Raised in Harlem, NY Noah Stewart was first exposed to classical music as a middle school student performing as a member of his school's choir. There his choir director recognized his potential and encouraged him to pursue singing as a career. In his last year of junior high he entered into a competition under the vocal division and won first place.
While in high school he continued to sing in choir at the La Guardia High School for Performing Arts where he sang as a Tenor. “I was bad,” he said, recalling what it was like for him. On his first day of choir all the students laughed at him after the choir director pointed out that he was sitting in the wrong section, “I was sitting with all the all girls in the alto section and the director asked me what was I doing and told me that I was a supposed to be sitting with the tenors” While attending La Guardia High school he was introduced to many forms of music, including opera.
In his second year he attended the Harlem school of Arts where he studied music. As a student he received free tickets to events at the Lincoln Center and MET. He also enrolled in an opera workshop, He felt that opera opened up a new world for him, “opera was play time for me” he said “In order to be a good opera singer you have to have a good imagination because opera brings you into a whole new world.” At the end of his senior year he auditioned for Juilliard and got in on a full ride. The first two years at Juilliard weren’t stressful on the young opera singer “It wasn’t that difficult because I had such great preparation in high school, my school had a lot of resources I felt very prepared”.
While in college he continued studying opera both inside and outside of school attending free concerts at the MET and Lincoln Center whenever he could. He also attended the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, an 8-week festival held during the summer, twice during the first half of his career as a college student. When thinking about his time in Colorado he explained how he liked working in the different setting because it gave him a chance to learn more about music and work on his art. He also felt it gave him the chance to figure out who he was as a person as well as an artist. His last years at Juilliard weren’t as easy “It was intense, there were 8 undergrads in the vocal program 2 of us graduated on time, 2 stayed behind and the others dropped the program he explained.
At the age of 21 Noah graduated from Juilliard and auditioned for the Manhattan School of Music but decided not to go because he really wanted to sing he also felt he needed a break from the pressure of the conservatory environment. He explained to me how all his friends got jobs very young and how it was harder for him to start his career because his voice was not finished developing. “So I took a year off which of course became three-like it always does” he said with a laugh. During that time Noah waited tables, worked as a receptionist at Carnegie hall, and worked retail. “ What a lot of people don’t realize is how expensive it is to start a singing career” he said and “I thought I wouldn’t sing because my voice was out of shape” he said, explaining what it was like for him after making the decision to get back into singing.
After hiring and working with his current vocal coach he auditioned for the Academy of Vocal Arts and got in. He later moved to Philadelphia for 8 months then moved back to New York after discovering that it wasn’t for him. He then auditioned for the San Francisco Opera’s summer apprentice program. “That summer completely changed everything,” he said referring to his acceptance into the program and the time he spent there. “I was more mature, people took more notice of me”. While working with the San Francisco Opera he appeared in “Transformations”, a modern opera, soon after he was invited to join the opera house’s young artists program.
He stayed with the company for three years and made his professional debut there in the world premiere of the opera “Appomattox” by Philip Glass “That’s when people really started to take notice of me.” Shortly after that he was scheduled to sing the secondary tenor role in the opera “Macbeth”, which he claimed was his springboard into professional opera. During the last performance of the opera the tenor originally assigned to the role became sick and he had to take his place. “I only had 15 minutes to prepare but I was calm because I had a feeling something special was going to happen” the performance which was a success motivated him enough to move back to New York to get an agent to start his career.
When asked if this was the tenors first time appearing in Tosca or as Cavaradossi he replied that it was. “It’s very exciting, I’m very fortunate to be invited back after Nabucco,” he said. The singer appeared in MOT’s production of Nabucco earlier this fall. “My manager, Bernard (Uzan), is directing and this is one of the few times he gets to see me act.” The opera house is one of my favorites, its very beautiful, the cast is phenomenal and I’m lucky to have the support of Dr. D.,” he said recognizing his status as a newcomer to opera and that not many people his age would have the opportunity to sing in such roles.
When asked to describe the audition process he had to go through in order to appear as Cavaradossi he explained to me how he had sung for Dr. D in the past for a role in Carmen but didn’t get the role because he had already cast another tenor. When asked what it has been like working with the other opera singers he replied that it’s been fun, that it’s always great and that he’s happy to have a job. He also explained how he has enjoyed the cultural makeup of the cast as well as working with the smaller size. He also tells me how honored he is to share the stage with such great artists and to be working with the conductor. He also shares with me how at home he feels with Michigan Opera after his second production and how he feels he’s being spoiled.
When asked what he felt was the hardest part about being an opera singer he replied being alone. Not being able to share great moments and experiences with people. He tells me how he believes it’s harder on him because he comes from a social family. He also tells me that as an opera singer you almost have to be social because it’s a very lonely life otherwise. The advice Noah has for aspiring opera singers is not to listen to anyone, and to keep on dreaming. He tells me that it’s hard and lonely and that no one tells you how to do it because everyone’s path is different. He also says it important to never stop believing in your self, always take advantage of the resources you have and never stop learning.
You can see Noah Stewart as Mario Cavaradossi in Michigan Opera Theatre's production of Puccini's, Tosca at the Detroit Opera House May 21 & 23.
No comments:
Post a Comment