Page 17 - Real Style November 2017

de nitively, but the best year constructively. To de ne the things that happened in my 39th year would
be quite a depressing list. It’s our duty, particularly as people having been born into the lottery of the Western world, to ask those very human questions.
rs: Music is such a different form of communication than writing. How was the writing process?
MB: I have always been an avid, voracious reader. I’ve done Canada Reads twice and I never miss the Gillers if I can. But I have never read a memoir and I am not a non- ction reader. What you say and what you write matters, especially if it’s committed
to publication. I think I knew that I had one book in me, and when HarperCollins approached me to do a book, it was really up to me to decide what book it would be. I was caught between what my parents would want, which is for me to tell the truth, and also my sons. Every word I wrote was with full knowledge and hope that they would read it.
rs: What are the biggest challenges you have faced in opera, speaking of creativity?
MB: It’s always challenging to build a life. I am an opera singer and I was born a capital “S” singer. There really wasn’t much else I would have been as good at. I’m glad it found me early, and I’m glad that I had parents who developed it. The hardships are outlined in the book, but I know for a fact that they are not unique to me. They may not all happen in the rst 40 years of someone’s life, but they are not unique. When I write candidly about hardships, it’s because I know that there are people who think they are alone, but they are not. I see my platform as an opportunity to give a voice to what maybe, up to this point, was unspoken.
rs: Your spirituality seems to have played a huge role in your life. How did this have an impact on your upbringing?
MB: Faith without works is dead. People don’t care what you say; they only care what you do. I’m very quick to distance myself from the bigots and crazies who would like for us to think they are Christians. The faith that I grew up in, the nucleus was God’s love. Serving God means leading with love.
rs: You’re a Canadian woman of colour who is in opera. How would you like to see diversity evolve in the world of opera?
MB: Opera is the only musical art form that is done
worldwide. It’s done in Japan, Russia, Ghana, Toronto! I have never (and would be surprised if
I) ever encountered discrimination or racism in my eld. I am in a job that is 99.9 percent of the time performed by a woman. No man is coming in to steal my job. There will be the occasional director who can be a pig, but there are pigs in every profession. There are problems in classical music to be sure, but it’s usually having to do with the modernity of outreach.
rs: It’s true that opera is appreciated internationally. Do you have any favourite destinations, whether in Canada or across the globe?
MB: I love Spain. \[In Canada\], my house is my haven. I live on a lake in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, and it takes a lot for me to get out of my house. When I go there, there is no cell service at my house. It is very quiet. I take pride in how secluded it is. I wanted to be able to send \[my kids\] out and know that they would be ne.
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