It ain’t over till the opera singer says so. After winter weather put a stop to a planned concert in March, soprano Mary Boehlke Wilson will be helping the Rosemount High School concert choir…
It ain’t over till the opera singer says so.
After winter weather put a stop to a planned concert in March, soprano Mary Boehlke Wilson will be helping the Rosemount High School concert choir end its season Thursday by singing the French operatic piece “Ah Chloris.”
The school invited Wilson, a 1988 graduate and accomplished opera singer, back for the concert and to award her the Performing Arts Legacy Award for 2017-18. She’ll sing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the school’s performing arts center. The concert is open to the public.
We caught up with Wilson in Memphis, Tenn., where she lives with her husband of 23 years, Todd, and their 10-year-old son, Fletcher.
Q: What productions were you in as a high school student in Rosemount?
A. Every single one of them! I was Maria in “The Sound of Music” and a waitress in the show “Working.”
Q: Was there a specific teacher who inspired you?
A: It was my parents. I was in my dad’s choir for three years. (Steve Boehlke was Rosemount’s high school choir director for 30 years. Her mother, Margaret, was her piano teacher.)
Q: Was there a particular moment you knew you wanted to sing opera for a career?
A: I got to sing the role of Susanna in Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” at St. Olaf. It kind of gripped my soul. Opera uses all of the arts combined to tell the story. An opera production is opulence. It’s seriously very moving and very exciting.
Q: So, you graduated high school and went on to graduate from St. Olaf College in Northfield in 1992. What happened next?
A: I went to graduate school for one year to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. I hated it. I was too young, too inexperienced. I was getting pigeonholed into tiny smaller things that I didn’t want to do. I decided I needed a break. I quit singing for about seven years. I met my husband. I decided I would go to law school.
Q: Law school? That’s a major shift.
A: At the law firm where I worked they used Manila folders and Redweld envelopes. I used colored envelopes. My cubicle was very colorful and very artsy. I had a flower clock. They said to me, “You don’t belong here.”
Q: How did you get back into singing?
A: I was doing a random solo on a Sunday morning at my church job at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis. A man came up afterward and introduced himself. I thought, how nice, this man liked my voice. It turned out he was the head of the voice department at Washington University in St. Louis. He offered me a full ride. He became my voice teacher and changed the course of my life.
Q: Was there a particular role or show that got you noticed in the opera world?
A: I made it to the national finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions competition. I was one of the final 10 out of thousands. That was really empowering. It kind of underscored that I was in the right place.
Q: Tell us about a few of your most memorable projects.
A: I got to do my first solo CD recording project with the American Bach Soloists in San Francisco. I was recording “Mass for Troubled Times” by Haydn in Boston when the Boston bombing happened. They had to cancel one of the performances because the city was on lockdown.
Q: What’s the furthest you’ve traveled for a show?
A: Singapore. I was singing Handel’s “Messiah “ with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Q: What’s the biggest crowd you’ve sung for?
A: I sang at the Hollywood Bowl (capacity 17,500).
Q: What languages have you sung in?
A: Latin, French, Italian, German, English, Czech and Spanish.
Q: What role stretched you the most?
A: Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos .” It’s a huge, long role, high and fast. I just love her.
Q: How are you feeling about returning to RHS?
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Best in Minneapolis-St. Paul entertainment for Memorial Day weekend and beyond A: Rosemount is so big now, I need a map to get around. My first stop is Carbone’s Pizza. It’s funny to me to be getting an alumni award. I don’t feel that old. It will be very surreal to go back to the high school and be in the theater that wasn’t there when I was there.
Q: Future plans?
A: The most rewarding thing is that I’m still growing in my career. I just made my debut with the Boston Symphony in March. I have two CD projects I’m working on. I still feel like I have a lot to do.
