The Artist of the Week is Canadian soprano Reilly Bianchi Nelson. She will be the soprano soloist in The Happenstancers presentation of Judith Weir's micro-opera The King's Grief on November 6th and 7th (tickets and info here). The concert will also include works by Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen, Thierry Tidrow, Mary Dering and John Dowland.
Reilly was awarded second place in the Kurt Weill Foundation's Lotte Lenya Competition in 2018 and is a two-time participant in Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium Young Artists program. In recent seasons, she has performed with Jazz at Lincoln Center, Pacific Opera Victoria, Cincinnati Opera, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Tapestry Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival .
This week, Reilly chats with us about the artists who inspire her, a role that made a big impact and her dachshund Opal. Read on to find out more.
What/who inspired you to sing?
My mother studied opera and taught in our house when I was young. I’ve also always loved to tell stories.
Favourite city that you’ve worked in?
Erl in Tyrol, Austria.
If you weren’t a singer, you’d be..?
A psychotherapist.
Top 3 favourite composers?
Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Giuseppe Verdi.
Top 3 favourite operas?
La traviata, Lulu, Manon.
Which opera role do you want to be singing right now?
Jenny in Mahagonny or Lulu.
Which opera role do you want to be singing in 10 years?
Salome.
Who is a singer you admire that is currently working?
Barbara Hannigan.
Who is a singer you admired from the past?
Teresa Stratas!
What’s your favourite orchestral instrument? Why?
The clarinet, for its ability to capture the immediacy of grief.
What’s your ancestry?
Italian and Northern Ontarian.
What’s your favourite non-classical band?
The Hives.
Where did you go to school?
Eastman School of Music for my undergrad and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for my master's and doctorate.
Are you a cat person or dog person?
Dog. I have a very cute and very stubborn dachshund named Opal.
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Are you happiest in the country or in the city?
The country. For better or for worse, I’m a Northern Ontario girl.
Who has been inspiring you lately?My friends making art in Toronto. Danika Lorèn always. They have more art in their pinky finger than most people have in their whole body. Daevyd Pepper, who spreads kindness through their voice, community and activism work. Loredana Cunti, who doesn’t see limitations, only possibilities. Brad Cherwin, who has impeccable taste in programming and people. I hope more people like Brad start to run things in this business.
The music industry is tough, and filled with rejection. How do you cope? Does it get easier?
I’ve adjusted my aspirations to align with what I value as a person and not what we are often told this career should look like. I still hear "No," but it stings less.
What does it mean to be brave with music?
To let go of perfection and trust your ability to communicate.
Which of your roles has had the greatest impact on your perspective?
Nancy Smith in Blind Injustice at Jazz at Lincoln Center. It’s an opera jazz hybrid about real people who were wrongly imprisoned and then later freed by the Ohio Innocence Project. It offers a real and halting commentary on the state of the American justice system.
What does success look like to you?
Making art that isn't afraid to take a point of view.
LEARN MORE ABOUT
REILLY BIANCHI NELSON
VISIT HER WEBSITE
© Ysabel Garcia
© Curtis Perry
© Curtis Perry
The King's Grief
The Happenstancers
VOICE:
Reilly Bianchi Nelson
VIOLIN:
Julia Mirzoev
CELLO: Peter Eom
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CLARINETS:
Brad Cherwin
FLUGELHORN: Declan Scott
KEYBOARDS: Joonghun Cho
LIGHTING:
Billy Wong
PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS MANAGER:
Hoi Tong Keung
the wolves cry, an end foretold
In THE KING’S GRIEF, The Happenstancers present Judith Weir’s micro-opera King Harald’s Saga, punctuating Weir's tragic narrative with the music of Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen, Thierry Tidrow, Mary Dering, John Dowland, and casting the works as incidental music within a larger drama.
The contemporary music in this performance features historical allusion and musical quotation, stealing the listener’s sense of chronological location and pulling them between the sounds of the past, present, and some-time else entirely.
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