Daniels was in an ascendant trajectory in the
opera world.
Joy is a defining quality that has a positive and lasting effect on others. We tend to remember joyful people. Annette Daniels ’84 was one of these people.
I met her in 1981, when she was elected to the Senate of the Student Government Association. As I recall, she was the only African-American member.
She enjoyed an unusual ability to convey a warm interest in the well being of others. She was a magnet of good will.
What I did not anticipate was that one day she would be an acclaimed success across the United States, Europe and Africa as an opera star.
Nor could I know that her life would end abruptly in 2004, at age 42, the victim of lung cancer. Daniels was in an ascendant trajectory in the opera world, and one can only imagine what 10 or 20 more years of performance would have meant to her legacy.
Still, she enjoyed an international reputation that should not be forgotten.
Daniels was a mezzo soprano — something like an alto, I am told. She liked to sing with her family’s ensemble and was also a proficient pianist.
I asked her mother, Rose, if she thought her daughter wanted to be a music teacher. No, it was always voice performance.
She was active in music productions at North High in Wichita, and a teacher at North recommended her to Dorothy Crum, who was then a noted voice teacher at Wichita State.
Dr. Crum recognized the professional quality and range of Daniels’ voice, and in her freshman year she was cast as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, under the direction of George Gibson.
He says that even at her young age (18) the germ of an outstanding voice was clear to him. Alan Held ’83, an internationally recognized opera singer who now is on the WSU faculty, recalls Daniels in that role, remembering her as an intense performer, full of musical ambition, with a dedication more typically seen in graduate students.
Even in her college years, Daniels’ range could comfortably reach from low G to high C, some 2½ octaves.
Reviewers of her performances frequently commented about that range, and the “luscious” quality of her voice.
Daniels possessed another valuable opera skill, acting. When she earned her master’s degree in voice performance from the University of Michigan, acting was her minor. She loved the stage and her acting ability enhanced her performance capabilities.
As Carmen, in the Bizet opera, a role she performed numerous times, she was tossed around the stage to the degree that her body was regularly and substantially bruised.
After graduation from WSU and Michigan, Daniels set out for New York with the blessing of her parents, Clarence and Rose, who were long-time staff members of WSU’s physical plant.
Like that of most young professional singers, her goal was to land enough auditions to be able to make a living in opera.
Daniels was blessed with enormous ambition and energy. She had a positive spirit, the ability to make connections and the talent to prepare and perform on short notice.
Those elements remain keys for success for aspiring performers today.
Young artists seek apprenticeships, even if short-term, for the valuable lessons of diction, movement, voice instruction and general coaching.
Daniels pursued those opportunities regularly in her early career, before she could afford an agent to promote her. A grant from Liz Koch through the Koch Cultural Trust was helpful during this stage of her development.
It allowed her to travel to pursue audition and apprenticeship opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to her.
During one of her auditions, officials from the Houston Grand Opera Company heard her and extended an invitation to participate in its extensive apprenticeship program.
In retrospect, this was the turning point in her career. The staff introduced her to roles compatible with her singing and provided extensive coaching that added to the depth and quality of her voice.
Soon she was able to hire a quality agency to promote her, and roles began to come to her.
World premieres are a measure of a singer’s reputation, and Daniels was invited by Tan Dun to introduce Marco in The Adventures of Marco Polo at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York.
She introduced Antigone in Xu Qiao-Song’s The Death of Oedipus in Amsterdam, Holland, and the role of Betty in Monticello, an opera written by Glen Paxton, in California.
Opera singers also are concert artists, and Daniels excelled in this aspect of her career, singing dozens of oratorios, participating in ensembles, and performing as a soloist.
Her Carnegie Hall debut occurred in 1996. This brief article does not permit a comprehensive review of her concert activity, but it was extensive.
As Daniels’ professional reputation grew, Crum once reported, “Her voice has become richer and fuller with age. She’s got fire in it.”
Although the fire died much too soon, Annette Daniels will continue to hold an esteemed place in opera, as well as here at Wichita State.
