The Opera Glasses Podcast

Arianna Maubach: From Childhood Chorus to Opera Sensation

• Michael Jones, Elizabeth Bowman • Season 3 • Episode 2

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Join us for an enchanting encounter with Arianna Maubach, the mezzo-soprano sensation who captured hearts and won accolades at the Canadian Opera Company's Center Stage Competition. Arianna takes us on a fascinating journey from her beginnings in a non-musical family to her discovery of a love for singing with the Toronto Children's Chorus. Despite having family in law and entrepreneurship, her passion was nurtured through rigorous training, leading her to the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School of Music. Arianna reflects on her mentors who were pivotal in shaping her early musical education and career.

As we chat with Arianna, she paints a vivid picture of her preparations for the COC competition performance, sharing insights from her collaboration with music luminaries like Wendy Nielsen and Liz Upchurch. The episode peeks into Arianna’s meticulous aria selection process and her spellbinding experience performing under Maestro Debus, with the goal of savoring each moment on stage. With an ongoing residency at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Arianna’s aspirations are soaring towards future engagements. Listen as she shares her excitement about upcoming performances, her exploration of new roles, and her burning desire to refine her craft while expanding her repertoire.

All episodes of The Opera Glasses podcast are hosted by the editor of Opera Canada, currently Michael Jones after Elizabeth Bowman hosted seasons 1 and 2. Follow Opera Canada on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Visit OperaCanada.ca for all of your Canadian Opera news and reviews.

Michael Jones:

Good day and welcome to Opera Glasses. I'm your new host, Michael Jones, and I'm pleased to have you join us today as we interview Arianna Maubach. Arianna was the first place winner and audience choice winner at the recent Canadian Opera Company's Center Stage Competition, so welcome, Arianna. We're really, really pleased to have you with us today.

Ariana Maubach:

Thank you so much for having me, and I'm especially honored that this is your first episode as host and I get to chat with you today, so thank you for having me.

Michael Jones:

It's a real delight and it's a delight for me to meet the next generation of singers as you come on through competitions and through you know whatever, what training programs you're doing and the studying that you're doing. But if you don't mind, let's start right back at the beginning. Beginning. You are a young woman and you have decided to become an opera singer, which is probably not the career choice for most primary. I'm sure that most primary school students, when they're asked what do you want to be when you grow up, it's very few who actually say that they want to be opera singers, right. So how did you come about this as a career path? What started you off? What was growing up like for you?

Ariana Maubach:

Well, my parents. I'll start with them. They certainly are not musical, they're both in law. My brother is also not musical, he's an entrepreneur. So I kind of came as a wild card. I guess my mom had interest in dance and danced at a pretty high level, and my dad also played the piano at a high level and danced at a pretty high level, and my dad also played the piano at a high level, but no, no, no singers whatsoever. So they decided that they would put me in the Toronto Children's Chorus when I was six years old and they were crazy enough to bring me to Roy Thompson Hall when I was four days old to watch my cousin Jessica sing with the Toronto Children's Chorus. So that was my first introduction to music and to a venue like Roy Thompson, at just four days old, like I said.

Ariana Maubach:

But yeah, I really had a fantastic, fantastic upbringing with the TCC. You know the musical education, the theory, the aural skills, the history and the friendship element. You know I met so many of my closest friends who I'm still in touch with and see regularly through the Toronto Children's Chorus. And so, for people who may not know about the TCC, it's a very kind of high-level choir. The training is intense. We rehearse multiple times a week and at the time we were going on these major international tours. So we went to Argentina, we went to Brazil and to Sweden. Some of those were for competitions, other were more just kind of you know, retreats and connecting with other choirs around the world and workshopping music, but that was really a terrific introduction to music. I loved, like I said, singing alongside my friends, being a part of this greater body of sound and feeling like I was a small piece contributing to such a large, impactful, a large impactful thing. A body of sound, like I said. So that was great. A Body of Sound, like I said. So that was great. And I don't think that there was ever a moment, though, where I specifically knew that opera was going to be what I was eventually going to do.

Ariana Maubach:

After I graduated from the choir in 11th grade in high school, I of course, just decided that I still wanted to sing, so I enrolled in private voice lessons at the RCM, at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Robert Loewen was my teacher and I did the high school young artist program there. I believe it has a different name now, but I certainly loved that, and then, from that point on, it was something that I was like, okay, I want to try and do my undergrad in this and continue on with it. My singing journey was by no means finished, so I went to the Eastman School of Music and I got my Bachelor's of Music there in vocal performance. I had a terrific four years there that I caught from the TCC. They were really, really important in my musical growth and development initially, so big shout out to them.

Michael Jones:

That's wonderful. Who was in charge? Who was the artistic director? Was still Jean, Jean Ashworth Bartle, or had they moved on by the time you were there?

Ariana Maubach:

So when I was starting it was Mrs Bartle, and then, very shortly after that I think I had only a couple years with Miss Bartle and then it was Elise Bradley.

Michael Jones:

Oh, of course it was who came after that. I had forgotten who had followed Jean. Funny story is that Jean, when I was very, very young and my father used to teach together on Prince Edward Island. So I grew up knowing "Miss Jean" too, and this was before she was married, but I knew her as a child as well.

Ariana Maubach:

Very cool. I mean, yeah, she's certainly a very well-known, well-known, beloved woman. So that's, that's a very funny coincidence that's very good.

Michael Jones:

Oh, it was a huge coincidence. This was before the Toronto Children's Choir. I think it even, right for sure, because she didn't, certainly didn't set out to recruit me. So, um, so you went to Eastman School, did and you did your undergrad there. Did you go on for further studies? Or when did you complete at Eastman? When were you done at Eastman? I?

Ariana Maubach:

I did my four-year undergrad there and I graduated in 2018. And at that point, you know, I still knew I feel like I've always kind of thought of my voice as being, you know, a little bit like a pot roast, thought of my voice as being, you know, a little bit like a pot roast, just needing time to kind of cook and slowly get to its point of being ready to enjoy, and so I did certainly feel like I wanted to have more technique under my belt before I, you know, started performing.

Ariana Maubach:

So I took a gap year. I nannied for a very close family friend of ours and she had one son at the time and then later ended up having a daughter, and so I was looking after a two year old and a newborn, which certainly took probably a decade off of my life, but I really, really, really enjoyed it and learned that I absolutely love children. So that was a fantastic experience. And all throughout my time nannying, I was taking lessons with Stephanie Bogle, who later became my full-time teacher when I joined the Glenn Gould School and did my artist diploma there for two , from 2019 to 2021

Ariana Maubach:

. You know, that was obviously an interesting time for us all, but the support that GGS provided me during that time and the structure of, you know, having something to wake up and look forward to every day and seeing Stephanie and seeing the other coaches. And we even got to kind of work on productions. We worked on Lucrezia by Bolcom, a fantastic opera that I would love to do one day again. It's not very typical to be performed, but I would certainly love to do that again. And then we also The the Rape Lucretia, and you know it was a COVID abbreviated type of performance, but, like I said, it really provided me structure and I made sure that I was continuing to move forward and make strides technically during that time. So GGS was extremely important for

Ariana Maubach:

me.

Ariana Maubach:

And then I decided I still wasn't done with school. So I went and I got a master's at University of Cincinnati, at CCM, the College Conservatory of Music there, and I spent two years there, from 2021 to 2023. Again had a fantastic time. We were all unleashed at that point, able to perform, able Bill to Schuman be around each other and not have to be social, physically distanced from one another, and my training continued there.

Ariana Maubach:

And then the kicker is, I still was not wanting to emerge yet, and so I am currently now a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. I've been here for, like I said, two years. I've been involved in many productions here and I've had a fantastic time, and my teacher here, bill Schumann, has been incredibly supportive and helpful and I feel like I'm in the best shape vocally that I've been ever. So I thank all of my teachers who have taught me along the way. I certainly owe it to them and to their wisdom and support and belief in me. So, yeah, just a shout out to my my teachers, who I've mentioned. I could not be where I am without them.

Michael Jones:

Now a lot of the established singers with whom we chat, the people who, who, who we feature in our artist of the week, talk about the fact that they continually need to go back. They continually need this person that they go to for check or to make to keep the instrument healthy? And do you see yourself in that place? Cause you talk about t

Ariana Maubach:

Yeah, yes, absolutely. That's a great point. I've had, again, like you mentioned, established singers. I've heard many times that how important it is to cultivate, kind of like you're a race car driver, and to cultivate your pit crew and your crew of people. That who I really look up to and to, like you said, I plan to rely on for the competition. You're in Philadelphia now. Yes.

Michael Jones:

We talked a little bit Dorab ella operas that you sang when you were at the Glenn Gould School. What roles are you singing now? What are you learning in Philadelphia?

Michael Jones:

like I said humbling, challenging, extremely rewarding, you know, figuring out and negotiating what it's like, kind of sitting've absolutely loved it. Like I said, it's been extremely challenging but has really been a good teaching experience in how to sing that kind of repertoire and I mean the show is very, is very fun. Used to begin every lesson whether that's what we were working on or not with a bit of a Mozart aria because she said your technique has to be absolutely in place if you're going to sing this Mozart A hundred percent. She would use it as a check-in. Are you finding that?

Ariana Maubach:

finding that. Yeah, absolutely, I mean yeah, that's, she sounds like a smart woman. It certainly is a check-in and I would imagine, like you said, a great way to kind of start each day of singing.

Michael Jones:

Yeah, other Mozart roles you've sung or that. How about ones that really interest you, that you have, that you've done bits of, but you're like, oh, I really want to do this. b( v V D

Ariana Maubach:

I guess, funny story. I very distinctly remember being at the Young Artist Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music and I was kind of sitting in the hallway waiting for a lesson with Bob Lohan and at the time I had no idea what this person was singing, but I remember kind of humming the tune into my phone to record it and I was going, which of course is Boy Que Sapete, and I remember hearing someone practicing that and thinking I love this, what is this? And yeah, just kind of hilarious that ignorant me at the age of whatever this. And yeah, just kind of hilarious that ignorant me at the age of whatever 16 had no idea what that was. But so yeah, no, carabino is not a role that I've that I've learned in its entirety, but I certainly know his arias. I love um clemenza. There are some fantastic, uh, mezzo arias in that. But no, dora Bell is the first Mozart role that I've learned in its entirety.

Michael Jones:

Okay, um, now the COC competition. You were in Toronto for a week for that is right, is that? Yes, so what did you do actually leading up to the day on October 30th?

Ariana Maubach:

So I flew from Toronto or from Philadelphia, rather on the Friday, and I decided that if I was going to be my most happy, calm and relaxed self, that I would spend a few days with my parents, because I'm very, very close with my family and I love our neighborhood and I love getting to walk my dog and, just you know, feeling human and normal and having that kind of routine that I grew up having. So I spent time there living with them. It was incredibly exciting to finally get to work with the esteemed COC music staff, who I've always heard of and dreamt of. Getting to work with Wendy Nielsen I had actually met when I was 15 years old. I went to her vocal institute in St Andrews, new Brunswick, and I totally fell in love with her and the way that she teaches there. But of course, now it's over 10 years later where I got to see her again, so that was a very exciting moment.

Ariana Maubach:

Also, Liz Upchurch, a person who I've respected and admired and have been dying to work with for so long. So getting to coach multiple arias with her was incredibly exciting. There was so much food for thought and and as singers we're always talking about our toolbox and, you know, having people who are adding to that constantly and giving you new tools and ways of thinking about things and they certainly did that I was. I left Toronto with lots of new ideas and things that I might envision when I'm practicing nowadays, so I was so thrilled and excited.

Ariana Maubach:

To work with Liz and Wendy and, of course, maestro sing for Roberto Mauro and Dorian was incredible and so, yeah, that was kind of the week leading up to it. It was very calm, they didn't overload us. Our days were filled with maybe one to three coachings and it was very relaxed. I had such a fun time meeting the other finalists. It was a really lovely crew of people and we all kind of kept each other sane and were just laughing and making jokes and being silly backstage leading up to it, so it was a terrific experience.

Michael Jones:

So you did get to spend time with the other finalists.

Ariana Maubach:

Yes, I did.

Michael Jones:

And did you know any of them?

Ariana Maubach:

in advance. I didn't, I guess. No, I actually didn't. I was gonna say I knew of certain people, but I think because I've been so I haven't done a lot of my training in Toronto, I've been kind of out of the loop with the Canadian crew of people. But yeah, I remember that kind of in the second half of the program or the evening it was Emma Pennell, Nicholas Murphy and Olivia LaPointe and myself and the four of us just had an absolute ball backstage. We were just laughing, making jokes. You know. It was such a supportive, relaxed environment. I couldn't have hoped for a better, a better crew of singers to share that stage with.

Michael Jones:

That's wonderful. Okay, so that was. That was the week leading up to the event. Tell us about the events on October 30. Tell us how your day went. When were you up? How long were you there?

Ariana Maubach:

And of course, the closed round of the competition happens directly before the curtain opens and before we do our open rounds with the public. So there really isn't much time in between. I think that maybe there was about a 30 minute break in between the open and closed round, but it was good. I mean, the momentum and the adrenaline was certainly pumping, so in a way that was helpful. So in a way that was helpful. I remember that for the dress rehearsal I was feeling I don't know. I think it was the first time that it kind of set in that this was going to happen. And I remember walking out and people and singers have always said that you know, if you have a bad dress rehearsal, you'll have a great performance. So I was believing and banking on that.

Michael Jones:

Did you do both the arias at the dress rehearsal? Both the closed and open?

Ariana Maubach:

Exactly, and then there was a bit of a break in between. I remember I went back to my hotel. I had some chicken, I steamed, I called a couple friends and my parents and that was that. Then I headed across the street from the hotel that they put us in and it was time that, you know, being last there's obviously like a bit more sitting around and waiting and kind of the pressure. The pressure builds and the dressing room or the backstage room slowly starts to dwindle. You know, suddenly you're just kind of the last one standing.

Ariana Maubach:

But, like I said, our crew of four back there Emma, Nick, Olivia and I were I were keeping each other sane and strong and I was certainly very focused. I was excited and, oddly enough, I remember going out on stage and not feeling. I think I was probably a little bit nervous, excited, but I distinctly remember looking back, not feeling like I was that nervous. There was something that was so. I mean, I knew that I had friends and family in the audience and a lot of my former teachers were there, which meant so much to me and having worked with with many of the judges during the week not all of them, but a few of them I knew that everyone was genuinely rooting for every single singer that stepped foot on that stage. So just knowing that you had the support and the love of the people in the hall was something that was very calming for me and really kind of put me at ease.

Ariana Maubach:

And, of course, the incredible orchestra conducted under Maestro Debus was so supportive. I mean, it's not every day that a young artist gets to sing with an orchestra of that caliber and of a conductor of that caliber, of a conductor of that caliber. So it was such a treat and my, my only goal was to just go out there and enjoy it and be present, and if that's all I did, I was going to be happy with that. I just wanted to to stay in the moment and to think of my character and to embody Carmen and Isabella, and I feel as though I did that, and it was. I mean, the night was thrilling.

Michael Jones:

So you sang Carmen in the closed round, is that right?

Ariana Maubach:

I did, I sang the Seguidilla.

Michael Jones:

You sang the Segedill a, wonderful. You talked in your video package how drawn you were to the arias of Carmen, and then I was surprised that you sang racini for us after, after telling us how drawn you were to carmen. So I'm pleased to know you. You did it the earler round. How did you choose which arias you were singing that night? Um, how did you narrow it down, because I'm sure those weren't your only two on your list, right, right? And how did you choose what was for the private, the closed round, and what was for the audience that night?

Ariana Maubach:

Well, so, interestingly enough, those two arias the Seguidilla and Cruda Sorte have been in my package for a very long time. I think I learned them all the way back when I was at GGS, so in 2019. And you know, as singers we're always kind of battling muscle memory and the challenges that singing something old presents. But, for whatever reason, those two arias have kind of been able to slowly unravel themselves and keep evolving, despite the technical stages that I've gone through while I've had them in my package, and they really are arias that I feel like I could sing in my sleep.

Ariana Maubach:

The Seguidilla is consistently my starter for auditions, and so I knew that that was something that I wanted to sing and, like I mentioned, I absolutely adore Carmen and that character, and the Rossini is just fun. You know, I love to sing stuff that has agility and that is melismatic. I find that that's a really freeing way of singing for me. So the choices were kind of no-brainers. I really connect to the pieces and, like I said, enjoy singing them and find that they flatter my voice and show off the most, or, I guess, beautiful or impressive parts of my singing, and so the choices were easy, and then the COC staff were super helpful in basically suggesting what would be better to sing for each of the rounds and in my case, I was completely happy with what they proposed as being my closed round, aria, and my open round.

Michael Jones:

There were only seven of you, so it wasn't, and there was only one other mezzo, I think, in the seven finalists. Is that right? Yes, that's correct, and so you didn't have overlapping repertoire or anything like that.

Ariana Maubach:

I believe that maybe a few of the soprani had. I think there may have been a couple "non-midiers from Don Giovanni that were offered, but I think that they were. Someone had sang it for the open and then the other person was singing it for the closed, so I believe that that was really the only overlap of repertoire. But yeah, I mean, I think we were all kind of thankful that we all had our own marks to make on our individual arias and that there was no issue with any doubles, so that worked out really well.

Michael Jones:

So how long are you in Philadelphia for now?

Ariana Maubach:

doubles, so that worked out really well. So how long are you in Philadelphia for now?

Ariana Maubach:

So the Academy of Vocal Arts resident artist training is technically a four-year program, and I'm in my second of four and oftentimes people will decide if you're getting professional contracts or if you want to do a different kind of young artist program. Then sometimes people will leave after three and they'll still be able to obtain their artist diplomas because they will have fulfilled those requirements by their third year, because the training and the resources are really there at our disposal to make the most of and they put on fantastic productions. Obviously, the level of singing is incredibly high, so it's been a really challenging, stimulating and rewarding environment for the last two years.

Michael Jones:

Wonderful, and summers in Europe or not yet for yyou??

Ariana Maubach:

So I was fortunate enough, last summer I actually ended up taking a bit of a break. My older brother was getting married in Toronto right in the middle of the summer, so my whole family was there for that and that kind of was right in the middle of you know, all of these young artists programs and I had thought that maybe I would want to finally get to go abroad and do kind of a language study and immersive program there. But it just wouldn't have made sense to, you know, get up and leave in the middle of it to come fly back to Toronto. So I had a fantastic summer. I went out east in Canada, we went to Newfoundland with our close family friends, I traveled a bit with my boyfriend, we had some weddings. We were in Vermont as well for a wedding. So it was, it was a really fulfilling summer of just relaxation while slowly, kind of you know, keeping the grind going, practicing, polishing up my aria package, continuously working on that, because of course audition season comes around fast in the fall.

Ariana Maubach:

The summer before that I spent in Des Moines, iowa, at Des Moines Metro Opera. I had such an amazing summer singing there. I sang Lynette in the Love for Three Oranges and that was, I guess, my professional debut. What a fun, fun, fun, fun show and a very, very nice ease in. I don't know if everyone will know the love for Three Oranges, but Lynette is one of the princesses or the oranges and she has a very short lived life. She's about, she's on stage for about probably three minutes, but it was certainly a jam packed full three minutes. I lived and I died in those three minutes. So that was super fun and I'll be spending next summer in San Francisco. So no plans as of yet to be to be in Europe, but I really hope and I trust that those are in the cards for the future, but just not quite yet.

Michael Jones:

And other roles that you're learning now, other things that sit in your audition rep.

Ariana Maubach:

And other roles that you're learning now, other things that sit could see in my long-term future, and I'm finding it very, very satisfying and technically rewarding to be stretching myself in those ways. So, just as an example, I'm learning O Mio Fernando, which I love singing. I've also been kind of stretching my Rossini capabilities and I'm looking at Tanti Effetti from Donna del Lago, which is very challenging, um, as a lot of Rossini.

Michael Jones:

is that's the final aria from Donna del Lago, right? Yes?

Ariana Maubach:

So . so I've been kind of I'm not sure that it'll be you know something that I'm ready to add to my package tomorrow. But I really love the challenge of of working on these pieces that are stretches and what's the other aria that I oh, I just started looking at Au Malire, immortel from Sappho, so that's been also really, really fun. I mean, a lot of this big legato, slow repertoire kind of feels like a vocal massage in a way. It feels really good to sing, so I feel like that's kind of how I know that massage in a way. It feels really good to sing, so I feel like that's kind of how I know that I'm in the right spot.

Michael Jones:

but whether I sing them, you know, next year or in several years from now, we'll see, but uh, and you're young, you're in development, so, absolutely so, you don't actually know what's your dream role that you that you would love to do someday.

Ariana Maubach:

I mean, I did say Carmen in my COC interview, but oh, I would also love Charlotte from Werther.

Michael Jones:

I love, which I think every myth grows up loving, because Of course you have a spectacular whole scene with Sophie. That's.

Ariana Maubach:

Of course, exactly ..

Michael Jones:

So yeah, that's probably my other, my other bucket list role wonderful, that's exciting, okay, so let's just do some some really fun questions that that you know um your food's in the thing that you love, that you know isn't good for you oh, I can eat mac and cheese for every single meal for the rest of my life. What real mac and cheese like every single meal for the rest of my life Real mac and cheese.

Ariana Maubach:

Like, are you? Actually making the pasta Are we talking?

Michael Jones:

Kraft dinner here.

Ariana Maubach:

We're talking Kraft dinner. We're talking about the cheap good stuff that comes in a box. That's non-perishable Coffee or tea Coffee, for sure. I love a full fat milk latte. I'm not a nut milk girly. I love a latte with some sort of either vanilla or cinnamon or caramel. It's Starbucks holiday drink season, so I would always pick having a chestnut praline latte over black coffee, for sure.

Michael Jones:

What are you binge watching on TV or on one of the services over black?

Ariana Maubach:

coffee, for sure. What have you been watching on tv or on one of the services? I'm always embarrassed to admit my reality tv obsession, but I'm a huge real housewives fan. Um, my boyfriend and I were watching the martha stewart documentary the other night. We got about halfway through that, but but yeah, real reality tv is definitely my guilty pleasure.

Michael Jones:

And what are you reading?

Ariana Maubach:

What am I reading? Nico Castel translation of Così Pandute. Does that count? Reading, reading, reading. Constantly trying to memorize.

Michael Jones:

Good Okay well.

Ariana Maubach:

thank you so much, Arianna, for taking the time to speak with us today. I know that our listeners and readers in Canada wish you all the best, and we couldn't be happier for your success. Any final words fun to chat with you and to be a guest on your first episode as host, so thank you for thinking to invite me and thank you to everyone who watched the competition that night, either there in person or online. Opera supporters mean so much to us and you're the reason why we do what we do, so that we can connect with you. So thank you for being there and for supporting the arts. And that's all for me. Thank you again for having me.

Michael Jones:

And thank you so much for joining us and everyone out there. Stay tuned for the next episode of the Opera Glasses podcast. I'm Michael Jones, we're speaking with Arianna Malbach and I'm really pleased to have you join us today.