April 12, 2024 • 25 mins
Prepare to be captivated as the extraordinary Irish-Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta graces our podcast. She makes her Carnegie Hall debut tonight singing Christian Muthspiel’s brand-new arrangement of Kurt Weill 's The Seven Deadly Sins.
Wallis, a mother and a luminary on the international opera stage, dives deep into how she successfully balances her career and motherhood. Transitioning from the personal to the professional, we turn our spotlight to the shifting tides within the opera industry.
Don't miss this resonant episode which echoes with advice, anecdotes, and the pure joy of opera.
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.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Elizabeth Bowman (00:00):
Hi, I'm Elizabeth Bowman and welcome to
the Opera Glasses podcast.
Today I have Irish-Canadianmezzo-soprano Giunta with me.
She is a very old friend ofmine.
I've known her since we wereboth kids in Ottawa.
She has gone on to have quite aremarkable career.
I see her as the quintessentialcreator.
(00:23):
She loves role creation, newworks, commissions, staging
things, everything.
So I'm really excited to bringher on as a guest.
Let's get to it! Wallis .
Welcome to the Opera Glassespodcast.
So glad we could finally makethis happen.
Me too, thank you?
Wallis Giunta (00:43):
Where are we talking to you from?
I'm in Vienna.
This is where I live at themoment, but I'm leaving in a few
days to head back to the otherside of the pond.
I'll be in North America onFriday.
Elizabeth Bowman (00:54):
Right, you are coming to New York first, or
what's the?
Wallis Giunta (00:59):
plan Houston first.
I'm on a tour with an orchestrafrom Frankfurt called Ensemble
Modern and I'll be first singingin Houston with the camera and
then stopping in New York atCarnegie Hall, which is my first
time singing there.
I'm very excited.
Great Backup vocals from mybaby over here.
She's joining us for thepodcast and she may hop into my
(01:25):
lap in a minute, but that's whatall the cooing is.
And she's coming to New York.
Yes, she's coming with.
She's five months old, so shegoes where I go.
And I did the same thing withmy first baby, my son.
He's three now, but it wasreally great for the first 18
months.
He just came with me, or Iguess, until he was uh, until he
(01:46):
stopped being free to fly.
No, when they turn two, youhave to pay for them.
Elizabeth Bowman (01:51):
Is your son going to be coming on this next
trip as well?
No, it's too expensive man.
Wallis Giunta (01:56):
He's an adult ticket.
He doesn't go anywhere anymore.
Elizabeth Bowman (02:00):
Right, you, uh , managed to balance a
performing life while also beingmarried to a performer.
So, yes, let us know yoursecrets.
What are the let's say topthree things that you would
recommend anyone considering alife and family in this
(02:20):
situation?
Wallis Giunta (02:22):
Well, I think the first merits mention that, yes,
it can work, and if you'rewondering about how you can
manage it, just trust that youcan and you will find a way,
because having a family, ifthat's something that you want
in your life, is definitelypossible and absolutely worth it
(02:44):
.
What works best for us is, well, now that we have two kids, and
that's it for us.
We're done.
But it'll be, especially whenmy baby is so young, that we
have to divide and conquer in away.
So right now, for example, I'mgoing to the States for three
weeks and the baby comes with meand the toddler stays with my
(03:04):
husband, and we wouldn't do thatfor like long stretches of time
or you know most of the time,but we've made the decision that
once in a while, like as longas it's in balance, we divide
and conquer as opposed todragging everybody everywhere.
When my son was our only babyand he was younger, we would all
(03:25):
go together, like my husband,if he wasn't working in another
country or on a contract himself, he would come with me for my
gigs and we'd stay together as aunit.
But now it makes more sense,because our son is in
kindergarten here in Vienna, forhim to be a little bit less
transient and to just bring thebaby with me.
(03:45):
So, yeah, allowing the familyunit to be a little bit more
flexible when the kids are stillyoung, before they go to school
, is, I think, a really good wayto do it.
We're lucky in that I have apermanent position in Vienna as
well as a decent amount offreelance work, so we have the
(04:07):
stability of a salary for me anda home base for our family and,
I would say, the luxury for meof being able to go to get my
kicks doing freelance work aswell, in balance.
And my husband doesn't work asoften as I do, so he's made a
conscious choice to be more athome, like he had an opera last
(04:29):
weekend, but he does mostly staywith the kids.
So I would say that's also keyfor us that we don't both work
full time.
And if you were thinking ofhaving a family in this industry
, I would say, at least, even ifone person doesn't pull back
permanently as far as theirworkload, temporarily it would
(04:49):
be helpful if one or the otherwas part-time.
And we chose for my husband totake on that position because I
have this full-time fest job andhe was freelance only, so it
was easier for him.
Elizabeth Bowman (05:02):
So tell me a little bit about Vienna, and I
know there are many Canadianscoming in and out of Vienna.
Are you connecting with all theCanadian expat singers?
Wallis Giunta (05:12):
I am actually Well.
Alex sang just last weekendhere at the Teatro Andovine, my
husband with Josh Lovell fromCanada, another tenor.
We often see Michael Schade andI've performed with him here as
well.
We did Di Do it in the NAS.
Yeah, we see a lot of Canadiansand we know of them when
they're in town at one of thethree companies as well.
We keep our radars up for that.
(05:33):
There's also a few that livehere too and we see regularly
Not just Canadians, just ingeneral I'd say like half of
Vienna are opera singers.
So if you're in this industryand you live here, I can't even
go to the park with my sonwithout bumping into someone who
either I know or have workedwith or they know me through
someone who I've worked with.
It's really interesting, smallworld.
Elizabeth Bowman (05:55):
Yeah, it's a fantastic city.
I've been there before andnoted all the opportunities
there must be for chamber music,collaboration and you know more
more than opera.
But so many string players, somany pianists.
Wallis Giunta (06:12):
So many whole orchestras there's like I don't
know like at least 10, likeworld-class serious orchestras.
It's kind of overwhelming.
Elizabeth Bowman (06:22):
How long have you been based there now?
Wallis Giunta (06:24):
About a year and a half, but of that I've been
gone maybe six months workingelsewhere, and I've also been on
maternity leave for part of it.
So we're getting our feet in,but we haven't, like I said, we
haven't been here full timewhile we've lived here.
So I feel like we're still kindof not 100% in the community.
But it'll come.
Elizabeth Bowman (06:46):
Yeah, it's hard.
I mean it's hard to move to anytown.
Wallis Giunta (06:51):
And language barrier too, Like my, German's
not bad, but Alex's is justlearning.
So you can't just necessarilygo anywhere and hit the ground
running.
You know you have to sort of bemore strategic with building
community in that way.
We're in a lovely neighborhoodthat's relatively central.
I can bike to work in about 15minutes.
(07:12):
We have a grocery store justdown the street.
We have the kindergarten acrossthe street.
We have five different parkswithin 200 meters.
It's kind of embarrassing theamenities.
Elizabeth Bowman (07:22):
So you're still cycling everywhere.
Wallis Giunta (07:25):
I mean, you can't not.
It's amazing.
It's so well set up theinfrastructure for cyclists.
Elizabeth Bowman (07:30):
Do you have one of those bikes with the
attachment with the kid thingbehind?
Wallis Giunta (07:35):
Yeah Well, my husband has it mounted on his
the seat on the back, but wewant to get one of those ones
with the bucket in the frontwhere you just yes.
Everyone has those thereExactly, so that's probably
going to happen soon.
Elizabeth Bowman (07:48):
I'm having memories of our obviously for
anyone watching or listening tothe podcast I used to be
Wallace's publicist for over adecade.
Uh, and I'm having flashbacksto that feature we did in the
cycling magazine Heels on Wheels.
Was that?
I don't know.
I think that was it.
Wallis Giunta (08:09):
And when we did that, I was at the time, I think
, working in Toronto or had juststopped working at a bike shop
which I was at for years, andthey sold those bucket bikes in
Toronto because they importedall of the bikes from Europe.
That's the type of store theyare and I used to sell those to
people in like bougieneighborhoods in Toronto and be
(08:30):
like this is the future, man,what?
was the bike shop in Toronto,the curbside cycle in Toronto,
yeah, but I mean they were soahead of the game for North
America.
But they've been doing thathere in Europe for 50 years.
Elizabeth Bowman (08:46):
They've got the infrastructure built in and
now we're working backwardsTrying to get it put in.
Wallis Giunta (08:54):
It's kind of hard to retrofit a North American
city, Also for opera.
You kind of have to retrofitculture into North American
lives because it's notnecessarily a given that people
are going to get it.
Elizabeth Bowman (09:06):
So tell me, you were just in Canada.
You were singing the title rolein Carmen.
Wallis Giunta (09:11):
I was, yes, in Montreal.
It was wonderful.
Elizabeth Bowman (09:14):
Tell me a little bit about that experience
.
Wallis Giunta (09:16):
So I was working with the Orchestre
Philharmonique des Chœurs deMélomane, which is an
organization in Montreal run byFrancis Chouinard.
They are quite remarkable.
Actually, what they do but it'sFrancis's vision is for the
orchestra to really connect withpeople people that wouldn't
normally go to opera and to givepeople an opportunity also to
(09:38):
perform in the orchestra andchoir who wouldn't always be
able to do that sort of thing asa full-time professional.
So we had a fantastic cast.
My Don José was my previous COCensemble colleague, Adam Luther
, and he was incredible.
So that was really exciting.
We did two semi-stagedperformances at the Maison
(10:01):
Symphonique in Montreal.
It gave us a lot of flexibilityin how we performed.
We were in front of theorchestra, we had props and some
costumes and it was fullystaged, just without a set.
And I really love the freedom inthat format.
Elizabeth Bowman (10:16):
Yeah, that format is really prevailing
lately, especially with budgetconstraints and that kind of
thing.
It allows people to reallyenjoy opera with lower
production costs and thereforelower ticket costs.
So there are definitelyarguments for it.
Wallis Giunta (10:30):
Yeah, and I think it gives an immediacy too,
because you're right there inthe front of the stage and
you're.
There's nothing between you andthe audience.
It's kind of organic too.
You know, if I, as theperformer, feel like I want to
connect with someone or I reallyneed to go somewhere or do
something, you're not locked in.
You just it's like a concertwith benefits, man.
Elizabeth Bowman (10:50):
I just asked chat GPT.
What should I ask Wallis i onon on Junta on a Wallis podcast
Giunta When interviewing WallaceJunta on your podcast podcast,
consider asking her about herjourney as an opera singer.
How does it know?
I'm an opera singer her favoriteroles or performances,
challenges she's faced in theindustry, her approach to
(11:13):
interpreting differentcharacters, advice for aspiring
singers and any upcomingprojects or collaborations, and
her thoughts on the future ofopera in the modern world.
Wow, wallis, chat GPT has gotyou down.
I didn't realize it wouldactually give me a real answer.
Well, let's focus on one thinghere, or maybe two of these
(11:35):
things.
What are some challenges you've?
Wallis Giunta (11:38):
faced?
Yeah, there've been a few.
I mean there's been sexualharassment and assault, so I
guess I've been lucky that ithasn't been too life altering,
like I would say more on theannoying and stressful end of
the spectrum than like trulytraumatic.
Elizabeth Bowman (11:58):
Do you think?
Do you think it's gettingbetter now that the #Me Too
movement?
Wallis Giunta (12:02):
has.
I do, I do.
Yeah, I think what's changing?
It's less.
Unfortunately, I don't thinkit's so many.
How do I say this?
People who would historicallyhave perpetuated the harassment
and assault are becomingconscious of the fact that
they're not allowed to do thatanymore.
But I don't necessarily see ahuge seismic shift in the actual
(12:28):
perspective and mentality fromthat same group.
I still think that if theythought they could get away with
it, they would, but they're notdoing it because they don't
want to face the consequences,as opposed to they genuinely
have had a change of heart andwhatnot.
For the latter to happen, Iguess we just need more time.
Elizabeth Bowman (12:50):
Do you think that the younger generation
coming up, there's more hope forthem?
Wallis Giunta (12:55):
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But we'll need a fewgenerations, I think, before you
don't have to worry about whatsomeone might be thinking or
intending.
You know, I feel relativelysafe now with colleagues that I
don't have to keep an eye outfor a stray hand or anything
like I maybe did five to 10years ago.
But I do still think that,especially in the older
(13:19):
generations in our industryright now, they don't appreciate
the shift or think it wasnecessary.
They think that it's a lot ofpeople crying wolf and overdoing
it, exaggerating things.
Elizabeth Bowman (13:31):
But it'll take time when we were growing up.
We're a similar age I'm alittle older but when we were
growing up it certainly haschanged dramatically.
The perspective, right?
I mean when I used to be ahostess at some restaurant when
I was 20 or 19 or something likethat Same yeah in Ottawa.
(13:51):
Yeah, also in Ottawa, and therewas regular moments of
inappropriate actions.
Entitlement we go our direction, which was just expected, and
now that's very much not okay,which is really refreshing.
(14:12):
But, like you say, I meanpeople have grown up in this, or
some people have had most oftheir lives with that
expectation that that is playfulor that is that is harmless all
those things, and even when wewere young and it was happening,
it was incredibly uncomfortable.
Wallis Giunta (14:31):
So yeah, but it was, it was your job to deal
with it and not not make a sceneor or embarrass yourself by not
being okay with it.
And I guess what I'm sayingabout our industry now is, in
reality, the people that holdthe positions of power, the
conductors, a lot of the maledirectors, intendants, that kind
(14:54):
of thing are in the generationstill of boomers plus, who grew
up with it being okay to breakinto someone's physical comfort
zone and or literally assaultthem.
But it's less and less and,like you said, they're not doing
it now because they know theycan't.
Elizabeth Bowman (15:14):
But well, most of them yeah, and now that we
have this younger generationgrowing up with the narrative
that it's absolutely not okay,that will eventually shift as
they take on leadership rolesand forge a healthier path for
(15:35):
our industry and also just forany other industry as well.
Tell me about, okay.
You've always been a creator inmy mind, not necessarily
forging a very traditional pathin opera.
I mean, you do have a festcontract right now and that's
traditional in most careersenses, but you've always been
(15:56):
someone with wheels turning inyour head about how to create
projects, how to collaboratewith certain people and
organizations and things likethat.
Can you tell us a bit aboutprojects you have going on in
your head right now, or onesthat you hope to do, or ones
that might be in the works, oranything that we can?
Wallis Giunta (16:16):
get here.
It's interesting that youmentioned the fest that I have
as being on the moreconventional side, and yes it is
, but it's a kind of a specificsituation and the reason I
accepted it is because I startedat the same time as the new
artistic director here in Viennaat the Volkshofer, lotte de
Bier, who is a stage directorI've worked with in the past as
(16:38):
a guest at various houses andshe is a visionary and she is a
creator, and when she offered methis job she said I want you to
come and work here because I'mcreating a team of people that
will be able to work with me tocreate and make these visions
come to life and build somethingdifferent.
(17:00):
And so this is only my secondseason and I admittedly have
spent half of it on mat leave,but last year I was a part of
her first season at the house,and when you have a regime
change, you don't actually, asthe new leader, you don't
actually have full control overwhat happens in your first year,
(17:21):
because a lot of it would havebeen planned before you started.
But even in her first year wedid a world premiere of a new
opera by Moritz Egert and I hadone of the lead roles in that,
die letzte Verschwörung, dealingwith conspiracy theories.
So that was really exciting.
And now my first production backafter the Baby, which I start
rehearsing in a couple of weeks,is a premiere here in Austria
(17:45):
of John Adams' the GospelAccording to the Other, mary and
I sing the title role in that.
And next year I know we'recreating another piece with our
principal guest conductor, omerMeyer-Velber, a collaboration
between a few different mediumtogether and a couple like a
mashup of a couple of differentstyles and genres of music.
(18:07):
That so he's creating somethingquite original and I have a
lead role in that.
And so I'm in this fest, thisparticular one, because it's
going to give me the chance toflex those muscles and be more
creative and more involved.
And then, outside of this job,I am actually working on a
commission with a Canadianlibrettist, royce Fabric.
(18:30):
Well, I don't want to say toomuch about it, but we are
building something with the workof a group of composers
actually, and when it comes tolife, it's going to be very
exciting.
I also have a CD that I'verecorded, that I'm working on
editing to release, and it dealswith motherhood and was
(18:51):
recorded while I've beenpregnant.
So that's coming whenever I canmanage.
It Got a little bit of timeconstraints right now with the
new baby and all that, but ingeneral, like you said, what
gets me going in this job is newchallenges, new directions and
(19:13):
stretching myself, you know,really flexing my muscles as
much as I can and not justsitting back and going.
I'll sing another Mozart opera,I'll sing another Rossini, like
yes, that, but I need, I reallyneed to grow, I need to learn,
and to do that you have to putyourself out of your comfort
zone.
Elizabeth Bowman (19:32):
Yeah, you need to create, really create, like
collaborate with the composer,the librettist, the whole thing.
I see it in you.
Wallis Giunta (19:43):
Throughout your career, You've always been sort
of ignited by the passion forcreating, so yeah, and I do
genuinely like new music, likeyeah, even when it's really hard
, I find it extremely gratifying, and the idea of bringing
especially a new piece to lifefor the first time.
Elizabeth Bowman (20:01):
it's so exciting something they've heard
over and, over and over againand it hasn't like sort of, you
haven't marinated in in theharmonic fabric of the music.
(20:22):
So to go in with theperspective, that is your job,
to take this music and take itoff the page and and have have
your audience understand it and,ideally, enjoy it Yep.
Wallis Giunta (20:40):
Like what I'm doing next week and then the
week after in the States is a atour of Kurt Viles the seven
deadly sins, which is myfavorite piece of music ever.
But even though that, had youknow, it was written in 1933, so
it's not that new.
But I imagine that in thevarious places I sing it because
this is a big tour we're doingover the course of the year, a
(21:02):
bunch of different cities atleast half of the audience in
every place I go won't haveheard it before because it's
it's not done that often and ifyou're not super into vile and
like looking up all hisrecordings, it's very, very
easily done that you would havenever heard this piece.
But my God, it's so incredibleand I just love it.
(21:24):
And I love how I've been ableso far in my career to do it in
different ways, like as a as asolo recital with piano, where I
created a program using it asthe center of the structure of
the recital.
I've done it as a concert workwhere it's just me and the vocal
quartet and the orchestra.
And I've done it as a fullystaged operatic ballet as it was
(21:49):
written more than once, andevery time is something
different and I like also to beinvolved in how it's presented,
like when I did it one time inSpain, I staged it and that was
just so cool.
And then also I have done itwith the Toronto Symphony in
Canada with a wonderful team ofCanadian artists and was quite
(22:11):
instrumental in the staging andthe kind of concept of that too.
And yeah, I really loveopportunities where I can be
more than just a hired gun asfar as a singer, where I can put
a bit of my own creative stampon it.
Elizabeth Bowman (22:25):
So yeah, you're right.
You're right about that.
Before I let you go, can yougive aspiring singers guiding
principles?
Wallis Giunta (22:33):
This is the good question from chat GPT.
Yeah, yeah.
And I've said this before ininterviews, but it's still the
number one thing that I wouldsay to young artists, or anyone
really young or not so young whowants to make this career work
for them.
And it's as early as possiblein your training to liberate
(22:59):
yourself from the need to pleaseyour teachers, your coaches,
those who guide you and mentoryou.
Of course you want to take onboard what they're giving you
because most of the time it'sgreat advice that can be very
helpful.
But if your whole functionduring your training is just to
(23:23):
take that advice and go thankyou very much, yes, and then
regurgitate what they have askedyou to do and and just be um
kind of automaton just doingwhat's what's right and what's
expected, it's going to take youa while to figure out who you
are as an artist and what thisindustry needs and wants and
what this industry supports most.
(23:44):
Once you get to the professionalworld is real individual
artists with something to say,and that goes.
That also goes for as singers,finding our own literal voice,
the sound that we use.
If you are trained in a way tosound like a homogenous soprano
(24:05):
or to just to sound pretty andnice, but the training that you
receive kind of guides you awayfrom your own unique sound, then
that's going to hold you backin this career, because as much
as we want great technique, youknow beautiful sounding voices,
the voices that we really keepcoming back to and that we that
(24:25):
stand the test of time, are theones that are heartbreakingly
original and definitive and thatyou can't forget.
Elizabeth Bowman (24:35):
Yeah, the audience seeks identity.
We seek that.
Wallis Giunta (24:40):
So, in your training, even from the very
first singing lesson, findingthe balance between taking on
board the training you receiveand assimilating it and
filtering it for what works andwhat doesn't work for you,
that's a skill you have to learnas well.
Yes, you know, do that process,be involved and immersed in
that process, because you needit, you need to train, but don't
(25:02):
let it hold you back fromlistening to your inner voice
and finding your actual voice,both of those things that are
the unique manifestation of whoyou are and what you have to say
artistically.
Elizabeth Bowman (25:15):
Thanks for making the time to be on the
podcast and I hope to see youwhen you are in New York.
Wallis Giunta (25:22):
Yeah, I'll be there in about a week.
Hi, I'm Elizabeth Bowman and welcome to
the Opera Glasses podcast.
Today I have Irish-Canadianmezzo-soprano Giunta with me.
She is a very old friend ofmine.
I've known her since we wereboth kids in Ottawa.
She has gone on to have quite aremarkable career.
I see her as the quintessentialcreator.
(00:23):
She loves role creation, newworks, commissions, staging
things, everything.
So I'm really excited to bringher on as a guest.
Let's get to it! Wallis .
Welcome to the Opera Glassespodcast.
So glad we could finally makethis happen.
Me too, thank you?
Wallis Giunta (00:43):
Where are we talking to you from?
I'm in Vienna.
This is where I live at themoment, but I'm leaving in a few
days to head back to the otherside of the pond.
I'll be in North America onFriday.
Elizabeth Bowman (00:54):
Right, you are coming to New York first, or
what's the?
Wallis Giunta (00:59):
plan Houston first.
I'm on a tour with an orchestrafrom Frankfurt called Ensemble
Modern and I'll be first singingin Houston with the camera and
then stopping in New York atCarnegie Hall, which is my first
time singing there.
I'm very excited.
Great Backup vocals from mybaby over here.
She's joining us for thepodcast and she may hop into my
(01:25):
lap in a minute, but that's whatall the cooing is.
And she's coming to New York.
Yes, she's coming with.
She's five months old, so shegoes where I go.
And I did the same thing withmy first baby, my son.
He's three now, but it wasreally great for the first 18
months.
He just came with me, or Iguess, until he was uh, until he
(01:46):
stopped being free to fly.
No, when they turn two, youhave to pay for them.
Elizabeth Bowman (01:51):
Is your son going to be coming on this next
trip as well?
No, it's too expensive man.
Wallis Giunta (01:56):
He's an adult ticket.
He doesn't go anywhere anymore.
Elizabeth Bowman (02:00):
Right, you, uh , managed to balance a
performing life while also beingmarried to a performer.
So, yes, let us know yoursecrets.
What are the let's say topthree things that you would
recommend anyone considering alife and family in this
(02:20):
situation?
Wallis Giunta (02:22):
Well, I think the first merits mention that, yes,
it can work, and if you'rewondering about how you can
manage it, just trust that youcan and you will find a way,
because having a family, ifthat's something that you want
in your life, is definitelypossible and absolutely worth it
(02:44):
.
What works best for us is, well, now that we have two kids, and
that's it for us.
We're done.
But it'll be, especially whenmy baby is so young, that we
have to divide and conquer in away.
So right now, for example, I'mgoing to the States for three
weeks and the baby comes with meand the toddler stays with my
(03:04):
husband, and we wouldn't do thatfor like long stretches of time
or you know most of the time,but we've made the decision that
once in a while, like as longas it's in balance, we divide
and conquer as opposed todragging everybody everywhere.
When my son was our only babyand he was younger, we would all
(03:25):
go together, like my husband,if he wasn't working in another
country or on a contract himself, he would come with me for my
gigs and we'd stay together as aunit.
But now it makes more sense,because our son is in
kindergarten here in Vienna, forhim to be a little bit less
transient and to just bring thebaby with me.
(03:45):
So, yeah, allowing the familyunit to be a little bit more
flexible when the kids are stillyoung, before they go to school
, is, I think, a really good wayto do it.
We're lucky in that I have apermanent position in Vienna as
well as a decent amount offreelance work, so we have the
(04:07):
stability of a salary for me anda home base for our family and,
I would say, the luxury for meof being able to go to get my
kicks doing freelance work aswell, in balance.
And my husband doesn't work asoften as I do, so he's made a
conscious choice to be more athome, like he had an opera last
(04:29):
weekend, but he does mostly staywith the kids.
So I would say that's also keyfor us that we don't both work
full time.
And if you were thinking ofhaving a family in this industry
, I would say, at least, even ifone person doesn't pull back
permanently as far as theirworkload, temporarily it would
(04:49):
be helpful if one or the otherwas part-time.
And we chose for my husband totake on that position because I
have this full-time fest job andhe was freelance only, so it
was easier for him.
Elizabeth Bowman (05:02):
So tell me a little bit about Vienna, and I
know there are many Canadianscoming in and out of Vienna.
Are you connecting with all theCanadian expat singers?
Wallis Giunta (05:12):
I am actually Well.
Alex sang just last weekendhere at the Teatro Andovine, my
husband with Josh Lovell fromCanada, another tenor.
We often see Michael Schade andI've performed with him here as
well.
We did Di Do it in the NAS.
Yeah, we see a lot of Canadiansand we know of them when
they're in town at one of thethree companies as well.
We keep our radars up for that.
(05:33):
There's also a few that livehere too and we see regularly
Not just Canadians, just ingeneral I'd say like half of
Vienna are opera singers.
So if you're in this industryand you live here, I can't even
go to the park with my sonwithout bumping into someone who
either I know or have workedwith or they know me through
someone who I've worked with.
It's really interesting, smallworld.
Elizabeth Bowman (05:55):
Yeah, it's a fantastic city.
I've been there before andnoted all the opportunities
there must be for chamber music,collaboration and you know more
more than opera.
But so many string players, somany pianists.
Wallis Giunta (06:12):
So many whole orchestras there's like I don't
know like at least 10, likeworld-class serious orchestras.
It's kind of overwhelming.
Elizabeth Bowman (06:22):
How long have you been based there now?
Wallis Giunta (06:24):
About a year and a half, but of that I've been
gone maybe six months workingelsewhere, and I've also been on
maternity leave for part of it.
So we're getting our feet in,but we haven't, like I said, we
haven't been here full timewhile we've lived here.
So I feel like we're still kindof not 100% in the community.
But it'll come.
Elizabeth Bowman (06:46):
Yeah, it's hard.
I mean it's hard to move to anytown.
Wallis Giunta (06:51):
And language barrier too, Like my, German's
not bad, but Alex's is justlearning.
So you can't just necessarilygo anywhere and hit the ground
running.
You know you have to sort of bemore strategic with building
community in that way.
We're in a lovely neighborhoodthat's relatively central.
I can bike to work in about 15minutes.
(07:12):
We have a grocery store justdown the street.
We have the kindergarten acrossthe street.
We have five different parkswithin 200 meters.
It's kind of embarrassing theamenities.
Elizabeth Bowman (07:22):
So you're still cycling everywhere.
Wallis Giunta (07:25):
I mean, you can't not.
It's amazing.
It's so well set up theinfrastructure for cyclists.
Elizabeth Bowman (07:30):
Do you have one of those bikes with the
attachment with the kid thingbehind?
Wallis Giunta (07:35):
Yeah Well, my husband has it mounted on his
the seat on the back, but wewant to get one of those ones
with the bucket in the frontwhere you just yes.
Everyone has those thereExactly, so that's probably
going to happen soon.
Elizabeth Bowman (07:48):
I'm having memories of our obviously for
anyone watching or listening tothe podcast I used to be
Wallace's publicist for over adecade.
Uh, and I'm having flashbacksto that feature we did in the
cycling magazine Heels on Wheels.
Was that?
I don't know.
I think that was it.
Wallis Giunta (08:09):
And when we did that, I was at the time, I think
, working in Toronto or had juststopped working at a bike shop
which I was at for years, andthey sold those bucket bikes in
Toronto because they importedall of the bikes from Europe.
That's the type of store theyare and I used to sell those to
people in like bougieneighborhoods in Toronto and be
(08:30):
like this is the future, man,what?
was the bike shop in Toronto,the curbside cycle in Toronto,
yeah, but I mean they were soahead of the game for North
America.
But they've been doing thathere in Europe for 50 years.
Elizabeth Bowman (08:46):
They've got the infrastructure built in and
now we're working backwardsTrying to get it put in.
Wallis Giunta (08:54):
It's kind of hard to retrofit a North American
city, Also for opera.
You kind of have to retrofitculture into North American
lives because it's notnecessarily a given that people
are going to get it.
Elizabeth Bowman (09:06):
So tell me, you were just in Canada.
You were singing the title rolein Carmen.
Wallis Giunta (09:11):
I was, yes, in Montreal.
It was wonderful.
Elizabeth Bowman (09:14):
Tell me a little bit about that experience
.
Wallis Giunta (09:16):
So I was working with the Orchestre
Philharmonique des Chœurs deMélomane, which is an
organization in Montreal run byFrancis Chouinard.
They are quite remarkable.
Actually, what they do but it'sFrancis's vision is for the
orchestra to really connect withpeople people that wouldn't
normally go to opera and to givepeople an opportunity also to
(09:38):
perform in the orchestra andchoir who wouldn't always be
able to do that sort of thing asa full-time professional.
So we had a fantastic cast.
My Don José was my previous COCensemble colleague, Adam Luther
, and he was incredible.
So that was really exciting.
We did two semi-stagedperformances at the Maison
(10:01):
Symphonique in Montreal.
It gave us a lot of flexibilityin how we performed.
We were in front of theorchestra, we had props and some
costumes and it was fullystaged, just without a set.
And I really love the freedom inthat format.
Elizabeth Bowman (10:16):
Yeah, that format is really prevailing
lately, especially with budgetconstraints and that kind of
thing.
It allows people to reallyenjoy opera with lower
production costs and thereforelower ticket costs.
So there are definitelyarguments for it.
Wallis Giunta (10:30):
Yeah, and I think it gives an immediacy too,
because you're right there inthe front of the stage and
you're.
There's nothing between you andthe audience.
It's kind of organic too.
You know, if I, as theperformer, feel like I want to
connect with someone or I reallyneed to go somewhere or do
something, you're not locked in.
You just it's like a concertwith benefits, man.
Elizabeth Bowman (10:50):
I just asked chat GPT.
What should I ask Wallis i onon on Junta on a Wallis podcast
Giunta When interviewing WallaceJunta on your podcast podcast,
consider asking her about herjourney as an opera singer.
How does it know?
I'm an opera singer her favoriteroles or performances,
challenges she's faced in theindustry, her approach to
(11:13):
interpreting differentcharacters, advice for aspiring
singers and any upcomingprojects or collaborations, and
her thoughts on the future ofopera in the modern world.
Wow, wallis, chat GPT has gotyou down.
I didn't realize it wouldactually give me a real answer.
Well, let's focus on one thinghere, or maybe two of these
(11:35):
things.
What are some challenges you've?
Wallis Giunta (11:38):
faced?
Yeah, there've been a few.
I mean there's been sexualharassment and assault, so I
guess I've been lucky that ithasn't been too life altering,
like I would say more on theannoying and stressful end of
the spectrum than like trulytraumatic.
Elizabeth Bowman (11:58):
Do you think?
Do you think it's gettingbetter now that the #Me Too
movement?
Wallis Giunta (12:02):
has.
I do, I do.
Yeah, I think what's changing?
It's less.
Unfortunately, I don't thinkit's so many.
How do I say this?
People who would historicallyhave perpetuated the harassment
and assault are becomingconscious of the fact that
they're not allowed to do thatanymore.
But I don't necessarily see ahuge seismic shift in the actual
(12:28):
perspective and mentality fromthat same group.
I still think that if theythought they could get away with
it, they would, but they're notdoing it because they don't
want to face the consequences,as opposed to they genuinely
have had a change of heart andwhatnot.
For the latter to happen, Iguess we just need more time.
Elizabeth Bowman (12:50):
Do you think that the younger generation
coming up, there's more hope forthem?
Wallis Giunta (12:55):
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But we'll need a fewgenerations, I think, before you
don't have to worry about whatsomeone might be thinking or
intending.
You know, I feel relativelysafe now with colleagues that I
don't have to keep an eye outfor a stray hand or anything
like I maybe did five to 10years ago.
But I do still think that,especially in the older
(13:19):
generations in our industryright now, they don't appreciate
the shift or think it wasnecessary.
They think that it's a lot ofpeople crying wolf and overdoing
it, exaggerating things.
Elizabeth Bowman (13:31):
But it'll take time when we were growing up.
We're a similar age I'm alittle older but when we were
growing up it certainly haschanged dramatically.
The perspective, right?
I mean when I used to be ahostess at some restaurant when
I was 20 or 19 or something likethat Same yeah in Ottawa.
(13:51):
Yeah, also in Ottawa, and therewas regular moments of
inappropriate actions.
Entitlement we go our direction, which was just expected, and
now that's very much not okay,which is really refreshing.
(14:12):
But, like you say, I meanpeople have grown up in this, or
some people have had most oftheir lives with that
expectation that that is playfulor that is that is harmless all
those things, and even when wewere young and it was happening,
it was incredibly uncomfortable.
Wallis Giunta (14:31):
So yeah, but it was, it was your job to deal
with it and not not make a sceneor or embarrass yourself by not
being okay with it.
And I guess what I'm sayingabout our industry now is, in
reality, the people that holdthe positions of power, the
conductors, a lot of the maledirectors, intendants, that kind
(14:54):
of thing are in the generationstill of boomers plus, who grew
up with it being okay to breakinto someone's physical comfort
zone and or literally assaultthem.
But it's less and less and,like you said, they're not doing
it now because they know theycan't.
Elizabeth Bowman (15:14):
But well, most of them yeah, and now that we
have this younger generationgrowing up with the narrative
that it's absolutely not okay,that will eventually shift as
they take on leadership rolesand forge a healthier path for
(15:35):
our industry and also just forany other industry as well.
Tell me about, okay.
You've always been a creator inmy mind, not necessarily
forging a very traditional pathin opera.
I mean, you do have a festcontract right now and that's
traditional in most careersenses, but you've always been
(15:56):
someone with wheels turning inyour head about how to create
projects, how to collaboratewith certain people and
organizations and things likethat.
Can you tell us a bit aboutprojects you have going on in
your head right now, or onesthat you hope to do, or ones
that might be in the works, oranything that we can?
Wallis Giunta (16:16):
get here.
It's interesting that youmentioned the fest that I have
as being on the moreconventional side, and yes it is
, but it's a kind of a specificsituation and the reason I
accepted it is because I startedat the same time as the new
artistic director here in Viennaat the Volkshofer, lotte de
Bier, who is a stage directorI've worked with in the past as
(16:38):
a guest at various houses andshe is a visionary and she is a
creator, and when she offered methis job she said I want you to
come and work here because I'mcreating a team of people that
will be able to work with me tocreate and make these visions
come to life and build somethingdifferent.
(17:00):
And so this is only my secondseason and I admittedly have
spent half of it on mat leave,but last year I was a part of
her first season at the house,and when you have a regime
change, you don't actually, asthe new leader, you don't
actually have full control overwhat happens in your first year,
(17:21):
because a lot of it would havebeen planned before you started.
But even in her first year wedid a world premiere of a new
opera by Moritz Egert and I hadone of the lead roles in that,
die letzte Verschwörung, dealingwith conspiracy theories.
So that was really exciting.
And now my first production backafter the Baby, which I start
rehearsing in a couple of weeks,is a premiere here in Austria
(17:45):
of John Adams' the GospelAccording to the Other, mary and
I sing the title role in that.
And next year I know we'recreating another piece with our
principal guest conductor, omerMeyer-Velber, a collaboration
between a few different mediumtogether and a couple like a
mashup of a couple of differentstyles and genres of music.
(18:07):
That so he's creating somethingquite original and I have a
lead role in that.
And so I'm in this fest, thisparticular one, because it's
going to give me the chance toflex those muscles and be more
creative and more involved.
And then, outside of this job,I am actually working on a
commission with a Canadianlibrettist, royce Fabric.
(18:30):
Well, I don't want to say toomuch about it, but we are
building something with the workof a group of composers
actually, and when it comes tolife, it's going to be very
exciting.
I also have a CD that I'verecorded, that I'm working on
editing to release, and it dealswith motherhood and was
(18:51):
recorded while I've beenpregnant.
So that's coming whenever I canmanage.
It Got a little bit of timeconstraints right now with the
new baby and all that, but ingeneral, like you said, what
gets me going in this job is newchallenges, new directions and
(19:13):
stretching myself, you know,really flexing my muscles as
much as I can and not justsitting back and going.
I'll sing another Mozart opera,I'll sing another Rossini, like
yes, that, but I need, I reallyneed to grow, I need to learn,
and to do that you have to putyourself out of your comfort
zone.
Elizabeth Bowman (19:32):
Yeah, you need to create, really create, like
collaborate with the composer,the librettist, the whole thing.
I see it in you.
Wallis Giunta (19:43):
Throughout your career, You've always been sort
of ignited by the passion forcreating, so yeah, and I do
genuinely like new music, likeyeah, even when it's really hard
, I find it extremely gratifying, and the idea of bringing
especially a new piece to lifefor the first time.
Elizabeth Bowman (20:01):
it's so exciting something they've heard
over and, over and over againand it hasn't like sort of, you
haven't marinated in in theharmonic fabric of the music.
(20:22):
So to go in with theperspective, that is your job,
to take this music and take itoff the page and and have have
your audience understand it and,ideally, enjoy it Yep.
Wallis Giunta (20:40):
Like what I'm doing next week and then the
week after in the States is a atour of Kurt Viles the seven
deadly sins, which is myfavorite piece of music ever.
But even though that, had youknow, it was written in 1933, so
it's not that new.
But I imagine that in thevarious places I sing it because
this is a big tour we're doingover the course of the year, a
(21:02):
bunch of different cities atleast half of the audience in
every place I go won't haveheard it before because it's
it's not done that often and ifyou're not super into vile and
like looking up all hisrecordings, it's very, very
easily done that you would havenever heard this piece.
But my God, it's so incredibleand I just love it.
(21:24):
And I love how I've been ableso far in my career to do it in
different ways, like as a as asolo recital with piano, where I
created a program using it asthe center of the structure of
the recital.
I've done it as a concert workwhere it's just me and the vocal
quartet and the orchestra.
And I've done it as a fullystaged operatic ballet as it was
(21:49):
written more than once, andevery time is something
different and I like also to beinvolved in how it's presented,
like when I did it one time inSpain, I staged it and that was
just so cool.
And then also I have done itwith the Toronto Symphony in
Canada with a wonderful team ofCanadian artists and was quite
(22:11):
instrumental in the staging andthe kind of concept of that too.
And yeah, I really loveopportunities where I can be
more than just a hired gun asfar as a singer, where I can put
a bit of my own creative stampon it.
Elizabeth Bowman (22:25):
So yeah, you're right.
You're right about that.
Before I let you go, can yougive aspiring singers guiding
principles?
Wallis Giunta (22:33):
This is the good question from chat GPT.
Yeah, yeah.
And I've said this before ininterviews, but it's still the
number one thing that I wouldsay to young artists, or anyone
really young or not so young whowants to make this career work
for them.
And it's as early as possiblein your training to liberate
(22:59):
yourself from the need to pleaseyour teachers, your coaches,
those who guide you and mentoryou.
Of course you want to take onboard what they're giving you
because most of the time it'sgreat advice that can be very
helpful.
But if your whole functionduring your training is just to
(23:23):
take that advice and go thankyou very much, yes, and then
regurgitate what they have askedyou to do and and just be um
kind of automaton just doingwhat's what's right and what's
expected, it's going to take youa while to figure out who you
are as an artist and what thisindustry needs and wants and
what this industry supports most.
(23:44):
Once you get to the professionalworld is real individual
artists with something to say,and that goes.
That also goes for as singers,finding our own literal voice,
the sound that we use.
If you are trained in a way tosound like a homogenous soprano
(24:05):
or to just to sound pretty andnice, but the training that you
receive kind of guides you awayfrom your own unique sound, then
that's going to hold you backin this career, because as much
as we want great technique, youknow beautiful sounding voices,
the voices that we really keepcoming back to and that we that
(24:25):
stand the test of time, are theones that are heartbreakingly
original and definitive and thatyou can't forget.
Elizabeth Bowman (24:35):
Yeah, the audience seeks identity.
We seek that.
Wallis Giunta (24:40):
So, in your training, even from the very
first singing lesson, findingthe balance between taking on
board the training you receiveand assimilating it and
filtering it for what works andwhat doesn't work for you,
that's a skill you have to learnas well.
Yes, you know, do that process,be involved and immersed in
that process, because you needit, you need to train, but don't
(25:02):
let it hold you back fromlistening to your inner voice
and finding your actual voice,both of those things that are
the unique manifestation of whoyou are and what you have to say
artistically.
Elizabeth Bowman (25:15):
Thanks for making the time to be on the
podcast and I hope to see youwhen you are in New York.
Wallis Giunta (25:22):
Yeah, I'll be there in about a week.
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