For JeanMarie Garofolo, singing comes almost as naturally as breathing.
“I started singing before I could talk,” she recalled.
Beginning with Disney songs and Broadway show numbers, the soprano has progressed to a burgeoning operatic career that has seen her place in the finals of a prestigious competition, perform in several operas and study in Germany this past summer. Garofolo, 21, a 2004 Arlington High School graduate, is now a senior at SUNY Purchase, majoring in vocal performance. Her next role is in the East Coast premiere of the opera version of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” in which she plays Ariel.
“This is probably my most challenging role. The range of where my voice sits is in a very high vocal range. You have to pace yourself and don’t overdo it because it’s very vocally demanding and there’s a lot of movement,” she said.
Garofolo was first introduced to opera by her grandfather, who showed her a video performance of “Romeo and Juliet.” She was hooked, but was a little reluctant to share her passion for opera with her peers.
“I remember sitting in front of the television and thinking that this is really cool, but I used to be embarrassed because I thought (others would think) that opera wasn’t cool. Every opportunity I would go into a room behind a closed door and sing,” she said.
Her grandfather recognized her talent and enrolled Garofolo in vocal lessons as a seventh-grader. Her first play was in the role of Tootie Smith in a production of “Meet Me in St. Louis” and her first opera was a part in the chorus in the Taconic Opera Company’s performance of “La Boheme.”
“That’s when I knew I wanted to go to college for opera,” she recalled.
At Arlington, Garofolo was selected as a member of the conference all-state choir after garnering a perfect score for her performance of “Poor Wandering One,” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.” She decided to go to Purchase in large part due to the opportunities the college gave her to perform.
“Unlike other conservatories, like Julliard, we get to have performing experience as an undergraduate. That is somewhat unique to Purchase,” she said.
As a vocal performance major, Garofolo rigorously practices correct vocal technique by employing breath control and support, while achieving the resonance that can fill a large opera hall.
“They teach you how to sing without pushing on your chords in a negative way, because that creates not only a bad sound but it could lead to eventual vocal nodules. It also helps you resonate in a large space. The goal is achieving a maximum resonance of sound in a healthy way,” she said.
Hitting the big stage
Garofolo got plaudits this past spring when she entered into the Jenny Lind competition, part of the Barnum festival in Bridgeport, Conn. Named after the 19th century opera singer known as the “Swedish Songbird,” the competition is for talented sopranos between the ages of 20 and 30. Competing with 14 other singers, Garofolo placed among the four finalists, narrowly missing the grand prize of a performance tour of Sweden.
Then, in the summer, she took part in “Elysium Between Two Continents,” an exchange program where singers go to Germany for two weeks to learn German music and culture The program culminated in a performance which employed German meter with scenes and arias from various operas, woven into one coherent storyline. The program focused on the work of the composer Felix Mendelssohn and his contemporaries.
“It was very educational, and being there for two weeks, I loved the German culture and would love to go back there and audition at opera houses in Germany,” she said.
German is not the only language that Garofolo sings in. In addition to English and German, she has performed in French, Italian, Latin and Spanish. She said German was a relatively easy language to sing in.
“It’s one of the easier languages because it closely resembles English with hard consonants. In college I’ve taken one year each of Italian, French and German. Studying abroad really helped me put my German into practice,” she said.
Garofolo said the fun and challenge of opera is combining the fine arts of dance, song and acting into one performance.
“Opera is very realistic at times and it has all the arts combined into one. It has singing, and you have to be a great singer, first and foremost, but it’s also equally important to be a good actress. People don’t want to see someone standing there without putting any emotion into their performance,” she said.
Garofolo spends a good deal of her time researching how to perform each piece. She practices the art of word coloring, which in essence is using the adjectives in a song to paint a vocal picture. Some operas also incorporate dance into the performance.
“You have to internalize what you are learning. Part of the experience is that there are a lot of layers to unravel. It’s your job to serve your composer and make the story believable to the audience.”