Singing came as naturally to Anne Maguire as life on the Skamania farm where she grew up.
“Music was in me the whole time,” she said. “There was no beginning point. For as long as I can remember, I always loved to sing.”
Her mom and sister like to remind her that she was serenading herself to sleep at age 2, she said.
Voice lessons led to the Boston Conservatory, where Maguire started building a strong foundation for a career in jazz and musical theater. It wasn’t until her junior year that she “fell in love with classical music and operatic productions,” she said.
“It really hit me that it was not just something I was good at but something I felt called to do.”
Last weekend, Maguire was called to the stage at Benaroya Hall in Seattle as one of 11 singers from all around the Pacific Northwest who auditioned for a chance to advance to the Metropolitan Opera stage in New York City. The mezzo soprano has already sung on a lot of stages, including an earlier audition in Portland, but “walking out on that stage and singing into that space — it was definitely the biggest, most beautiful acoustic space I’ve ever sung in. It was so exciting,” she said.
This annual process is something like “American Idol” for opera singers, she added: “The reason they do it is to reach out to all the corners of the continental U.S. and find singers they wouldn’t find otherwise. It’s about exposing young and upcoming singers to the Metropolitan Opera and to other local opera houses. There are always reps from those places attending.”
For these auditions, Maguire added, you prepare five arias and perform your favorite. Then your judges pick one of your remaining four. On Feb. 15, Maguire chose “O Mio Fernando,” an aria from “La Favorita” by Donizetti, and the judges asked for “Mon coeur s’ouvre á ta voix” from Saint-Saëns’ “Samson et Dalila.”
Maguire took first prize. That means the Metropolitan Opera will fly her to New York in March to train with its own stellar faculty before a round of national semifinals on March 15. Maguire will sing on the stage of the Met itself, and if she triumphs there too, she’ll be invited to stay in New York for more training and the grand finals round, including a performance with the Met orchestra before a full audience and the chance to scoop up one of perhaps five $15,000 prizes.
“If that happens it will be another world,” she said.
Learn more at bit.ly/metopera15winners.
Win or not, Maguire is looking forward to the top-level coaching.
“In the next round I really want to perfect my artistry,” she said.
Comments on the last round were unanimous: her voice is excellent but she needs to work on the “artistic interpretation” of what she’s singing.
Maguire, 24, lives in Washougal, operates voice studio Anne Maguire Music in Camas, and directs the choir at Mill Plain United Methodist Church in Vancouver.
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