Careers and children

I know many women opera singers who decide against having children, in order to concentrate entirely on their careers. I agree that having children and, at the same time, leading careers is difficult, but I refused to sacrifice any aspects of my private life to my “career”.

I was born to sing. Lotte Lehmann said to the public when I sang Master Classes with her at Northwestern University: “Brenda, you were born to sing opera.” This was always my belief, but I was thrilled to be mother to my son, Mark. It was often, if not always, very difficult. As an only parent, I either took him with me on my engagements, or, if it was a short engagement, left him at home with an au pair girl. I was well aware of my responsibility as mother and would not cut any financial corners for his care. Mark went with me to Geneva, Switzerland; Gent and Antwerp, Belgium; St. Petersburg and Talinn in Russia; Tokio; Florence, Italy for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Catania, Sicily, etc., etc. He learned to feel comfortable in any country and any environment. He was born in Hamburg, Germany and speaks, fluently, English and German.

I often took Mark with me to opera performances. Mark heard my Kundry in Parsival as a child and after that evening, he always asked (when I wanted to take him to the opera to hear me): “Mommy, is it longer or shorter than Parsival?” Parsival was the ultimate limit for him as far as time went. Everything was measured from that night on according to Parsival!

There is another sweet anecdote. Again, he was very young, perhaps about 5 years old. I was singing Isolde in Tristan and Isolde at the Mainz State Opera, so I asked my baby sitter to accompany him to a performance there. He was fine until Tristan’s Monologue in Act 3. At this time he fell asleep! When I sang, “Tristan! Geliebter!” from behind the stage with my entrance for the Liebestod, he woke up and screamed, “Mommy!” The public broke out in laughter. Poor Richard Wagner.

Anyway, my son, Mark Victor, attended Northwestern University, as I did, and received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy. His love, however, was music. He had taken music as one of his majors in the last two years of high school (Gymnasium). He composed quite extensively and studied classical guitar. He started a band (Blune) in Germany and they became very well-known. After graduating from Northwestern, he continued his studies in philosophy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and continued his music on the side, starting a band there, too. The name is The Enright House and they have become also very well-known. After receiving his degree there, he returned to the States and is now starting his first US tour.

They will be on tour for about 6 weeks, traveling from the Midwest to the West Coast and then cross the entire country playing many cities on their way to New York and Boston. You can read all about this on his website www.theenrighthouse.com. On Sunday, April 5th, they will be playing at Reggie’s Music Joint in Chicago. Fun, isn’t it? I sang Elektra in Chicago and he is performing in Chicago also!

Hope you can be there! I will be! Don’t think it will be longer than Parsival, will it?

• Author and date: Brenda Roberts (2009-04-05)
• Permalink: Careers and children
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2 Comments »

  1. liebe brenda, schön, dass du auch so ganz private dinge hier schilderst. marks “mommy”-ruf im mainzer “tristan” habe ich leider nicht gehört - ich war wohl in einer anderen vorstellung. ;-) gerade habe ich die homepage von “the enright house” besucht und bin ganz begeistert von der musik und den videoclips, die es auf youtube zu sehen gibt. falls marks band einmal in deutschland spielen sollte, würde ich sehr gerne ein konzert besuchen. liebe grüße von erwin

    Comment by erwin altmeier — April 23, 2009 @ 9:01 pm

  2. … habe “the enright house” nun auch auf facebook.com entdeckt und mark dort angeschrieben. erwin

    Comment by erwin altmeier — April 23, 2009 @ 9:18 pm

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