A Voice with Purpose
By Natasha Barbieri
There are moments when as a musician you become discouraged. When you ask yourself the question why do I keep doing this when nothing seems to be happening? I’ve had my share of those moments and was feeling discouraged as I prepared for the interview with Barbara. Listening to tracks from the beautiful self-titled album helped put me in the mood but I still felt quite nervous. I was kindly patched through by Barbara’s manager Cristina Abaroa and was immediately put at ease by the friendly voice on the other line. Despite her success, Barbara speaks without any airs or graces as we exchanged pleasantries about the weather.
For those unfamiliar with the beautiful Latina soprano we start at the beginning. Barbara is very much the product of her upbringing in Guadalajara, Mexico. “I belong to a traditional Catholic family,” she says sharing how Guadalajara is a “very cultural” city. As a young child her mother took her to painting and dancing lessons along with music classes. Barbara started playing the piano at age 6. In addition to this Barbara grew up hearing classical and opera music from her mother’s collection. “When I was growing up I thought that the music that everybody listened to was operatic and classical,” she says and I can’t help but chuckle. She was later introduced to other music by her friends and peers but wasn’t moved from her first love. “For myself it was a lot of fun being a fan of Placido Domingo and Maria Callas instead of other kinds of music… I fell in love with that music since I was a little girl.”
Can she pinpoint a favorite opera at that early age? “Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I had a favorite opera,” she exclaims sounding like a child asked to choose a favorite toy. “I had many operas that I love. I really like La Boheme and La Traviata.” The operas continue to be favorite roles to perform to this very day. She did have a favorite work however; Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. “That’s what I used to sing when I was little in the car. If my mom played that one I would sing with the soprano all the time – even though I didn’t know what I was saying or anything.” Quite unusual for a young child – a fact that did not go unnoticed by her mom. Barbara describes her mom as “tickled that I was singing in that fashion” at a precocious age of 5 or 6. I’m impressed. The soprano part is noted for its high tessitura. From the age of six onwards it has remained a favorite of Barbara’s. “That’s my favorite work ever,” she says definitively.
The journey from being a little girl singing along to classical music on car rides to an opera singer commanding the stage was not one that came easily. “In Guadalajara it’s difficult when they ask you what are you going to do you can’t just answer ‘I want to be an opera singer’. You have to say I’m going to be a doctor or lawyer.” She admits the clique nature of the claim but for her it was a very real experience, “You don’t think of dedicating your whole life to music, you can’t think about it.” Barbara credits her mother for helping her make it where she is today. “I had the great blessing of having a mother that observed and made some very important decisions and supports me in this.” Barbara’s mother knew she was an artist. “Thank God everything was there for me to make the right decision.”
Barbara pursed her undergraduate degree in Guadalajara and then moved to Houston to study voice at the graduate level. After auditioning she was granted a full scholarship from the University of Houston. The experience was a transforming one for Barbara. “A formal education is something I would recommend to anybody,” she encourages without hesitation. “It’s absolutely necessary. The academic preparation makes you a complete musician. No matter what genre you are going to do.” Barbara offers some seasoned advice for those singers questioning whether to pursue opera or classical crossover. “I think that decision of what kind of singer you are going to become comes after your preparation. You can’t make an educated decision if you don’t have a proper academic background.” Wise words especially considering some of the largest divisions between classical and crossover enthusiasts stem from lack of knowledge about each other. For Barbara making educated decisions is a way of life. “With everything in life you have to have good preparation.” As a woman clearly in charge of her own career, Barbara rejects the notion that many have of waiting to ‘be discovered.’ “You should not be going about life expecting to be found or discovered,” she says. “You have to make your own path.” She recommends that not only musicians but everyone should have a proper education.
After graduating wither her Master’s degree, Barbara has continued to peruse opera. Her favorite role is now Mimi. “I don’t know whether it’s the way it moves or the character,” she says. “It’s a very comfortable role and it’s very sweet. I think it’s the role that I first fell in love with.” Her other favorite is Violetta from La Traviata. “It’s more about the whole work and the playwright and everything. I love the psychology of that character. When you read the book Alexander Dumas, (author of Camille) you discover a whole new world… and the approach when your singing – you know that there is so much more than the surface of this character.”
Her research into the story that inspired La Traviata is very much characteristic of Barbara’s musical learning process. “It’s not an easy process – of course you wish you could just get the same results just by listening to the piece but I get very passionate about knowing what the composer might have been thinking, feeling or going through the moment he was writing this. I love to know about the life of the composer and if I can know about what the poem or book was about that’s even better. You go farther from the surface when you know this.” Barbara has been praised for her passionate renditions and given the amount of time she puts into each song it’s easy to see why. Once she has researched a piece she then attempts to relate it to her own life. “That makes a difference,” she says, “I think the audience can see that. I feel that I have something extra to give.”
Barbara’s career took a temporary hold when she adopted her daughter. “This career is difficult because life happens and then you have to make decisions on do I want to be a mother, do I want to be a wife, do I want to do all these things? Sometimes you don’t have the opportunity to be all of them.” It is a struggle often felt by those in artistic careers. “I had to make a very hard decision to leave the stage for a while to be a mother,” Barbara say’s honestly. “I think taking time to stay with my daughter when she was little and to be a wife has made us a better family. It has created a trust that we have for each other now that they have to be without me for long periods.” Reestablishing her career was not an easy thing to do but Barbara is happy that she did it. “Very often the right decision is not the easy decision.” At the moment she feels she has the “best of both worlds.”
When I bring up America’s Got Talent and how she decided to peruse that she laughs. “You know it’s not really a decision that you make to go ‘Oh now I’m going to become this singer’. It’s when you give life the opportunity to decide for you and it’s the greatest thing you can do.” The little girl who grew up singing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony would “never in a million years” have imagined this is the path life would take her on. She was looking for auditions for opera companies when she found out about America’s Got Talent auditions in Houston. “You have to send the check, you have to look for the auditions, pay for the trip, do all that stuff to get one audition, if you are very lucky, and you just have to keep going like that.” It is a process that is daunting for anyone. When it came to America’s Got Talent Barbara says, “The great thing about this was it wasn’t going to cost me money. I thought ‘Might as well!’” She never knew it would change her life. “You are one in one million people and then they say yes and people start voting for you… It’s a turn I didn’t plan but it is one of the greatest blessings ever.”
Barbara came in second on America’s Got Talent and so was not immediately signed. She says it was a blessing because she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted, “To go the direction I wanted to go.” In true Barbara style the album that followed was a labor of love and much diligence. She herself went about contacting the producers and setting things in motion. The self-titled album was a completely independent project that was recorded at Abbey Roads with the London Symphony Orchestra. “It took a long time” she admits. “It takes hard work to find the right path.” After the recording was completed Barbara met Cristina Abaroa who owns the indie label Moon Moosic. The relationship has turned into an important one for Barbara providing support while allowing her to be true to who she is. “I’m extremely happy because it gives me the kind of freedom to be the artist I want.”
As for the future Barbara says “I try to stay very faithful to what I am, to my operatic training.” She continues to include opera numbers in her concert repertoire. “Music areas are usually very jealous and you have to dedicate to them full time. Right now the classical crossover has big things that are happening that is absorbing my full time and I have to dedicate myself to this classical crossover music that I am singing with my operatic technique.” However she remains very grounded in who she is as a performer, “I am an opera singer.” Classical crossover music however has also made an impression. “I’ve also discovered something in the classical crossover world,” she shares. “It’s amazing and very empowering and it is the relationship – the intimacy with the audience. Opera doesn’t give you that intimacy because you are usually a character,” she explains. “When you are singing classical crossover you are singing a piece that is 4 minutes and you are not a character, you are yourself. You have an amazing opportunity to explore the microphone that allows you to do things you wouldn’t normally do when you are singing an opera. And I fell in love with the genre.” For Barbara it’s not about choosing one over the other. “Both worlds have wonderful things… the great thing is I don’t have to choose one over the other.” At the moment Barbara’s focus is on career developments in classical crossover but she says whenever operatic opportunities arise she will be sure to take them as it is her “first love.”
As a Christian performer faith is a big part of Barbara’s life. “I try my best to make everything I do revolve around God,” she says sincerely. “I think that our main goal as human beings is to give glory to God and I try with my singing to give glory to God.” She believes her voice is a gift and that “it has a purpose.” She also believes to give credit where it is due. “I cannot take credit for the blessings I have – I have to give the credit back. And of course if along the way the applause happens, well it is welcome and it makes me very happy but it’s only a loan while I’m here and while I have it. And while I have it I want to make sure I keep it well and I give credit to the one that deserves it.”
As to what is happening in the future Barbara laughs with excitement. “Many things. Beautiful things are happening. Huge surprises especially in the Hispanic world.” She promises that we will soon learn what they have been planning. The announcement will come via social media and of course her official website. She hints that, “I am going to be exploring a world that I would have never thought about and I am very excited about.” She says the wonderful surprise is “just around the corner.” Whatever it is it could not come to a more deserving recipient. Barbara is one of those inspiring, beautiful people who make me excited to be involved in music. This afternoon her special brand of magic was just what I needed to inspire me on my own journey and I trust that you the reader will be likewise motivated. Barbara’s kindness and passion as well as her scholarly approach combined with a God given beautiful voice are trademarks that will never go out of style.
Learn more about Barbara at her official website: barbarapadilla.com and don’t forget to order your copy of “Barbara Padilla” today.
