Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

May 6, 2024

Abigail Arnold | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Geeking Out With…is a new feature in which we talk to GSAS students about their passions. You can check out past installments here.

Anna Valcour is a rising fourth-year PhD candidate in Musicology. Her research examines the impact of young artist programs, which are intended to provide professional development to help young singers pursue professional opera careers, in the US opera industry; she looks at the lived experiences of singers and the programs’ success in meeting their stated goals. She joined Geeking Out With…to talk about her passion for opera, a world she’s been a part of as a singer and now as a researcher.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

How did you initially become interested in opera?

My interest in opera goes pretty far back. I came to it through musical theater, which I loved in high school and did quite a bit of. I found a voice teacher who worked at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (where I’m from), and he started funneling arias and art songs at me. At first, I was really fascinated with the challenges of the languages – learning French, German, and Italian and singing in them. I also have always liked poetry and write poetry of my own, so I liked connecting with the lyrics.

I pursued opera only as a hobby for a long time. When I applied to undergrad, I was determined to be a history professor! However, Lawrence University, where I ended up going, also had a conservatory program, so I auditioned for it to see what would happen. I ended up getting into both programs and doing a double degree program (BA and BM). At the end of my time in undergrad, as I was applying for PhD programs in history, I switched two weeks before the application deadlines and decided to see if I could pursue opera as a career. I had a growing passion for opera that my time in undergrad had brought out more. There’s also a time limit on an opera career. I thought I could always become a history professor later but not an opera singer.

Where did you perform during your opera career? What were your favorite parts?

I’ve performed with the Dallas Opera, the Toledo Opera, the Cedar Rapids Opera, and Opera MODO, as well as in France and Austria and with other smaller companies. I actually participated in what I now study, the young artist programs.

There was so much that I did enjoy. I love the emotionality of opera – it was one of the things that allowed me to get out of my box as an introverted person. In high school and undergrad, I was so quiet, and opera gave me the tools to express my inner feelings. I loved it as a form of communication with others. We talk about music being a language of its own, and you really do feel that way when you’re onstage singing. Some of the roles I played were a little strange, which always makes it fun – I’ve been a mechanical doll, an evil queen (a few times), an alien, and a fairy, besides the traditional ingenue. It’s fun to explore different facets of yourself in that way.

What are your favorite roles you have played?

My favorite role was the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She’s a fascinating woman that you can play in a myriad of ways. Besides her very famous aria, she doesn’t have that much stage time, but she’s a complicated character: she’s suffering from the loss of her daughter, who was stolen; has an agenda; and has power. The role has supernatural elements and always has interesting costumes–sometimes those headdresses are super heavy!

I also loved playing comedic roles, although I always found them challenging because you have to get the timing so right. That didn’t come naturally to me, so I worked really hard at it. I was Eurydice in Jacques Offenbach’s Orfée aux enfers and had a comic sex duet with Jupiter, who’s disguised himself as a beetle. I got to play it opposite one of my best friends, who was also the best man at my wedding, and my husband was one of my other lovers in the production. We had a blast, and co-stars make such a difference – the more you’re having fun, the more the audience is having fun too.

Aside from those roles, what are your favorite operas?

One of my favorite operas is Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, which is an Italian verismo (realism era) opera and is very powerful and visceral. I also love Richard Strauss, especially Der Rosenkavalier, which has some gorgeous duets and trios. One opera that I was hired for but never got to perform in was Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. I would still love to do that in a dream world; the part of Zerbinetta is a firecracker, and I sometimes learn it just for fun!

What were the harder parts of being an opera singer? What made you decide to move away from that world?

In its glamorized form, opera is fun, but there are problems in how it has been institutionalized. Living that was the hardest part. There is lot of economic precarity, as well as socioeconomic issues that make it difficult to live; there are also a lot of power issues and sexual harassment, all of which is part of what I now study. These things made it necessary for me to leave, but I don’t regret that at all because I really love being a musicologist and feel I’ve come home to where I wanted to be. I missed research and writing, so I came back full circle in the end – I guess I really did know what I wanted, just not entirely! When I was thinking about quitting, my thought was musicology, so I could marry my interests in music and history; music had become such an integral part of my life, more than I had allowed it to be when I was younger. Experiences I had in the industry have impacted what I research and how I do it. There is a lot of social activism in my work because of what I experienced and the reasons my friends and I have left the industry. The start of the Covid pandemic also made it really impossible; I had so many cancellations of performances that year. I had been thinking about leaving for two to three years at that point, and it made the decision absolute.

How has your perspective on opera changed now that you are studying it as a researcher?

I have done research on opera every year I’ve been at Brandeis, mostly on the lived experience of singers. I have an article under review right now about sexual harassment in the industry, which I worked on last year, and the previous year I worked on exploitation and neoliberalism in young artist programs, not knowing that would be what my dissertation was heading towards. I think the tools I’ve gained from getting a joint master’s in passing with Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies have been really helpful and therapeutic in understanding the traumas I went through as an opera singer. I can use those tools to articulate and acknowledge my experiences in a way I couldn’t before.

I found that the main focus in opera studies has been on discussing works themselves. That’s very important, but the lived experience of singers, especially those still alive, has not had as much focus. I think that’s really important to look at in today’s economy and world so that we can see what young singers have been experiencing. There have been a lot of studies of race, sexual harassment, and similar problems in the opera world, but they’ve been in non-academic settings. As someone who has personal experience and knowledge of the world, that part of my activism came out through seeing the lacunae in the scholarship, and I’m hopeful my work will bring out more awareness and inspire some change.

What people and resources have helped you in your work?

Bradford Garvey, Emily Frey, and Taylor Ackley of the Brandeis music faculty have been wonderful and supportive of what I’m doing and have read drafts for me. They especially helped with the article that I recently submitted. Keridwen Luis from WGS has been really instrumental in helping to shape a lot of my thoughts, how I’m articulating them, and where I should navigate. I’ve also received a lot of assistance from outside of Brandeis. Musicologists Marianna Ritchey (of UMass Amherst), John Pippen (of Colorado State University), and Benjamin Given (of Skidmore–whose research topic is not remotely related to mine!) have been super helpful. You find mentors everywhere you go, in a way, whether it be through a conference, through friends, or through Brandeis connections. You never know where the next source of help is going to come from. I’m very, very thankful for all the support I’ve received.

When you’re not researching or making music, what do you like to do?

I work on the Connected PhD, which is another passion of mine. I also currently work with the Student Support Services Program, have had quite a few internships around campus, and teach at BOLLI and Southern Illinois University. Having so many jobs has been useful for learning and utilizing new skill sets that I’ll be able to use as a professor or in another role, depending on what I end up doing after graduation. Outside of Brandeis, I’m really excited about gardening and being able to garden very soon! I’m moving and will hopefully soon have a whole plot to work with, not just a pot on the balcony. I love gardening and growing produce, and I want to have fruit trees when I move. I also love swimming, tea, board gaming, computer gaming, reading for pleasure (I love fantasy adventure books and am hoping to read Octavia Butler this summer), and spending time with my husband, Braun. And I am a D&D dungeon master!

What advice do you have for other students exploring their passions?

Be courageous and brave. If you’re interested in something, go ahead and try it! Really allow yourself to be fully immersed within that project, because you never know where the path might lead. My life shows that: you might deviate from one path and then return in a really weird fashion, like the roots of a vine. Listen to your intuition. Often when we’re in difficult situations, our intuition is keyed in even if our consciousness is not.