“Transcendency and Transformation” ft. the Peabody Institute’s Elizabeth Futral I S3 Ep.19

In the nineteenth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University’s Elizabeth Futral. Futral begins by detailing the myriads of ways individuals new to opera come to find the artform compelling. Some people are initially drawn to the music. Some people are drawn to the costumes. Some people are drawn to the storyline. Some people are even able to appreciate all of these dimensions of opera and more during their first encounter. Futral then shifts to discussing the experiences which allowed her to appreciate the potential she had as a vocal performer during her undergraduate years at Samford University, her graduate years at Indiana University, and as an apprentice at Lyric Opera Chicago. Along the way, mentors such as Eleanor Ousley at Samford, Virginia Zeani at Indiana, and Ardis Krainik with Lyric Opera provided Futral with the guidance and counsel she would need to sustain a vocation as a coloratura soprano. That career took Futral to perform in the world’s leading opera houses in roles in history’s most widely recognized operas as well as some of the most recent operatic compositions. While performing as a soloist, Futral would often lead master classes, experiences she came to appreciate and led her to understand that her calling would eventually include preparing the next generation of vocal performers at an institutional home she has now come to appreciate at Peabody. Futral then concludes by discussing ways the Church proved supportive of the performing arts, quiet ways that support continues, and ways it may increase in the years to come.