Word: durkin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Celia E. Durkin, originally class of 2008 and now a junior at Stanford says she felt drawn by the power of the Harvard name. “What drew me to it was it’s amazing reputation,” says Durkin. “I couldn’t really turn it down...
...flaws, it's that of Alcina. Running over four hours, the Baroque opera presents its leading lady with aria upon aria of fiendishly difficult coloratura singing (Ah! Mio cor! alone is a 12-minute, seven-stages-of-grieving emotional roller-coaster) with minimal orchestral backing. With typical understatement, Durkin calls it musical "Ping Pong." Only the finest sopranos can survive such exercise. Handel's original Alcina, Anna Strada, was unkindly described by a contemporary as having "so little of Venus in her appearance, that she was usually called the Pig." But more than anyone else, it was a 33-year...
...What's amazing is that Durkin very nearly didn't parlay "It" into opera. The daughter of a plumber from Perth's working-class Maddington, she first dreamed of a career in musical theater. But after failing her dance audition for the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Durkin was offered a place at the conservatorium instead. "Everyone's got this idea of what an opera singer is like," she says, "and for me it was always Wagner-huge, you know, the horns." For an art form looking to reinvent itself and draw new audiences, Durkin is a marketer...
...Indeed, there's nothing remotely prima donna-ish about a singer who, on the eve of her most serious role debut to date, can talk entertainingly about reflux, the latest James Bond film, and the merits of Skype. The first explains why Durkin won't be eating tomatoes or a curry before a performance anytime soon. ("Sometimes it's like, Oh, that's disgusting!") As for James Bond, the way Durkin describes Daniel Craig's performance in Casino Royale ("this guy is just hard-arse, and then he actually falls in love and you believe it"), he could...
...perhaps forgetting La Stupenda here. While Durkin admits that Sutherland's perfectly controlled career and "beautiful, bell-like sound" have been inspirations for her own stupendous rise, comparisons can also be unhelpful. She would be the first to point out that she has yet to make a recording or grace the European opera stages that forged Sutherland's fame. But in the budding boldness of her bel canto one can already sense a magical symmetry forming-of another down-to-earth spirit allied to a heavenly voice...