2008 Woodie Awards
Alumna Makes Opera Debut in Rome
Aaron Castrejon
Issue date: 8/25/04 Section: LIFE
A former Citrus student made her singing debut in the Puccini opera Suor Angelica at St. Paul's, a small church in Rome.
Tara Talbot, 31, who graduated from Citrus 10 years ago with a major in French, loved singing her whole life.
"I've been singing since the fourth grade in school choirs," she said. "For the past 13 years I've been a soloist in churches all over the country."
"I wanted nothing to do with opera. Nothing at all."
But when Talbot returned to Citrus in 2000 to take a few classes, she began studying choir with music professor Martin Green.
"I just wanted to improve how I sang in church," Talbot said. "I knew I wasn't singing as well as I could. I met Martin Green through Alison England, who is also a Citrus music teacher, who performed in spring 2004 for the Opera Bastille in Paris."
Talbot said Green took her voice from a very amateur level to an almost professional stage.
"I've really appreciated everything that he has taught me," Talbot said. But she wanted to improve even more. "All the songs that I wanted to learn were not what my voice was really good at doing."
With the help of Green, she started learning the literature of opera, which Talbot says makes singing easier.
"Performers know that when they have a character to perform, they need to, from the score, find details about that character that the librettist has included." If you know your character inside and out, it's a lot easier to memorize the music and feel comfortable on stage," she said.
Singing demands intense training and preparation before a performance, especially when performed in a foreign language, in this case Italian.
Warm-ups take two to three hours of daily practice. Then comes preparation for the standard music, which Talbot said she wouldn't want anybody else to hear.
"A lot of singing is not pretty," she explained. "You have to make so much noise. It's very ugly."
"I'm very private about my rehearsals and voice lessons. I don't like anybody coming to them. They think they are going to hear 'la la la la la la,'" she comically demonstrates with the clichéd opera singing style.
Tara Talbot, 31, who graduated from Citrus 10 years ago with a major in French, loved singing her whole life.
"I've been singing since the fourth grade in school choirs," she said. "For the past 13 years I've been a soloist in churches all over the country."
"I wanted nothing to do with opera. Nothing at all."
But when Talbot returned to Citrus in 2000 to take a few classes, she began studying choir with music professor Martin Green.
"I just wanted to improve how I sang in church," Talbot said. "I knew I wasn't singing as well as I could. I met Martin Green through Alison England, who is also a Citrus music teacher, who performed in spring 2004 for the Opera Bastille in Paris."
Talbot said Green took her voice from a very amateur level to an almost professional stage.
"I've really appreciated everything that he has taught me," Talbot said. But she wanted to improve even more. "All the songs that I wanted to learn were not what my voice was really good at doing."
With the help of Green, she started learning the literature of opera, which Talbot says makes singing easier.
"Performers know that when they have a character to perform, they need to, from the score, find details about that character that the librettist has included." If you know your character inside and out, it's a lot easier to memorize the music and feel comfortable on stage," she said.
Singing demands intense training and preparation before a performance, especially when performed in a foreign language, in this case Italian.
Warm-ups take two to three hours of daily practice. Then comes preparation for the standard music, which Talbot said she wouldn't want anybody else to hear.
"A lot of singing is not pretty," she explained. "You have to make so much noise. It's very ugly."
"I'm very private about my rehearsals and voice lessons. I don't like anybody coming to them. They think they are going to hear 'la la la la la la,'" she comically demonstrates with the clichéd opera singing style.