Meet the mother and daughter who sing together in the Vancouver Opera Chorus
The inspiring Eve-Lyn de la Haye and Clara Griesdale on what's it like to shared the stage in five operas.
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Ashley Daniel Foot:
Welcome to Inside Vancouver Opera. My name is Ashley Daniel Foot. Today on the show we always say that Vancouver Opera is a family, but today's guests actually are family. Eve-Lyn de la Haye and Clara Griesdale are real life mother and daughter, and they're both in our upcoming production of Carmen.
So how on earth did you discover that you like to sing opera?
Clara Griesdale:
Because my mom's an opera singer, and I've loved singing for a long time. I think I was in my first opera when I was four. I was in Madama Butterfly. I didn't sing, but I was in it. I was the little child.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
When did you realize that Clara was also going to be a singer too?
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
Clara always had a musical ear, and I think being exposed at an early age is really helpful for that. But she also expressed interest in starting an instrument when she was quite little. So when she was three, she started taking violin lessons and the benefit of playing a string instrument from a young age that's going to give you a really good pitch and a really good ear. And she always sang as a child as toddler, one/two years old, making up random songs with very intricate tunes and words, and she'd be sitting there coloring for an hour, but she was never quiet. There was always sound coming out of her. And for a while, Clara wasn't sure if she wanted to do private lessons. She is now, but it took a little while for that to grow. But she's been singing in my choir since she was six.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Tell me about your choir.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
I started a choir at my kid's school in 2017 as a way to give back to my community. So I volunteer my time there once a week, and we've grown from our first year, we had 18 singers, and now we have 65. And we perform at the Vancouver School Board Choral Festival every March, and at school events and fundraisers and special assemblies. And it's fantastic.
Clara has been a very strong leadership role in that choir because of her amazing ear and ability to retain harmony. I can, for example, in a two part harmony piece, give her a third part harmony to sing by herself and I can hear it out of all of the 65 kids. So she's had a real kind of special voice and musicality and expression to go along with it as well.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
That's amazing. How does it feel to see Clara excel so much at singing?
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
Well, it's joyful for me and especially now that she'll let me teach her a little bit. She's now joined my studio officially, about a year ago and is doing musical theatre competitions. She's got a strong dance background as well. She's a competitive ballet dancer, and we'll be heading off to provincials for Junior Ballet this year in June.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
That's amazing. Congratulations.
Clara Griesdale:
Thank you.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
So she's working on her triple threat.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Wow! You better all watch out!
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
Yes, I'll be out of a job soon.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Clara, how does it feel to see your mom doing so well as a singer and excelling and leading the choir that she was just talking about?
Clara Griesdale:
I mean, because I've been in a choir for so long, I've also seen her grow her career too, and yeah, it feels good.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Your mom is an incredible singer and a true asset to the Vancouver Opera Chorus as well as to the Vancouver Opera family running our summer camp and Project Opera, and really devoting a lot of her time to making our art accessible and welcoming to folks of all ages. Why do you think that's important work?
Clara Griesdale:
I mean, having someone as good of a singer as my mom is really helpful because she is such an important person to VO. I feel like it's just great to have someone like that.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
I did allude to the fact that you run a lot of other programs at VO, including Project Opera and the upcoming Opera Summer Camp. Tell us a little bit about that.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
Opera Camp is a place where creative kids can come and hang out for a week in the summer, and we build, create, write, and perform an original opera in just five days. So the kids get to write the libretto and the score. They get to stage their scenes and paint the sets and come up with costuming ideas.
Because they've created all of this work from the ground up, they really not only get to see all, well, a lot of the steps involved in producing opera, but also they take such a strong ownership of this work and a really strong sense of pride because they have created it all.
So it's unlike other programs in the way that we don't come in on day one with music already written and scripts for them to memorize. They're going to create all that in the first couple of days. And then in the last half of the week is rehearsing and putting everything together.
So it really is an outstanding opportunity for kids who love to create, whether it's writing, music, acting, painting, visual art, directing, all of that. They get a chance to try all of it.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
That sounds incredible. And you've done this camp before, haven't you, Clara. What's it like? Tell us about it.
Clara Griesdale:
It's really fun because it involves everything that I love.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
We're just about to launch Opera Summer Camp July 15th to 19th, right here at O'Brian Centre for Opera, and there will be registration online. It's going to fill up fast, I have a feeling. So if this sounds like something your youngster would be interested in, I encourage you to visit our website at VancouverOpera.ca. It'll be right on the homepage, see Opera Camp. You can click through and grab one of those last remaining spots.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
I want to talk about the Vancouver Opera Children's Chorus. How does that work? How do you get to sing in an opera like Carmen, which you're both currently in?
Clara Griesdale:
Well, kids Chorus, it's really fun. I've been doing it for a lot of years. We have to audition and we sing a couple songs for them. We just let them get to know us, and then they pick from their selection.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
And there's usually quite a few applicants, if I'm not mistaken.
Clara Griesdale:
Yes, there's a lot.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
And every time you've been in the children's Chorus many times. How many times will it be?
Clara Griesdale:
Five. I've been in Madama Butterfly, Turandot, La Bohème, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and then Carmen.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
That's Exciting. And Eve, you've done a few more than five productions I feel at Vancouver Opera.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
I think I've done closer to 10, although I didn't actually count. I started my career as a soloist and principal singer, but it was actually my daughter that inspired me to audition for the Vancouver Opera Chorus because I kept taking her to rehearsals and shows and spending my time kind of coming and doing that and supporting her. And I thought, well, maybe I should just be in the show with her and then we could do it together.
La Bohème was the first one that we did together. That was, I think my first season was the 2018-2019 season as a chorus member, and I've been doing it ever since. It's such a wonderful community of people and singers and artistic staff, and just such a wonderful place to work and grow.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
And what do you think we should be looking forward to with Carmen?
Clara Griesdale:
Definitely the kids, because we are the star of the show.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Okay. You're not biased, are you?
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
The kids sound fantastic. You're going to hear a lot of famous tunes that you'll recognize. So even if you don't think you know Carmen, you know Carmen. You just come and see and you'll be tapping your foot and going, oh, I know this song.
So I think it's got all of the checklist for fabulous opera. It's got drama, it's got comedy. It's got absolutely amazing, beautiful music, melodies that you'll be humming as you're leaving the theatre. And it's going to be a visual spectacle. We have about 78 people in total on stage in this production.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Amazing. And the set is also enormous.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
Yes, it looks fantastic.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
One of the biggest.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
We haven't gotten a chance to step on it yet, but we will hopefully soon.
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Clara, can you hum a little bit of the children's chorus so that we can hear some of the beautiful choruses that you're learning for Carmen?
Clara Griesdale:
(Singing)
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Bravo! En français, très bien!
I'd love to hear, can you sing some of the Carmen Chorus too? I'd love to hear a little bit.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
(Singing)
Ashley Daniel Foot:
I love it. That's amazing. But there are pieces that you sing together, right?
Eve-Lyn de la Haye:
Yes. In Act IV, getting towards the finale of the whole show, we have this big scene with when the toreadors are arriving and everyone's really excited about to go in and watch the bullfighting and all the kids and the families are all assembling, and these are like celebrities. So everyone is ecstatic and super joyful and shouting ‘Bravo!’ and ‘Toreador!’ and we're all excited to see Escamillo.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye & Clara Griesdale:
(Both singing)
Ashley Daniel Foot:
Love it! Amazing! That's the first time a mother and daughter have ever sung on Inside Vancouver Opera. So this is a huge honour and a huge treat. Thank you for coming in, especially out of your day. Good luck in all your upcoming competitions and performances. Excited to see you both on stage and Carmen. And our audience should be excited too!
I know tickets are going so fast, so go to VancouverOpera.ca and come and see this incredible mother and daughter performing together.
Well, how about that? That's something very special and so much fun. And as always, thanks to Mack McGillivray, our amazing producer. And I'll see you, where else, at the opera.
Eve-Lyn de la Haye is a Senior Teaching Artist at Vancouver Opera. From Victoria, BC, highlights of her career include a tour of Mexico with the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, the role of Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the International Vocal Arts Institute of Tel Aviv, Olympia in the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada’s production of Les Contes D’Hoffmann and Echo in Calgary Opera’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos, broadcast on CBC. The role of Anna in Boieldieu’s La Dame Blanche marked her debut with VOICEBOX:Opera in Concert in Toronto and Handel’s Messiah took her back home for performances with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. At the Britten Pears Festival in Aldeburgh, she sang the role of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and additional appearances with Calgary Opera include Aurore in Le Portrait de Manon and Sarah in the Canadian premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe.
Eve-Lyn is a graduate of the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Diploma in Music Program and the University of Toronto’s Opera Division where she was the recipient of the Paul Baker Opera Graduation Scholarship. Further honours include a grant for career development from the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation.
Inside Vancouver Opera is hosted by Ashley Daniel Foot, Vancouver Opera’s Director of Engagement and Civic Practice. Boundlessly creative and fascinated by the way that art is created and presented, Ashley has guided arts organizations across Canada to craft messages and tell unique stories.
At Vancouver Opera, Ashley carefully develops all programming that takes place off the mainstage and looks for unique and unexpected ways to highlight the power of opera in the community. He also manages all education, community partnerships, and guides the company’s commitment to justice, equity, reconciliation, and diversity. He’s particularly proud of his recent collaborations with with the Vancouver Public Library, BC Alliance for Arts and Culture, Vancouver Art Gallery, and Rumble Theatre. He is also the co-chair of the City of Vancouver’s Arts and Culture Advisory Committee.
Inside Vancouver Opera is produced by Mack McGillivray, an audio producer creating shows for radio and podcast. He is passionate about cultivating local community and a lifelong lover of opera.