The following is an article written by Germaine Glueck, and taken from Scenaria magazine (November 1986)
AVIVA PELHAM – A PROFILE
Those watching Aviva Pelham’s multi-faceted talent develop since her student days in Zimbabwe and at UCT College of Music, soon became aware of her innate musicality and creative energy. They also realised what dedication and self-discipline it has taken for her to develop her once small voice into the fine instrument it is today, and they are not surprised that this CAPAB [Cape Performing Arts Board] soprano attracts capacity audiences to the Nico Malan Opera House now that her musicianship has come to full flower. It is no wonder she holds her audience captive, for she projects with tremendous charisma.
In addition, she moves with natural grace, her diction is perfect, and she is a gifted actress. More important, she learnt as a student that to be successful as a creative artist one needs the combination of freedom and discipline. The freedom lies in the ability to relate on a human level, and the discipline on the ability to focus energy and make optimum use of every moment in time. A singer worthy of the label ‘artiste’ must have artistic integrity and passion. Miss Pelham’s blend of superb musicianship and capacity to project deep feeling has earned her this status. Her achievements are impressive. She is the first UCT graduate to gain a Masters Degree in Singer’s Performers. She also holds eight teacher’s and eight performer’s licentiates (from UCT, UNISA, Trinity College and the Royal Schools) and she was awarded the Nederburg Opera Prize which she used for further study overseas.
Apart from giving regular performances in leading roles for CAPAB Opera, Miss Pelham lectured at the UCT School of Opera Studies, and also acted as its head for six months when Angelo Gobbato went on sabbatical.
She is able to give of herself with unstinted warmth in her capacity as mother of three charming children, as wife, as daughter and as artist. In addition, she also finds time to give charity recitals and make tape aids for the blind. One wonders from where this petite and attractive singer garners the energy to continually stretch herself artistically. Professor Murray Dickie, CAPAB Opera’s artistic head, has this to say about his lead soprano: “She is the most professional, conscientious and well-prepared singer I know. She works incredibly hard.”
During an interview, I asked Miss Pelham the following:
How do you approach and prepare for your roles?
First and foremost comes the music. One must have loyalty to the composer and as the conductor is the music’s guardian, the singer must interpret his wishes. I prepare vocally for many months – the Italians refer to this period as ‘mella golla’ – singing the role right into your voice as it were. Of course, to sing a role in properly can take years. This preparation is often the lonely part of a singer’s life, but also very exciting and challenging. One has to be very disciplined about it and very regular about the discipline. No matter how perfectly one can sing a role in live performance, recordings inevitably tops one’s stage performance. But opera was intended to be performed ‘live’, and that’s what makes it special, even when imperfect.
An essential ingredient is to focus one’s energy diligently and pay attention to detail. I research the era of the composition under study, the aspects pertaining to the time factor, history, musical laws, costume, style of music and movement etc., and I study other works by the same composer, not necessarily operatic ones. One must always gather as much background information in all spheres as possible.
How important is it to view opera as three-dimensional?
The age of superficial acting is long past. Of course we do stylised acting sometimes, depending on what the director has conceptionalised, and while we go as much as possible for a naturalistic interpretation, there are problems that hamper this. Take the time factor for instance. Obviously action depends on time allotted by the composer, and this sometimes crosses swords with realism. A death scene can be drawn out, and it is not easy to die lying prone while singing, and not being able to see the conductor!
Another problem can be acoustic. You cannot sing upstage to your tenor over a 60-piece orchestra and always be heard. So you have to project outwards and try to make the movement as believable as possible. Sight and sound-lines often entails positioning the body in a way that cannot be regarded as entirely realistic.
Some singers regard doing musicals as inferior. Obviously you enjoy doing them.
Musicals demand an entirely different approach. I do not consider musicals inferior to opera though I am aware that musical snobs tend to think that if one does one style, one cannot adapt successfully to the other. In America, to go onto the stage you have to be versatile and multi-talented.
Not all opera singers can do musicals. In my case, perhaps it is my petite build that allows me to be versatile, and also the fact that I love dancing and studied drama in my youth. I find it exciting to use speech, to try and master various musicals like My Fair Lady or Cabaret. They demand tremendous spontaneity in performance and one has to dig deep inside oneself to find the energy to bring to the role everything you have learnt from your study. There is good and bad in every genre of music – be it pop, opera, lieder or musicals. Provided one bears this in mind, I do not think there should be any stigma attached to performing musicals, provided one is selective and one does the role well.
I recall Phyllis Spira referring to ballet as a ‘cruel profession’. Is being a professional singer as demanding?
Both entail discipline and physical application. Both are subject to occupational hazards. So many things can go wrong. You cannot imagine the agony to sing when one’s mechanism is not well. You are aware that the listener can be at home, happy with a record he (or she) considers far preferable to your performance! No-one wishes to cancel a performance, but it is mentally and physically painful to sing when one does not feel well, and one is aware that one is compromising one’s artistry.
With al the strain of this demanding art form, who wants to be an opera singer?
When everything comes together, the result is indescribable – the nearest to the sublime, I guess. Perhaps one lives for these rare moments. I think it was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf who said that one’s voice is right once in thirty times. When this happens and you are in sync with the conductor, when your colleagues are having a good night too, and you are making magic together and the audience responds with warmth and involvement – on those few occasions, you are overwhelmed by the privilege of being part of such a wonderful art form. In the midst of it all I feel humble as I never forget the hazards and the mediocre days. But it is worth it to have been able to get my technical prowess to an acceptable standard and to be able to partake of this most beautiful and fulfilling of all art forms. Hopefully it has not been entirely a one-way affair – the purpose of the joy in sharing the magic of music with others.
