The Artist of the Week is Canadian coloratura soprano Tracy Dahl. She is a featured soloist in Flipside Opera‘s Love Languages on January 11th (tickets and info here).
Tracy’s impressive career has taken her to the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Calgary Opera and the Canadian Opera Company (just to name a few). She is a devoted music educator and is currently on faculty at the University of Manitoba. In 2017, she was appointed to the Order of Canada for both her accomplishments as an opera singer and commitment to mentoring the next generation of Canadian singers.
This week, Tracy chats with us about her musical family, a slippery Die Fledermaus and her favourite places to sing.
When was your first singing lesson (and with whom)?
Herb Belyea, in Winnipeg. He was my teacher until I was 21, when I met Mary Morrison in Banff.
What/who inspired you to sing?
My eldest sister Barbara, who passed away in 1975. She was a music teacher. She noticed I had a good voice and encouraged me, along with my parents of course, and my elementary music teacher Marie Enns.
Drink of choice?
Ohhh, wicked but non-alcoholic I will still fall back on Coke with sugar or Pepsi Zero. Alcohol – cosmopolitan.
Heels or flats?
Heels – I am under 5 feet tall.
Favourite city that you’ve worked in?
That seems unfair to all the others, but I loved every time I sang in St. Louis. I think it was a combination of the people and the intimate hall.
Favourite place?
Anywhere my family is.
If you weren’t a singer, you’d be..?
Not a hot clue… An elementary music teacher or maybe a therapist.
Top 3 favourite composers?
Mozart, Donizetti and Mahler, and please one more – Sondheim.
Top 3 favourite operas
La fille du régiment
La bohème
Lucia di Lammermoor
What’s your favourite opera house?
I have a fond place in my heart for San Francisco opera house, St. Louis and always home with Manitoba Opera. I can’t pick just one…
Which opera role do you want to be singing right now?
Ophelia is the only one on my bucket list I haven’t sung. I have been very blessed.
Which opera role do you want to be singing in 10 years?
LOL. In 10 years, I just want to be singing well and not sound like an old lady. Maybe Despina can carry me another ten years.
Who is a singer you admire that is currently working?
All of them! It is a difficult time to be an artist, especially at the beginning of your career.
Who is a singer you admired from the past?
Maria Callas.
What’s the strangest/funniest thing that has happened to you on stage?
Slid down the staircase on pillows in Die Fledermaus. Apparently satin on satin has no friction.
What’s your favourite orchestral instrument? Why?
Cello and Oboe. The warmth of the cello’s tone, and the oboe has a plaintive sound.
What’s your favourite thing about singing with an orchestra?
The depth of emotions that comes from within their sound. It is all there.
What’s something most people don’t know about opera life?
Sometimes you create an amazing new family with each production. It is hard to say goodbye at the end, and the extreme is that it can be very lonely.
Which role do you wish you could sing, but is not in your voice type?
Mimì. Come on, who wouldn’t want to sing that role? If I move away from La bohème, maybe Tosca.
Tent or hotel?
Hotel, with a forest near by for hiking.
What are you afraid of?
The ocean, because I can’t see all of it.
Coffee or tea?
Tea.
What is one surprising thing that you have learned in becoming an opera singer?
It is addictive.
What was the first opera you ever saw?
La bohème.
What’s your ancestry?
I am a mutt – Scottish, Welsh, French, English, Norwegian – the list keeps going.
Are there more musicians in your family? If yes, who and what do they play/sing?
Too many to mention. In my immediate family everyone sings. My sons play piano, violin, guitar and drums. My husband sings as well. All my sisters sing in choirs and learned piano. My niece is a familiar face to many as an anthem singer for the Winnipeg Jets– Stacey Nattrass.
What’s your favourite mind-calming practice?
My HIT exercise class. Being in the forest or on a hike.
What’s your favourite movie?
Crossing Delancey and Singin’ in the Rain.
What’s your favourite non-classical band?
My son’s bands: Matlock and Voir Dire. And a blast from the past: Chicago and Crosby Stills Nash and Young.
What’s your favourite classical group?
Almost anything choral. I love listening to voices together. I love Voces8.
© Photo used with permission from the artist
Love Languages: Songs & Pictures on Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch
Flipside Opera
January 11
SOPRANO: Tracy Dahl
BARITONE: Clarence Frazer
PIANIST: Lisa Rumpel
ARTIST: Ana Toumine
Prepare for an unforgettable evening of music, art, and emotion as Flipside Opera and the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg proudly co-present Love Languages: Songs & Pictures on Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch. Join us on January 11, 2025, at the Desautels Concert Hall for a unique performance that will explore the many shades of love through music, art, and storytelling.
Featuring legendary Canadian soprano Tracy Dahl and the “silky-smooth” baritone Clarence Frazer, this 80-minute concert brings to life Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch—a collection of 46 miniature masterpieces that delve into the universal feelings of love. Accompanied by pianist Lisa Rumpel, you will be guided through a musical journey of infatuation, yearning, heartbreak, and devotion.
But this is more than a concert—it’s a fully immersive experience. As the performers weave their stories through song, you’ll also be treated to 46 original, whimsical illustrations by soprano and artist Ana Toumine, each one reflecting the heart of every song. These delightful visual “program notes” cleverly use food imagery and a dash of humour to bring the songs’ meanings to life, offering a fresh perspective on Wolf’s timeless work.
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Máiri Demings is Opera Canada’s digital content specialist. She’s also a mezzo-soprano who has sung with Tapestry Opera, performs regularly with VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert and Toronto Operetta Theatre, and is one half of duo mezzopiano with pianist Zain Solinski.
