OperaMom Featured Artist - Jamie Baer Peterson

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"It will not matter how many roles I sang, or where I sang them. What will matter is my relationships. My most important relationships are with my husband and my children. I will have only one opportunity in life to see my children's first smiles, their first steps, or to read their first books. I made a major investment emotionally, spiritually, and financially with each child when they were born, and it's my job to follow through on that commitment."

Jamie Baer Peterson, whose soprano is described as "beguiling", "lilting", and a "voice of shining brilliance", expressed enthusiasm and passion as she shared her thoughts about motherhood and music. "I have always been drawn to the arts. As a kid growing up in suburban Minneapolis, I organized neighborhood puppet shows and plays, and composed songs on my guitar. I went to a small state college with the expectation that within five years I would be next Joni Mitchell. I was majoring in music education so that I would have something to fall back on. During my first year I auditioned for the annual opera: Floyd's 'Susannah'. I got in the chorus, and I think that I had one solo line to sing. The production values were horrible but at the time, I thought the singing was glorious. I was hooked." Her junior year, Jamie transferred to the University of Minnesota and changed her major to vocal performance. "I had the great opportunity to study with Vern Sutton and Wesley Balk. Their teachings are really my foundation as far as acting goes." She also credits her student access to the Guthie Theater, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera and the Met Opera Tour as vital parts of her undergraduate education.
Upon completion of her studies in Minnesota, Jamie began her graduate work at Eastman, under the guidance of Jan DeGaetani. "I still feel that was one of the most fortunate things to happen in my life. I loved my experience at Eastman. It was such a stimulating and supportive school. Voice lessons with DeGaetani were a revelation; each lesson was like a religious experience." Like many other successful singers, Jamie found a mentor and friend in her teacher, whose influence she still feels, 12 years after her death. "She was a great lady - very much a mother to me."
Jamie was accepted as a Lyric Opera of Chicago apprentice following graduate school. "In many ways I think I was too young and naive to glean all that I could from that program. But then, I was able to witness first hand, how the great opera stars of the day did their craft." Jamie found frustration when her high, light voice was repeatedly miscast at LOCC (Flora in La traviata, for example). She says, "I was cast in "Weiner Blut" and Ardis Krenik, the General Director of LOC, came nose to nose with me and said, 'And where have they been hiding you?!" To her misfortune however, she had already accepted contracts for the following year. But what a year it turned out to be! Every newspaper on the east coast from Boston to Washington, wrote a review of Jamie's breakthrough performance of Laurie in Copland's "The Tender Land", in a new chamber music production in New Haven, Connecticut. "I consider singing Laurie to be my big break. I was such a dream situation: First rate cast, fabulous director and conductor, and four weeks rehearsal. We did 54 performances in six weeks! It was exhausting and exhilarating!"
At the age of 32, Jamie married and made the decision to limit her time on the road. Two years later, she was pregnant with her first child. "I found that singing while pregnant was great! The only trauma I had with my first pregnancy was a job cancellation. I was supposed to do a Bernstein program with the San Diego Symphony during my 32nd week." Five days before her planned departure, she checked in with her doctor and discovered that her body was gearing itself for preterm labor. She was ordered immediately to bedrest, and five weeks later she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. In 1998 her second daughter was born, followed by a son in May 2001. "Singing with children is definitely a challenge, and it was much easier with just one child. With Paige (the oldest) I would often bring her along and hire someone from my church community, or I would convince my mother or mother-in-law to join me. I have not done the au pair thing, as I have never been gone more than six weeks at a time." Jamie's solution is one that works well for many operamoms: She is alone during the rehearsal period, which enables her to focus entirely on her work. Once the production is running her husband brings the kids out, and she hires a babysitter in the town in which is staying, after he leaves. "I am so grateful that my husband is supportive. We've had a lot of bonding time this way - I'm making happy memories for my children!" She is frank about her choices regarding her children. "Now, don't get me wrong. I get conflicted about this every time I do an audition or have a job offer. I still get green with envy everytime I hear of colleagues singing this role here, or that role there, when I know that I could do as good of a job. But no one else could do as good of a job as I do at loving my children. And that is the bottom line."
Jamie has managed the ebbs and flows of her career with balance and focus. "Some years were busy and exciting (like my debut with L'Opera de Nice), and others were sustained by temping and regional work." She has performed with the opera companies of Kansas City, New York City (NYCO), Santa Fe, Utah (Festival), Omaha, Mississippi, Central City, as well as symphony orchestras in major cities including Dallas and Atlanta. Her most recent project is the release of the Christmas CD, "Rejoice Greatly", recorded when she was eight months pregnant with her son. "I made this Christmas CD as a gift for my children. It is something of which I am very proud; a collection of music that I love, recorded in the company of dear friends." Hailed as a "heartwarming addition to the musical feast of Christmas", the CD will be available at amazon.com in time for the holidays. (Editor's note: To hear a sample from Jamie's CD, click here.)
Does Jamie recommend having children? "I would definitely recommend having children," she says. "There is no other way to learn about unconditional love. I would also recommend spending as much time with your children as you can. No one will ever be as passionate about them as you." She regularly finds herself multitasking: nursing and reading the newspaper, cleaning the house while listening to a recording of a voice lesson, chaperoning her seven-year-old while marking through arias. She makes a goal of finding 30 minutes each day to sing, usually during her children's nap times, and she no longer watches TV because it wastes too much of her valuable time. "I think it is good for my kids to see me practicing daily, and to know when I'm going to a coaching or voice lesson. They need to know that I have another identity besides 'Mommy.' Of course, sometimes it's better just to look into my baby's eyes as I nurse him, or listen to my daughter talk about her day in school. People ask if you lose your focus after having children. Of COURSE you do!! I just have to use every moment of time to practice and focus on my art, when I can. I'm telling you that it is HARD, but it can be done. Motherhood is hard and wonderful...and the most fulfilling role I have ever filled."

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