Soprano Emily Damasco, from Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, stars as Mrs. Grose in Curtis Opera Theatre’s thrilling production of Benjamin Britten’s classic The Turn of the Screw. Ms. Damasco entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and studies voice with Dolora Zajick. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Damasco is the Carol S. and Howard L. Lidz Fellow.
Since you entered the school in 2018, you have performed four roles with Curtis Opera Theatre and appeared in concert with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as Fiordiligi in selections from Così fan tutte. How has the role preparation and rehearsal process for The Turn of the Screw differed from your previous performance experiences here at Curtis?
So first off, the music of Britten is challenging. Even before we got on stage, the learning process of this opera was difficult. You’re literally counting out everything at first. When I did Così, it was more tonal. It’s not as difficult to learn, except for the recits, but it’s still hard to sing. I broke it down and worked on rhythms every day. I had to look at time signatures because they’re constantly changing. When I had that structure down, I came in prepared and ready to go.
I learned that you need to know the beats in your body. You need to know this music in and out because it’s tough when you begin staging and watching the conductor. The first step is learning how to keep the beat and how many beats are in a measure. From then, you need to make it free. There are parts in the music where Britten writes “freely” on top, so we don’t want to make it sound so structured in this rhythm. We want to give it the life it needs and deserves because Britten’s music is beautiful. So, I had to combine my music theory brain and my musicality, something I’ve never done to this extent before.
My first opera here was in English, Riders to the Sea (see photo above), but that was sung with a Gaelic accent. In this opera, we have a mid-Atlantic accent in the opera. There are certain “r’s” that are taken out, wet “t’s,” and certain “ah” vowels. It’s very articulate. It’s a new experience to sing in my own language in an opera. It’s been harder to do the staging than past roles and keep time within my body, attention to diction and other aspects, but it’s beautiful how it is all coming together. Our conductor Michelle Rofrano came in and told us to breathe in the character, and I had never thought of that before. It makes it so much easier to sing.
In The Turn of the Screw, you portray the pivotal role of Mrs. Grose, who not only serves a narrative function within the tale but is also an eyewitness to the history of Bly Manor. Tell us about this fascinating woman.
In the book by Henry James, he doesn’t give Mrs. Grose a backstory. We have no idea where she was coming from before she got there. Depending on the director, you could play her as this woman who is not very aware of things, has some experience living in the house and caring for the children, but doesn’t know what’s going on. Or you could play her as this older, mysterious woman who is kind of bad and knows too much.
For our production, Mrs. Grose is an oblivious woman. She’s had these experiences where she’s seen the ghost, Peter Quint, or she’s felt him. She knows what happened, but she doesn’t know the whole extent. In my mind, the Governess came into the story within a year of the last Governess, Miss Jessel. So, Mrs. Grose has probably been there a very long time. She once took care of the uncle, knows the children very well, trusts them, and takes excellent care of the house. She’s probably in her seventies or late sixties. I’ve had to build a backstory around her, because there really is none for her.
A lot of the time, she’s questioning what’s going on around her, but she’s trying to do the best for the kids. She spends a lot of time with Flora and Miles, but in the book and mainly in the opera, she’s around Flora more. She might have a deeper connection with Flora, but it’s almost like she’s not aware of what has been going on with the kids.
So, when the Governess starts bringing up these things about the children, she’s like, “They’re bad? No. Boys will be boys, but they wouldn’t do that. I don’t think he’s bad.” It escalates, and she asks, “What’s going on here? I don’t understand.” She tries to keep some sanity in the house and acts like nothing is happening, but I think she knows something is wrong. Without Mrs. Grose, there would be no relationship between the Governess and anyone else other than the children. It would all just look like the Governess is going crazy. So, Mrs. Grose is important to the story.
What has it been like to embody a character well beyond your years?
I am a soprano. I was a mezzo-soprano when I first came to Curtis, and then I changed within my first semester. My voice can do many things. I think Zwischenfach roles are really important to me. Mrs. Grose is a Zwischen role. When I got this role my teacher Dolora Zajick said, “Oh, I did that,” I was like, great, because she is incredible, and I found myself thinking about the wonderful standards I had to match up to. (Laughs). She could still sing this role. In a lot of the recordings, the artists playing Mrs. Grose are much older than me. They are not young. I feel like I’ve spent much of my life playing older women on stage.
While I have gone through many experiences—not to the point that she has—I feel like playing her vocally is great because she has these ups and downs, jumps, and long lines like the Governess, but they’re expressed differently than her, so it’s a different way of learning how to sing. Plus, I have to be aware not to add weight to the sound because she’s older than me. My voice is young, so I still have to show some youthful aspect in her. That’s something that I’ve learned. We can play Mrs. Grose old, slow, or ditzy, or we can play her as this upbeat woman who is older but still has an energy to her. I’m trying to tap into the parts about her that are human and expressive.
When did you know you wanted to be a classical singer?
When I was four or five years old, I was in the bathtub, my mom was bathing me, and I was making these weird musical noises. She suggested we sing some pop songs, and my voice was not pop-y. It was operatic in a way. My grandmother sang as well so, she suggested putting me in lessons. No one wanted to take me because I was six. One person did, thankfully. She was from Philadelphia, and I was starting to get grounded when I was young.
I did plays in middle school and had a good time there. I was in a choir concert in fifth grade, and we were singing “This Little Light of Mine,” and there was a solo. I went for the high note at the end and thought, “Ah, I kind of like this.” I like this validation from my peers. Eventually, I took a break in high school and thought I might be interested in makeup or hair, and I met my teacher at that time, Elizabeth Detrejo, whom I brought to Curtis with me. When I was with her, I fell in love with how she taught, and through her, I knew that I wanted to pursue a singing career. I was also going to New York City every weekend to see these incredible singers. It was inspiring.
When I arrived at Curtis it got a bit more difficult because you’re now in a pond with all the fish who are really up to your par. When I started doing staging and singing in rehearsals, I realized that this is what I want to do. Throughout my life, I have had these experiences that told me I should be where I’m at. Knowing that my grandmother also sang connects me to this great art form. She wasn’t given the opportunity that I have had, so it’s like someone took it from her and put it in me. There’s something soulful that I feel I’m bringing to it.
What has been your most memorable experience on stage or in recital over the years?
I think it would be doing my first recital at Curtis with Miloš Repický, our Hirsig Family Chair in Vocal Studies, and performing the Mignon-Lieder. That music really moved me, and I had an amazing experience on stage. Sometimes when I’m up there, it feels like I’m moving to this other dimension. Not like I’m doing anything spiritual, but it’s as if I’m in another place. During that performance, I was still thinking about technical aspects, but was also letting go up there.
Performing in Così fan tutte (see photo to the right) was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. It brought me to tears and made me feel chills. I felt so free on stage. I was so young playing Fiordiligi; I was scared but open. Tying into this production, watching Olivia Smith be the Governess—how she opens her mouth and frees everything in her being to be this character—has inspired me daily. She uses her instrument in a way I’ve never seen or heard in this type of music. It’s really an experience for me. I’m so excited. I’m going to look like an old hag, but it’s going to be great!
CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: THE TURN OF THE SCREW
Britten’s Gothic Tale of Terror
November 18, 2022 | Friday at 7:30 p.m.
November 20, 2022 | Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Philadelphia Film Center
Click HERE for more information.
Photos of Emily Damasco: 1.) Emily Damasco (L) and Tiffany Townsend (R) are transformed with age makeup and costuming for their roles as Maurya and Brenda, the mother figures in Curtis’s Riders to the Sea and Empty the House; William M. Brown Photography. 2.) Photo by Nichole MCH Photography 3.) Emily Damasco as Mrs. Grose and Olivia Smith as the Governess in Curtis Opera Theatre’s The Turn of the Screw; Photo by Sophie Zhai. 4.) Photo by Nichole MCH Photography 5.) Ethan Burck (Ferrando), Emily Damasco (Fiordiligi), and Lucy Baker (Dorabella) in Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of Così fan tutte at the Philadelphia Film Center in March 2022; Photo by David DeBalko.
