We were lucky to catch up with Mandineau Mia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mandineau, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

When I began my studies to become an opera singer, I created a couple of videos summarizing the stories of famous works. I had a lot of fun making these videos and it helped me learn about my craft in a fun and light way. At the time, I was the only one talking about Opera in a funny and accessible manner on the Internet and very soon I was approached by one of the biggest opera houses in Paris. The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a very prestigious and high class theatre, so I was very impressed and touched that they would hire me to present their next season online. I barely had any audience at the time, I had only started making videos for a couple of months and, most of all, I had never made videos professionally. Announcing the new season is always a big event for an opera house, so entrusting me and giving me ‘carte blanche’ for these presentation videos was a huge risk for the TCE.
There are the ones who not only showed me that I could earn money with my videos but they also showed the path to other opera houses and classical music institutions and proved that you can have fun while still honoring the traditions of Opera.

Mandineau, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a young opera singer, currently finishing my studies at the State University of New York in Fredonia. I am originally from Paris but I have studied in Amsterdam and Athens before landing in the States a couple of months ago. Next to my work as an opera singer, I created a YouTube channel on which I talk about opera in a fun and accessible way. My work on YouTube has been financing my studies for over six years now and I have collaborated with many opera houses, classical music institutions, radio and television. I started my videos in French but ‘L’Opéra et ses Zouz’ has been a bilingual YouTube channel since 2019 and you can find many videos in English as well.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I want to make the doors of Opera less daunting and to break the clichés that most people have about this craft, not only though my work as a YouTuber but also as a singer. The online presence I have developed over the years is a wonderful platform for me to invite people to discover this art form and I want to pursue that all through my career.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I thought about closing my YouTube channel several times, and almost did a couple of years ago. My priority and my biggest dream was always to be on opera singer, so as soon as I feel that my work on YouTube is taking my energy away from my goal, I want to stop everything. Wether it was for financial reason or simply my own desire, I have always found my way back to making videos and I can say for sure now that I don’t think I will ever stop making them.
Despite the difficulty of having two jobs, the reason why I wanted to stop my work online is because I was scared to step into the opera industry as a young singer and be viewed only as “the girl from YouTube”.
It is a constant balancing act for me to have these two identities but I think ‘L’Opéra et ses Zouz’ is a wonderful platform and tool for me as a singer as well and I hope that my singing career will be as wonderful as my YouTube career has been so far!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.miamandineau.com/
• Instagram: @mia.mandineau.soprano @loperaetseszouz
• Facebook: Mia Mandineau Soprano , L’Opéra et ses Zouz
• Twitter: @lOperaetsesZouz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Lop%C3%A9raetseszouz

Image Credits
Headshot by Adanya Dunn