This interview was originally recorded on May 3rd, 2018.
The Oral History Project is supported by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation.

Ailyn Pérez, soprano 

Grammy-nominated soprano Ailyn Pérez has performed on many of the world’s leading stages, including The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, and Bayerische Staatsoper. Hailed for her expressive voice, dramatic range, and captivating stage presence, she is acclaimed for roles such as Violetta (La traviata), Mimì (La bohème), and Desdemona (Otello). In the 2025–26 season, she returns to the Met in the title role of Madama Butterfly, makes her role debut as Aida at Semperoper Dresden, and appears in Pagliacci, Faust, and Tosca in Munich. On the concert stage, she joins the Philadelphia Orchestra and Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia for Verdi’s Requiem, performs Beethoven’s Ninth at the Enescu Festival, and premieres Jake Heggie’s EARTH: A Choral Symphony with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

A winner of the Richard Tucker Award, Beverly Sills Artist Award, and George London Foundation’s Leonie Rysanek Award, Pérez is also an Opera for Peace Ambassador and faculty member at the Vincerò Academy. Her recordings include Poème d’un jour and Mi Corazón, and her Met performances are featured on Apple Music, including La bohème and the GRAMMY-nominated Florencia en el Amazonas.

Transcript

Marc A. Scorca: Good evening and welcome, as always, to the Opera Center. Please join me in welcoming Ailyn Pérez. It is so nice to have you here, and you're not a stranger to the Opera Center.

Ailyn Pérez: I practice here all the time when I'm in town.

Marc A. Scorca: We absolutely love it. One of the treats of being here, is having you here. So, thank you so much for coming in this evening.

Ailyn Pérez: My pleasure; thank you.

Marc A. Scorca: I have a number of questions for you, but I always start with my trusty first question: who brought you to your first opera?

Ailyn Pérez: I was in school at Indiana University, and while I was there, you had to audition for the operas obviously, so, as a freshman, there was a cattle-call thing; you did auditions. I did not do that. And Martina Arroyo was my teacher, and she says, "You are not to sing opera; you're gonna go straight to art song first". So that was one thing, and I hadn't been to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. I listened to opera on the radio. I loved it. And I listened to CDs. My first opera - I am so excited to tell this. Larry (Lawrence) Brownlee was enrolled at IU and he was singing the role of Faust.

Marc A. Scorca: Wow.

Ailyn Pérez: Yes. So, my first opera was watching Larry at IU in the role of Faust, and I think it was conducted by David Effron, but I'm not sure, and I didn't know a lot of the faculty at the time, but that was first experience. The real, real professional first experience was when I was studying Italian through the EPCASO program (Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera) and Claudia Pinza was leading it. Virginia Zeani, a mentor at the time, put me in touch with that program. I had some scholarship to go. And while in Trieste, where we were studying, you could take a trip to Verona, and so I had two nights in Verona. Really an astounding way to see Il trovatore by Verdi, and then the next night, Aida.

Marc A. Scorca: Wow. How spectacular.

Ailyn Pérez: So, I went like, school and then epic, right?

Marc A. Scorca: As I mentioned, we've had a question from Facebook, and it's right along this line, and it's from Steven Molinari, (and I have a number of cousins named Molinari, so Steven and I are probably related), but he asked, "When you were first introduced to opera, was it love at first sight?" Was that first Faust at Indiana University 'love at first sight'?

Ailyn Pérez: Oh yes. I think what is so captivating to my ear about opera is immediately you have an atmosphere of character. The overture has a character, every scene (does), and then when you see it live, we actually see all the characters, and so you have a visual production, and to hear the orchestra play. I come from it at that angle. So, for me, it's already a soundscape, and then adding the visual and then adding the languages, to really hear the beauty of the spoken and sung word. I just...I love it. I love it. That's what captured my heart and my interest.

Marc A. Scorca: You were brought up outside of Chicago in Elk Grove. Did you have good music education in school?

Ailyn Pérez: Yes, that was everything. I mean, that changed my life. And I still keep in touch with Elk Grove High School and my mentors, and even my voice teacher. I go back and I regroup and I call it back to basics.

Marc A. Scorca: Who's the first person who said, "You have a voice?"

Ailyn Pérez: My voice teacher, Carl Lawrenz, and he was singing in the Chicago Symphony Chorus, under Georg Solti.

Marc A. Scorca: Great chorus.

Ailyn Pérez: Phenomenal experience. He visited Vienna and Graz and met Eugene Conley in Salzburg, and asked to study with him. And he is a heldentenor, and he was married and had a baby on the way, so auditions, when they were opening up in Europe, it was just a timing where he realized family life is really going to be more important. And so, lucky for me, he was best friends with a choral director, Jerome (Jerry) Swanson, and they built, over 40 years, a beautiful music program of choral tradition and musicals and an intense kind of community service through performances. So, I was a part of a smaller group of a choir and an ensemble that would then travel all over the community at our retirement centers and corporate events...

Marc A. Scorca: Wow; it's remarkable.

Ailyn Perez: Yeah, it really is. And I think that, had that not happened, had I not met Carl, had I not had music already in my fingers and in my heart very early on, and also Spanish, I don't know who I would be. I feel very, very lucky, and that's why I advocate for our schools to keep these programs. Keep the access and education alive, and keep teachers ready, to nurture and to build all the bridges for these talents.

Marc A. Scorca: What you're saying is so true, that it is frequently the high school choral teacher who first identifies promising vocal talent and who has hopefully the ability to say, "You, my dear, that voice stands out". It's a very important role that they play. When you went to IU, was it to study opera? Was it to study voice? What was your intention when you went to IU?

Ailyn Pérez: To have a degree. So, to audition and to be accepted to several of the important music schools in our country, but to have the chance to go to college and study at university, that's everything. That was already a huge dream. Becoming an opera singer was still the focus. And so here's the 'how to': you get a degree in vocal performance. I didn't think about comparative literature or an education degree, I just thought, "I know how to sing, and I really want to become an opera singer, but more than anything, I wanna go to college". And so my family, of course, was very supportive of the idea about going to college, not so much about the degree. They were very concerned, as all parents are.

Marc A. Scorca: Can you please get a real job?

Ailyn Pérez: Yeah. And that's a hard path. And again, looking back, Martina Arroyo spelled it out for me the very first day I met her.

Marc A. Scorca: It is so remarkable. You were a freshman and you had Martina Arroyo.

Ailyn Pérez: Well, that was the luck of it.

Marc A. Scorca: That's quite a force to contend with.

Ailyn Pérez: Right, and she didn't accept undergraduate students. So I think, because she is from Cuban American and African American descent, and I also came with my family. Maybe I really set myself up really well. She saw my parents and probably thought "Ohhhh". I wonder what she thought. But we've reconnected and I've even had the honor of being awarded an award from her foundation. She was very clear in the first two minutes of advice, "This is going to be a very difficult path. It's gonna require a lot of family sacrifice, and it's very expensive, so if you think you'd like to do something else, please do". And of course, I think I only heard the previous words, which were like, "I'm very happy to accept you into my studio", so the rest of it was like, "Blah, blah, (other unintelligible sounds).

Marc A. Scorca: And you stopped listening right there.

Ailyn Pérez: Yeah. I was like "It'll be fine". And the truth is that I think I've done that often. I have an ambition or inspiration, and I rarely take caution, so I learn a lot through experience. And it's good to know I'm kind of wired that way, so I can maybe listen a little more when people are speaking to me.

Marc A. Scorca: Well, don't do anything different at this point. Just keep on doing it.

Ailyn Pérez: Too late. I'm all in.

Marc A. Scorca: And then you went from IU to AVA (Academy of Vocal Arts), which is so interesting 'cause you went from the largest music school to probably the smallest music school, and AVA is such a unique program. How did the large school/small school play off against one another? And what did each one give you that that helped you move forward?

Ailyn Pérez: Well, in terms of intensity, they're the same. Oh, is it absolutely an intense endeavor to go out and aspire to be a singer, and to barely hang on academically (mimes claws). These are my claws; that was me barely hanging on academically at IU. What an incredible institution. Music history classes, language classes, all of the essential requirements to complete the degree are really, really vigorous. I have ear-training, three and a half years of it as required by IU. I could sightread the first year. After the second and third course, I was losing it, because it got into the atonal system, and we were learning about Wagner kind of just blowing apart (convention) - all of the discussions about these chords. And had I not had the riches of a music library, of failing grade in music history. I've never had an F in my life, and to fail was a big growing experience. But to have in our music theory course, to be friends with all the jazz artists, all of the musical theater artists, ballet students, language students, and to have the chamber music scene. I mean, Menahem Pressler is still teaching there. Giorgio Tozzi was there. Virginia Zeani, Martina Arroyo, Costanza Cuccaro, Teresa Kubiak were there. So all of these experts at their craft are there. You weren't limited to, "I only study with this teacher, so I cannot go to a masterclass". All were welcome. I mean, it took courage to get up and sing in one, and that was a good experience to have too. Now, AVA - it's a lot to talk about. I had performed the role of Despina in English at IU, and then the role of Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride, in English. There's a tempting way to stay in Bloomington, which is to have your bachelor's and then go onto your master's and then go onto your doctoral degree, and then eventually you go out into the world, and teach and pass all of this experience on, or, also work - blend it. Marry all of that together. I was lucky to get enough scholarship money for the four years. So by the end of that, I thought, "Okay, I wanna work", but I was still too young. Most of our companies do not hire 21-year-olds. So a friend of mine, I think he was a boyfriend at the time, he said, "I got this in the mail". There are two scholarship, tuition-free institutions in the States that I knew of at the time: Curtis Institute of Music, and the Academy of Vocal Arts, and they're both in Philadelphia. I did a preliminary round in Chicago, made it to the finals, arrived in Philadelphia. I sang for Curtis. I sang for AVA. I got into AVA and the rest... Oh my God, every year I contemplated quitting. And my friends, I was in school with Latonia Moore, Eglise Gutiérrez, James Valenti, Derek Taylor, Evelyn Pollock, Ellie Dehn - talented, super-phenomenal artists. Artists already; they were artists. And it was all opera; four operas a year, and handling technique and rehearsals and performances was the most rigorous, get-ready-for-it type of training there could ever be. And I'm glad I got it, and I'm glad I stayed. One of the things I was not really good at is auditioning. And I still really struggle to put on an audition package if I had to sing for my jobs, which you do. We do. We have to reintroduce ourselves at every stage of the career. It's really very important.

Marc A. Scorca: You didn't have to audition for long.

Ailyn Pérez: Well, there's a funny story in that. I'm telling you - humility, humility. So, I remember my parents, they gave me great advice (They're still with me, by the way. They're great). They said, "You will always have to work. So, if you have the time to study, study. And I kind of had the situation where I was assigned a role at a AVA, during all of the big audition moments, in the fall and the spring. So I was quite sad. I couldn't get out there really in the world and do what I do. But I was so grateful that I got to do six main roles at AVA, which still serve me today: Adina, Lucia, Mimì, Anna in Le villi, Gilda in Rigoletto, and I can't remember another one.

Marc A. Scorca: That's phenomenal.

Ailyn Pérez: And they do sacred music too. Jubilate! Concert, I think, was like my hallelujah moment, just to get away from opera and get into...I love when composers take us to church. I love it. There's something even more ethereal and visceral, and for my soul and my mentality and my spirituality, and at the time of those moments in studying, I needed it. I wanted the light so bad, 'cause it's hard.

Marc A. Scorca: You didn't do any young artist training programs?

Ailyn Pérez: I did go to Merola, and then the following summer, I went to Wolf Trap.

Marc A. Scorca: I didn't realize that. So you did do a couple of them, because in a way, AVA is such a premium performance opportunity - learn and you were performing. So you did go to Merola and Wolf Trap, two great programs.

Ailyn Pérez: And it just so happened, I learned about Merola. There were three people in my family who loved opera that I didn't know about. I mean, I knew who they were because they were my family. But my Great Aunt Helen is the one who wrote me and said, "Please come visit San Francisco. Maybe you should audition for the Merola Program, and if you get in, you could stay with me". And she lived in Marin County, so it would be a little bit too far, just across the bridge. But that's why I auditioned for Merola. And they announced their season. The way it works - I think it's still this way - they announce which operas they're going to be casting, and you bring those arias to the audition. So, The Rake's Progress was one of them, and The Marriage of Figaro, and I brought Susanna and Anne Trulove, and I got Anne Trulove.

Marc A. Scorca: How fantastic.

Ailyn Pérez: And that, as you know, is a marvelous program. It's a long summer. It's the War Memorial Opera House, and also performance venues at Yerba Buena, and in the Presidio. And to work with the professional faculty there, and to also be able to attend some of their summer operas. That's where I saw Pearl Fishers for the first time, and Pique Dame. It was a fabulous performance of Pique Dame. You saw a whole corpse going through the bed. It was really stunning, like larger than life size. It was exciting. But that experience, meeting other people around your age, and working in that type of setting...

Marc A. Scorca: With the great artists there....

Ailyn Pérez: And we're all young and eager and voracious. We had a music librarian who, as soon as we wanted to hear a recording - we would give him a list, and he'd have it ready for our listening. And, you know, that's priceless. All of that is so expensive. I mean, now we have YouTube and it's all free, but at that time...

Marc A. Scorca: ...hard to access.

Ailyn Pérez: Even a CD was 25 something, you know?

Marc A. Scorca: So, there you are. You've done six roles at AVA, and you're going off to San Francisco to sing in the Merola Opera Program. Are your parents on board with this yet? Or are they still wondering what's going on?

Ailyn Pérez: "What's happening?"

Marc A. Scorca: Okay, so we're still at "What's happening?" I'll come back to that question.

Ailyn Pérez: Are they okay now? I don't know.

Marc A. Scorca: I suspect they are.

Ailyn Pérez: They're fine. They're fine.

Marc A. Scorca: Competitions. In your bio, the Licia Albanese Competition, George London, the Leonie Rysanek Prize, the Beverly Sills Award, of course the Richard Tucker Award in 2012: it helps financially; of course it does.

Ailyn Pérez: It does.

Marc A. Scorca: What do those competitions mean to you as a singer, as a rising artist?

Ailyn Pérez: I think they had a different effect on me, each one, especially as I was starting to study in Philadelphia. There was also the Cavaliere Fund in South Philly, and so the kids from Temple (University) and AVA and Curtis all auditioned for this scholarship money, and to receive a prize. Also, the Mario Lanzo Institute - all of these things, I think at first I thought, "Ooh, yeah, hot stuff. Here we go, and now I have a little bit of money to pay for my rent, which is great". And then the bigger things happen, the Belvedere Competition, and now you have to figure out your travel and accommodation. How are you gonna do it? And how do you have a job while being in this vigorous program at AVA? And so that's where the patrons and supporters really step in, and also what the prize/award money means for us, at that time. We need it so badly, to pay for our auditions. I remember I couldn't afford a ticket on the Amtrak, 'cause it was just too expensive. So, to get to New York, there was the New Jersey Transit, or the Greyhound, and you could write a letter and apply for these scholarship monies, and maybe you had a donor who would provide for it. But it's very interesting how today, I have a feeling young students are forgetting just how much support they're receiving, and it's taken for granted, and that's something to really keep an eye on, because especially at AVA, it's tuition-free, but nothing is free.

Marc A. Scorca: You still have to live someplace.

Ailyn Pérez: But also, don't cancel those coachings. Don't show up late. Be as prepared as you can be. The same life-lessons that will always be a part of the career. And I use myself as an example of sometimes what not to do, and I definitely have stepped in that. And it takes years. You know, it's funny, little habits, right? If you leave certain things undone, you have to then almost just make even extra, extra time. Everything catches up to us. Same in the business when you present, and if you're not presenting well, people remember that impression. And it's really hard, as talented, as beautiful, as witty and charming as one may be, that only flies so long, because guess what? Someone else is ready and eager and prepared and professional. And so that has nonstop been a part of (my life).

Marc A. Scorca: It is such a pressured situation to run an opera company and these days with as few staff as possible, so that if a singer is prepared and cooperative and professional, that's the singer they wanna hire, because they don't have any elasticity to have a difficult, unprepared singer.

Ailyn Pérez: And there's no more time. I think even in our long rehearsal periods for a new production, the practice never ends. The optimum place is never reached, and the best way to come into every situation, and it's a difficult task, but it's great to learn how to be your best version of yourself, and bring your very best energy you can to others in a rehearsal setting, in a performance setting, and guard it with your life, because that's also part of the fun and the magic-making in the theater. And I think the audience knows when a cast has camaraderie and a cast knows when a cast has camaraderie, so trust me, you really wanna work with colleagues who are as free and generous as possible.

Marc A. Scorca: So we're gonna change gears just slightly. Andrea Bocelli.

Ailyn Pérez: Yeah. Okay.

Marc A. Scorca: You toured some with Andrea Bocelli, and that must have just been a wonderful experience. And I'd be curious to hear you talk about the place of crossover in this opera world.

Ailyn Pérez: I would love to. I had the most eye-opening experience as an artist, performing a seven-city tour with Andrea Bocelli. First of all, he is one of the most gracious people on earth. He just loves opera so much that he programs at his concerts that the whole second half of a program is all about opera. And he sells out with 'Con te partirò' and all of his jazz and these David Foster songs, so to see him bring in artists to then do an operatic portion of the concert, it's really a brave and stunning thing to do.

Marc A. Scorca: And of course, the audience loves it.

Ailyn Pérez: They love it. Yeah, exactly. And so, on the very shallow, selfish side, it was the best dressing room set-up ever, because you had catered food, and anything you need, and there's like 10 bottles of water and everything like that. And your luggage, they have a team that you travel with. So, you check into your hotel, you have rehearsal, you have the performance, your luggage is brought to the venue. You then are transported from the venue to a private jet, and then you're off to the next city. So, that was a thrill. And he's so kind. It was spectacular in the sense of - he's not performing in small auditoriums. His audience is about 60,000, minimum. So, to hit Madison Square Garden and the Honda Center in LA and a venue in Monterey even, it's a great experience to hear how the audience, as you said, they love the music. And they respond. And it's so great.

Marc A. Scorca: So great. I was wondering, in doing a Bocelli program, whether you sang any non-operatic music.

Ailyn Pérez: I did. I got to sing 'Con te partirò', and I had always sung it for weddings. So, can you imagine me? I'm like, "Oh my God, (makes nervous voice), I'm doing...it's the song. It's the song I sang for my best friend's wedding, with the guy (points to her left side)". And then David Foster also comes by to say hello.

Marc A. Scorca: Now, did your parents get that, that you're out with Bocelli?

Ailyn Pérez: Not sure.

Marc A. Scorca: Not there yet.

Ailyn Pérez: But they got when I went on concert with (Plácido) Domingo. My mom lost her mind. She was telling me all the things she was going to tell Maestro Domingo about. She's funny. She's really dramatic and funny.

Marc A. Scorca: Oh, I love that. That's great.

Ailyn Pérez: I can't share it, it's too embarrassing.

Marc A. Scorca: So The Met, Chicago, Santa Fe, London, Berlin, Salzburg, Vienna, not bad. Is there a significant difference between working in Europe and working in the United States?

Ailyn Pérez: There is. I think there's a significant difference. In the States, we have phenomenal organization, as well as communication. So when you arrive, you usually get a welcome packet, you know where your rehearsal (is going to be). Sometimes, there used to be shuttle services. There was a lot of information on the first day of how to check in, how to check your schedule and things online. Europe: not so much. It's kind of like, figure it out. I mean, your agency will tell you what to do, but I'm not gifted with the maps, and I'll follow my cell phone confidently in the wrong direction. Oh, rules: if you're ill, you have to cancel...I think in the States, you check into the rehearsal department the day of a performance, at least before noon, definitely before four o'clock. In Europe, you have to decide by 11:00 AM, which is a big decision. And that's a tricky thing to do. But one of the funny things...so you set out, and you're going to Europe for the first time, and here I go to Berlin to sing the role of Violetta Valéry in La traviata, the Peter Mussbach production at Staatsoper Unter den Linden. And no one told me something really important about the audience, and here's a taste of it. I go out. By the way, the whole time, Violetta is on stage in a floating white dress, the only one in white, kind of floating between this world and the next. And everybody else is wearing black, which is really hard, because you need to find your colleagues. And also there were three little holes in the stage that had straws so you could get some water while you're on stage. Well, I had three shows. The first one, everything is going well. I finished the aria, no applause. I thought, "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God". So, the music just keeps going; you keep going. No applause, no applause. I fainted. I couldn't find the damn straw. "I need some water. I'm gonna die. My career is over and I just started". Intermission happens. The opera keeps going, and, 'Addio, del passato', I poured my heart. And well, if you've ever seen me in performance, I sweat. I sweat. And I'm telling you, sweat and tears and everything I could put into every line. I never worked so hard and no applause. And I thought, "Okay, well, I get it. I can go home", or, "They're gonna fire me, obviously", or "Maybe I'll do the next two shows, and that'll be that". The end of the opera happens. Thunderous applause, even in rhythm ovation time - for half an hour. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. That is something we should know before we go over, that there is a possibility they don't hate you. But, you know, I wonder, maybe it's better not to know, because then you just pour yourself out into a performance but then again, it's such a learning curve. We think we know we're doing our best, and we think we know when we're doing our worst. And the truth is the mirror of the audience. No critic, not even my opinion, even though I know my own mistakes, and even though other people can definitely point them out, you listen, you take it away, but you let it go. I have to learn, you do your best; you serve it and let it go.

Marc A. Scorca: You learn by doing.

Ailyn Pérez: Again. Not by someone telling me what to do.

Marc A. Scorca: Your repertoire. French: Juliette, Manon, Micaëla. Italian: Mimì, Liù, Mozart.

Ailyn Pérez: Yes. I love Mozart.

Marc A. Scorca: New works, like Jake Heggie's wonderful piece in Dallas. Are you just indecisive or do you like the variety?

Ailyn Pérez: I am American-trained, and we are versatile creatures. And I had this great conversation with Renée Fleming, who we know for signature roles that we can all recite off the top of our heads. And I said, "Yeah, I just don't know which ones they are". And she's like, "Oh, you'll know what they are, but that's what your 30's are for". And I said, "What?" And she said, "Yeah, I did such a range of repertoire", and I thought, "She said it, so it's good. I'm doing just fine".

Marc A. Scorca: That's wonderful.

Ailyn Pérez: No, but I think we do know what those roles will be, but I think it's a longevity game. I think that on one hand, it's in light of work possibilities. And I think now: these awards that happen, they don't guarantee anything. They are awards that even by merit - I am so aware of so much talent in this world, of people whose voices I would pay to hear sing the phone book. And we all don't know if we're gonna have a chance. And we don't know when we do have a chance, how long that will go. So, part of that reason I think I've done a range, is to work - maybe as fundamental as just 'that's the next job'; I've gotta go for it. Or intensely, I wanted to play Violetta like no one else. It was the first opera I heard on CD. It's a story that moves me to no end. My blood changes color, I'm sure, inside, and I didn't have a voice that could sing the roles I wish I could do, like more bel canto roles. I have an extension, but I couldn't always count on it, and I would will it, and I would still go for it. And I still do go for things. But I think I'm more aware of what's really possible, and what's insane to do - like Lucia, it's insane. But I might just for fun, and for sport. But I wish I had felt somehow more comfortable in those bel canto roles, or in Handel and moving the voice around. And I didn't; I was never at ease in that rep. If I could ask one wish to start it all over again: I wish I had a technique, or the voice to do more of that, before the Puccini. And it's okay, 'cause my heart and I think the way I look played in my favor for those types of roles. So I think the nature of a job and who I am, what I look like, cast possibilities straight off the bat.

Marc A. Scorca: And certainly it's the case that, for a young singer, your voice isn't finished in your 30's, it's still getting finished to really figure out what you can sing.

Ailyn Pérez: Yes. And it changes. Oh my goodness, is it changing? It's so much fun (not).

Marc A. Scorca: Do you still study? Do you still work with a teacher?

Ailyn Pérez: Oh, yes. I have to. I think more and more, I am working on efficiency. Unfortunately, I'm also a type of artist that I connect and I sing with emotion. So, I'm in the character while singing, and I'm gonna go through the arc. I have figured out something: I can't detach. So, that really wears on the body, on the mind, on your psyche. And I have to take lessons on putting a piece in perspective and pieces of choreography you could call it. And then also, I'm learning to do planning, rest and recovery.

Marc A. Scorca: In the course of...

Ailyn Pérez: In the course of this. And again, we're trying to do this in the career, which is really hard to tweak as you go. It takes a lot of time and patience, which I have little of. I have little patience with myself. I have the most patience for anybody else. I can give someone else such encouragement. I really fight. I fight. So, I have to learn how to be calmer, how to take the drama out of my life, so that I can work in a cleaner way. It's a lot of work just to do that. It's a lot of work to keep up friendships, and to have events that are not opera-related. So, all of those things, you do it. I don't know anyone who's like, "Oh yeah, balanced, nailed it".

Marc A. Scorca: How do you decide a role is for you?

Ailyn Pérez: Oh, I have to love the drama.

Marc A. Scorca: So it really starts there?

Ailyn Pérez: It's going to start there and end there for me. Unless it's like vocally so impossible, but what I've come to appreciate, and this is a European thing, I think - we sing with our voices. We put on a character mask. The voice is honest. And how I sing Mimì, is going to be different than a light lyric singing Mimì. Does that mean a light lyric shouldn't do it? No, why not? It's about young bohemians. I mean, the orchestration is a bit thick, but then you have to have someone very intelligent to work with everywhere. But that's opera, and that's life, and that's what makes nuanced performances. So, I look at the end of the opera, I look at the character, I look at the lines. I've fallen in love with certain composers, and that's why I'm curious. You know, that's why I did Thaïs. I mean, to do Thaïs here at the Met is an amazing experience. It's also one that carries a high level of...there's a legacy behind it. There's a legacy behind everything I touch. So, I can't be someone else. I have to be the best me I can be. So, that's a determining factor with the composers and the operas.

Marc A. Scorca: Do you play the piano at all? Do you sit down...?

Ailyn Pérez: I don't. I play the flute, which I'm grateful for. And probably the other thing I would tell myself: "Take piano lessons and be good at it and save some money on coaching". I watch my friend, Erin Morley play piano with her daughter. If you know Erin Morley, follow her. I love her so much. To see her in motherhood, it's extraordinary, and I wish I had that kind of thing (mimes piano playing)...

Marc A. Scorca: So, you do need a coach to sort of "Let's play through this. I like the drama, but let's play through this and see if it's vocal".

Ailyn Pérez: Oh, do I ever. Oh, this is a good thing about young coaches or young pianists, or young aspiring conductors. You have to know the orchestral score, please. And I think that it's more and more apparent to me as I'm coaching, I have to work with someone who can think orchestrally, and that's hard to find. And it means more coaches have to invest their time in research and in listening, or like all of us - get thyself to the opera to hear it live, in the acoustic and to see it happen. You need that; we need that. Cendrillon, for example, I was listening to the broadcast. I thought, "Ooh, how Ravel-ish; Ooh, how this and that". In the theater, "No, that's very Massenet. Oh, this and this". It's so strange, but my ear picks up differently in the theater.

Marc A. Scorca: We don't have to go through all the details of why I ask this question about the importance for you, or not, of a prompter, of a prompter's box. And in Europe, you usually will have a prompter. Even in the big houses here, you'll usually have a prompter. Do you like having the prompter there?

Ailyn Pérez: I do. Again, what makes the experience in opera so phenomenal is when it's collaborative. And we have phenomenal prompters here at The Met, and Donna Racik is on this Roméo et Juliette, and we know one another. Usually before a show, it'll catch me off guard...maybe a show before...she's always listening to see how we can improve, or to remember something fixable. And my face doesn't love to get notes, but I need them, and I need to process them. And sometimes, as you get to know and work with one another, especially with a prompter (or with anybody in your life) you'll know when the moments are right to have a conversation for it. And other artists will be like, "Tomorrow, before the next show, so that I'm not bothered or disturbed at the moment", which is very important as well. So, everyone's style doesn't mean one person is uppity...it's not an attitude thing. It's just we all know what we need to do, and it's a communication thing. You do it respectfully, and then you get a great show.

Marc A. Scorca: With all of these roles that you're doing, and you are almost constantly on the road, you are incredibly generous with your time. I know that you have sung at galas at the Richard Tucker Gala, at the Charles MacKay Gala just a couple of weeks ago. You are even here in our Opera Center. Given how busy the schedule is, how much you're traveling away from home, how do you keep your spirit in a healthy place inside you?

Ailyn Pérez: Makeup; a lot of makeup. Surrounding myself with the people that are my team. I have a great group of ladies at Lenny Studio. We have conversations about how I am presenting, what I care about, what I wanna make time for, and have that be at the forefront of when they get requests for different events. That matters to me a great deal, and I'm very grateful to have them. And Alfons, for example, always does my makeup. I feel at ease, and just more comfortable being in this dress, and all dressed-up and everything, and all of that is like a little bit of a ritual or a routine or something that puts me at ease, so that I can share and offer the best that I have to offer. This is an incredible art form, and it's so powerful for me as an artist to experience, because I learn from meeting others I work with, from the stories, from the city I'm in, the communities I meet with. And it helps so much to find a place that's almost meditative, but that's also social and that's also spiritual and kind of awakens ideas. That's why I like to do this. And when I get tired and I'm not in the mood or, you know, you read something, it's not so great, it's like...I heard Denzel Washington speak, and he said "It's like a bucket of self-love or self-worth, and every day someone's gonna kick that bucket over, and you just have to get up in the morning and fill that up for you, but what you do today, (or maybe he didn't say [it like this], but this is how I feel about it), what you do today, you have to think about more than you. Something bigger than that, and nothing's bigger than opera for me. I mean, it's where my gift is, I think. And if I found that my gift could be used on a different platform, or maybe a different phase in life, I will find that, but for now, that's how I get the energy. And, can I just say, working with Plácido Domingo, and being around Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato, I'm convinced Aquariuses have more energy. They're like nonstop. I'm like, "I'm tired. I can't..." Then, "Okay. Put it on, put the music on", and if something goes well, it gives me even more energy. But I think how on earth, is it the coffee? And they don't drink a lot of coffee. I just love these people. And so part of it, I think, is I'm inspired by the legacy. And again, I think it's the way I feel so fortunate. On one hand, I feel I have to prove I can do it, but that's not the way to live. You can't be happy that way. And I learned a great lesson from Laura Ordway from the Winona Camp. Anyway, their family is a legacy - Winona Camps, Josh Groban went there, and it's like a safe place for boys to grow up and just be themselves and be in nature and relax and learn all these activities. Anyway, she's a mountain climber, and I asked her, "When you wanna get to the top of a mountain and you feel like quitting, how do you get over that, or the fear?" And she says, "Well, I never quit, but I know that I'm not carrying the weight of that on me, that I'm serving, that I'm representative. I'm holding, but I'm serving, so I'm not like this (indicates tension), I'm like that (indicates openness). And so, it's the weight you don't feel on your shoulders. I just learned that the other night, so I'm gonna start applying that idea, to find a way to take the pressure off. Because I have an internal machine, and who I am, and my cultural background and the impossible, surreal thing that I'm actually doing what I said and set out to do, it's not lost on me how special this is. So, I'm a little in shock still. And so how to keep going, and not lose the sincerity and the joy. That's what I have to protect.

Marc A. Scorca: Just beautifully put; thank you for that. We already know the advice you wish you had had as a young singer was "In Germany they don't applaud until the end".

Ailyn Pérez: Yes. London too.

Marc A. Scorca: Is there any other advice that you wish you had received as a younger singer?

Ailyn Pérez: Oh, this comes back to that story I wanted to tell you about. It's a Kevin Bacon story. The Bacon family love to support the arts in Philadelphia. And a Rigoletto performance was dedicated in the late father's honor. And so Kevin and his brother attended. (Kevin, like I know him like Kevin; I don't). So, Kevin Bacon says, "So, what's it like to be an opera singer?" I'm like, "Well, we're training here and we're getting this great training, and then I'm gonna go out and audition, and then I won't have to audition anymore, because then I'll be known for signature roles". And he's like, "Oh, wow. Must be nice not to have to audition". I said, "Do you have to audition?" "Oh, yeah, every time". So my advice is, "Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up". You win an award, you're still auditioning. You go to an audition and don't win an award, you're still auditioning. You're auditioning all the time. And it's so great to have been here in New York, and we know each other for a while, but that doesn't mean that if I arrive in Berlin, people are like, "Oh, here she is. Yay, she's back". No, you're introducing yourself to a new audience. A lot of times the intendants change, the cards shuffle. And maybe there are times when we don't make a good impression, and yet if we stick to developing our talent and improve, someone may think "Whoa. I remember hearing that voice. Wow. What growth..." There's always an audition, even if it's not the running across Central Park. I swear that drove me crazy in the subway, and then to run across the park to catch an audition, because you would see all the doves. I grew up in the burbs, so we'd drive everywhere. So just think about the sweat factor, and trying to look fresh when you're like so afraid that a bird is gonna poop on you. You know they say it's good luck, but you're like, "Not today, please. Not today, not today, not today".

Marc A. Scorca: Well, I think that's important advice too, 'Avoid the bird poop'. I would say that Ailyn has won the audition and gets first prize, and we are just so thrilled to hear you, get to know you better, to enjoy this incredible rising artist, rising stardom that is coming to you. It feels tonight after this conversation as if it is so richly deserved. We thank you so much for being with us and hope you have a great summer.