Women on the Verge
Theatre
Kathryn Tremills, Elizabeth McDonald, Emily Martin
Elizabeth McDonald Classical singer, trio member, voice teacher at the U of T Consecon, Ontario
What has brought you joy during this time? So many things have brought me joy – this bonus time with my family (husband Steve and two teenagers!); extra time with my trio Women on the Verge to really dig into some of the non-performing projects we have wanted to do for a long time; baking sourdough bread; gardening - I tore out a fence row and built raised vegetable beds with the split rail fence! As restrictions begin to ease, what are you looking forward to? I can’t wait to get my hair cut! I thought it was a good idea to dye my hair BRIGHT RED as a fun mother/ daughter activity since I wasn’t going to see anyone…now it’s a terrible shade of pink and I have to start recording conference videos - yikes! How has life changed? What professional opportunities are you seeing for the future?
Now there is a moral responsibility and economic imperative to be actively working on new ways to keep our industry thriving. How have you made technology work for you? The transition to musical collaboration for opera singers over a meeting platform meant to flatten the sound waves is less than ideal. Add to that the terrible internet connection available in Prince Edward County and I have been often frustrated! On the flip side, my trio has time now to flesh out ideas we have been sitting on for years. We are launching a podcast in July called “Get the Song Out” where we will interview Canadian female classical composers and highlight their work for solo voice and piano. We are also hosting a series of webinars focussed on training the classical singer post COVID-19. How has this experience affected your perception of the importance of art and artists? It took me about a month before I could listen to music after we went into quarantine. I just couldn’t do it….people kept saying it was keeping them alive and sane. For me it was doing the opposite. It was only after I moved through the grief of what my students had lost and what my own children and husband had lost that I was able to really “hear” again. This has always been my process for grief – music can be painful for me until …it isn’t.
At first, it looked like life wasn’t really changing – it felt like I was on summer vacation at home in the County except in March and with terrible weather. As we now move forward into this new “normal” future, I am working on generating This experience just reminds me that our visceral response discussion in my professional teaching community about to music, which has the power to change us, will be lasting how we train classical singers. So many of my friends and regardless of the time we are in. History shows us that art colleagues who rely on singing as their full time “gig” are and music and dance will always serve as the non-verbal without work for the foreseeable future. How can we support expression of our time. our younger singers to create resilient and flexible artist womenontheverge.ca entrepreneurs? This conversation was happening prior to the pandemic but without much reason to change our programs. Umbrella, Summer, 2020 - 12
