opera singer
Personal Information
Born November 20, 1948, in Stephens, AR; daughter of M. L. (a Methodist minister) and Della (a schoolteacher) Hendricks; married Martin Engstrom (a music manager); children: Jennie, Sebastian.
Education: University of Nebraska--Lincoln, B.S., 1969; studied at Juilliard School of Music, 1969-71.
Career
Operatic soprano. Singer with most major opera companies in the world; has collaborated on more than 50 recordings. American opera debut, 1975; moved to Paris, 1977; Berlin Opera debut, 1978; New York Metropolitan Opera debut, 1986. Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, beginning 1987.
Life's Work
Although lyric soprano Barbara Hendricks stepped onto the opera stage later in life than most of her peers, her natural musical talent has made up for lost time. She began her voice training in 1968 at the relatively advanced age of 19 and went on to make her American opera debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1975. Seven years later, Hendricks made an impressive Paris debut as the female lead in the opera Romeo et Juliette.
A master at performing French art songs and classical German songs of the nineteenth-century known as "lieder," Hendricks has become an international celebrity. She has more than 50 recordings to her credit and has sung with almost all of the major orchestras in the world. Though the modest artist has downplayed her fame, Hendricks has received worldwide critical acclaim for her voice, working with such noted conductors as Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Georg Solti, and James Levine. According to Ebony, von Karajan compared Hendricks to the legendary Maria Callas "in passion and interpretive possibility."
"When the lyric soprano Barbara Hendricks sings, the first word that comes to mind is not powerful but beautiful or even pretty," proclaimed Dennis McFarland in the New York Times. "What you hear is near perfect intonation, clear diction, and the lovely variety of colors that characterizes a pleasant speaking voice.... You have the feeling that Ms. Hendricks is singing with the voice she was born with, not with the one she has made for herself."
Hendricks is noted for her down-to-earth demeanor, which is often linked to her midwestern upbringing. The daughter of a Methodist minister and a schoolteacher, Hendricks grew up in segregated Stephens, Arkansas, in the 1950s. Her musical experience was limited to singing in the church choir, playing the piano, and singing hymns to her mother at night. Although she had a "gifted" voice, she aspired to become a doctor or a lawyer.
Hendricks decided to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied mathematics and chemistry, subjects in which she had excelled during high school. The turning point of Hendricks's life occurred during her junior year at UNL when a member of her church choir asked her to sing at a civic society meeting. A trustee of the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies heard her sing and encouraged her to attend the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. So, in the summer of 1968, Hendricks's career path turned to music.
In Aspen, Hendricks also met the woman who was instrumental in the development of her musical career--Jennie Tourel, the great Russian mezzo-soprano. Tourel invited Hendricks to study with her at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York. Hendricks returned to Nebraska to complete her bachelor's degree and joined Tourel at Juilliard in 1969.
Hendricks's lack of formal voice training left her feeling handicapped at Juilliard, where some of her classmates had been studying music since the age of six. But Tourel's constant support helped Hendricks through. Hendricks told Opera News contributor Barrymore Laurence Scherer: "Tourel assured me that with my voice I could have a career, and having had a normal upbringing, I was less hysterical about 'making it' than a lot of people. I was realistic enough to know that if it wasn't going to happen, I could do other things to make my contribution--medicine was one, and I was also interested in law." However, Hendricks didn't need to worry about resorting to another field.
Hendricks's European odyssey began in the early 1970s. She spent her summers touring Europe with Tourel, who was teaching masters classes. They always started their stints in France, which would later become the singer's home. In 1971 Hendricks won the Geneva International Competition and the following year brought home the first prize in the International Concours de Paris. She performed several European operas and recitals throughout the early 1970s but did not make her American opera debut until 1975, when she played Drusilla in the San Francisco Opera's production of Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. During the summer of 1975, Hendricks sang the role of Clara in the complete recording of the George Gershwin folk opera Porgy and Bess with the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Mazel.
In January of 1977 Swedish-born Martin Engstrom, Hendricks's European manager and friend since 1973, invited her to Europe for auditions. Following a two-day courtship, Hendricks agreed to marry Engstrom, and by April they had made Paris their home.
Proximity made it easy for Hendricks to schedule more of her appearances in France, and the French seemed happy to adopt the American soprano. Hendricks made her Paris Opera debut as Juliette in Romeo et Juliette in 1982.
In 1986, she became the only non-French singer nominated for the French Grammys, and she received the award for best French performer in the classical music category. In addition, that same year, the French government named Hendricks the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.
Hendricks made her New York Metropolitan Opera debut as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier in 1986. Over the years she has performed with major opera companies across the United States and Europe, including the Boston Opera, the Houston Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, the St. Paul Opera, Berlin's Deutsche Opera, de Nederlandse Operastichting, and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Hendricks has also worked with a variety of international symphony orchestras, including those in Chicago, New York, London, Berlin, and Vienna. The artist expanded her talents to acting when she made her screen debut as Mimi in the 1988 film version of La Boheme, directed by Luigi Comencini.
Although Hendricks made regular appearances in the United States during the early 1980s, most of her exposure there was as a recitalist. Her few operatic appearances were with the Boston and Santa Fe Opera companies. In 1990 she appeared as a guest on NBC's Christmas in Washington and on the PBS broadcast of Boston's Christmas at Pops. According to McFarland, "Probably thousands of American viewers of these programs were asking themselves, 'Who is that beautiful woman with the beautiful voice?'"
Hendricks has spent a significant amount of time culturing her voice's natural sound. She reportedly values rehearsal time above all else and dislikes the lack of it in today's opera--part of the reason she rarely performs more than five operas a year. She devotes most of her time to concerts and recitals, "where I can really pare things down to essentials, just me and the accompanist," she told Scherer in Opera News.
Hendricks's preference for music in its purist form is also reflected in her belief that bigger sound is not necessarily better. "Rather than oversinging, I try to pull the voice back, to refine and control it, to see how little I can sing while still making it go out into the house," Hendricks continued in Opera News. "It's the difference between a Mack truck and a Maserati--one can haul a load, but the other can take the curves."
While the passionate opera singer's impact on the world of music is unquestionable, her voice has also made a significant, if not as celebrated, difference in the lives of countless refugees. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Hendricks is as devoted to her humanitarian work as she is to her music.
Since her appointment to the post of Goodwill Ambassador in 1987, Hendricks has visited countless refugee camps in Africa and Asia. Working 18-hour days in the most primitive living conditions, she tries to give hope to the displaced men, women, and children in the camps. "I do not fool myself by thinking I'm changing the world, but I know I'm touching something, if for no other reason, for the fact that I represent hope," she told McFarland. "They know that I'm on their side. I see that in their eyes."
In addition to visiting refugee camps, Hendricks's responsibility as a Goodwill Ambassador includes spreading the word about the plight of refugees. Through benefit concerts and public announcements, Hendricks strives to educate others about the refugee dilemma. And though the artist is very serious about her musical pursuits, she has a realistic view of how they fit into the greater scheme of life. "I'm very sincere about my humanitarian activities," she said in Ebony. "I really rely on my concert appearances to further the cause of human rights. It's not a duty; it's a need. Besides," she added modestly, "you only have to read the front page of the newspaper to put my concert reviews in proper perspective."
Hendricks and her husband reside in Switzerland with their two children, Jennie, named after Hendricks's beloved mentor, and Sebastian. The artist focuses most of her operas, concerts, and recitals in Europe, so she can easily fly home to Switzerland between appearances. Despite her rigorous schedule, she values her personal time with her family. "For me there is no conflict between profession and home, no sacrifice," she told Ebony. "My children need me, so I have to make it all work."
Awards
First prize, Geneva International Competition, 1971; first prize, International Concours de Paris, 1972; French Grammy for best French performer of classical music, 1986; Commandeur, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1986.
Works
Selective Discography
- Bach: Cantatas 51, 82, 202 (complete) with Cantata 208 (1 aria only), Angel, 1990.
- Bizet: Les Pecheurs de perles, Angel, 1990.
- Chabrier: La Legende de Gwendoline: Ode a la musique, Angel, 1990.
- Donizetti: Don Pasquale, Erato, 1990.
- La Boheme (soundtrack), Erato, 1988.
- Mozart: Opera and Concert Arias, EMI, 1984.
- Mozart: Marriage of Figaro, Philips, 1985.
- Mozart: Sacred Arias, EMI, 1988.
- Negro Spirituals, EMI, 1983.
- Orff: Carmina burana, Angel, 1990.
- Poulenc: Stabat Mater, Gloria in G, Angel, 1990.
- Sacred Songs, Angel, 1991.
- Schubert: Lieder, EMI, 1986.
Further Reading
Books
- Artist Issue, 17th edition, Schwann Publications, 1991-92.
Periodicals- Ebony, May 1990.
- New York Times, May 12, 1991.
- Opera News, August 1988.
- Washington Post, November 11, 1983.
- Barbara Hendricks was profiled on the November 24, 1991 broadcast of CBS Sunday Morning.
— Jomel Nichols
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