Mary Wilson

Yesterday, Mary Wilson (opera singer) came and sang for our Concert Choir. She is in town to sing on a concert with her dad's choir this weekend. It's been fun to follow her career over the last 10 years. She's from Rosemount and I get to work with/see her parents frequently at music related things.

Here are just a few things that I loved about what she said to the kids and how she sang:

• When she was singing, she was an amazing artist. When she was talking to the kids, she wasn't afraid to be herself and let her personality come through. The kids got to see that opera singers are real people.
• She was so incredibly expressive with her tone, face, and body. I've been to many professional recitals, but few artists captivate my attention like she does. I loved that my kids got to hear amazing music that was not just beautifully sung, but sung in a way that drew them in and made them want more.
• She spoke to the kids about presence at contest and auditions. You can't enter with an apologetic posture and attitude and expect your judges or audience to be interested in you. This is all the same stuff I tell them, but I'm just their teacher. She's a cool, kind of famous person.
• She talked about coloring the voice depending on the emotions you are trying to convey.
• She sang softly, but with a sound that still had core and could be heard in the whole room. I'm going to be reminding students of this everytime they give me that wimpy, non-supported sound that barely hits the music stand and they tell me they sang that way because it was marked pp.
• Here's another thing I love about Mary--she is smart and really knows how to make a song work with her voice. She sang Schubert's "Gretchen am Spinnrade." Personally, I think this is a song that works better with a bigger voice. Had I been choosing music for Mary, I would not have chosen this song. However, it was amazing! It was one of the most gripping performances I have heard of this. She knows her voice and the style of the music well enough to pull it off. I was reminded of some of the performances I've heard of Elly Ameling where she chose music that really should not have worked in her voice, but she found the way to make it beautiful. But just for the record, Mary and Elly are the only "smaller" voices I've ever heard pull this off. Most of the performances by smaller voices were just painful for all of us. And no, none of you high school students will be singing this one any time soon, no matter how much you love it.

Mary's probably never received a review quite like this one, and I hope that if she ever stumbles upon it that she will forgive my very casual approach here. If you ever get a chance to hear her, don't miss it. You will not be disappointed.

Learn more about Mary at www.marywilsonsoprano.com