Ah, the life of a world-renowned opera singer: exotic locales and posh hotels, the spotlight and the accolades! For Annette Daniels '84, an internationally recognized mezzo-soprano, the job has had its share of that — but there are also long hours of work and even longer plane flights.
Daniels has been in high demand at prestigious opera houses around the globe over the last several years. Among the many operas she’s performed in are Porgy and Bess, The Barber of Seville, Carmen and Madame Butterfly.
“It’s fantastic to be this busy,” Daniels says. “But I’m at the point that I’m tired of packing and unpacking suitcases.”
Dorothy Crum, WSU director of voice and choral studies and Daniels’ former teacher, isn’t surprised at Daniels’ success. Crum describes the mezzo-soprano’s voice this way: “She’s got fire in it. Her voice has become fuller and richer with age.”
Among Daniels’ most recent performances was a Los Angeles production of Monticello. “Monticello is a cool opera,” she says. “A film composer, Glenn Paxton, came up with the music, and it was directed by John Rubinstein, who is the son of Arthur Rubinstein, a famous concert pianist. There are all these little twists that make it interesting to work on something like that.”
And it’s those little twists that Daniels says makes her career so fulfilling.
