We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Thaddaeus Bourne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Thaddaeus, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I wouldn’t change anything. I started my education as a flute major. My bachelor’s and master’s degrees are on that instrument. I loved it and learned so much about music from these studies. During that time my flute professor suggested I take voice lessons to better study breathing and vowel shapes. I eventually came to love singing as much as the flute and singing is where I made most of my career. I still wouldn’t change how I arrived here. Streamlining may seem like maximal efficiency but the cost is a very narrow focus, lack of a greater context for understanding your profession, and an identical skillset to the rest of your field. The twists and turns we take may seem like a distraction, but they are all building blocks forging a unique journey. I am a better teacher and singer because of my own journey. Additionally, we have to think about the people in our lives. Singing more gigs, winning more awards, none of that is worth the amazing people I call friends and family. If I could change something, it would be putting more of an emphasis on using the craft to build and contribute to your community. That’s something I try to pass on to my students.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
In simplest terms I’m a singer and voice teacher. Most of what I sing is in the opera or classical art song repertoire. I’ve sung over forty-roles in the U. S., Europe, and Latin America. I’ve been very lucky to collaborate with many amazing artists who have become life-long friends. A few of those friends have been pulling me into the world of twenty-first century Latin Music. People like José Valentino, Silviu Ciulei, Vladimir and Sophia Suarez, Lannie Battistini, and many more. They’ve all been generously invited into their world to be a part of their music making. I am tremendously blessed.
My entire career I’ve also been working as a voice teacher in the higher education. I’ve had the privilege of working with so many wonderful singers. Some of them have continued singing, and others use their experiences in music to branch out into other careers. I am happy to teach them all.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect is the people and the memories. Being a musician brings the opportunity to have many great adventures with many great people. That community and those memories will last longer than even the brightest or longest careers.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was originally training to be a flutist. Voice lessons were something I studied on the side. My flute teacher suggested the voice lessons because they would be a good way to focus on breathing. Over the course of that study, several teachers suggested I pursue singing as my career. The eventual pivot wasn’t a single event. I never stopped loving the flute and it finds ways to come back into my life when I least expect it. It’s more that as I focused on singing, there were more opportunities and I became involved more heavily in that.
Image Credits
Faith Hoskins