During a recent episode of "America's Got Talent," the judges and viewers believed they had discovered the world’s newest “opera” star, Laura Bretan of Chicago, during an early round of auditions. At just 13 years of age she sang "Nessum Dorma," a well-known aria from Giacomo Puccini’s "Turandot." She was so impressive that she received a standing ovation, as well as the judges’ coveted Golden Buzzer. This tool is rarely used, and sends Laura further on in the competition regardless of votes. Yes, her performance was entertaining for a TV competition, and she truly does have a talent, but her performance does not make her an opera singer and she should not be praised as one!
Disclaimer: this is not meant to be a critique of Laura’s performance, but rather an attempt to raise awareness of her biggest problem: her lack of vocal health and safety. Professional opera singers train and practice under the guidance of a voice teacher for nearly a decade before attempting an aria such as this. More importantly, the vocal chords of a 13-year-old are not mature enough to handle the strain accompanied by this piece. Yes, she can sing the notes, but she certainly cannot sing them in a healthy manner. She is simply too young to have developed proper vocal technique and breadth support for such a big aria. Singing at levels beyond her years, over time, will only harm her vocal health and could ultimately cut short her singing career.
Going on such a well-watched competition will clearly give her great exposure and media attention. Immediately following her performance on the show, major news and media outlets began branding her as an “opera” star, writing titles such as “13-year-old Laura Bretan stuns 'America's Got Talent' with soaring opera performance,” from Today.com, and “Dream Come True!' 13-Year-Old Opera Singer Laura Bretan Stuns 'America's Got Talent'Judges and Earns Golden Buzzer,” from People.com. Windy City LIVE!, a popular morning news show in Chicago, even invited her to sing the aria again on their show. Pop culture creates hype for child “opera” prodigies, which only supports this type of dangerous and unhealthy singing and presents a false representation of opera to the public. In November 2015, Windy City LIVE! invited a different teenage “opera” singer, Sheridan Archbold, onto the show to sing “Deh, Vieni Alla Finestra," an aria from Mozart’s famous opera "Don Giovanni." Both performances had a lot in common. First, both performers sang an aria not meant for their voice type (which is not allowed in true opera). Second, they both had poor vocal technique and breadth support. Third, they both sang works meant for singers nearly triple their age.
Beyond vocal health and safety of young singers, celebrating Laura’s performance as great opera singing undermines the institution of opera and its artists in the United States. The song Laura performed, "Nessun Dorma," is not written for a soprano voice, but for a tenor. Simon Cowell, a notoriously harsh judge on "America’s Got Talent," said during his critique, “I have never heard anything like that in all of the years I’ve been doing this show… It was unbelievable.” Now imagine if he had heard an actual, trained opera singer sing the aria? If he thought a poor performance of "Nessun Dorma" by a 13-year-old girl was “unbelievable,” then what would he think of a performance by a trained opera singer? He clearly hasn’t heard real opera if he feels this way about Laura’s performance, and I am not alone in this opinion. There exists a GoFundMe campaign entitled, “Send Simon Cowell to the [Metropolitan Opera],” in an attempt to introduce Simon Cowell to real opera.
The job market for classical musicians, and specifically opera singers, is more competitive than ever before. More and more singers are graduating each year, entering the already flooded opera job market, while more and more opera houses are unable to fill their seats, many of which are on the brink of closing their doors. This includes major houses in the U.S. like the Metropolitan Opera. If people are so moved by “opera” they heard on "America’s Got Talent," they should buy tickets to see real opera and support real opera singers. Laura’s performance showed she has a great voice and great promise, but what she performed was not opera and gives the public the wrong image of what opera really is. Although entertaining, for the sake of both young vocal “prodigies” and the future of professional opera in this country, the entertainment industry and general public must stop supporting what has become the annual 13-year-old “opera” star.
