Collegiate Times

Opera singer Branch Fields graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree in marketing.

FIELDS:

I guess my debut at City Opera was huge. I thought I was going to be nervous, and I was nervous, but I was nervous in a good way, and it was just an exhilarating feeling, just being out there. It was my New York debut so going into it I thought, "How am I going to deal with the nerves?" But once I was out there, it was nothing but positive and just a great night. When I came to the bow at the end of the show, I felt like falling on my knees and kissing the stage. Someone said I should have, but I didn't. (Laughs)

CT:

Have you always been drawn to opera, or is it just because you have the voice for it that you find yourself doing it?

FIELDS:

I think it's really just because people thought I had the voice for it. I'm not an opera snob. I'll sing any kind of music that sounds good to sing.

CT:

Who are your favorite singers and musicians?

FIELDS:

Oh gee, um, I love Giorgio Tozzi, he's my favorite opera singer. He and Cesare Siepi, but I like Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, and you know, I love Bono and Sting, all those guys.

CT:

How do you deal with the pressure of having to put yourself out there and sell yourself and your art?

FIELDS:

Well, it's really in the hands of God. I deal with it from the religious standpoint that I'm just blessed. I have a voice to sing, and I don't look at it as a burden, you know. And just think, it's OK. I give it my best, and I don't put pressure on myself to do any better than that, you know? I think that's key to it.

CT:

What advice do you have for students pursuing a career in the arts?

FIELDS:

Um, keep your day job. (Laughs) Uh, no. It's just the economy these days. It's hard to think of something crazy like opera, but you know if you get advice, do it. Just make sure it's the right decision, that people you trust are telling you you can do it, and then when you decide, give it everything you've got. I hinted to my first professor in marketing that I loved music, and I was taking voice lessons, and I would really love to be a musician someday, and he said, "You know, if you go in that direction, you've got to give up everything else and just do that. Don't dabble in other things and just dabble in music and expect to make it. You've got to give it 100 percent."

CT:

Will you describe what the production at Tech is going to entail - give us a peek?

FIELDS:

Oh it's going to be a big show. I've got a Shakespeare monologue that goes into a song setting of that monologue, a scene from an opera that was just written in 2007 between Pocahontas and John Rolfe. It's pretty hot. (Laughs) And then, you know, traditional heart songs that are all my favorite, the most beautiful songs I know, that's what I'm singing that night. And "Some Enchanted Evening" - I was on Broadway in the South Pacific, so I've got to do my bread and butter, which is "Some Enchanted Evening."

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