We’re excited to welcome Katrina Galka to Opera Colorado this fall to make her firm debut as Marie in Daughter of the Regiment. An completed soprano, Katrina “thrilled with advantageous coloratura filigree and pure excessive notes” as Adina in Elixir of Love (The Oregonian). Study all about Katrina within the Q&A beneath earlier than seeing her on stage in Daughter of the Regiment.
Get tickets to Daughter of the Regiment, on stage from November 9-17.>>
What’s one factor about opera that retains you interested by this craft?
Properly, to place it flippantly, let’s simply say the unending pursuit of mastery and excellence. I’m clearly poking some enjoyable at myself right here however my drive to sing opera is powered by ardour. There are days when it’s infuriating simply how unending the work of this craft is, however most days my motive for singing feels deeply non secular, and I really feel very fueled by the sheer risk of making one thing actually particular for an viewers. There’s something addictive for me about singing one thing after which saying, “Okay. That was nice, but when I attempted xyz, would that create extra pleasure for the viewers?” In the end, I’m at all times asking myself, “How can I create a extra magical, transcendent expertise for whoever is listening?” And for me, creating magical experiences comes from mastery and excellence of the craft. The extra glorious my vocal method, the longer I can maintain a excessive observe, the quicker and clearer I can sing a run of coloratura, the extra feeling I can imbue in my voice, and possibly, simply possibly, I can create a second that surprises you in one of the simplest ways doable. Likewise, the extra glorious my performing expertise, the extra I could make you actually imagine that I’m Marie and the extra you imagine that, the extra you’ll be able to lose your self within the story. That’s magical for an viewers. The cool factor is, you by no means “arrive” with this type of magic. Even when I have been to create it for somebody, it lasts for a second after which disappears. That chase will at all times maintain me , and it’s why I’m going to the opera. I at all times hope to be transported by an artist’s excellence and dedication to the second.
In what methods do you see your self in your character in Daughter of the Regiment, Marie? How are you completely different?
I relate to Marie’s “joie de vivre.” She is a personality who exudes sunshine, finds the present in every day, and actually loves life, and I relate to that. I see her as fooling around, quirky, and completely comfortable with laughing at herself, which I see in myself. I additionally relate to her despair and emotions of entrapment when she’s caught dwelling a life that doesn’t really feel proper. I’ve a robust inside compass that may make my life uncomfortable and ugly after I’m not following the decision of my coronary heart. I see that in Marie, particularly in her moments of wrestle in act two. At my core, I’d should say I don’t really feel that completely different from Marie—aside from the truth that I haven’t grown up with twenty-plus surrogate fathers. I’ll positively have to present some thought as to how that may change an individual!
You’ve posted a number of Instagram movies of you training barefoot. How a lot does your shoe alternative and physique consciousness have an effect on your singing?
This query is hilarious to me. I really like utilizing Instagram as a option to share pleasure for singing, and I attempt to share clips of my singing pretty typically. I just lately had a few clips I needed to share, and I simply occurred to be barefoot, so I commented on it to be foolish and so as to add some levity to what I used to be sharing. As dedicated as I’m to excellence and mastery, I additionally assume that it’s necessary to have enjoyable and to be foolish with our artwork. We might be light-hearted AND glorious. (Which, aspect observe, I believe TOTALLY captures Donizetti’s spirit in his composition of The Daughter of the Regiment!)
However you do increase a fantastic level, as a result of physique consciousness is all the pieces for us as singers, and there’s a whole lot of analysis that helps that being barefoot is superb for establishing extra purposeful physique patterns. I, myself, have had varied struggles associated to hypermobility, and due to that I do like carrying a shoe with an exceptionally broad toe field and a versatile sole—à la the barefoot shoe pattern. I’ve a favourite pair of sneakers by Barebarics, and I plan to purchase extra barefoot model footwear, as a result of my entire physique is happier for it! Singing is such a private act. Each physique is completely different and the calls for of singing will have an effect on every physique uniquely, so constructing your personal physique consciousness is totally mandatory. On a mean day, I can simply spend simply as a lot time doing bodily bodywork to help my physique for singing as I do really singing.
Along with your singing profession, you’re obsessed with mentoring and training singers. Are you able to inform us extra about that?
I really like serving to different singers construct their careers from the within out. I’ve a “let’s maintain your coronary heart first” method. What we do as singers is so tough and a lot of our success comes right down to our psychological sport and having the ability to be resilient in our pleasure and love for singing. I’m very obsessed with serving to singers discover that pleasure and self-compassion in what are sometimes very demanding, aggressive, and rejection-filled environments. I began doing this work as a result of it was the form of assist I wanted after I was beginning out, and on the time, I couldn’t discover it. So I made a decision to be that individual for different singers. I began my coach coaching in 2019 and was licensed by the Worldwide Teaching Federation in 2020 and since then I’ve labored with a whole lot of skilled monitor opera singers. Some widespread themes that I work with singers on embrace working by efficiency nervousness, age-related fears (feeling both too younger or too previous), disgrace round vocal accidents, limitations, or technical blocks, trauma from varied industry-centered relationships (i.e. academics, administrators, conductors, colleagues, and so forth), and a whole lot of audition technique.
Congrats in your Opera Colorado debut! What are you trying ahead to doing in Denver in your days off?
Thanks a lot! I’d like to eat at some nice eating places and to benefit from the pure great thing about this space—possibly doing a hike or two—and I’m trying ahead to spending time with household and buddies that reside within the space. But when I’m being very trustworthy, I’ll most likely be spending nearly all of my downtime resting, mentally rehearsing Daughter of the Regiment, and getting ready for my subsequent function debut, Musetta in La bohème with Staatsoper Hamburg.
–
See Katrina in Daughter of the Regiment, on stage from November 9-17.>>
