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Late bloomer
A teacher for most of her career, Carol Wilson is now
singing in one of Germany's foremost opera house.
- When Carol Wilson graduated from Iowa State in 1970 as one of Iowa State's
very first music majors she had no plans to become a professional artist.
That was true when she received first a master's degree from the University
of Nebraska two years later, and in 1983 when she earned a Doctor of Musical
Arts from The Yale School of Music.
No, Carol Wilson was a teacher, a member of the voice faculties at prestigious
private institutions of higher learning - Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, Mt.
Holyoke and Carleton. She also taught at the Westminster Choir College
and Washburn University.
It was by chance that Wilson was "discovered" while living in
New York City.
"I was running a concert series in Manhattan and I was practicing
one day when I was 'discovered,' " Wilson says.
An agent, Alan Green, from Columbia Artists Management, one of the world's
largest talent agencies, happened to hear Wilson sing that day. Green
asked her to come by the agency's offices to sing for him.
"At first I didn't know who he was," Wilson recalled. "I
had heard of an agent by that name but I didn't think he was that Alan
Green."
With little performing background, Wilson didn't take the offer too seriously.
She says it took her a year to "get up the courage to sing for him."
But she did make an appointment with Green and as a result he sent her
to Düsseldorf for an audition with the Deutsche-Oper-am Rhein.
"That was my first stage audition," Wilson said. "I was
scared out of my mind. Alan had psychologically prepared me for it but
as I looked out in the theatre there were four people listening to me
I had to ask myself if 'this was for real?' "
It was real, and almost 30 years after graduating from Iowa State Wilson
was hired immediately by the opera house, where she has been a principal
soloist since 1998.
During her stay in Düsseldorf, Wilson has performed such roles as Eva
(Die Meistersinger), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), Elisabeth (Tannhäuser),
Leonore (Fidelio), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Gräfin (Capriccio), Fiordiligi
(Cosi fan tutte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Agathe (Der Freischütz),
and Alcina, Alice Ford (Falstaff).
She has also performed with the Royal Opera Stockholm, Vancouver Opera,
at the Savonlinna Festival (Finland), Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Frankfurt,
and Staatstheater Bonn.
In the U.S., Wilson has appeared in performances of Handel and Haydn operas
with the St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra, highlights from West Side Story
at the Connecticut Early Music Festival, and concert performances with
the Brooklyn Philharmonic.
She has also performed throughout the U.S. in repertoire ranging from
medieval to contemporary with The American Symphony Orchestra, St. Luke's
Chamber Ensemble, The Boston Masterworks Chorale, The Contemporary Chamber
Ensemble, the Yale in Norfolk Chamber Music Series, the Connecticut Early
Music Festival, the Rocky Mountain Festival for Contemporary Music, and
the International Congress for Medieval Music.
Not bad for someone who didn't get her start performing until she had
taught for 20 years.
"People often write off singers past 35 or 40 years old," Wilson
said. "Many are not really interested in hiring you. My voice had
a chance to mature without having burned out at a much younger age. Your
voice can last - mine did because I didn't use it as an opera singer.
My voice is still fresh.
"If you're good, people will want that, especially if you have a
presence on the stage."
A gift of $10,000 has been recently donated in Wilson's name by the John
R. and Eloise Mountain Wright Foundation.
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