For opera singer and New Mexico State University music alumna Kirstin Chávez, the first track of her new album takes her back to one of her earliest moments of her musical career and to a friend whose memory has stayed with her for decades.
Playing the album “Amour: Les Chansons que j’aime,” the first song, an intense romantic ballad titled “Psyché,” written by French composer Émile Paladilhe, was introduced to Chávez by Russel Childers, a friend and classmate who later died from congenital heart disease during the second year of his bachelor’s degree. Decades later, Chávez chose “Psyché” to open “Amour,” her first album released with Navona Records, a Grammy-winning label.
This album, released in September, is Chávez’s tribute to herself and to the people and experiences that have shaped her nearly three-decade career as an opera singer. It also marks a new chapter for Chávez as she continues to create and perform in an industry that has changed significantly since she began her career.
“A lot of the pieces are very personal,” Chávez said. “It feels like a more personal expression of myself, a more personal statement of, you know, ‘I'm still here.’ It's been a challenging career, lots of ups and downs, and lots of things to recover from.”
Born in Albuquerque and coming to NMSU in the late 1980’s from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Chávez intended to study musical theater. But as she took classes and became immersed in the university's music community, she was exposed to the classical music that would ultimately change the direction of her career.
"NMSU was a very nurturing environment to expand your knowledge and also your skill set,” she said. “I learned that if I wanted to spend my life with a particular kind of music, it would make sense to spend my life with music that could expand with me as I grew and evolved. Classical music was the only obvious choice.”
That decision at NMSU became the foundation for a career that would take Chávez to opera houses and stages across the world. Among the many roles that became central to her career was “Carmen,” a four-act opera composed by French musician Georges Bizet. Chávez said Carmen resonated with her Spanish heritage and longtime exploration of flamenco dancing.
In 2016, a friend who worked with Chávez in London asked if she could create a one-woman production of “Carmen.” After working with a stage director, Johnathan Pape, she created “Carmen: Inside Out.”
The production reflected a lesson she had already begun to learn: when traditional opportunities aren't available, artists must create them for themselves.
This discovery was confirmed during the Great Recession that took hold of the U.S. economy in 2010. At this time, opera companies experienced less donor funding and soon stopped approaching more experienced singers in hopes of hiring talent for lower fees.
"I was essentially forced to become an entrepreneur, and I did not like it," Chávez said. "It was not fun, but it was the only way forward.”
She began organizing concerts with other musicians and proposing them to conductors she knew. She also expanded into teaching and artist-in-residence positions, including work at the University of Southern Mississippi, IPAI, an intensive singer training program in Germany and NMSU.
Chávez now carries this lesson into teaching at the University of Utah’s School of Music. She said her students are entering a competitive industry, and it's important important for them to create opportunities for themselves rather than wait for the industry to provide them.
“I constantly share all of my ups and all of my downs with my students because they're going to live through similar things,” she said. “I want them to understand that it's very important that, as artists, they take ownership of their art.”
For Chávez that same sense of ownership is reflected in "AmourL Les Chansons que j'aime." After decades of expereincing the high and lows of an opera career, Chávez said the album is a reminder that her identity as an artist does not depend on how many opportunities the industry gives her.
“Just because the industry is struggling, just because I don't currently have the many gigs in front of me that I've had in the past, does that mean I'm no longer a singer? Do I have to allow circumstances or other people to determine if I'm still an artist or not?” she said. “No one else gets to decide if I'm a singer or not.”
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CUTLINE: From left, NMSU alumna and opera singer Kirstin Chávez, and the cover of her new album, “Amour: Les Chansons que j’aime,” released on Grammy-winning label Navona Records.
CUTLINE: Kirstin Chávez, NMSU alumna and opera singer, releases new album, “Amour: Les Chansons que j’aime,” with Grammy-winning label Navona Records.
CUTLINE: The cover of Kirstin Chávez’s new album, “Amour: Les Chansons que j’aime,” released on Grammy-winning label Navona Records.
CUTLINE: Kirstin Chávez, NMSU alumna and opera singer, performs her rendition of “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, called “Carmen: Inside Out.”
CUTLINE: Kirstin Chávez, NMSU alumna and opera singer, performs her rendition of “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, called “Carmen: Inside Out.”