- [Narrator] In partnership with the Curtis Institute of Music, WHYY presents the following program.

(peaceful piano music) - My name is Emilie Kealani.

I'm a First Year Master student studying Opera at the Curtis Institute of Music.

I auditioned for Curtis four times and this is my fourth time trying to get in and I finally did it.

I started auditioning when I was 16 and my teacher, then my first teacher, Rhoslyn Jones, she's an alumna of Curtis and I see her picture on the wall in the graduation photos.

She's the first person that told me about Curtis and really sparked my interest in it.

And since then, it's been one of my dream schools, one of my goals.

Before going to Curtis, I took a gap year in between my undergrad and masters.

So I think I would wake up, kind of do the same routine and take out my dogs, make coffee, do a nice breakfast.

And because I was on a gap year, I worked a couple jobs, but on my off days it would really just be like, "What do I wanna do today?

What is the world holding today?"

In my gap year, I was auditioning a lot for young artist programs for the summer, but I worked at a bakery called Butter Love in San Francisco back home, which I loved, and I learned how to make croissants and cookies and cakes and all that stuff.

I also worked for a nonprofit called Horizons Unlimited that helps at-risk youth in the Mission District.

Those are jobs that I love and I've had the past couple years on and off.

Just whenever I'm back home, I'll try to help out a little bit.

- And do we have like a Re or something?

(Emilie singing) - Ah, that's not it.

Because I've been surrounded by people in music most of my life, I feel that everybody's very supportive 'cause we're all basically on the same track and going for the same goals and dreams.

So just very supported.

- Do it.

(Emilie laughs) (lively opera music) (lively opera music continues) - [Emilie] My grandma on my dad's side was born and raised in Maui, so a lot of our family has Hawaiian influence and she's one of my biggest supporters, and so is my grandma on my mom's side, she always says, "Oh, that's my granddaughter."

(laughs) I auditioned for an arts high school and there were about five spots for musical theater and 20 for classical voice.

So I thought, oh, let me learn an art song and I'll audition for classical voice.

I got in and then I thought, I'll try this out for a semester and then I'll see if I like it and if not, I'll switch back to musical theater.

And I ended up loving it and I could do it.

And it was kind of messing around with the opera voice at first it was just a little like, (singing) I could do it.

Okay, cool.

And then I turned out to really love it and now I'm on the path that I'm on.

(spirited opera music) I think the qualities that make up a great classical musician, any musician, any artist, any collaborator, is curiosity and the want to explore the music further, the staging further, to really get into the character's mind or just what you're singing and like find curiosity and fun out of it.

I think that a couple artists that inspire me are the Women of Color in opera today.

I think it's very inspiring to see women that look like me dominating in our field, and it's amazing and it really carves a path for us young singers.

The "Presentation of the Rose" from "Der Rosenkavalier," it is the first time that Octavian and Sophie are meeting and he presents her with a rose and he's delivering it for somebody else, but they end up falling in love.

It's love at first sight.

("Presentation of the Rose") (singing in foreign language) - Hey.

- Yay, I think that one was better.

(Emilie laughing) - That was a good one.

- I think because I was involved in the school plays, it really sparked my interest at a young age and then it turned into singing musical theater and then into singing classical music.

I think they kind of go hand in hand.

I love that there's a lot of travel and meeting new people, but I also think that one of my least favorite parts would be that I'm away from home and the people that I love so often or that I, some of the best people I've met are in programs, summer program school, and we know that it's a short amount of time that we'll be together, but those are lasting relationships that I keep.

(peaceful piano music) (peaceful piano music continues) I think classical music and opera was a little out there because I started in musical theater and just singing pop songs around the house.

(audience applauding) My most memorable performance of my career so far was at the Santa Fe Opera in the Apprentice Scenes.

Last year, I was part of their season.

It was my first young artist program ever.

And for it to be at Santa Fe was amazing.

I sang Sophie in "Der Rosenkavalier," the final scene, and even before the show, I remember doing the dress rehearsal and I put on the entire dress.

It was heavy and it was about seven different layers.

It was completely traditional, period costume.

And I remember because Santa Fe was really my first anything, first full production, first time being wigged, first time in a full costume, I put the dress on and before even making it to stage, I cried a little bit just because I was so happy, so proud that I got to this point.

And then during the actual performance, it was so amazing that on the stage in front of a house full of people, that you can literally hear a pin drop and it was amazing 'cause it's such a delicate scene, also, that there's a lot of silences or just quiet parts.

And to have everybody captivated in that scene was amazing.

From those performances, I think I have gained a lot of stage presence.

I think you learn a lot from just being on stage in front of people and learning about your body, learning about some of your habits and things like that.

I think I've gained a lot more confidence in performing.

"Quando Mien Vo" from "La Boheme" by Puccini.

It's a little bit of what I sang today and her name is Musetta.

(serene opera music) She's at a cafe and she's trying to get the attention of her lover and trying to make him jealous.

So I think it's really fun, it shows a lot of personality.

She's a fun character to play.

I'm gonna be singing Musetta this summer at the Glimmerglass Opera.

("Quando M'en Vo") (singing in foreign language) I think Curtis is amazing and has set me up for success.

Already this year, in my first year of Masters, I've done three leading roles, which has given me a lot of experience on stage and learning new repertoire.

The first was Britain, which I've never sung before really.

The second was Adina in "Elixir," which is Bel Canto.

And the third that I'm singing right now is Delinda in "Ariodante," which is Baroque.

And I think having so much experience and learning so much about different styles and being on stage, and I think it's really setting me up well.

(singing in foreign language) (peaceful opera music) After this degree, I'm really thinking of getting a professional studies or an artist diploma, so that'll knock one more year out.

And then from there, hopefully auditioning for the young artist programs and a couple Fest programs in Europe.

I think that kind of just runs from three to five to 10 years just because with this industry, you have to audition for everything and nothing is guaranteed.

But that's kind of the outline of what I would love my career to be is just traveling and singing at all these different places and experiencing all different things.

I'm hoping to audition for a bunch of places.

It's really up in the air right now, but I'm hoping to travel a lot, sing a lot anywhere and everywhere.

("Emily's Goodbye Aria") ♪ Take me back ♪ ♪ Take me back up the hill ♪ ♪ Take me back to my grave ♪ ♪ Wait ♪ ♪ One more look ♪ ♪ Good-bye ♪ ♪ Good-bye, world ♪ ♪ Good-bye, Grover's Corners ♪ ♪ Mama, Papa ♪ ♪ Good-bye ♪ ♪ Good-bye to ticking clocks ♪ ♪ To Mama's holly hocks ♪ ♪ To coffee and food ♪ ♪ To gratitude ♪ ♪ Good-bye ♪ ♪ Good-bye, world ♪ ♪ Good-bye to ironed dresses ♪ ♪ To George's sweet caresses ♪ ♪ To my wedding ring ♪ ♪ Oh, everything ♪ ♪ Good-bye ♪ ♪ Good-Bye ♪ ♪ World ♪ ♪ Does anybody ever realize ♪ ♪ Life while they live it ♪ ♪ Every minute of it ♪ ♪ Every moment of it ♪ ♪ Oh, Earth, you are too magical ♪ ♪ For anyone to know your miracle ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Take me back ♪ ♪ Take me back up the hill ♪ ♪ Take me back ♪ ♪ Up the hill ♪ In my gap year, I was auditioning a lot.

I think in one day I would do just one audition, but because I was traveling from San Francisco to the East Coast sometimes or somewhere else, it would be, I would try to lump them all into a weekend so that I could be there for one weekend, knock a bunch out, and then go back home.

So I think the most I did was maybe two or three in a weekend.

There was one time where I sang an audition in San Francisco.

The next day I flew to New York to do another audition, and then I flew back to do another audition back in San Francisco.

(laughing) (mysterious piano music) The path that I'm on right now, I'm really set on having a classical music career, having an opera career.

But I would love to be on Broadway since I started in musical theater.

I sing Pop and RnB mainly for karaoke, but that would be fun.

(laughing) (mysterious piano music) Outside of classical music, I'm not sure right now.

I feel like I'm very much on a path of trying to get the gigs and trying to get the roles.

I am really big into quotes.

So I have these on my lock screen to kind of remind me.

And I think it kind of works well for my younger self and for my future self.

For my younger self, I think this is what it says, you're allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress.

I think if I knew that as my younger self or just was aware of that, I would be a little nicer sometimes and not so critical.

And then I think to my future self, I would say that this dream was planted in my heart for a reason.

I think sometimes this industry is hard and sometimes you lose sight of why you're doing it.

(mysterious opera music) But singing has always come to me from a young age, and I think remembering that joy and remembering that spark will really help me in my future.

Off the top of my head, there was a recital that Nadine Sierra, Isabel Leonard and Ailyn Perez did.

And it was great to see three women of color in opera sing together.

And I think to collaborate with them would be amazing, but also to collaborate with other AAPI or BIPOC artists, I'm trying to curate at school, we have a CAP project, Community Artist Projects and it's also gonna double as my Master's project as well.

But I'm trying to create a space for us to collaborate and sing together or make music together.

And I think that would be really a great space to have for Women of Color, Artists of Color.

I think it would be great.

(peaceful piano music)