From latte to La Traviata, student aspires to opera career

By Nick Ngo

Mt. Hood Community College student Evanna Bradley chose opera as her career path, knowing it would be a tough road.

She likes the music because it can have a big impact on a person and she thinks the stories of the opera are great. Bradley said the hardest part of having an opera career is understanding what you have to do, the steps you have to take to get a career, finding the right teacher and figuring out what school you need to go to.

Bradley has been attending MHCC for three years. She’s currently taking Music Theory 5, Harmonization, Choir, Orchestra, Music History and German 102. She has been studying classical opera voice for about a year and a half; before that, she didn’t have a focused area in singing.

“I didn’t know for sure what I wanted to be, I didn’t think there was really much of a chance for a career in music – it’s a pretty tight field,” Bradley said.

While figuring out a career in the music business, she went through other ventures in life. Before coming to MHCC, Bradley, at one point, owned a coffee shop for about a year.

The shop was called the Boogie Woogie Bean in Fairview. She had to close down because there were problems with the building.

“When I came back to school, I started singing again and I decided that’s what I really wanted to do, so I should just go for it,” she said. “What happens happens. If I give it everything I’ve got, then hopefully something good will come out of it.”

People had suggested she try singing classical. She was also encouraged by Marshall Tuttle, the director of the string ensemble. She started to take it seriously.

One of the opera composers Bradley admires is Giussepe Verdi, who wrote the opera “La Traviata.” She describes it as one of her favorite operas because of the way it is written and the music. “It’s really pretty to listen to,” she said.

Another opera piece that Bradley likes is “Die Zauberflöte,” or “The Magic Flute” by Mozart. Last summer she went backpacking through Europe and watched the production. She said people who don’t occasionally listen to classical music can get into it a little easier by watching this opera.

“It’s a really good opera. It’s really good for people that aren’t familiar with opera because it’s funny and it has a lot of serious moments, too,” Bradley said.
She also listens to Kristen Flagstad quite a bit; she was famous for singing in the Wagner operas. Bradley likes to listen to different women singers so she can hear the things they do in their songs, pick up on it and transfer it to her own performance. Lately she has been listening to Renata Tebaldi.

Bradley hasn’t always been interested in classical music. She grew up listening to 1960s popular music. When she got a little older, she developed a taste for a different variety of music, such as world fusion, alternative, punk and classical.

“I always had an eclectic taste,” Bradley said.

Since she has been studying music theory, she came to appreciate classical music a lot more. Now she’s really into it, and learning more about it.

“Everything I do is kind of connected. Music theory helps me with singing. I’m learning to play the violin and that helps me with my musicality and rhythm. Learning music history helps me understand the composer and where they are coming from,” Bradley said. “How they wrote their music helps me understand how I should perform it. If I understand what the composer is trying to do in the piece, then I can understand what ideas I’m suppose to bring to the audience through my singing.”

Last spring, she sang with the choir the entire last act of “Dido Eneas” by Henry Percell. She sang the role of Dido. Bradley also sang in a church choir and at Clackamas Community College during high school for a year.

Opera can be sung in a diverse array of languages such as Italian, German, Russian, French and some are in English. Bradley is taking a German class and learning Italian outside of school to learn the general meaning of words and pronunciation. For Italian, she took a conversational class in the evenings here at MHCC. From there she studied the textbook.

“It’s challenging but not hard,” Bradley said.

Besides toning her skills in school, she also takes private lessons outside of school.

When practicing, she sings outside of class for 25 to 30 minutes a day. But Bradley spends most of her time studying the music itself, to make sure she has the correct rhythm. She also spends time on the language, how she says the word and if she did it correctly. She said singing incorrectly too much and for too long can hurt oneself in the end.

“Because you’re singing all the time, if you’re not doing it right, you can hurt yourself,” Bradley said. “It’s about technique. You have to learn the right technique, just like an athlete learns the correct way to do something. I have to apply what I learn from my lessons correctly.”

This takes up most of her spare time, yet she still finds time to hang out with her friends. Other hobbies include making stained glass, shopping and coffee.
She’s going to be finished with the music program this spring. Bradley hopes to go to a school that has at least three productions a year. She’s planning on auditioning next year at Oklahoma State.