Editor’s note: The Capital City Weekly is featuring two divas a week leading up to Juneau Lyric Opera\u2019s Sept. 24 \u201cWho\u2019s Your Diva\u201d competition and fundraiser.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WB:<\/strong> I have a few loose memories of singing at church as a tot, but my first really vivid memory is of dancing in The Nutcracker at the humble age of five. Just before we went out on stage one of the other little ballerinas said \u201cI\u2019m so scared! Aren\u2019t you nervous?\u201d to which I replied \u201cNope, not a bit!\u201d (Obviously I had yet to master empathy…). I remember it being when I realized that some people do get stage fright and still power through a show, even though I didn\u2019t fully understand it for at least another ten years. I still say bravo to those combatting stage fright.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO: <\/strong>Who are three singers who have influenced you throughout your singing career?<\/p>\n WB: <\/strong>First, <\/strong>Maria Callas. She is such an expressive performer and never allowed herself to be boxed in by the limits of vocal classifications. She created her own path as an artist and rocked it every step of the way. The second is Julie Andrews, because ever since toddler-hood my optimal performance career has been largely oriented around doing every role Julie Andrews has ever done. Third, Barbra Streisand. There\u2019s a story here. About a year ago, I had a dream in which I was asked to portray Barbra Streisand in a movie about her life. To adequately grasp all the inner workings of Barbra Streisand, I was going to have to be her best friend and hang out with her all the time. After developing a strong bond, Barbra ended up telling me she had selected me for this role because she felt I was the only person with the vocal prowess to portray her on screen. Best dream ever. Upon waking up and realizing that none of this was in fact, real (devastating) \u2014 I drew from it a new life\/musical aspiration: to be altogether more like Barbra Streisand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO: <\/strong>Who are local performers who inspire you?<\/p>\n WB: <\/strong>Kathleen Wayne has always inspired me as a mentor and a friend. I admire her versatility as a performer and continue to be astounded by her talent in a variety of artistic mediums. She has fostered my own love of opera as a teacher whilst never trying to put me or my voice into a box, which gives me great respect for her as a friend and teacher. In the grand scheme of things, I would say my greatest source of local musical inspiration is my mom. She has not only served as a lifelong demonstration of excellent musicianship, but also has influenced my love of musicals, instruments, and performing since day one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO: <\/strong>What are three songs you absolutely love to sing?<\/p>\n WB: <\/strong> Una Voce Poco Fa, from the Barber of Seville – because it\u2019s just loads of fun and all the melismatic passages make me feel like a coloratura superstar when I manage to nail them. Plus, it keeps the abs in good shape which is always a bonus. Brandi Carlile\u2019s \u201cDreams\u201d is a favourite of mine to belt out, and then, maybe \u201cSomeone to Watch Over Me\u201d which I somehow never sing the same way twice. *Editor\u2019s note: \u201cMelismatic\u201d is singing multiple notes in succession within just one syllable of text. \u201cColoratura\u201d is a dynamic type of singing involving trills and other vocal ornamentation, usually sung by a soprano.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO: <\/strong>What is your favorite local role or performance?<\/p>\n WB:<\/strong> My favourite local performance probably was JLO\u2019s March 2016 run of \u201cMan of La Mancha,\u201d strictly because we had such a fun and supportive cast and crew, making it a highly enjoyable production to be a part of.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO:<\/strong> What is your favorite place to sing (besides the stage)?<\/p>\n WB: <\/strong> Everywhere! The car, the shower, the toilet… especially when traveling, I love finding really old churches with killer acoustics and sneaking in for a song. Or an abandoned mountaintop… there\u2019s really no place that I don\u2019t love singing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO: <\/strong>What is a famous movie or theatre role you would love the chance to play?<\/p>\n WB: <\/strong>It\u2019s SO hard to pick just one, but in the grand scheme of my life I think it comes down to a dead tie between Eliza Doolittle in \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d…or Lady Macbeth. I just can\u2019t choose one. There are like 80 other ideal roles competing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n JLO:<\/strong> What are some of your other interests besides singing?<\/p>\n WB:<\/strong> I really love anything outside: hiking, kayaking, camping – you name it. Although my last camping trip didn\u2019t go quite as planned and I am now rocking a very visible casualty… (Intrigued? Come to the show!) I love my summer job as a naturalist guide teaching people about whales, I love photography… and travel. If I had to pick one overwhelming interest it would be traveling – exploring the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To donate to Wendy text DivaWendy to 71777 and follow the prompts or visit her campaign page at http:\/\/igfn.us\/vf\/DivaWendy<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Editor’s note: The Capital City Weekly is featuring two divas a week leading up to Juneau Lyric Opera\u2019s Sept. 24 \u201cWho\u2019s Your Diva\u201d competition and fundraiser. JLO: What was your first memorable public performance? WB: I have a few loose memories of singing at church as a tot, but my first really vivid memory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-22449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22449"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=22449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}