On Friday, Garanča will be back at the BroadStage as part of the Celebrity Opera Recital Series, a family affair as she will be accompanied by an orchestra led by her husband, esteemed British conductor Karel Mark Chichon. An audience favorite at BroadStage, Garančan and Chichon’s trip will be the first time bringing their two daughters to the Los Angeles area.
Garanča has received global recognition from audiences, appearing regularly at iconic stages like the Metropolitan Opera House and Carnegie Hall in New York City, Wigmore Hall in London and Deutsche Oper Berlin in Germany. Critics have lauded her career as well, with two Grammy Award nominations for Best Opera Recording in 2005 and 2018.
Before building her name in the famed European opera scene, Garanča was a child of a musical family in Riga, Latvia, having a unique adolescence in two different environments.
"I’m very grateful that I have a musical education and I grew up in … different worlds, because my parents were professional musicians," Garanča said. "I spent a lot of times in theaters, in concert, in the opera house and in the drama theater, [but] then in the summertime … I was usually sent to my grandparents who were farmers, so I was surrounded by nature at its best and most direct."
Forced to take on piano at a young age, she eventually accepted singing as her calling, beginning her professional career as a resident artist with the Südthüringischer Staatstheater in Meinigen, Germany, followed by a stint at the Opera in Frankfurt where she performed smaller roles until they "trusted" her "with the bigger ones."
Along her path to superstardom, Garanča met her eventual husband, Chichon, by happenstance at a show in Riga. Invited to do a vocal concert, Garanča’s original conductor became unavailable, leading to Chichon stepping in. With the concert happening in 2000, the two have "stuck together since," including creating the young talent initiative "ZukunftsStimmen" with the support of Austrian bank Raiffeisen.
Citing her "wonderful teachers" who developed her technique over the years, Garanča wanted to do the same for young singers, aiding them both improve vocal ability and develop self-confidence on and off the stage.
"I believe [with my] knowledge, it would be very sad just taking [it] silently to the grave and I like very much to exchange it, and I like to see that in my own experience, it’s helped somebody to go further or get better," Garanča said.
Beyond the tricks of the vocal trade, Garanča and Chincon give youth a chance to expand their professional opportunities, including getting to be on stage with the couple during classical Open-Air concerts in Austria’s Göttweig Abbey and Kitzbühel.
"Youngsters [now] have a possibility to ask every possible question of somebody who is still actively in the business, who have [been] in major houses, who knows agencies, who knows how the theaters are looking for you," she added.
For her latest BroadStage performance, Garanča wants to hit areas of opera that audiences enjoy, as well as "offer something new" including embracing music on the lighter side, which she says is part of her "active life as an artist."
"I do not believe that being an opera singer, you are entitled or you’re supposed to sing only the opera," Garanča said. "You know, music is music, melodies [are] melodies and tunes [are] tunes, and I think that we have to perform and we have to listen and we have to be surrounded by different kinds of music."
Limited tickets remain for the 7:30pm show, to purchase and to gain more information, visit broadstage.org
