Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 4 Siegfried

her singing voice, her father brought her to a local teacher, for whom she auditioned with the ballad "Moon River." She eventually fell in love with classical repertoire, “and once I found that I sang it well, it just seemed natural to go to school and study it.” She did so at Indiana University. Her mentor there – as for so many other successful singers – was Wagner soprano Margaret Harshaw, at that time one of America's most formidable voice teachers. Early on, Faulkner discovered her own gift for teaching. After two semesters on the Northern Arizona University faculty, she got a tenure-track position at Iowa State, “but something in me said, ‘Sing for the Met Auditions and see what happens.’” She was a national winner in the 1985 competition. “When I came back to my dressing room, there were ten agents’ cards on my table. The next day I had signed with one!” Within barely a year she’d made her European debut, singing Mozart’s La finta giardiniera in Lyon. Choosing to build her career initially in supporting roles, the young soprano accepted an ensemble position at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, “where I knew I’d be around the greatest singers on the planet.” She discovered her core repertoire when the house assigned her 16 (!) roles in challenging operas by Richard Strauss to learn in one year (“It was amazing and life-changing”). In both Munich and Vienna, Faulkner triumphed in Strauss’s Capriccio, Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella , and Der Rosenkavalier , scoring great successes in Mozart as well. Her career path came full circle in 1994, when she returned to the Met to star as Arabella in her company debut. During nearly 15 years of singing in Europe, Faulkner continued to teach. After family circumstances brought her back to Wisconsin, a faculty position became available at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she jumped at it. A decade later she was a tenured professor. Looking back, she firmly believes that “what happened was for the best and had a purpose.” During her UW-Madison years, Faulkner also took private students, including a soprano who, beginning at age 15, commuted from Milwaukee for lessons. Seven years later, Emily Pogorelc is now a first-year Ryan Opera Center member who, earlier this year, won the “Most Promising Talent” award at the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup competition in England and debuted at Washington National Opera as Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide . “I remember being in awe of Julia,” says Pogorelc. “She was a great teacher, and also so wonderful to be around – she had amazing energy. I loved singing, but didn’t know what to do with it. Julia saw someone who was willing 16 | November 3 - 16, 2018 L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O (Clockwise from right) Faulkner's first publicity shot; Met debut in the title role of Arabella , 1994; as Gutrune in Götterdämmerung, Vienna ; European debut: as Alice Ford in Falstaff with Jean-Philippe Lafont in the title role, Opéra de Lyon, 1986. LISA KOHLER