“Music is the universal language.” You have heard it before, but you have never seen it embodied like this.
Sarah Rose Taylor, a French language teacher at Ursuline Academy, is a professional opera singer. In the classroom, her specialty is in the French language, but on the stage her specialty is her singing voice, one that performs in many different languages. Specifically, Taylor’s dazzling voice, which has been described as “warm, radiant, and creamy,” is suited for the German operas of composer Richard Wagner. These operas require a full voice that can cut easily through the sound of a thick orchestra.
“Many of the same memorization techniques I use in opera I share with my Ursuline students to help in their French language classes,” Ms. Taylor shares. “When performing in a different language, it is important to truly understand what you are singing so that you can be authentic to the character.”
In addition to German, Taylor has performed in the French, Italian, Spanish, and Hebrew languages in locations such as Austria, Germany, France, Italy, the Bahamas, and more. Just as her voice is multilingual, Taylor herself is multifaceted. She is passionate about both opera and French language teaching, her two careers.
She notes, “I used to ask myself, am I really a professional singer if I spend eighty percent of my time teaching and twenty percent of my time singing?” She smiles broadly. “I know now that the answer is yes. I tell my students: ‘Allow all of you to be. Do not let what is special about you be squashed.’”
Taylor feels blessed to have two careers that she loves deeply, and is grateful for Ursuline’s support in her operatic endeavors. She has loved to sing since her childhood in England, where she was raised in a rich musical choral tradition. She has sung in cathedrals all her life, but now sings on the stages of theaters belonging to the Boston Lyric Opera, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Carnegie Hall. It is not easy to succeed as a professional singer, and the audition process can be grueling. Taylor embraces the mantra to “do what you love and do it well.”
Whether Sarah Rose Taylor is singing in German, chit-chatting in English, or conversing with students in French, she knows what she believes in and stays true to her tune: Allow all of you to be, or vous-même.
