Back Then Larry Chabot

back then Remembering Joan Volek

by Larry Chabot

It was Christmas Eve in Ontonagon, sometime in the late 1940s. Parishioners at the Catholic church exchanged greetings as they filled the pews for midnight Mass. When the organist and choir began the first notes of the carol “Oh Holy Night,” a hush settled over the congregation, as if they knew what came next. And what came next was worth the wait...

Teenager Joan Volek, gifted with a magnificent coloratura soprano voice, sang the carol with a stunning operatic recital that resonated in every corner of the church. No one spoke as her beautiful voice brought the carol to life.

An Ontonagon native, Joan studied under Mrs. Wayne McCormick. So outstanding was her early voice that she was invited to perform on Ironwood radio station WJMS at only seven years of age.

Every Saturday, Ford dealer Harold Labyak drove her 65 miles to Ironwood for the taping, where she accompanied herself on the piano while singing a variety of works, including favorites like “Mealtime at the Zoo” and” La donna e mobile.” Then Harold would drive her back home.

Joan was highly intelligent, graduating a year early from Ontonagon High School in 1948 as the class valedictorian among 40 seniors. Naturally, she was a member of the Glee Club and school orchestra, and of course her pet peeve was “popular music.” Joan’s yearbook profile predicted her performing at the Metropolitan Opera one day, which actually came to pass. Someone penned an appropriate verse for the profile: “She’s the girl with dreamy eyes, and music in her fingers lies.”

This photo of Joan Volek as a teen is from the 1948 Ontonagon High School Yearbook.

For the record, a coloratura soprano sings the highest and one of the rarest vocal registers. Coloraturas are a breed apart. The coloratura soprano is capable of almost magical feats.

Bonnie Vidmar Colclasure has fond memories of her talented cousin.

“Those were exciting years in my aunt’s household, watching her rehearse and anticipating concerts at the Community Building,” Colclasure said. “I remember the beautiful dresses she wore for her concerts, but most of all her wonderful voice. The free music appreciation I received listening to opera instead of Elvis during those years was invaluable.”

Joan enrolled in a musical college in Chicago to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Bonnie and her aunt Eva Volek (Joan’s mother) visited Joan there one summer after a long train ride from Ontonagon.

“She was performing at an area theater, and we attended one show,” Colclasure said. “She took first place in Metropolitan Opera auditions in a field of 130 people.”

She had been “discovered” at Interlochen Arts Academy in Northern Michigan by a scout from the Met but headed for Europe instead to get more experience.

She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study voice in Salzburg, Austria, and was invited to join the European opera scene as a soloist with Austrian and German operas. Her favorite roles included Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Magic Flute, as Kostanze in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio and as Rosine in Rossini’s Barber of Seville.

Dawn Labyak Willman, who often accompanied her on the piano and whose father drove the pre-teen Joan to the Ironwood radio station, said Joan decided to board a cruise ship for her return to the states, and while at sea she met singer Fred Gersten, whom she later married.

After returning to the United States, she performed in musical theater and taught voice in Stockton, California. Joan and Fred taught and performed at three universities.

When he headed the vocal department at Oberlin College, Joan was often his accompanist. She performed with the Cincinnati and Louisville Operas and at hotels and summer resorts, like Land O’Lakes supper club on the Michigan-Wisconsin border near Watersmeet.

The native daughter of Ontonagon made many return visits to her hometown to visit family and perform, sometimes with husband Fred. One memorable event was her program in the same venue that had hosted a fake Elvis show the night before. One performance was during the town’s Labor Day Festival. She was the parade marshal in one parade, and the commencement speaker at the 1984 high school graduation. A concert in Ironwood drew raves from the local newspaper, calling her a “sensation,” which drew “the greatest audience acclaim.”

Dawn Willman recalls playing the piano at a Volek concert in Marquette in 1958.

“I had already interviewed there for a teaching job and was hired,” she said. “I went to all of her Ontonagon concerts, including the one after the fake Elvis show in the same theater.”

Joan often headed to Labyaks after the show to visit the family.

“In the first half of the Marquette event, she sang some pretty heavy duty classical/opera type music, and the second half was a much lighter, pop-style kind,” Willman said. “I would perform during the intermission. Afterwards, there was a reception at a doctor’s home in Marquette. She was fun to work with, very particular and very definite in what she wanted, and she had a beautiful soprano coloratura voice.”

After a 32-year career teaching in the music department at the University of Wyoming, family and friends were at her bedside at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie on January 10, 2009 when the great voice was stilled. She was 77.

“A widely acclaimed teacher and performer,” the university called her. “Many of her students have performed as soloists and chorus members all over the world including Metropolitan Opera and Broadway musicals.”

But even after her illustrious cousin had passed on, she reminisces.

“Memories of Joan will stay with me forever,” Colclasure said.

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Author’s Note: As altar boys at Holy Family Catholic Church in Ontonagon, Larry and his brothers were witnesses to some of her remarkable solos. The Volek home on River Street was destroyed by a block-long fire in 2008.

About the Author: Larry Chabot, an Ontonagon native, worked his way through Georgetown University and was then employed at White Pine Copper Company for 32 years, before moving to Marquette with his wife, Betty. He is a freelance writer who has written for several publications, including over 150 articles for Marquette Monthly.