Opera honour for Namibia's Janice
"To a certain extent, I think the fact that I'm black held me back in opera, because for a very long time it was elitist and dominated by white people, but that's not the case anymore. Things are looking good for us," said Namibian opera singer Janice van Rooy after she was named one of the finalists for the Elizabeth Greenfield Award."I think, regardless of whether you're white or black, you just have to work. In opera, the opportunities are few, so you are either famous or you have nothing. You have to work hard so that people will take notice of you," she said.
The Elizabeth Greenfield Award is aimed at young, black opera singers and aims to empower them in the transition from their studies to the beginning of their career. Van Rooy recently portrayed the role of Matjiua in the first Namibian opera, Eslon Hindundu's Chief Hijangua, during its debut in Germany.
Several opera critics had praise for Van Rooy's debut.
Opera Today's Andrew Moravcsik described her as a charismatic young singer, saying: "She fearlessly made the stage her own with a firm and resonant voice and plenty of attitude - both signs of potential as a future opera diva."
The German television news service Tagesschau said that she "radiated above the entire ensemble with an incredibly powerful soprano voice".
Janice says she did not expect the nomination or the kind words from critics at all. "I couldn't believe that people who review operas would feel that what I do is of high quality. I am so humbled and grateful for that," she said.
She said the team behind this production had to put it together in a short time. "Usually you train for an opera for a month before we even set foot on the stage. We had to do Chief Hijangua from start to finish in two and a half weeks. I was extremely nervous," she said.
Janice said that in the near future she still wants to focus on her studies. "I finish my degree in June next year, then I would like to do my masters as I still have a fully paid scholarship for two years," she says. - [email protected]