Today we’d like to introduce you to Michaela Wright.
Hi Michaela, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Whenever people ask me how I started singing opera, I often tell them that I was born singing; that is to say, my love for the performing arts started at a very young age for me. As a child, my parents both worked 9-5 jobs and I would go to a babysitter’s house after school. My babysitter would always play music for me to dance and sing to.
Oftentimes, she would allow me to choose the music we listened to so I would walk over to the drawer full of cassette tapes, all lined up, and I would read all of the titles but I always landed on the “Grease” one. She quickly noticed my draw towards theatrical music and she put on her “Cats” VHS tape for me one day. It was love at first sight. I would gaze at the screen and watch the performers with complete adoration. In fact, I asked to watch the tape so frequently that, one day, she sent it home with me and told me to keep it. This year, I was greatly saddened to learn of this babysitter’s recent passing, but I will forever be grateful to her for helping me find my life’s purpose. Later, My mom used the VHS tape in question to recreate the makeup in the show on a 7-year-old me for Halloween.
I was in complete awe of these performers and I wanted to jump through the screen and join them. Funnily enough, I actually did commandeer my cousin’s dance performance once when I was very young. I just crawled onstage with them and started dancing. I think, after that, my mom put me in dance classes because she saw my passion for performance. And although competitive dance was never my calling (I wound up quitting soon after), it was a gateway to becoming comfortable on stage, to pursuing my true calling.
My parents have always been very supportive. They were at every piano recital, every church pageant, every living room concert. I saw my first professional production at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando. It was a national tour of “Starlight Express” and Andrew Lloyd Weber became instrumental in my discovery of musical theatre repertoire. My cousin, Cheyenne, was also a big part of that. She is a couple of years older than me and I looked up to her so much. She had a Lloyd Weber DVD collection and she introduced me to “Phantom of the Opera” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” When I got to middle school, my parents put me into “dance for musical theatre” classes with her. We put on Summer productions and I became increasingly involved, joining other classes (Tap, Jazz, Contemporary) and volunteering my time to help with productions. It was an extremely loving and safe environment.
The studio (Not Just Dance in Downtown Clermont) wasn’t competition-driven but education driven and they made me feel like I belonged on the stage. In high school, I joined chorus and the drama club. My choir teacher (Dr. Jeffrey Redding) was my biggest role model. He taught me more than I can say about both life and music and gave me the opportunity to travel to competitions in places like New York City. The drama club was much more competitive and I learned almost everything I know about how a theatre operates there, both the good and the bad. I was fortunate to have the chance to travel with this group as well and was involved with roughly 13 productions in my three years with the troupe.
I was accepted into Jacksonville University’s BFA program for musical theatre and I started my studies there in the Fall of 2014. I loved my time there. There were so many teachers that invested so deeply in my development as an artist, my private teacher (Dr. Jay Ivey,) my choral conductor (Dr. Timothy Snyder,) my acting teacher (Erik DeCicco) and it was here that I found my love for opera. My teacher encouraged us to try different styles of singing and he gave me Stradella’s “Pieta Signore” to experiment with. By my sophomore year, I had changed my major to a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance. I also discovered my love for musicology in my time at JU. In my final year there, I attended the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Oklahoma with a presentation on Charles Ives’ “114 Songs,” and my passion for research was ignited.
I graduated and started my Master’s in Opera Performance at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I adored my time in Illinois. I loved the environment, the weather, the proximity to the city. I had tons of opportunities to perform in my time there and encounters with so many amazing artists. I studied privately with Professor Jerold Siena and worked with people like Nathan and Julie Gunn, Michelle Deyoung, Casey Robards, Paola Prestini, and Maltby and Shire. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the level of talent and dedication that the performers had at UIUC. It was both intimidating and motivating. I also had the opportunity to study the German and Italian languages (In addition to my prior French studies at JU.) Consequently, I became infatuated with the Italian language, in particular, and studied it for the entirety of my time in Illinois.
Graduating during a pandemic was a complete let-down. In February of 2020, I was working as a graduate teaching assistant for Unit One Music in the UIUC residence halls. I had 18 private voice students through the program, but when the lessons went virtual, I lost most of them. I had many performances cancelled, my graduation ceremony was postponed, and I was hungry for performance opportunities.
I began to post more singing content on my Instagram, creating virtual content such as the “Melismonday” series where I learned and posted a new melismatic passage every week, recording videos for Moon River Opera in Savannah, Georgia. Collaborating with my friend, Mike McAndrew on a series called “Art Song at Home” and participating in virtual cabarets through the “Cabaret Your Way” series. I did everything I could to continue singing while I started a new job as a barista to fund my dream. I never expected to find such a loving, global singing community online but I’m blown away daily by the creativity and kindness of the operatic corner of Instagram. I’ve made so many meaningful connections and felt so much support from my colleagues there and I feel so lucky.
Right now, I’m continuing to work toward my goals, auditioning for everything, and getting closer to making my dreams happen every day. I teach lessons and I love my students. I’ve also started private, virtual lessons with Michelle DeYoung and it’s been really fun to have lessons from Spain, China, Colorado, D.C. as she travels the world singing beautiful music. I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped me thus far, my family, friends, teachers, directors, coaches. The knowledge and support I’ve received in my lifetime from these incredible individuals both gave me my voice and leaves me speechless. I’m eager travel, anxious to be on stage again, and ready for my next chapter.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Obviously, one of my greatest challenges has been entering the professional opera world amidst a pandemic. I’ve had plenty of time to work on my technique, learn new repertoire, and do virtual collaborations but singing for no audience lacks the catharsis and connection of a live performance and having unlimited opportunities to record performances has fueled my lust for perfectionism more than I would like to admit.
Something else that has been tough is my little sister, Lyla’s, struggle with epilepsy and intracranial hypertension. She was seven when she was diagnosed with epilepsy and they found a benign brain tumor when she was ten. She had a left temporal lobectomy at age 11 and she was later diagnosed with a second neurological condition that causes increased, intracranial pressure and non-epileptic seizures. She’s now 14 and still struggling with chronic pain. It’s been really difficult to watch her go through so much at such a young age and it has felt selfish, at times, to continue pursuing a singing career while she’s still seeking pain management solutions, but she is my biggest supporter and she inspires me everyday with her wittiness, intelligence, creativity, and talent. In fact, she is an artist and photographer and took some of the pictures featured in this interview. I’m so proud of her.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve had the opportunity to perform in so many amazing productions, recitals, and readings, My first opera was Puccini’s “La Boheme” directed by Nathan Gunn and Sarah Wigley. I also sang the roles of Orfeo in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” The Fox in Janacek’s “Cunning Little Vixen,” Bianca in Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia,” and Mycelia in a workshop of Paola Prestini’s new opera “Sensorium Ex.”
Before that, I performed in many musicals, playing roles such as Logainne in “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Sandra in “All Shook Up,” Adella in “The Little Mermaid,” “Lady B in “Jekyll and Hyde,” Ginger in “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” Rebecca in “Weird Romance,” Whitney in “Legally Blonde” and was seen in shows such as “Hairspray,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and “Spring Awakening.”
I’m currently working on a new piece of music by Pepijn Streng with soprano, Alysia Hanshaw through “The Arc Project,” am working with “All Score Urbana” this summer to offer weekly, informational and work-shopping sessions to composers whose music we will perform this Winter, and am learning a brand new song cycle by Jacksonville-based composer, Bob Moore, which I will record in the coming months. In addition, I just completed a recording of a piece scored for voice and spoons by Boston-based composer, Brooks Clarke and am preparing for a program in Prague with “Opernfest Prague” next April.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
One of my favorite, opera podcasts is “Opera Offstage.” They talk about so many essential topics and issues in opera. The work they do is essential. I also work with a 501C organization called “Protestra” as a social media organizer. Our goal is to diversify, educate, and be a catalyst for positive change in the world of classical music. “The Sybaritic Singer” is an awesome publication for new music and I had the opportunity to write an article for the reviewing Lara Solnicki’s new album “The One and the Other.” For apps, I use ForScore, Scribd, Appcompanist, and I edit videos on KineMaster. I also highly recommend the anthologies by “Mundo Arts.” They are making Latin-American art song more accessible to singers!
Pricing:
- Voice Lessons: $40/Hour
- Voice Lessons: $25/Half Hour
Contact Info:
- Email: lmichaelawright@hotmail.com
- Website: https://mezzomichaela.squarespace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Mezzomichaela/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSNfDVikm–c0301aUx5mZw
Image Credits
Headshot: Scot Lerner, Orlando Headshots Gold Dress and Piano, Black jumper – Lyla Wright (Instagram: @Lylainthelookingglass) Grey dress. Fox: Darrel Hoemann Photography
