- [Narrator] In partnership with the Curtis Institute of Music, WHYY presents the following program.

(playful piano music) - My name is Merissa Beddows, I am a soprano and I study voice.

(singing in foreign language) I didn't practice much as a child.

I'm very guilty.

() The times that I did practice, again, I really didn't.

I didn't have the discipline.

I think, I have something called perfect pitch, and I would play videos on YouTube, which was kind of a newer thing at the time.

And I would listen to the pieces that I was learning and learn by ear, and I got away with it for a while.

But that's not something that you can get away with if you want this as a profession.

I began studying classically at the age of 13 at the Concordia Conservatory on full scholarship.

I was there for a few years until I studied and honored full scholarship at the Juilliard Pre-College with Lorraine Nubar.

So that was at age 17 that I had gotten that full scholarship.

Then I was at the Manhattan School of Music for two years, and that is when I came to Curtis.

(singing in foreign language) My experience studying it, I didn't realize the discipline that went behind this art form until much, much later.

And of course, all of the people and all of my experiences were extremely important stepping stones and ones that you don't want to forget when you're at a certain point later on in life.

And I find myself now remembering many, many things and wrapping all the way background to the beginnings.

And I'm gonna be singing "O Mio Babbino Caro."

Hope you enjoy.

(bright piano music) I heard Jackie Evancho sing "O Mio Babbino Caro" on America's Got talent, when I was 12 years old.

And that's what made me want to become an opera singer at that time.

I heard her and I went over to my mother's computer, I took her Nikon camera, pulled up the karaoke, karaoke, not instrumental for "O Mio Babbino Caro".

And I just kind of mumbled my way through it, but noticed that I had a bit of a knack for it, and it really did start off being an impression.

(singing in foreign language) So of course, at the time I was doing more of an (singing in foreign language) You know, that kind of thing happening there, and more of a wobbly vibrato without the right breath support.

So that's the difference.

I, of course worked on that piece a lot, actually at Curtis.

And even before then, Juilliard Pre-College.

So it's a completely different product of what it was when I was 12.

(singing in foreign language) I performed Lady Billows in Benjamin Britten's, "Albert Herring" in March of 2020.

So right before the pandemic at the Curtis Institute of Music.

I had to embody a much, much older woman who was very rich and owned a mansion.

And that's kind of the dream for me, because my dream role is Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

So this was my chance to act a little bit like that.

That was one of my proudest moments.

I remember there was one particular part of an aria that she sings called "I'm Full of Happiness", where she just got up and I almost felt like that character in Looney Tunes, he's kind of like shaped like this, and he's brown and he moves very fast.

(bright piano music) Just speedy and fast, and just wonderful, full of adrenaline.

When I was performing her part, I didn't feel like me.

I felt like Lady Billows (bright piano music) (audience laughs) ♪ We bring great news to you ♪ ♪ Upon this happy day ♪ ♪ Patronage and fame ♪ ♪ Applaud your name ♪ ♪ Declaring you Loxford King of the May ♪ ♪ They're talking to you, Albert ♪ ♪ I don't quite get their meaning ♪ ♪ You've been chosen as May King ♪ ♪ Chosen as what ♪ ♪ As May King ♪ ♪ What, me ♪ ♪ Yes, you ♪ ♪ Oh, Albert!

Oh, Albert ♪ ♪ Hush ♪ (bright piano music) (audience laughs) ♪ We plan to celebrate by crowning you upon ♪ ♪ May Day afternoon:that's fairly soon ♪ ♪ Not long to wait ♪ ♪ Just till April's gone ♪ ♪ Excuse me asking ♪ ♪ What's this crowning for ♪ ♪ I'd like to know that too ♪ ♪ In honor of your pure, virtuous life ♪ ♪ Reward for chastity ♪ ♪ Official recognition of your modesty ♪ ♪ Well, I'll be blowed ♪ ♪ What costume will he wear ♪ ♪ White like a swan ♪ ♪ A royal crown ♪ ♪ And where will that come from ♪ ♪ Me dressed in white?

Oh no ♪ ♪ We'll see to that all right ♪ ♪ Bring me his size in shoes ♪ ♪ And hats tonight to give the tailor ♪ ♪ Seems ridiculous to me ♪ ♪ The whole thing's draft ♪ ♪ Now Herring, don't be hasty ♪ ♪ But before we part ♪ ♪ Should we not mention ♪ ♪ But of course!

The prize ♪ ♪ What prize ♪ ♪ But of course the prize, the prize ♪ ♪ When this great day arrives ♪ ♪ Albert will receive, besides his crown ♪ ♪ A prize in golden coins ♪ ♪ Five and twenty pounds ♪ ♪ Yes, five and twenty pounds ♪ ♪ Twenty-Five pounds all of his own ♪ ♪ Twenty five pounds all of his own ♪ ♪ Albert, say thank you ♪ ♪ As well as a crown ♪ (piano music) (audience laughs) ♪ In offering this prize ♪ ♪ Our aim is to ensure ♪ ♪ Virtue has its just ♪ ♪ It's just reward from us ♪ ♪ And so goodbye, Albert ♪ ♪ No.

Au revoir ♪ (bright piano music) ♪ Good morning to you all ♪ (piano music) (footsteps clicking) ♪ Good morning to you all ♪ Determination, motivation, ambition, a good musical ear, musicality is a must.

All of these things make a great musication, but also a humility, an openness to try new things, to experiment and very, very important thing, when you take people's suggestions and opinions and things that people say, you take everything with a grain of salt.

(bright piano music) And what I like to say is, I take a little bit here and a little bit there, and put it into my own stew and end up curating my own soup with these scattered opinions from various people.

(bright piano music) (singing in foreign language) So I'm still very much in that phase right now, and I will be my entire life, because that's what artistry is all about.

And being an artist constantly developing into something new and somebody new even every day that you wake up.

America's Got Talent, really had me thinking about who I was as a person.

And I blossomed into a completely different flower than I thought I would.

And it's ever blossoming.

(singing in foreign language) I would say that I enjoyed the first performance more than the second performance, because the second performance I had to wear in ears, which I didn't even know that they existed prior to the performance.

So I was hearing myself in a way that I had never heard before.

As a classical singer that has been trained to not use microphones, it was a challenge.

In the first round of the America's Got talent auditions, I had a mic, and then of course, the speakers were right here.

And so there wasn't any of that and I felt a lot more free.

And I would say that that was my proudest moment, my first audition with America's Got Talent.

(audience cheering) I definitely have more of an interest in mainstream music and writing my own songs and creating my own content, stronger than ever before because of America's Got Talent.

I had covered, "Made You Look" by "Meghan Trainor".

And I had sung her song using my different Disney princesses that I use.

And she commented.

I'm proud of myself because I was able to sing classically, impersonating princesses, but sing classically and have the mainstream music world gravitate towards it in one way or another, which was my original plan.

So, Broadway, Jazz, Opera, those are, I would say, probably the three genres that I take most interest in and feel more at home with.

But many different ones.

I mean I would be open to singing whereas I wasn't before America's Got Talent.

I'm a lot more open now to exploring other genres of music even more than I have over the years, which I have, but not as much as I am now, especially with the songs that I'm writing.

They're pop songs.

And I also performed the role of Rosina in Giacomo Puccini's "Il Barbiere Di Siuiglia".

(bright piano music) (singing in foreign language) (bright piano music) (singing in foreign language) (bright piano music) (audience cheering) There is a specific role that I'd like to pursue and that is "Elphaba" in "Wicked".

That's about it right now.

To me the most important thing is the connection that I have with the audience and the energy of the audience, not so much the venue.

(singing in foreign language) An impersonator is somebody who really fully embodies the person that they're impersonating.

So, for instance, a lot of the times you'll see like a Michael Jackson impersonator or an Elvis Presley impersonator, and they're wearing the full costume, they have the look down, they have the mannerisms down, whereas an impressionist, a vocal impressionist, we're only just focusing on the voice.

I don't have to nail down the impressions so much.

I'm sorry.

The physical impressions so much or dress like them.

It's more just of a vocal, auditory impression.

But I do think that nailing the impressions, I'm sorry, nailing the mannerisms that these singers have actually improves the impressions that you do.

Even just the slightest movement with the mouth could give you a completely different sound that sounds more like the person that you're trying to impersonate.

My impressions are of all different genres, so naturally I gravitate towards many different genres.

It started as a kid with R&B, almost before opera, then came opera.

I was in the Michael Feinstein competition, actually with Maddie Ballio.

She started Hairspray Live a few years back and was a finalist, New York region finalist.

So Broadway, Jazz, Opera those are, I would say probably the three genres that I take most interest in and feel more at home with.

(singing in foreign language) The prestige of Curtis, and hearing about it when I was first studying in Juilliard Pre-College, when I was auditioning and applying for colleges, a good friend of mine had actually said, oh, you know, Curtis is my dream school.

And at first I hadn't heard of the Curtis Institute of Music.

I kind of had my heart set on going to Juilliard.

And I think the prestige of it, which also is a kind of mystery, is what really enthralled me and made me passionate about eventually getting in.

I was determined.

I also really had a passion almost to meet the director, Mikael Eliasen of the Curtis Institute of Music, who I was the last batch of kids that he accepted into the program when he was there.

I heard something very impactful on TikTok, probably about a year ago or so now.

We are mirrors, we are reflections of our environment.

We are a reflection of what goes on around us.

And I think I would constantly remind my future self that everything that we do is normal for our circumstances, as long as we aren't hurting others, or at least intentionally that is, yeah.

I know it's not really, it doesn't sound very artsy, but it really, everything ties into that statement.

Art is life.

(singing in foreign language) Curtis has given me something that I will have for my entire lifetime, which is solid technique.

It helped me curate my ear, perfect what I'm hearing.

So I would say that coming out of Curtis, I have an ability now to be more of my own teacher than ever before, vocally, but also emotionally in this art form.

I would tell my younger self to have faith that we don't know what it is, we don't know who it is, We don't even know if it's a who, but there is something that will ensure that you stay on the right path as long as your eyes are open and your ears are open.

What I would say to my future self is, don't forget.

Hmm.

I would say to my future self that happiness comes in increments and in between the time where happiness exists and it doesn't exist, It's okay.

It's okay to be a human being who's tired on some days and down on some days, and really hyper on other days, and really excited about life.

(playful piano music)