Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pauline Tan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Pauline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I was studying pre-Law at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Ohilippines when ny dad saw that the university choir had just come back from a European tour. I had never been outside Asia, so my dad encouraged me to join the choir since I had always loved singing even as a kid. I joined the choir, made wonderful memories with the people there, and my love for singing grew. After a year, the choir hired a new vocal coach and he ended up being my very first voice teacher. He introduced me to the world of art song and opera, and soon enough I would day dream about poetry and song and vocal technique while sitting in politics class. After three years of majoring in political science and history, I decided to make the switch and turn my attention fully to music. I became obssessed with the way words and music melded into what I consider to be a perfect form of communication. I would look forward to my weekly voice lessons, developing a great friendship with my teacher who really cultuvated my love for the art form. Eventually, I applied to several conservatories in the United States and in 2015 I moved to this country and began my undergraduate studies in voice at New England Conservatory in Boston. Since then, it’s been an endless process of learning and growing with my art. I learned what it means to practice, to take care of one’s body and spirit in order to take care of one’s voice, and the discipline of meaningful music making, which is something I try to carry with me always. I have always loved being a student and let my curiosities drive me. The most difficult thing about learning this craft is having to be patient — allowing my voice to bloom and unfold when it wants to, and giving myself grace when faced with more developmental periods of singing. Even today, I still struggle with keeping the mindset that everyone is on their own path and there is no singular way of making a career out of classical singing. I am grateful to be surrounded by artists and mentors that continually inspire and motivate me to be my most genuine self when singing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

“A deep love for poetry and song has taken Filipino-Chinese contralto Pauline Tan across the globe to pursue a career in music. She uses her ‘plush’ and ‘acrobatic’ voice (Chicago Tribune) not only to open channels of honest communication with her audiences, but also to create artistic bridges to little-known musical worlds.

Currently in her second season as a Resident Young Artist at Chicago Opera Theater, Pauline will be appearing in their 2022-’23 season as Beryl Bennett in the première of Shawn Okpebholo and Mark Campbell’s The Cook-Off, in addition to covering Joan Clarke in the world première of Justine F. Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, Florence Pike (Britten’s Albert Herring), and the Deaconess (Szymanowski’s King Roger).

Pauline will be joining the Glimmerglass Festival’s 2023 season. She will be covering the role of Gertrude in Romeo et Juliette and will be singing in the ensembles for Romeo et Juliette and La bohème.

In her concert work as in her operatic work, Pauline seeks out artists and organizations that share her vision of bringing more diversity, re-imagining, and compassion into the arts. This season she is joining LYNX Project as a resident artist, and she has appeared in concerts with non-profit organizations such as Collaborative Arts Institute Chicago and Aural Compass Projects. She has been an active member of the ACP initiative Wear Yellow Proudly, which was begun to combat the devastating upsurge in xenophobia directed towards Asian people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pauline was the first featured artist for the initiative in May 2020, and also appeared in ACP’s Songs Without Borders recital in 2019, which exclusively featured composers, poets, and performers who were American immigrants or refugees.

During the 2021-2022 season Pauline sang in the chorus of Cincinnati Opera’s summer festival (Aida, Pirates of Penzance, La bohème), performed in two world premières at Chicago Opera Theater (Quamino’s Map, chorus; The Beekeeper, Melissa), and covered none other than Stephanie Blythe, as Don José, in COT’s gender-bending production of Carmen, as well as covering the role of Queen Sophine (Becoming Santa Claus).

Pauline has appeared as a soloist in major works including Duruflé’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Her planned 2020 debut with The Orchestra Now as the alto soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Past operatic appearances include Amastre (Serse) and Ottavia (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) and scenes from Carmen (title role) and Falstaff (Mrs. Quickly).

Pauline is currently with Chicago Opera Theater/Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University’s Professional Diploma and Young Artist Program and holds a Master’s degree from The Graduate Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory.”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a singer is being able to communicate to audiences in a very unique way. To be able to tell stories, illuminate truths, and bring to the forefront voices of marginalized individuals. To be able to spread love and beauty, and be a vessel for these poets and composers. To inspire and educate people from all walks of life.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Something I had to unlearn was to be overly humble when faced with compliments. Culturally, I’ve always learned to remain humble and never accept such praise. But I soon learned that I must be gracious — someone took the time to say something nice about my singing, and me rejecting that is devaluing their effort. Thanking them is the gracious and kind thing to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: paulinetancontralto.com
• Instagram: @phibbork
• Facebook: paulinetancontralto
• Youtube: paulinetancontralto

Image Credits
Headshots: Micah Gleason Performance Pictures: Atlas Arts Media