Laura Aikin, BFA '86

Living the Dream 

Opera singer Laura Aikin, BFA ’86, clearly remembers her first “pinch me” moment.  At age 19 she soloed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Buffalo, and she recalls that as she sang from the pulpit, “I was sort of floating above this huge orchestra, which was on the ground below, and thinking, ‘Oh my god!’”  Since that time the internationally celebrated soprano has given numerous memorable performances with New York City’s Metropolitan Opera and at leading opera houses in Vienna, Paris, Milan, Berlin and London.  Aikin modestly views her success as a work in progress.  “When I was a student at UB my greatest dream would be to sing in a chorus somewhere.  Becoming an opera singer was just a step-by-step thing, and even now there are still things that I am working towards, so in a sense the dream is still there.”

Finding her voice

Aikin grew up in a household that treasured music, and she studied piano, trumpet and baritone horn as a young girl.  But it wasn’t until she was a teenager that she found her voice – literally.  “When I got into high school, I started to sing seriously and took voice lessons with Gary Burgess,” Aikin says.  “It was clear that there was something happening with me vocally that was different.  I knew that I could sing very high and very loud and it was never an effort.  It finally took someone who knew what they were hearing to say, ‘That is opera singing, and you are doing it at 15.’”

Burgess, who was also a voice instructor at UB, encouraged Aikin to enroll there as an undergraduate.  The school’s proximity to family and its affordability also made it the right choice for the Clarence, NY native, who was the first in her family to attend college.  Intending to eventually teach music, Aikin double-majored in music education and performance, and while she did not end up in the classroom, she believes that studying music from those two perspectives has made her a more well-rounded musician.  Aikin says that her time at UB also provided her with invaluable hands-on experience:  “What was probably the most unique thing is that students were doing it all – putting  together costumes, doing each other’s makeup, stage managing – and that gave me a team spirit approach to opera.”

In addition to Burgess, Aikin also enjoyed working with UB’s choir director, Harriet Simmons, and voice coach Roland Martin.  “You very often follow the teachers when you study opera,” Aikin says, and after graduating she went to Indiana for three years to work with Burgess’s former teacher Margaret Harshaw, from there departing for Munich on a two-year DAAD grant from the German government.  Aikin says, “I studied very hard during my grant.  I went to few auditions because I wanted to take advantage of the educational opportunity the grant offered, rather than try to concentrate on looking for work.”  Nonetheless, one of those rare auditions was with the prestigious German state opera, which offered Aikin a four-year contract to be part of their ensemble.  Aikin says that landing that contract was a turning point:  “It was pretty much handing you your career on a silver platter.”

Favorite Roles

Aikin met her husband Gianluca, an Italian attorney, while in Germany, and she left the ensemble in 1998 following the birth of her son.  Since then she has been a freelance performer, adroitly juggling the roles of world-renowned opera singer and mother of two (her daughter was born in 2005).  Her favorite professional role is that of Alban Berg’s Lulu, from the opera of the same name.  Aikin has played Lulu numerous times – including one especially memorable performance in which, due to a broken leg set in a cast, Aikin sang the role from the side of the stage while another actress did the staging.  She says, “It is a very special piece.  Not only as a musical experience is it a glorious, incredible composition, but vocally it is extremely satisfying to sing.  Dramatically, it is a character that one can explore for a lifetime and still find new ways of thinking about.”  Another meaningful role is that of Sophie from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.  Aikin says, “I first sang the trio at UB with some dear friends who I grew up with enjoying music.  I also sang that at the Met shortly after I had my daughter, and I was just so happy to be in that place.  It felt like coming home.”

A complete image

Aikin is now based in Italy with her husband, children and two dogs.   She travels – many times with the family in tow – almost 10 months out of the year, and also manages a yearly return to Buffalo, where her extended family still lives.  Despite the many accolades, her love of performing and her own professional aspirations (which include perhaps directing), Aikin says that motherhood equally defines her.  “I think the most satisfying thing is that somehow, with a great deal of support, I have managed to have both a family and this career, which is pretty rare.  There is no greater joy for me than to put in a day of music, working and being creative, and then to come home and have my kids and cook dinner for my family.  It is such a complete image of who I am.”

For more information about Laura Aikin, please visit her web site: http://www.lauraaikin.com/

Written by Jessica Dudek, BA '94
March 2006

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