh SchoolDecidedReason WhyAwardsOperaGet InvolvedWinning Awards Author:Robert Davi
“And my singing, I don't think I could sing Wagner or opera, but I could probably carry a tune. I was in a musical once, but it was never performed.” ThinkingSingingMusicalTunesOperaWagner Author:Wallace Shawn
“For me, the most enjoyable type of singing is opera. It allows you to move, to wear a costume ... to do something with your body. When singing in concert you have to stand up in front of the audience, next to the conductor, which is less natural.” BodyMovingNextNaturalAudienceFrontsTypeSingingYour BodyConcertsOperaCostumesEnjoyableConductor Author:Andrea Bocelli
“I have always loved music and singing, and I am open to listen to any type of music. Regardless of my mood, my heart is always set racing when I listen to opera. When I decide which music I want to hear, my choice is almost invariably an opera recording.” WantHeartChoicesTypeMy HeartSingingMoodRacingOpera Author:Andrea Bocelli
“In preparing my thesis, I have had the pleasure of collecting testimonies from colleagues such as Placido Domingo but also from singing teachers and musicologists. The entire course of study has confirmed what I already thought, that the value and meaning of opera singing, at the beginning of the third millennium, remain intact.” ValuesCoursesPleasureStudyTeacherSingingThirdsOperaColleaguesPreparingTestimonyCollectingMillenniumThesisOpera Singing Author:Andrea Bocelli
“Opera singing is in every way of inestimable value; a real heritage for all mankind that has been reached over centuries of studies, attempts, flights of the spirit.” WayHas BeensRealSpiritValuesStudyMankindCenturySingingFlightHeritageOperaOpera Singing Author:Andrea Bocelli