The Opera Glasses Podcast

Charlotte Siegel: Singing and Building Access to Music Education

• Michael Jones, Elizabeth Bowman • Season 3 • Episode 5

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Growing up in Toronto with a musical theater obsession sparked by seeing Phantom of the Opera at age five, Charlotte Siegel never imagined herself an opera singer. "I was definitely not that 10-year-old thinking I wanted to be an opera singer," she confesses, "but I always knew I wanted to sing."

Now performing Musetta in Manitoba Opera's La bohème, Siegel finds portraying this extroverted character particularly enlightening as someone naturally introverted. "She's so unlike me... I don't like to be the center of attention, which is funny coming from an opera singer," she laughs. Yet she relishes the challenge, noting how Puccini provides everything needed in the score to bring Musetta's complexities to life.

Siegel's commitment extends beyond performance. Recognizing how subsidized music lessons through Regent Park School of Music shaped her path in life, she co-founded the Marigold Music Program during the pandemic. This initiative provides underrepresented youth with music education access, mentorship and concert opportunities — addressing barriers before university applications. "I know in my bones that I would not be sitting here talking to you if I didn't have access to these kinds of programming when I was younger," she admits.

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:

Hello and welcome to the Opera Glasses podcast, the official podcast of Opera Canada magazine. I'm Michael Jones, your host, and today we're talking to Charlotte Siegel, a soprano who's currently in Winnipeg singing the role of Musetta for Manitoba Opera's production of La Boheme. The role of Musetta for Manitoba Opera's production of La Boheme. Charlotte is a soprano, a singer-songwriter, and she's also one of the co-founders of the Marigold Music Program, which is a non-profit organization that aims to close the accessibility gap between music education and underrepresented youth. She is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio and while there, among the roles she sang, she was Dora-nominated for Ensemble as one of the three ladies in Die Zauberflöte. She also sang Musetta in their La Boheme and most recently, donna Elvira in last year's production of Don Giovanni. Welcome to Opera Class of Charlotte, and I'm so pleased you could join us today.

Charlotte Siegel:

Thank you so much for having me.

Michael Jones:

This has been a real pleasure for me to meet the next generation of opera stars, the people who are really rising up and making their place in the world. I came back to Opera Canada magazine after retiring from a position. So many of my singer references the people I studied with have gone on and are, you know, retiring now and teaching, and so it really is very exciting for me to meet the new singers on the scene. I've watched you online. I've yet to hear you sing live, but I've watched you on live and it's really quite special. I've been starting by asking most emerging singers why, why opera? Because I don't imagine a 10 year old in grade five answering the question what do you want to be when you grow up? By announcing to their class that they're going to be an opera singer.

Charlotte Siegel:

I mean, I can tell you I was definitely not that 10 year old thinking that I wanted to be an opera singer, but I always knew that I wanted to sing. It's just always been in me. And I started taking voice lessons when I was nine and but I did it for fun. I did piano on the side, I did theory, I did choir on the side, but singing was the only thing I did for fun. And as I got older and you start talking about university and what you're going to do with your life, I had a long conversation with my mom and my teacher and family members and we decided that the best move was to try for a university degree, which I couldn't do in musical theater, which was my first love. So I ended up auditioning for a few programs and got into the University of Toronto for classical voice and the whole reasoning there was that I could go to teacher's college as a backup with a university degree. But so while I was there, I was also a singer-songwriter, I was recording and performing.

Charlotte Siegel:

I was also a singer, songwriter, I was recording and performing and I was, um, still loving musical theater as well, but really resistant to opera.

Charlotte Siegel:

But I had this teacher, uh, frederic Vizina, an amazing Canadian soprano, who really, um, encouraged me and supported me and sat me down and was like you know, if you really wanted to do opera, she was like you have an instrument that could go far. She really saw something in me that I didn't, that I didn't at that time and, um, she encouraged me to do a summer program in Munich, germany, and I was there during July, during the beautiful summer festival that they have there, and I got to see so many different operas. I saw the Flying Dutchman, I saw La Traviata, I saw and one of the operas I saw I think it was La Traviata there was like a 30 minute standing ovation and more and more encores and I really got to feel a different energy and a different vibe towards opera. It felt like a rock concert and I kind of stopped resisting it there and really fell in love with it, and that was at around 21, 22. And ever since then I've been pursuing it and falling more in love with it.

Michael Jones:

You started with an interest in music theater. Was there something that you saw when you were really young that said, I want to be on stage, I want to do that.

Charlotte Siegel:

Yeah, when I was five I think it's one of the earliest musical events that I remember I saw the Phantom of the Opera with my sister, my mom and my cousin and it was a dress rehearsal.

Charlotte Siegel:

I remember just being so enamored, so fascinated with what was happening. You know the chandelier and the high singing, and I remember during act two that I ran all the way up to the front to see more and I made my mom buy the CD and we listened to that music nonstop and I was obsessed with Christine, and so that was really like I became obsessed with musical theater at a very, very young age.

Michael Jones:

Yeah, but then was when you were studying at U of T, when you went to Munich, when was there? Was there a role? Was there a piece of music where you thought this is no, this is what's for me.

Charlotte Siegel:

Yeah, uh. Seeing La Traviata for the first time, which I had seen already in Toronto, but seeing it again in Munich with a different energy, it was really the piece that solidified it for me, because I just love to feel on the edge of my seat, I love when I feel like my heart is being ripped out and the music of Verdi, and then Puccini, of course, is really, really spoke to me and I saw a place for myself, if I could be around music that could make you feel like that and so are you dreaming of a violetta ah, we'll see the infamous three soprano role um, we'll see it does take about three different voices, I think.

Michael Jones:

Just say say one for each act.

Charlotte Siegel:

It does, and I have more of the voice for Act Two and Act Three, but we'll see. There is a world in which I could sing it, I think. Yeah, time will tell. I definitely dabble with it all the time because it's beautiful music.

Michael Jones:

But yeah, we'll see dabble with it all the time because it's beautiful music. But yeah, we'll see. But you are in winnipeg right now and you're singing musetta, and this is your second time singing musetta, which must be fun for you oh, it's so fun.

Charlotte Siegel:

I love any time with puccini and I love any time with laboem. I don't think I'll ever get tired of La Boheme and I hope I get to sing Mimi as well. But Musetta is such a good character for me because she's so unlike me and I find it a really good challenge to remind myself, to take up space and to sing with my full body and my full heart and let just let the emotions like hang off of me and like spark off of me. And I'm very much an introverted person and, um like, I like to be quiet and I don't like to be the center of attention, which is funny coming from an opera singer.

Michael Jones:

Um but and unusual, I would think, for a musetta and unusual.

Charlotte Siegel:

Yeah, so the first time. But the beautiful thing I remember, the first time I, when I got the role I was looking, I was intimidated by the legend that is musetta. You know the over-the-top sexy like everyone watch me character. I was intimidated. But the beautiful thing about opera and Puccini is that he gives you everything and I always used to roll my eyes and people be like it's all in the score, do it as written. I'm like okay, whatever. But really Puccini puts it all there for you, all the comedic moments, even the writing she's supposed to be kind of annoying at the beginning where he sets it for a soprano. It all is there for you and so it's so fun diving into her again.

Michael Jones:

You sang it two years ago at the COC, is that right?

Charlotte Siegel:

About a year and a half. Yeah, yeah, yeah, two years ago 2025.

Michael Jones:

Is it different for you now and if so, how?

Charlotte Siegel:

it's different because, as a young singer, your voice is always evolving, so a lot happens. A lot can happen in a week versus a year and a half. So I'm, when I come back, I'm always trying to find ways to put it into my voice now, and so I've found that I'm leaning into having her be grounded and steady, both in my voice and in my character, even though she's like fast and quick, um, outwardly, but she's secure and she knows who she is, and so I'm trying to bring that both into my technique and my character portrayal.

Michael Jones:

A lot of what Puccini writes for her, and now you know this role far better than I do, but my impression of a lot of what Puccini writes for her is that it is very, very quick, very articulated and very. So what do you do technically, as you're doing that in order to keep it grounded?

Charlotte Siegel:

It's as my teacher would say, it's all in the inhale, it's always in the preparation. If you have a good like, you actually calculate the amount of time you need to breathe properly into a slow, grounded breath and then you go. If you breathe with her character intentions too much, then you actually find that you're not allowing the breath to fully enter the body or to fully move the all the parts of the body that need to be moved to have an operatic sound. So I found I really need to calculate in different moments when I need to start my breath where I need, and then also you can have fun with it too. You're like, okay, well, maybe in this like two bar phrase, I don't want such a grounded sound.

Charlotte Siegel:

I'm gonna have her be a little bit more shrill, but it's you really have to to pick it, pick and choose, or else you know she sings so many b's in act two, like you can, you can hurt yourself by the time you get to the end. So you really, even though it's a, it's a short part, it's it's a demanding part. So, yeah, I'm really trying to to lean into the preparation before the singing. Well, it's also a fun part.

Michael Jones:

you talk about it being a short part and it's also a fun part. You talk about it being a short part and certainly she's not on stage as much as Mimi is, which we've already heard and I'll throw it there for casting directors this is for your future. We want some Mimis too. I would think she's a fun type of a role. She's not on stage for a great deal of time, but when she's there I suspect you have impact.

Charlotte Siegel:

Oh, yeah, she's packing all the punches and, yeah, it's really great to play a character that is fireworks and when she moves, people watch her and follow and it changes the way you walk and the way you move and that's really fun.

Michael Jones:

You're in the rehearsal process now. Where are you in your process?

Charlotte Siegel:

Yes, we've staged the big act, two party number, the big scene, so that's always really fun, and we've done her big breakup scene, which is actually my favorite moment, um, in the show, at the act three quartet. And uh, today we'll be doing mimi's death, which is my absolute favorite part, and you get a different side to musetta. She's not, you know, she, she. She cares for her friends, she cares for all of them deeply. And you see, um, the non-performance side of musetta what is this?

Michael Jones:

what? What's in store in this production in winnipeg? What does it look like? Have you had fittings? Have you seen sets? Have?

Charlotte Siegel:

you, it's a traditional production. I believe it comes from Edmonton. Beautiful sets you know, café Momus is always this gorgeous Paris, parisian café scene. Beautiful sets my costume, the act two is this gorgeous big red gown and it's going to be really hard to move in um.

Charlotte Siegel:

But yeah I've had fittings. Yeah, I've had one and I'll have another one because she has three different looks. But I think the most beautiful thing about this production, and what is always so beautiful about Bohème, is it's such an ensemble show and if you have the right chemistry between the characters, it's always so touching. And it's about young, struggling artists and we have a lot of young Canadians in this cast. I actually knew quite a few of the people already know quite a few people in the cast, so it's really fun to bounce off their energy and feel the organic chemistry and I hope that's what audiences will see when we open.

Michael Jones:

So who are you meeting up with again from your training, from the ensemble studio? Who's in this that you know and love?

Charlotte Siegel:

well, alex halliday and I who's playing colina were in the ensemble at the exact same time. Clarence fraser did the ensemble uh, before my time, but has been around coc while I was there, so I've worked with him a few times as well. I've met suzanne taffo like in passing, so I kind of knew her. I did a beethoven nine with zach a couple years ago and I've worked with the director, anna theodosakis, a number of times, so oh, that's already like quite quite a bunch that's a lot.

Michael Jones:

That's, in fact, most of your cast, everyone except your marcello. So you didn't know your marcello who is. Who is your marcello?

Charlotte Siegel:

hugo Laporte, from Quebec City, a beautiful, beautiful singer, and you know Anna knows what she's doing, so there's going to be some awesome fireworks up on stage for that power duo.

Michael Jones:

Well, it sounds like a really wonderful production. Are you enjoying your time in Winnipeg?

Charlotte Siegel:

I am. I've been to Winnipeg before and everyone kept saying, oh, winterpeg, winterpeg. But you know what? It's so sunny here that I think I prefer cold and sunny. I actually have energy to go out into the world, um, but the people are so nice here, the company is lovely here and I'm staying um with a someone I consider a really, really good friend and, yeah, so it's been a little bit.

Michael Jones:

That's very nice. Then, before we go and talk about what's up in the future for you, I want to talk about your training. I'm going to go back to your training. In childhood. You said you took piano, you sang in choirs. Where were you doing this?

Charlotte Siegel:

Were you in in toronto?

Charlotte Siegel:

Yeah, born and raised in toronto, I was lucky enough to attend the regent park school of music, which is now called the community music schools of toronto because they have a few locations now they've expanded um, they're an organization that offers subsidized music lessons for youth, so it's based on parental income, so you have people paying as little as a dollar for a lesson, and so I was raised by a single mom.

Charlotte Siegel:

We didn't have a lot of money growing up, but she really wanted to make sure that my sister and I had opportunities and everything. We did swimming, we did piano, we did voice, we did swimming, we did piano, we did voice, we did skiing like she had us in everything. She found a way to have us in everything, and so I was lucky enough to do um, piano, choir theory and then later voice at the Regent Park School of Music, and I was there until I was 18. I studied with Zorana Sadiq, who, who is still an incredible soprano, does a lot of her own writing and stuff in Toronto, and music education and access to it still is a very, very important thing to me to this day.

Michael Jones:

Is that where the genesis came from for the Marigold Music Program?

Charlotte Siegel:

this came from for the Marigold Music Program, absolutely because I know in my bones that I would not be sitting here talking to you if I didn't have access to these kinds of programming when I was younger, and also I had people in my life that recognized my talent and really pushed and fostered it. And so, with a few of my colleagues during the pandemic, you know, a lot of people were finally talking about lots of different social injustices happening in the world or waking up to it. We had known about them, of course, and felt different versions of it at the university. We, what can we do, um, before you get to the university? It has to come before, because I talked to a number of professors that were saying we just don't have diverse applicants and you need to have to get into the university of toronto. You need to have, like grade eight, piano and theory and already know a lot about classical music or whatever program you're applying for before you can even get in at 18.

Charlotte Siegel:

And so we decided that we wanted to create the Miracle Music Program. We run three different programs we have a summer music intensive, we have a mentorship program and we have a partnership with levels from 14 to 18. And we interview them and we hire faculty based on their interests. So we might have one student who plays a little bit of piano but is also interested in the bass and we might hire a bass instructor to give them a few lessons. And we do resume building and theory and in all in the hopes that they have exposure to the different kinds of skills that they might need to go into classical music or just to become an active participant or an audience member in different kinds of music.

Charlotte Siegel:

And it starts with access and exposure. And just an example we got to bring a group of the marigolds to see carmen while I was still at the coc and they got to talk to the general director and and do a backstage tour and they loved carmen and they were reacting so enthusiastically. A number of them were like I want to be up on that stage, I want to do it and it's as simple as that being able to have access to these incredible arts performances and education that is available. Yeah, and it's really inspiring to see the students go through and some of them go into music and some of them just continue to love classical music or jazz as they're exposed to new things and it's really exciting that's no, that is wonderful.

Michael Jones:

So that is the marigold music project. Is that right? Where can I listen, find out more about it?

Charlotte Siegel:

the marigold music program.

Michael Jones:

Is there a website? Where can our listeners find it?

Charlotte Siegel:

You can find it on wwwmarigoldmusicprogramcom. You can find us there. Yes, and we're in our charity application process and we're going on year five and it's all very exciting. We're going to have a beautiful concert. We always have a concert to wrap up the Summer Music Intensive and you can find information there or on our Instagram, which is also Marigold Music Program.

Michael Jones:

And you are in the process of registering for charitable status.

Charlotte Siegel:

Yes, we should be handing in that application by the end of this week.

Michael Jones:

So watch for that. Any of our listeners who have potential to make donations, that would be a really good opportunity and an incredibly worthy cause. I applaud you for that work you're doing, but I also I think I owe the biggest applause to your mother, who is probably the reason that so much of this happened.

Charlotte Siegel:

Absolutely. It also just shows how important it is to have someone in your corner, because a lot of people don't have that. Um, you, whether you have money or not, you need to have someone who is invested in your future, and that actually is why we have the mentorship program. So, from the summer music intensive, we don't just leave you, we keep you year-round and we meet with you once a week or other. Industry professionals and usually it's my friends who are interested in volunteering their time who meet with the kids one-on-one, and then we do monthly events in the city to bring them to different concerts, and that's great yeah, that's really really yeah.

Michael Jones:

Shout out to my mom always. Well, no, absolutely, and for a single mother to make sure that you had those opportunities to make sure.

Charlotte Siegel:

That's really really great, yeah, shout out to my mom always.

Michael Jones:

Well, no, absolutely. And for a single mother to make sure that you had those opportunities, to make sure your sister had those opportunities. It's incredible and so huge bravos to her for helping you become the person that you are now Charlotte. So you're in Winnipeg. Person that you are now, charlotte, so you're in Winnipeg. Um, your show there runs. Labo M in Winnipeg runs April 5th, 9th and 11th. Tickets and information at mboperaca. What's next for you after that?

Charlotte Siegel:

oh, I'll be making my Vancouver Symphony debut. I debut, I'm so excited for that. This will be my first time singing in Vancouver and I'll be doing a Beethoven 9. And then I'll be spending the summer in San Francisco at the Merrill Opera Program and that's pretty much right after Vancouver, and I love San Francisco. I've only been one time before, so You've done Merrill before. No, I've only been one time before.

Michael Jones:

So, uh, this is a job, marilla before no, I've never done Marilla.

Charlotte Siegel:

I just went to visit a friend in San Francisco many years ago and, uh, but Marilla opera program is a dream program of mine. I've auditioned before but, um, this year I got in and so I'm excited to spend this summer exploring Donizetti for the first time have you seen Donizetti?

Michael Jones:

I actually, years ago, yeah, at San Francisco Opera I managed to hear Renee Fleming sing Annabellina no way I'm so jealous so what are you singing?

Charlotte Siegel:

I'll be singing some anna bolena, so we're wonderful yeah, that's funny. Um, yeah, and it will be my first time doing I mean, I did donizetti when I was younger, but like more of the ena roles, um, and so I mean three queens, that's no, that's no joke. So I'm very excited we're doing the act one finale and then we have like an american song recital, and I'm very excited for all the coachings that I'll be able to get there yeah, and anything else in the future that you're allowed to talk about uh, not too much.

Charlotte Siegel:

I have a brahms coming up, but I yeah, I'll just I'll leave it there okay, that's totally fine.

Michael Jones:

Um, what are? Rather than talking about what you are planning, what are your dream roles? What do you really want to do?

Charlotte Siegel:

I'm having so much fun with men on, let's go right now. Um, I started working on that so that the her final aria last summer and it just feels like it fits like a glove. So I'm having a lot of fun doing that. But I, if you can't guess, I'm a puccini verity girl. It's in my soul so I'm like, just give me them all. I'd love a chance to sing her. I love Othello, desdemona Verdi, um the the Donizetti queens there's so much. Even like Marguerite Faust, um there's so much. But I really hope that my career is mostly Puccini Verdi with an Italian awkward girl yeah, I spent, uh, I spent a month.

Charlotte Siegel:

I just recently spent a month in Florence taking an Italian course, because that's my voice type, loves the like dramatic Italian rep, um romantic rep, and I'm happy about that because that's also what I love. So we'll see.

Michael Jones:

I think that sounds very exciting. So you know maybe that that Violetta is in there too and your 30 minute ovation in Munich, right?

Charlotte Siegel:

Let's see.

Michael Jones:

I think it's just about the work, though. Let's, let's find you the roles, that, that that you, you the roles that, that, that you, that set sit well and that feel just the nicest in your voice. So, yeah, I wish you all luck for that. Um, I'm conscious of your time. You're in rehearsals, so I want to move quickly and do just a little speed round so we can learn more about you. You started as a singer, songwriter. What, what non-classical music are you listening to right now?

Charlotte Siegel:

Right now the new Lady Gaga album is on repeat, Still trying to decide if I like it or not, but I'm usually such a big Lady Gaga fan but you got to give it a couple of listens, but it's been on repeat.

Michael Jones:

So you're still working on the Gaga Music theatre roles that you loved, that you grew up wanting to sing. Christine Daae, you spoke about.

Charlotte Siegel:

Yes, all the roles in Rent. I was absolutely obsessed with Rent. We watched it without our parents knowing in my friend's basement because it's a great at r, and I wanted to say maureen and mimi and joanne um for those of our listeners that don't know, maureen is modeled after musetta, so it feels very appropriate this week.

Charlotte Siegel:

It does Both Alphaba and Glinda. I loved Ragtime. I loved Les Mis. I used to do my chores to that soundtrack and I'd be singing like sweeping and look down, look down, don't look them in the eye. Yeah, I'm so obsessed with Les Mis. What else I love? Jason Robert Brown, the Last Five Years, bridges of Madison County. I just I used to listen to Avenue Q all the time.

Michael Jones:

Anyway, yeah, Bridges of Madison County has spectacular music for legit soprano too. Yes, it's just stunning. So there is a world where you can still sing those roles.

Charlotte Siegel:

Yes, I hope so. I really hope there's some musical theater in my future.

Michael Jones:

That would be. That would be a really lovely change from the Desdamenas and the Leonoras. Just some other quick things your your guilty pleasure food.

Charlotte Siegel:

Well, I'm always sweet over savory and I would always choose dessert over dinner. So my guilty pleasure is cookies, and I'm a big baker. I love to bake.

Michael Jones:

That's one of my favorite pastimes, so yeah, Do you get to bake where you're staying in winnipeg?

Charlotte Siegel:

yeah, I just bought some ingredients yesterday, so if the cast is nice, maybe I'll.

Michael Jones:

No, I'm kidding, they're lovely well, all the cast members who listen to this are now going to be wondering if, if the cookies don't arrive. I think that that really is the time that we have today. First of all, I'll thank all of our listeners for joining us again for this episode. I want to thank Charlotte for being with us. It was such a treat to meet with you to learn more about you. Where can our listeners go if they want to hear you online?

Charlotte Siegel:

They can go to my Instagram, I believe. If you Google me, there's a whole bunch of stuff on YouTube, whether I like it or not. So I believe there's stuff on YouTube that I can't get rid of, but you can find most of what's coming up on my Instagram, charlotte and Siegel, which will also lead you to my website.

Michael Jones:

Super. Thank you so much for being with us today, charlotte and toi, toi, toi for LabOM.

Charlotte Siegel:

Thank you so much.