WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Story Behind the Song: Julie Adams

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

Join Lilly Faye as she interviews Julie Adams, an award-winning soprano. Hear about the differences in opera performances in Europe and in the United States, and Adams’s story as a professional opera singer.  

Hey y'all, welcome back to Story Behind the Song on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Lily Faye Kramer, and today I am joined by Julie Adams. Julie is an opera singer, and she's about to be a professor of voice at Hillsdale College, and I am so excited to have her on Story Behind the Song. Welcome, Julie. Hi, thanks so much for having me. This is so much fun. Of course.

Okay, to begin, how did you get into music? Where are you from? The whole shebang. Okay, I am originally from Burbank, California, and I have been singing pretty much since as long as I can remember. I started voice lessons in second grade, but I sang when I was a little girl. It was actually my grandfather who was a beautiful singer and also wanted to be a radio announcer. But back in his time, he didn't pursue that because that didn't make money. So he, but that was his dream and he had a gorgeous voice.

And so he heard me saying one day and told my mom, hey, she's got talent. My mom said, well, I think you're just saying that because you're her grandfather. And in second grade, I went up to her randomly one day and I said, I think I'm going to audition for the talent show. And she goes, okay, what's your talent? I said, I'm going to sing. And she goes, can you? And I said, yes, I can sing. So at the time I was taking piano lessons from this lovely high school.

school student and who also sang. And she approached her and she said, hey, can you please just listen to Julie. Julie has this idea she wants to sing. And I, you know, I'm fully supportive if it's, if you think it's right, but I also don't want to embarrass her. So, you know, like, just listen. So she goes, okay. So after my lesson, she took me on a, she led me a couple scales. And she went right to my mom. And she said, oh, you know, Mrs. Adams, I think, I really think she has something. I'd love for her to see my voice teacher. So I did and thus began my singing life. I've literally been singing ever since and I've been studying ever since. And it started out as, you know, I love all types of music. I was introduced first to musical theater and performing that way. And I loved that. And I did summer camps and

performed all through high school and musicals. And that's actually what I thought I wanted to do. But I was not blessed with dancing abilities. And so therefore, when I auditioned for college, for the part of the musical theater programs, you have to learn a routine and perfect it in like less than 10 minutes. And then they put you up in like groups of three and you perform it. And I can move well, but I was like, this was not my strong suit. And every time I got to the voice portion of the audition, all of them were like, um, why are you auditioning for musical theater? You should be auditioning for the voice department. So I then that made me think a little bit harder. Okay, what do I do? And, um, auditioned for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a voice major, which meant sort of classical

and opera. And at the time, I struggled with it because if you would have asked me at 18, whether I want to be an opera singer, I would have said absolutely not. But it's funny how life works out. I had that, you know, I was destined for other plans. I got in and was fortunate enough to land some roles. And lo and behold, I'm currently an opera singer. Wow. So it's a funny story. So there you go.

In a nutshell. Yeah. What are some highlights of your career, some ups and downs? Yeah. What do you look forward to? This career is a crazy one. But I would say one of the highlights for me is that it's enabled me to travel the world. And I've met some incredible people that I don't think I would have otherwise met had I chose another profession.

So that's been really beautiful and getting to see and experience different cultures. And I've lived in Switzerland because of this career. I've lived in Germany because of this career. I visited Australia, China, Italy. So literally all over the world. And that's been really amazing. But it also is, you know, there's lots of travel. And so that's wonderful, but also can be lonely at sometimes.

You know, I think that can be hard for most. So, you know, I think that that's been amazing. and just the experience itself of just immersing myself in that culture, trying to learn the languages, and, you know, seeing how other people sing and act and putting shows together. It's really great. What's your favorite show that you've performed in? And what did your preparation process look like? Yeah. I would say one of my favorite shows was Rusalka. Basically, that is the operatic version of the. The Little Mermaid, but except a little bit darker. The opera is in Czechoslovakian, and it is by Dvorzac, and Rusalka, essentially Ariel, is the main character.

And same story, except, spoiler alert, she kills the prince of the end. So it's not the most amazing ending, but it was so cool. It was my debut in Germany at this specific house in Braunschwe. One of the things in the opera world is that Europe is sort of notorious for doing very modern, weird productions of classical operas. Like, there's a lot of, there's always nudity. There's always, it's a little extreme. And I was a little nervous because they were like, it's a new production. And I was like, okay, so how are we going to do this?

And it was during COVID. Germany had less restrictions than the states. So technically this was 2020. and I was still allowed to perform, but we were not allowed to touch and we had to be distance apart. And so, you know, the production was wild. I had fins. I had, and it was really cool. And it also looked really ugly aesthetically because the director's vision was sort of this where human destruction meets nature.

So there was like an empty, gross, old washing machine. on one side of the building, or one side of the stage, excuse me, and then the other side had this giant sewer pipe, and those were our entrances. And so my first entrance is me, this mermaid by this washing machine, wrapped in plastic, like come up for air, and then, like, find a half-drunken Evian bottle and pour it all over myself and start singing. So it just was wild. It was really crazy, but it was so much fun. And I think, you know, as crazy as it was, I love, I was nervous, but this director was such a gem and he had an answer for everything and it was super creative. And so it was, it'll always hold a special place in my heart because it was my debut in Europe and it was, and how they operate and do things there.

It's just so different from us Americans, how we train and everything. So, you know, it pushed me. It pushed me for many things. I got out of my comfort zone, forced me to really try at another language in German. I mean, most of my rehearsals were held in German, and I was expected to sort of understand. And I was grateful because the director spoke English. So he would, you know, if I really was lost, he would, you know, speak to me in English. But so there was so many things where I think it was, it was just great to just try.

And especially during COVID when all of us were twiddling our thumbs, figuring out what to do. I had this opportunity, so I wanted to make the most of it. So that was a really fun show for me. That is so cool. You made the most out of it too. I hope so. So you said that a lot of European directors and opera like to take a contemporary approach. That is so interesting. How would you say that a lot of American directors have a similar approach, or is it just unique to them? I think it's unique to each director. I could definitely tell you, you know, looking by certain names that we have American directors who kind of tend to do quirky, crazy, or they're more like the outrageous stuff.

There's definitely a few that have that reputation, but it's generally more of a Europe thing. For them, it's just, you'll always see wacky productions, like La Boeem, which is a very, very famous opera. Essentially, that's for any of you musical theater fans out there. It's pretty much the story of Rent, the musical. You know, it's these bohemian guys living together, and they meet one of them, Rudolfo, the poet meets this beautiful Mimi and some of the most iconic music, and it's gorgeous. It's one of the roles that I've performed the most. Unfortunately, I don't sing her anymore, but Miss Mimi, but she, it's one of my favorite operas. And that in Germany, they've set it on the moon so that they're in space suits.

And I mean, you'll get really weird things. And actually, it's so it just depends. I would say it varies by opera company to do sort of a new modern piece. I know also in Berlin there's a there's an opera company out there. And Comey Shopper, which does, they tend to do like very new, almost pushing the norm of like and really trying to do creative productions. they're kind of notorious for that. So, yeah.

Would you say the demand between the audiences is different? Because I feel like for Americans, at least with the symphony is what I've picked up on, they're doing more pop's concerts with soundtracks and stuff. Yes. Or like, I don't know in Nashville. It's the country artists that are being accompanied by the orchestra. Yeah. Would you say that the contemporary opera could kind of be?

Absolutely. Okay. I think definitely the opera industry is changing, but I would say also music and the perfect examples you just mentioned as changing as a whole. You know, we are going through this shift. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but COVID really destroyed our industry financially. And so to be honest with you, we are not back from that. Okay.

So part of that is what are we going to do? What can we put on that audiences want to see? Right. And that is, you know, a lot of, you'll see a lot of opera companies. What I'm noticing, they're putting a musical in their season. and they're hiring Broadway, off-Broadway singers to perform in them. Now, granted, there'll be a little bit more of a classical musical, West Side Story, perfect example. Oh, interesting.

Lerick Opera of Chicago, I think they did that last season or so. Another cool thing lyric opera of Chicago did is Billy Corrigan of Smashing Pumpkins, because he's from Chicago, hired, approached the opera and said, I'd love to collaborate with you. How can we do this? So he scored his pieces for orchestra, brought in some colleague friends of mine, and they sang his work as with Billy Corgan. So I thought that was such a way. Like so cool to introduce like, you know, the Smashing Pumpkins audience to, you know, also maybe the classical audience of lyric opera of Chicago. So there's a lot of stuff that's that is happening.

And I think that's necessary and would make their season a lot stronger. but yes and And Andrea Vichelli his partnership with like Chris Stapleton or who else did he do? I want to say Alison Kraus or something as well But that goes back in the day like how funny like back when

Luchano Pavrotti was still alive and the three tenors they were doing things all the time with like Aretha Franklin and then like my favorite is Freddie Mercury of Queen loved opera Really? There's something, there's videos of him

Montserrat Cabell She was this beautiful Spanish soprano, amazing opera singer. And they did stuff together. That's cool. So I just think that it is. I mean, we are having, so I think a lot of opera companies are trying to reimagine their seasons and what that means. But yeah, I think, but it's also to be, it's also, there's something to be said about the culture's changing to. A lot of those older donors, unfortunately, are passing.

away so it's this new generation and in Europe think about it it's more accessible there they that they go to the opera they bring like like there's more in their culture it's more emphasize yeah like Germany and Berlin itself has three major opera houses that's that's unheard of here in the states so and it's normal like there they have performances on christmas and it's normal for German kids to celebrate Christmas in the morning and then go to the show go to an opera so for them like they're they're brought up with it we are not here So it's interesting. And I think the more that we find contemporary opera and these young composers that want to produce stuff like that, that's what's going to keep this art alive.

So, yeah, I think it's necessary. I think it's really cool. I'm in this French film class right now. Cool. And we just watched a movie called Encore Rise. And it was directed. I forgot who was directed by. But Hophas Schecter, he's this Israeli core.

I don't know if you've heard of him or not. No. Okay. He's really big in London right now. Okay. But it's all about the story of this classical ballerina who gets injured. And then in order to continue her dance career, she has to switch to contemporary dance. Wow.

But the opera they used at the beginning was La Bia d'Eyre by Minkis. And I never heard of it before. Oh, no. Me either. Oh, you hadn't either. Okay. That's awesome. So it's awesome.

I'm looking of another place. That's one of my favorite places I performed in Tel Aviv. Oh, really? What was that like? Incredible. And I worked with the most amazing Israeli director. He was so cool. This piece was L'Enfant-Prodig, which technically wasn't an opera.

It was, so Debussy, it was composed by Debussy, and he, like, composed it at 17 years old. So it's like a little one act. And he won the Prix de Rome with it. Really? And it's a story of the prodigal son. So I played Leah and I used her aria for competitions all through college. And that actually, that aria won me many prizes, which I'm very thankful for. So anyways, they decided to stage it.

Wow. And this Israeli director was incredible. His name was Danny Erlich. And he's still around today and he's awesome. We follow each other on Facebook and I love to see what he's doing. This was like back in 2012. But the coolest thing was, is he was so creative. And so I played Leah, the mother, of course, who's grieving her son being gone.

And she opens this sort of one act with its asyle, her son. And why have you left me? She says that constantly. And he create, he's like, okay, you're you, we all dressed in white. And it was sort of this stark house. And he made us like make, in my aria, he had me like make paper dolls that would like act as my son. And it, but it was, it was insane. It doesn't sound like much, but I just remember being enthralled by him.

He was just so cool. Had a different view for everything. So that was so fun. That is so cool. But it was really cool, though. I love about your film. It was very niche. It was super niche.

And the Hophesh, Schecter, the same choreographer I was researching him more. And he just choreographed a new version of Fiddler on the Roof. That's got to be really interesting with contemporary dance. I love. I love. That's really cool. But see, that's so, I think that's, you know, sometimes it's within reason. And I know that's the beautiful thing about art is its objective, right?

Yep. So I think, but that's so cool. I think it is really cool to have sort of a modern approach to these classic pieces. I will admit, I really like tradition. So sometimes I think it goes a little too far, like La Bohem with spate suits, not a huge fan. But if it's like my biggest thing. is if you're like with directors is that listen I'm cool I'm I am down to get weird however have a reason for it yes there has to be sub-symbolism or meaning behind it and if it's just for the

sake of being weird and it's just like gratuitous for you no absurd theater yeah I really can't get behind that and so that's why like with this Rousselka if you saw it and if I were to have walked in not being a part of it and just saw that set, I'd be like, I'd probably roll my eyes and go, oh, great, here we go. What are we going to watch? Right. But every question I asked him, like, my question, like, how are you going to do this? Why are you staging it like this? I feel Roscoa would do this. He had an answer for. That's good. And it was so good and creative that then I was like, okay, I trust you and I'm going to get behind you and I'm going to do my damnedest to sell this for you. But it's the dream.

directors we've been with, and I've been, oh, and there was another one. I was in Vupertall, Germany. This is the new thing that they're doing. They're giving a lot of operas to theater directors, which is cool if you know your stuff, but this man had never really directed an opera before. Yeah. And his staging, if I may humbly say, I still don't really know what it had to do with the opera, was so strange and awkward. That was rough. So in cases like that where it's just gratuitous and he just clearly had his own vision. What it had to do with the opera, I still don't know, but sometimes a job is a job. Interesting.

So, yeah. I remember during COVID, I was going through a 60 Minutes phase and they interviewed Alma Doucher, Deutsche. Oh, yeah. And she wrote an opera Cinderella. She actually, it's so funny you mention that. So back in California So I was a young artist in San Francisco

I went to San Francisco Conservatory of Music And then I was fortunate after that To be a part of the Marilla Opera program in San Francisco Which is a feeder program into being a young artist The Adler program at San Francisco Opera So I lived in San Francisco for 12 years So Northern California is like second home to me And when I graduated the Adler program

I was so fortunate enough I've done two productions with San Jose Opera And San Jose, They hired Alma. Really? And put on Cinderella. She's like a year older than me by now, but she must have been what? She was 17, 17, I think, at the time.

And she was going to conduct it. Wow. And so my friend, I think, yeah, Vanessa was singing Cinderella. And she was like, I remember seeing her and kind of asking her about the process. And she was like, oh, she's great. She's so cool. I mean, they were calling her like a little prodigy. I mean, she is.

They still are, I think. I was watching her. You know, it's funny. just thinking of her not too long ago. Like, what is she doing now? I don't know. I haven't really heard anything about it. Because the Wall Street Journal would do a few editorials.

Yeah. Like every few months on like an update on her. Yeah. Yeah. Like critics and whatnot. Right, right, right. I know. But she's amazing.

She was like a modern day of Mozart. She's 16. She doesn't like to be called that because she's different. She is. She is. And then rightfully so. But I think the closest comparison, just, you know, we say it because it's like that prodigy.

Yeah. You know, back in the day these composers when you're listening, you know, I always loved in my music history classes when my professors would drop facts. Like, so what you're staring in front of you? He wrote that at 19. Yeah, and you're humbled so fast. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. Yep. You're like, and this was like he wrote this on his way, you know, on the train ride to his, you know, parents or something.

And you're like, what? Like that's not fair. Yeah. So a different time. But so she's incredible. She's remarkable. I hope she's wherever you are. I hope you're doing well.

Yeah. I know. I just randomly thought of her. Yeah. That's so funny. When's your next concert? I'm working with the Bayeriches Stats Opera in Munich. And I will be singing one of the Valkyries in De Valkyure.

Wow. Yeah. So I'm excited. That's really cool. Rehorsals will start with that. Okay. And that's May and then I'll be there all of June and performance. is wrap up July 8th and then I'll be back July 9th.

Wow. Yeah, busy summer. It's a full summer. I'm really excited. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's such an epic. This is the, but um,

bum, bum bum bum bum, bum, so yeah, that'll be, um, my Valkyria's Gerhilde and she also be my fifth time singing it.

So I'm, I'm excited. Wow. So it would be fun. You got a full season ahead of you. I do. I do. And in addition to teaching here,

which I'm so excited about. So, yeah. All good. Well, I think that's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining me, Julia. Thanks, Lily for having me. All right. This has been Story Behind the Song on Radio Free Hillsdale, and I've been your host, Lily Fay Kramer.