Jeanne-Marie performing the ‘Papageno, Papagena’ duet with Araujo in Romania.
OPERA is known as the most difficult genre of music to sing, yet one Sarawakian has defied the odds to achieve her life-long dream of becoming a classical singer.
Growing up in an environment where opera music is not widely popular or deeply appreciated, Jeanne-Marie Druce’s love of music started at a young age. Once she was exposed to the world of opera, she knew what she wanted and never stopped pursuing her dreams amid the challenges.
After years of intense training and lessons to develop her resonance to sing opera, the Melanau soprano finally made her professional bow last year, when she took on the role of the Contessa (La Contessa) in the opera “The Marriage of Figaro” (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Schlosstheater Schwetzingen, Germany, conducted by the famed Italian maestro Stephano Seghedoni.
“Becoming an opera singer is a journey of passion, never-ending training and deep love for the art. Opera singing is a complex and multi-dimensional form of the performing arts that requires an in-depth understanding of its basic elements.
“Just as with any task, you need to start from the foundation to fully master it – vocal techniques, musicality, text, drama, languages. Mastering these fundamentals takes time and patience, this is where the guidance of a skilled instructor can play an invaluable role.
“This requires a lot of discipline, patience, and practice,” Jeanne-Marie said.
She recalled the intense preparation for her debut role, practising for half a year before production even began. She described the accomplishment afterwards as fulfilling.
The 30-year-old then headlined the inaugural Borneo Opera Festival in Kuching last October, performing with opera heavyweights such as Spanish soprano Beatriz Sylvan and Italian tenor Domenico Menini.
Following her grand homecoming, she embarked on a tour to Romania, completing 33 shows in 25 cities with the climax in Bucharest, where she performed in front of a packed audience of about 2,000.
“The biggest challenge as an opera singer is singing in different languages other than our own native tongue, as most operas are in Italian, French, German and Russian.
Jeanne-Marie, dressed in traditional Melanau attire, performing an opera version of the Sarawak state anthem ‘Ibu Pertiwiku’ at the Borneo Opera Festival last year.
“Unless you grew up speaking all four, you are going to have to put lots of effort into learning these languages,” she said.
Jeanne-Marie added that even for a native speaker, the level of diction in opera is more elevated than in daily speaking, because the words need to be heard over an entire orchestra.
“You also need to understand what goes into the style of this music, such as bel canto (lyrical style of operatic singing), verismo (realism), Mozart and Wagnerian, and each of these have their own set of rules.
“You can’t go in with what you know about one genre and apply it to others. This takes years of study and practice,” she continued, referring to the operas of influential classical composers Richard Wagner and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Asked how she has overcome such challenges, Jeanne-Marie said opera singers translate each word and phrase into their native language so they will know what they are saying to allow emotions to pour into their words when performing.
A classical singer needs to learn the rules of diction and “flavour” of these languages by working with a native language coach, listening to native speakers or hearing a native singer sing that particular opera.
This would take years to perfect since the singer would have to sound as close as possible to a native Italian or German speaker, said Jeanne-Marie, who is now proficient in German and Italian after years of training in opera.
Her passion for music started at the tender age of four, when she spent hours watching the classic musical The Sound of Music. She later joined the Carmelite choir in Miri, Sarawak, where she honed her musical skills with her mother’s accompaniment every Sunday.
Despite the lack of qualified vocal teachers, Jeanne-Marie taught herself how to play the piano and later auditioned for piano and vocal studies at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Sydney, Australia.
Her vocal talents were soon discovered and she completed her Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice in 2017 and a Master of Music in Performance, Classical Vocal a year later at the institute. She then completed her Diploma in Classical Vocal Performance from Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, in 2020.
Seeking new opportunities to develop her vocal abilities, Jeanne-Marie auditioned and was selected for a one-year Erasmus Programme at the Ferenc Liszt University in Budapest, Hungary, in 2019. Her stay at the programme was unfortunately cut short amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, she remained in Budapest and continued her vocal training. It was then that her singing prowess and potential was discovered by renowned Italian baritone and conductor Alfio Grasso, who has been her teacher and mentor since.
Apart from maestro Grasso, Jeanne-Marie cited her parents as her pillar of strength and support, who always encouraged her to push far and never give up in her pursuit of classical music.
Following her breakout year in 2023, the budding opera diva has started performing Papageno, Papagena, a famous duet from Mozart’s masterpiece The Magic Flute, with renowned Brazilian baritone Fernando Araujo. The piece is in the form of a singspiel, which includes both singing and spoken dialogue.
Jeanne-Marie is currently on a 30-day tour in Romania, covering 30 cities, with the Three Italian Tenors: Federico Veltri, Angelo Forte and Paolo Spagnuolo.
She is scheduled to perform in Italy between April and May before returning to Sarawak for the Borneo Opera Festival 2024, scheduled in October.
