The countertenor John Holiday talks about diversifying the opera word and about his influences, from the church choir to Cardi B.
When John Holiday was growing up in Texas, he went to church every single day. His grandmother—he calls her Big Mama—encouraged Holiday and his siblings to sing, but, one by one, as they grew up, they stopped, except for Holiday, who went on to become a professional countertenor—a male singer whose vocal range reaches the same high-flying notes typically occupied by female singers—with a thriving operatic career. Two days before his performance in Crypt Sessions, a series of intimate concerts held in the stone chamber beneath the Church of the Intercession, in Harlem, he visited the space to speak to The New Yorker. He talked about his inspirations, and how he finds what he calls “the soul of the music.” And he gave a glimpse of his soaring voice, performing three songs, including a gospel-inflected “Amazing Grace.”
For Holiday, boundaries of genre are invitations, not barriers. “All the music that I’ve heard, all the music that I’ve sung, shapes who I am,” he says. That means the gospel music of his church upbringing, the blues that Big Mama used to listen to, and the jazz that he learned later on. It also means Baroque opera, classical oratorio, and French chanson, such as Reynaldo Hahn’s “A Chloris,” which opens the video. “I think that all music influences other musics,” he says. “Even a Cardi B song might influence something the way I sing classically.”
The classical-music world still skews white. Holiday knows how important role models can be: this year, he won the Marian Anderson Award, named for the trailblazing black contralto, who overcame the racial prejudice of mid-century America to become one of the most celebrated artists of her day. “Before anyone hears me, they see me: an African-American, male countertenor,” Holiday says. In the end, his voice—sometimes tender, sometimes fiery, always unique—speaks for itself. And he has a message for anyone who thinks classical music is not for them: “I think it’s so beautiful to be different.”—Fergus McIntosh
Sourse: newyorker.com
