We sat down with Soprano Vanessa Becerra to ask some questions about her work in Opera.
Q: From your professional debut in Fort Worth Opera’s With Blood, With Ink, to graduating from LA Opera’s prestigious Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program and joining the Metropolitan Opera roster, you have quickly emerged as one of the opera world’s most in-demand young stars. How does it feel to return to your hometown opera company and reprise a role you sang when you were a student at Texas Christian University?
A: This is the EPITOME of full circle! Everything I know and do started here at home in Fort Worth, Texas so returning with an opportunity to show continued gratitude from the stage is truly an honor. Since leaving TCU my path has been beautiful for a plethora of reasons and I cannot wait to perform for my Fort Worth family again! – Vanessa Becerra, Adele in Revenge of the Bat (Die Fledermaus).
Q: You've embodied a variety of different roles throughout the years. What do you think is most interesting about this particular character and her dynamic with the other women in the operetta?
A: This will be my second time performing Adele, the first time being my senior year at TCU! She’s certainly the most comedic role I’ve ever played, which is super challenging! People underestimate comic acting, but it’s not the easiest task. I love imagining improv queens like Gilda Radner or Kate McKinnon in this role. Someone who makes her characters great at “problem-solving” but ends up making things worse in a hilarious way. Adele finds herself in a couple of sticky situations, but she has the wit and the smarts to get out quickly because, at her core, she’s a performer! The juices are always flowing.
While she and Rosalinde are vastly different socioeconomically, they’re not entirely incompatible. They’re both playing roles at a party just for very different reasons. At her core, I see a lot of myself in Adele. She’s here to entertain; she knows that she can delight an audience (even her aria is famously known as the “Laughing Song”), she needs that opportunity to be heard and seen. I get that! I think it’s safe to say a lot of artists identify with that.
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