Secunde has become a leading artist in the world's finest opera houses in the demanding Strauss and Wagner repertoire. Critical acclaim for her "blooming, glowing soprano" and her "brilliant character portrayal" has been ratified by tremendous popular success and re-engagements by the theaters in which she has appeared. However, despite a demanding schedule, she was open and enthusiatic with her responses as she sat down to share her experiences with OperaMom .

"You have probably never interveiwed anyone before who was more surprised at turning into an opera singer than me." Brought up in a small Ohio town, Nadine Secunde's closest brush with opera was a high school production of The Mikado. "Mom was a nurse and Dad fixed cars. There were five girls and we all had music lessons of some sort. I was the only one who stuck with the piano." She enrolled at Oberlin College with a double major in piano and music education, with high ambitions of directing a high school choir. "I had to take a voice class as a music education major, and I played the piano for a lot of voice lessons. I got some encouragement from a few voice teachers there, although they weren't sure quite what to make of me, and I ended up graduating with a double major in teaching and voice."

Things changed dramatically for Secunde when she began her master's degree at Indiana University, under the tutelage of her then-unknown teacher, Margaret Harshaw. "I think the audition I sang for her was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life up to then. But she accepted me and was the first person to tell me I could actually dream of making a living at this." Harshaw's influence on Secunde was deep, evidenced by her proclaimed endless gratitude. "She was my teacher, my role model, my mentor and in some ways my friend. I can never really describe how important she was to me as a singer and a person." Under Harshaw's encouragement, Secunde successfully applied for a Fulbright scholarship, and soon found herself in Germany. "At that point, being in the (Fulbright) program included taking part in some house auditions, and one of the houses - Wiesbaden - had an apprentice contract available. I went there the year after to sing everything from soup to nuts."

After spending four years in Wiesbaden, she moved to Cologne, where the house repertoire was tailored specifically for her. Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, and The Ring were mounted and met with great exposure and response. While she was in Cologne, a new production of Katia Kabanova was planned, under the direction of the famous German director, Harry Kupfer. "Their Katia had cancelled, so I went to then-East Berlin to sing for Herr Kupfer. Crossing the border as an American was still at that point, an adventure." She chose to audition with "Suicidio", since she believed it to have something vaguely to do with the situation in Katia, and she didn't have any other repertoire which she deemed sad enough. Her choice was entirely appropriate, as she was given the role in a production that would later be voted "Production of the Year" in Germany. Two years in Bayreuth followed, and a major career was launched. "It helps enormously that I have a somewhat unusual repertoire - there just aren't THAT many people who sing this stuff!"

Secunde is firm in her opinion regarding childbearing and a career. "If you will forgive me for getting up on my soap box for a minute, I want to say something to the moms present and future. No one can tell you if you should have the kids or not - and no one can describe the million ways they will change your life." She urges operamoms to give some "ultra-serious" thought to their child care decisions, BEFORE the happy event. "I will say right away that I am no fan of the au pair system. I have seen too many cases of these girls turning out to be totally overwhlemed by the things that were expected of them. Find someone who will be a constant in the children's lives, whom you would enjoy having take care of YOU, and she'll probably be the right one. And be prepared to share your kids' love with her! She deserves it, and they have more than enough to go around."

Secunde's career has found her in the major houses of Europe, including Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Rome, and Barcelona. Her American debut took place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Peter Sellars' highly acclaimed production of Tannhäuser, and has since appeared in Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She has garnered critical acclaim and enormous public reaction to her "new" repertoire: Her first Brünnhilde in Die Götterdämmerung was greeted with an "unimaginable outpouring of audience jubilation."

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