Sergio Mims: OperaWire.com: OperaWire Interview with Jeanine De Bique

Jeanine De Bique

(Marco Borggreve)

Sergio A. Mims writes:

OperaWire has just posted an interview with soprano Jeanine De Bique about her recent debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York, her career, the obstacles that she still faces and her optimism on her future.

OperaWire

Q & A: Soprano Jeanine De Bique on Her Mostly Mozart Debut, Her Journey as a Singer, and the Importance of Serving Others

By Chris Ruel

Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique hadn’t seen a fully staged opera until the age of 21, but had been raised to appreciate the classical arts by her mother. Now, the award-winning singer is highly sought after for concert and staged works, with The “Washington Post” noting her “dramatic presence and versatility.”

And as such, she will make her Mostly Mozart Festival debut on August 4, 2019 singing an all-Handel program bookended by Haydn’s “Symphony No. 88 in G major,” and Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. De Bique will be backed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of Iván Fischer.

De Bique’s heart is not only filled with a love for music, but also with a passion for justice and inclusion. Her charity work is as much a part of who she is as her singing. OperaWire recently connected with the soprano to get her thoughts on her Mostly Mozart debut, learn about her path from Trinidad to the great opera houses of the world, and learn more about her charity work.

OperaWire: How special is this Mostly Mozart debut for you?

Jeanine De Bique: Sharing the stage with a world-renowned conductor and equally famous orchestra in this Mostly Mozart debut is such an extraordinary opportunity. Further I am honored to be invited to perform on one of the most important stages in the world and to stand in the same spot where my idols and great performers have stood and will stand after me. This is incredible.

This is the city where I began my professional training in this craft and I am truly excited that universe has aligned itself to allow me to be here. I hope to make all the persons, both at home, Europe and in the United States, duly proud.

OW: Tell me about the repertoire you selected. You seem to be a Handel fan. What draws you to his music?

JDB: These three Handel arias each show brilliantly a different side of Handel’s creative and expressive writing and I chose these arias specifically because each portrays different aspects of my personality. I thought, this is a really nice and short personal insight for the audience to have some idea who Jeanine De Bique is. Not easy by any means, but I love the challenge that the arias bring.

Actually, working with them has taught me more about my instrument and of the technical skill needed to perform them, not only in the Baroque style but in other periods of classical music as well. Handel’s music allows me the freedom to create. I see a white canvas on which I am able to paint with many different colors of my voice. As I get a stronger connection to, and understanding of my instrument I gain more colors and I can make different brush strokes from my palate. My attraction to his music also comes from my study of the historical and cultural contexts in which the music developed.

At school, I studied European history. I dreamt of visiting old abbeys, ruins and churches in England where early music began, and read of the countries of the Ottoman Empire, and of great palaces of Kings, Queens and Tsars that commissioned musical works of composers for example in France and Austria. This connection to European history and my knowledge and interest in it is one of the many reasons my desire and taste for the music of the period expanded.

The first time I sung with a Basso Continuo in rehearsal, I was completely mesmerized by the experience. There is in inescapable bond that is formed between the way the instruments sing, feel and express with you in their playfulness and great conversation between voice and orchestra.


I’ve sung Monteverdi, Purcell and Jommelli operas but it was in my work on Handel that I was introduced to this unique and thrilling relationship of voice and orchestra. I am relatively new to Baroque music and grateful for the opportunities I have had, to learn from the masters. I am eager to learn more about the style and to portray it with my voice, as I am eager to continue learning about all styles in opera.