Where Are They Now, Volume 3: The Joy of an Operatic Childhood
I first met Danielle Bavli when she was assigned to me as my partner in the first act of Carmen in 2004. Danielle was funny, intelligent, a natural on the stage, a lovely singer and she was eight years old. We worked together many times over the years and we bonded over our shared love of performing and having fun. We had a running joke during Carmen where I was supposed to scold her for misbehaving. I would face Danielle upstage and point my fan at her, scolding by saying things like “I’m so proud of you,” “you’re adorable,” “I just love you,” “I think you’re just the best,” and then I would point my fan offstage and send her to her room. Of course, she would dissolve into giggles and it was all I could do to keep a stern face. We had a blast. While in the children’s chorus, she also appeared in Hansel and Gretel, Cavalieria Rusticana/Pagliacci, Queen of Spades, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, La bohème, Carmen, Parsifal, Turandot, La gioconda, Otello, Suor Angelica, La damnation de Faust and An American Tragedy. In all of them, she stood out as a dedicated performer, an indicator of things to come.
Danielle in her early years (holding the net, front and center) in a Met production of La Gioconda.
Danielle on the keys in Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy. (Photo: Metropolitan Opera)
Danielle joined the children’s chorus in 2003, but she started her solo operatic career in An American Tragedy by Tobias Picker in 2005. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, it premiered in New York City on December 2, 2005. The opera opened with Danielle sitting at a portable pump organ, playing a hymn - a role she obtained by auditioning for Tobias Picker himself! Completely calm (on the outside, at least), it was clear to all who watched that this nine-year-old was exactly where she belonged. As time went on, it became obvious that Danielle was going to be a singer. I remember her mother, Daphna, telling me that all she could talk about was singing opera, and that despite all attempts to dissuade her, she was determined that this was a path for her. I’ll go on record stating that I was always sure that she was right.
Danielle recalls that as soon as she joined the children’s chorus, she became completely hooked on opera. “I remember staying up late in bed with the libretto of Die Zauberflöte learning the three spirits’ text for fun and wishing I was a boy so I could audition. I also made my mom get me a muff - which I still have - so I could be like Mimi in La bohème and would pretend to die of tuberculosis, as a typical 9-year-old does.”
“Whenever I finished performing, I would always insist on staying to watch the rest of the opera and by the time I was 13, I had probably seen about 80 different productions at the Met.” Danielle credits her years in the children’s chorus as some of the most formative and precious of her life, and to this day views the Metropolitan Opera as a second home. “I fell completely in love with the art form and being on stage during those years. There was nothing as beautiful or as thrilling to me as the operatic voice and being immersed in the opulent imaginary worlds of each production. That feeling has not changed one bit over the years and every day, I strive towards fulfilling that childhood dream of being ‘a real opera singer.’”
Danielle playing the role of Norina in “Don Pasquale.”
Danielle as the Queen of the Night in Opera NEO's inventive virtual production of The Magic Flute
Once she graduated from the children’s chorus after eight seasons, Danielle continued her vocal studies across the street at the “Fame!” school, LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. She then went on to pursue a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University and a Master of Music in Opera Performance at the Boston Conservatory. She was recently a Semi-Finalist in the Student Division of the Camille Coloratura Awards, won First Place in the vocal division of The Music Worcester Young Artist Competition, and is the recipient of an Emerging Talent award from the Lotte Lenya Competition. Over the last several years, Danielle has been an artist with the College Light Opera Company, the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center, and Opera NEO. She is currently appearing as the Queen of the Night in an amazingly inventive virtual production of The Magic Flute with Opera NEO and is set to appear as Norina in Pacific Northwest Opera’s virtual production of Don Pasquale. Danielle insists that she wouldn’t be where she is today if it wasn’t for the unique training and exposure she received at the Met: “My years at the Met truly paved my life’s path and have influenced every facet of who I am as a person and as an artist.”
When our stage kids go on to achieve success, it’s hard not to be as proud as if they were our own kids. I don’t have children of my own, and it has been sheer joy to watch Danielle grow as a performer and reach for her potential. When she makes her debut at the Met as an adult, I’ll be the stage parent in the audience shouting “I’m so proud of you!”
