Provincial competition proved to be a learning experience for Squamish opera singer Teira Andreeff.
The 25-year-old, still only in her first year of opera training, earned an honourable mention in the senior voice class competition while dueling with much more established talent.
Adjudicators noted her promise at the Penticton-based event, which took place from June 5 to 7. She told the Squamish Chief that the experience has energized her to return next year.
“It was such a crazy experience,” she said. “It was very competitive and I was up against some extreme talent.”
The first day of competition for Andreeff occurred on June 5 when she participated in the vocal variety class. She sang a piece from the opera The Gondoliers, in which she starred this past May, but she quickly realized it wasn’t the best choice.
“It’s a relatively safe piece, but other performers were taking huge risks with what they were doing, so I knew almost immediately that I wasn’t going to place,” she said, noting that nine singers competed. “It wasn’t the right piece for the competition, but I learned a lot by watching the other performers — especially some of the national performers, who were mind blowing.”
She failed to place, but she quickly redeemed herself the next day in the senior voice class. Competitors had to sing three contrasting songs back-to-back to showcase their range and ability. Andreeff started with Italian piece O Mio Babbino Caro, followed by German number Allerseelen and concluded with Fair Robin I Love.
The German and Italian pieces were more serious in nature and her final song was more comedic and she said it took a lot of strength to successfully perform all three in a row.
“It was hard to do three straight contrasting songs, because the emotions in each song were so different,” she said. “When I did the German piece I became so emotional that I had tears in my eyes and after I was done that I had to take a huge breath, calm myself down and do my funny piece.”
She received an honourable mention for her efforts and said she was overwhelmed to be recognized at the event.
“I wasn’t expecting to place, so when she announced me I looked up and my family said my eyes widened and I couldn’t even get up,” she said. “The adjudicator had to walk the award over for me, I was so shocked.”
Andreeff said adjudicator Michelle Capalbo also gave her some good advice.
“Her comments to me were that I have a beautiful voice, but have extreme jaw tension,” she said. “She said I’m not singing to my full ability because my mouth is so tight, but she can’t wait to hear what I can do when my mouth is loosened up.”
The entire experience has strengthened Andreeff’s resolve to continue with her opera training.
“I learned a lot from this experience,” she said. “I learned my skills are in my dark singing and my heavy and dramatic pieces got a lot of good feedback. Next year, if selected, I already know what I will perform and have a game plan.”
Andreeff will jump back into training this summer and she’s also hoping to start a YouTube channel and a website.
