Singer Spotlight: Das Blümelein Project
https://www.dasblumeleinproject.org/
Tell us a little about yourselves! Where are you from? What is your educational and musical background?
Das Blümelein Project is a collaborative arts organization based in Dallas, Texas created by classical musicians Bethany Mamola and Agostina Migoni. Dr. Mamola and Ms. Migoni met in music school almost a decade ago and have since founded DBP, an organization created by artists to support artists. Both women strayed from the limited, traditional career options for opera singers and created their own path, one that gives them and other artists an avenue to create.
Bethany Mamola is from Sacramento, California. Growing up in a creative family of artists and musicians, she began her musical studies in the Sacramento Children’s Chorus. Dr. Mamola holds a DMA from the University of North Texas, a Masters of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Bachelors of Music from the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music. In addition to performance, Dr. Mamola is an enthusiastic educator in Voice. She has taught on the faculty of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and has joined the faculty of the College of Wooster as a Visiting Associate Professor of Voice.
Agostina Migoni is from Dallas, Texas and also grew up in a musical family. Her first music teacher was her grandfather, an opera singer from Argentina. Ms. Migoni holds a Masters of Music from the University of North Texas and a Bachelors of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
What is one thing you wish more singers knew before auditioning for your ensemble?
We want to hear from artists who want to create and who have something to say with an authentic point of view. DBP creates productions that break the barriers of accessibility, foreign language, elitism, and cultural misrepresentation associated with opera and classical music in order to highlight the beauty of this valued repertoire. DBP pushes the boundaries of traditional performance practices by touring and producing our shows in intimate settings which allows for a greater and more diverse audience. We collaborate with creatives across a wide spectrum of mediums including, but not limited to, sculpture, textile, painting, photography, video production, music, dance, acting, and the culinary arts. By ditching the ego found in traditional production settings and balancing our expertise with experimentation, DBP enables curiosity and creativity, further supporting our mission for cultural innovation and creative thinking through artistic collaboration and education.
We want to change people’s perspective on opera and classical music by presenting a story through music in a way that they can relate to and connect with. DBP tries to utilize alternative strategies for marketing and accessibility by making every collaborative and creative choice go toward strengthening the narrative of the story that is being told.
Tell us about an obstacle you have faced and how you overcame it.
Before founding DBP, we were living in Germany doing the European audition circuit together. To be frank, we were broke, tired, frustrated, and on the verge of burnout. Through a series of events, we arrived at two conclusions. Firstly, that if we shared our resources and contacts, we would double our chances of landing a job, a coaching, an audition, etc. so we stopped competing against one another and collaborated instead. Secondly, we concluded that what makes us happy and fulfilled is telling stories through music, and most importantly, we realized that we could do that on our own, as our own creative directors. This freed our creativity and allowed us to begin to dream up other ways to continue doing what we love. We began to empower and invest in ourselves and build DBP. Though DBP is still a young organization, we’ve been so grateful and surprised by the support we’ve received. It’s inspiring to see others excited about the mission of our organization and wanting to be a part of it.
What is one role or piece you could listen to over and over and never get tired of?
Bethany: Le Nozze di Figaro…I could probably dig deep into the nuance and character development of that piece for years and never tire of the sheer beauty of music, and genius of the story.
Agostina: I know it’s cheesy but La bohème. It was my grandfather’s favorite opera; he made a career singing Rodolfo and so it was always playing in our house growing up. I also met my husband singing in a production of La bohème; he was playing in the orchestra pit. Needless to say, the piece is special to me. However, most recently I have become a little obsessed with Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and I’ve also always enjoyed the underrated tango opera, María de Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla.
If you could only give one piece of advice to a young singer, what would it be?
Learn and study the text first instead of your notes and rhythms. There’s a reason why the piece isn’t written with only vowels. The story you are singing is the base of all of your decisions musically and dramatically moving forward with a piece. Understanding and connecting with the story first will make learning the piece much easier, and will fulfill you so much more than simply “perfecting” the technique.
What is a common mistake you see singers make?
Not trusting themselves and trying to fit a mold - just be yourself; that’s much more interesting!
Is there anything else you want to share?
We hope that what singers and creatives reading will take away from this article is that collaboration is key. You can’t do it all on your own. Lean into your people and trust that collaboration over competition will always lead to more exciting results.
