Mesak says opera singers face rising physical demands

Soprano Mirjam Mesak says opera singers face increasingly demanding physical workloads, ERR reported, after making her US debut at the Dallas Opera in the title role of The Cunning Little Vixen.

Mesak said director Barrie Kosky’s production avoids depicting animals, forests or trees, focusing instead on psychological themes, life’s cycles and the emotions already conveyed by the music. The approach gives her room to explore her character’s motives and development: the fox grows from a young animal into an adult and ends the opera with 27 children.

Mesak previously performed in the production at its 2022 premiere in Munich, singing the parts of the innkeeper’s wife and a jay. She returned to it in Dallas as the title character. Dallas Opera music director Emmanuel Villaume conducts the performances.

The role demands careful pacing, Mesak said. She is off stage only once during the one-hour-and-40-minute performance. She also works with physiotherapists and osteopaths to recover, and said one osteopath compared her workload to that of an elite athlete.

Mesak said she wants to speak openly about the physical demands of the profession and differences between men’s and women’s experiences. She pointed to singers who return to work about three months after giving birth, saying fear of losing work or missing a career peak can drive them to do so.