The Roller Coaster Life of Arianna Zukerman

The Roller Coaster Life of Arianna Zukerman


The roller coaster ride of GRAMMY nominated soprano Arianna Zukerman’s life has been dramatic, even by operatic standards. After growing up in an extraordinary musical family (She is the daughter of Israeli violinist, violist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman), Arianna went on to perform some of the world’s most beloved music with highly acclaimed artists. After her blossoming career reached new heights including a debut as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Levine, Arianna was diagnosed with cancer.  She won her health battle, and her singing and teaching are stronger than ever. Zukerman instills her voice students with lessons of courage from her experience. Her personal journey as well as her family history makes her upcoming performance with The Defiant Requiem Foundation deeply meaningful on multiple levels. Arianna recently opened up with Classical Singer about facing trials, surviving and turning those stories into art.

 

JB: For those who aren’t familiar with the Defiant Requiem Foundation, could you tell us a bit more about it? Do you have any personal connection with the subject matter? How has your personal experience affected your approach to the music?

AZ: The Defiant Requiem Foundation seeks to tell the stories of the artists interred in the Nazi concentration camp Terezin. It was 40 kilometers from Prague so the Jewish artists of Prague – a major artistic capitol city – came through Terezin. Amazingly, they made all kinds of art while there and a lot of it survived. The concert, Hours of Freedom, explores music composed in the camp. That always astounds me to contemplate…how they made art while surrounded by so much inhumanity.

My father’s parents were both Holocaust survivors. Their spouses were killed and they survived and met in Warsaw at the end of the war. They both had a skill that the Nazi’s deemed useful: my grandmother was a manicurist and my grandfather was a musician. He played in the Auschwitz orchestra and then when the prisoners were put on forced march out of the camps; he was forced to play accordion at night while the Nazis drank. One night he played until they all passed out and then he ran. Music saved him as it did some of the artists we profile in the concert, “Hours of Freedom.” Music is the reason I’m here – to sing music written by my grandfather’s contemporaries is deeply personal. There’s an underlying concept presented in the concert, Hours of Freedom: what could have been if these voices had not been extinguished? What would the world look like had all that incredible artistry come to maturity? The answer is unknowable, but the possibilities kind of boggle my mind.

JB: Could you tell us about the exciting things happening at Potomac Vocal Institute? How would you say your teaching has affected your performance?

AZ: So, I’m the Senior Director at the Potomac Vocal Institute. It was founded by my friend and colleague, Elizabeth Bishop, four years ago to kind of fill in the blanks of vocal education. There’s a large segment of the singing population that does not go directly from graduate school into the young artist programs of so many opera houses. These people are very talented but are maybe lacking in a few areas of their training, and we seek to help them fill those gaps and ultimately find a way into the business. 

This year we launched a 30-week program at PVI called the Professional Development Program. We’ve expanded on the à la carte curriculum that PVI has offered for the last four years, and in this fifth year have formalized what we’re doing. We’ve invited our friends and colleagues to come and teach with us, and all of us on the faculty are also actively performing. The result is a really vibrant community of singers – it’s supportive and kind and honest. I’m very proud of the work we’re doing.

I spend a lot of time helping people understand the mechanics of singing. I learn from listening to my students, and I also hold myself to the same standards I hold my students. I have to do what I tell them to do! It definitely keeps me honest.


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JB: What would you say has been the biggest personal or professional challenge you’ve had to overcome as a singer? Do you have any advice for an artist who might be facing a major obstacle?

AZ: The biggest challenge of my adult life was battling breast cancer. It changed me emotionally and physically. I had chemotherapy and multiple surgeries including a double mastectomy. It changed me completely – emotionally and physically – but those physical changes, I think actually made me a better singer. I really had to rediscover, re-learn breath and support. My daughters were three years old and six months old when I was diagnosed. I honestly just feel lucky for every day I get to be here to watch them grow up. Music helped me through the fight with cancer, and I LOVE performing; but there’s nothing like a brush with mortality to line up priorities. Is it weird to say that I care more and I care less about career stuff? My advice in dealing with obstacles is to figure out what’s important. No matter what happens in a career, life keeps going, and you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and live with the person you see. 

JB: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned specifically for singing on the concert stage? Are there any skills that opera singers need to adjust when they’re performing in a concert hall versus the opera house?

AZ: The singing part of singing a concert isn’t technically different than the singing of an opera, but I have found it to be emotionally more exposed. As an artist you don’t have a set or costumes to aid you in telling a story. If you choose to create a character in an oratorio performance (and you can choose), you stay “in it” for the entire concert and usually you’re onstage for the whole evening. You have to come in to the concert ready to go. We usually have a long rehearsal process in opera but in concert you have maybe two rehearsals and then perform the concerts. Probably most important is that the culture of the opera house and of the concert hall are different. We’re visitors in concert halls and we are at home in the opera house. It doesn’t mean we can’t move in for a while and get comfortable! I feel lucky to have started my career singing concert and recital, as well as opera. As I grew into the business, I always sang more concerts. Having grown up with instrumentalist parents, the concert world was not mysterious to me; I think it’s that comfort level that helped me.

I chair the Vocal Intensive at Wintergreen Music, and we’ve created a program that focuses on orchestral repertoire and chamber music. There is a skill set involved in singing in concert rep, and somehow we don’t really teach it. Singers are just supposed to know how to do it! The first time I sang the Messiah was with the Baltimore Symphony. I never had a chance to workshop it. Running Wintergreen allows me the opportunity to help younger singers “practice” singing orchestral repertoire. It’s not rocket science, but it’s good to have some practice with it before the stakes get super high in a career.

JB: Could you please share a piece of advice that you wish you could go back and tell your younger self before you embarked on a career as a professional musician?AZ: Boy, I wish I could tell my younger self to spend more time in awe of the incredible luck we artists have in living our passion. Also, there’s time. It always feels like we’re running out of time, but if we get to stay here in this journey around the sun, there’s time to get to the next thing, the next level, the next gig, the next discovery. There’s time.

Arianna Zukerman performs “Hours Of Freedom” with The Defiant Requiem Foundation in Atlanta on December 5th.

Jonathan Blalock

Jonathan Blalock has sung with The Santa Fe Opera, The Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, The Pacific Symphony, Memphis Symphony, PROTOTYPE Festival and Opera Hong Kong. He currently serves as The Associate Director of Development for Major and Planned Gifts at The Atlanta Opera.