I've just got back from a wonderful five days in Las Vegas. But I wasn't there to play. I was there for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Conference.  This biennial event is a must for any teacher who is committed to professional development. 

There were so many sessions to learn from. It runs the gamut from really geeky voice science talks to more spiritual aspects such and mindfulness and yoga for singers. There is also so much wonderful singing! The guests artist this year were Christine Brewer and Stephanie Blythe with Craig Terry at the piano. All I can say is WOW!!! 

It's also a great opportunity to network with other teachers, exchanging ideas and making new friends.

One of the highlights of the NATS conference this year was to interview Claudia Friedlander about her newly released book "Complete Vocal Fitness - A singer's Guide to Physical Training, Anatomy, and Biomechanics". 

​Grab a cup of tea, sit back and watch our interview here, then scroll down to find out how you can get your copy with a 30% discount!

You can get "Complete Vocal Fitness" at most major booksellers and Amazon. However, Claudia is giving The Fit Singer readers a special 30% discount by ordering directly from the publisher Rowman & Littlefield. Click here to order and then enter your promo code:  4eNATS18.  This offer is good until September 26, 2018.

​Also check out Claudia's blog The Liberated Voice at claudiafriedlander.com

And don't forget to join our online community dedicated to singers' health and fitness - Vibrant Body Vibrant Voice.

If you don't have time or the background chatter of the conference is too much for you then have a glance through the transcript (you may want to look at the video from 14:30 onward as Claudia give a demonstration of a couple of exercises):

FS: Hi Claudia, So happy to have you here with us.

Claudia: Oh, I'm so excited to be talking to you about fitness.

FS: It's a passion, right?

Claudia: Well, yeah and one of the nice things about having the book out is that I have more opportunities to just nerd out about anatomy of fitness with other people who are interested in singing and body issues.

FS: Can you tell us a bit about your background; what brought you to this?

Claudia: I became interesting in singing and fitness at around the same time. I always wanted to be a singer, but when I was a kid nobody wanted to hear me sing because I had a sort of harsh disorganized voice. I couldn't get cast in any of the school musicals, it was very heartbreaking, so picked up clarinet and became very good at that. Everybody wanted me to play the clarinet, so I just settled for that.

It was around the time that I finished my undergraduate degree that I had the opportunity to do some body work with a therapist who was really good at helping to relieve chronic muscle tension and I found I had all this muscular tension around my breathing, my throat and my articulators that had been keeping me from being able to sing freely and so all this tensions started to go down and I was able to have access to my body and I discovered I did have a pleasing voice.

So I started taking singing lessons and began formal study and I was surprised to discover when I went to graduate school that not everybody had the same expectation that I did, which is that it is possible to affect structural changes in your own anatomy that would then make your voice better. And I found out most voice teachers expect that the voice that the student brings into the room is the instrument that they have, that they will teach them how to use that instrument when I knew that it's possible to improve upon your instrument. In my case it had made the difference between not being able to sing at all to singing well.

As I became more interested in vocal technique I became really interested in finding out ways that I could help singers improve their own instruments, so that they could really optimize their bodies for peak performance in singing the way athletes do for peak performance.

FS: How do you view singers as vocal athletes? It's a very physical, demanding thing that we do with our voices that involves the whole body, so do you feel we need to train more like athletes?

Claudia: We need to train both more like athletes and more like instrumentalists. Instrumentalists learn things about repetitions, motor learning, self-habitualization skills because they have to integrate an external object to coordinate well with their own bodies, so they learn some things about that. They also...instrumentalists generally learn about how their instrument functions and how it's constructed so they know if there's a problem with the instrument they know how to repair it. If I have a missing pad on my clarinet It's not going to play, but I know either how to do that myself or take it someplace where it can be repaired. So I think we have a lot to learn from instrumentalists and we also have a lot to learn from athletes and fitness trainers because we are athletes, what we do is so similar to what elite athletes do because an athlete doesn't stop being an athlete once they step off the court. They view their bodies as an athletic tool at all times, so how you care for your physical health, how you eat, how you sleep is all going to have an impact on how you do your job.

FS: So being a singer is a lifestyle.

Claudia: It's a lifestyle choice.

FS: If you want to optimize performance you do need to make that... I know for myself when I started training for triathlons all the triathletes would say "This is a lifestyle, it's not just the training and doing races, we live it". So similarly singers should be approaching...that we are living it...our instrument is a living instrument, too, so it needs that extra care.

Claudia: It does. I mean we're also hedonists. We're not going to have anything to sing about if we don't have full lives, as well. There is a chapter on nutrition in the book, but I'm not advocating that people adhere to some really stringent diet, so they're always able to... it's not quite what you need to do if your in training. We do need to be mindful of using food as fuel the same as athletes do and making sure we are fuelling appropriately and tending to the health and development of our bodies and our instruments, but we also need to have...

FS: We have to let our hair down...

Claudia: have some crazy experiences.

FS: There are also limits we need to draw, too. Like post-performance going out drinking with your cast-mates when you know you have to perform the next day is probably not a good idea. You need your sleep, you need to make sure your re-fuelled so that you can recover well for the next thing that's coming up.

Claudia: Absolutely! We need to be mindful of what our bodies need to do and I've discuss this in the chapter on nutrition and what best practices are for singers. They moderate what they're eating and drinking. We're in NATS in LAS VEGAS, so...

FS: Of course, Vegas, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Claudia: There's a section in the chapter on how to drink reasonably and how to avoid a hangover and I thought about printing out a "Here's a PSA on what to about a hangover" that I thought about leaving in my publisher's booth, but you know, you don't want to presume that your colleagues will be drinking and maybe we won't go there so I didn't...but there's some good advice on how to make sure you're not drinking too much and what to do about it the next day.

FS: Most singers when they talk about fitness, they usually hear, from so many teacher, that they should limit it to yoga and I know there are singers out there are training more and are running marathons and stuff, too, but it still seems to be there's a stigma about working out to hard. What are your views on that?

Claudia: Traditionally voice teachers have been very concerned about having there students workout to much, and I think the reason for that is because when, especially performers, they want to look good on stage. they want to look good in HD, as there are more and more opera broadcasts, and if you have a workout regimen that is limited to pumping up your glamour muscles, you're probably going to throw your whole instrument out of balance because when we think about the muscles that are usually most aesthetic, we're talking about wanting six-pack abs, we want nice well-defined pecs, women want to define their arms, but if you just focus on those parts, rather than looking at the body as a whole and asking how can I optimize my physical structure for peak performance in singing what you end up doing is over-developing the glamour muscles, under-developing the muscles that need to stabilize them and your going to throw things out of whack. For example, if I want to go just pump up my chest a lot, the pectoral muscles are going to get tight and it's going to push my shoulder in like this [rounds shoulder] and my heads going to come forward like that [juts head forward]. and then where is my larynx, right? Whereas, if you go about developing strength in a way that's balanced I can build up my pecs and stabilize my shoulders and I'm going to have a better base of support for displaying my glamour muscles and I'm going to be able to maintain alignment. So what I've tried to do with this book is to explain how sports scientists go about assessing an athlete and noting where do you have some weaknesses, where do you have some overactive muscles, where are there imbalances and then just assigning a program to bring the entire musculature in balance. So the aesthetics are something that you can pursue within a program that is achieving balance and the kind of strength and stability we need as singers, but if you pursue a fitness regimen for the purpose of only aesthetics you might do damage to the voice, if you pursue an athletic regimen with the purpose to optimize your body for peak performance in singing you can also reach your aesthetic goals.

FS: The aesthetics are the icing on the cake. Actually pursuing a healthy lifestyle and balance in the workouts, it's [the body] going to get there, so you don't have to focus on particular things. If you focus on the whole - it's like any other athlete, too, they do cross-training because they need to have that balance. You're going to overwork certain muscles and be more prone to injury, of course for singers, throwing off alignment, it's going to throw off your whole voice.

Claudia: One of my mantras is form follows function, which is that if you do everything you need to do to be a spectacular highly functional vocal athlete, you're going to look the way that someone who was striving to be an athlete looks. It's going to be different for each one of us. Our bodies and our voices are so incredibly unique. This is why I encourage people to really just pursue what they feel is important for their own balance, their own strength and find out what is the aesthetic that will evolve into because if we just take some sort of aesthetic ideal or make ourselves look like "that" is no more useful than saying this is my favourite singer I'm going to try and sound exactly like her. You might be able to mimic that, but you'll never be as amazing as developing your own individual voice.

FS: That's so important, your own individuality involved in all aspects of your instrument. How do you feel that yoga and other somatic bodywork can fit in or complement weight training or resistance training?

Claudia: Yoga's fantastic! Yoga is wonderful. We have yoga teachers out there who are specializing in helping singers, connecting what they're doing with their yoga practice with what they're doing with their singing. Shout out to Mark Moliterno and Sarah Whitten, who are both doing wonderful work in this area. It's not instead or in addition to, it's just another modality. I found yoga to be a wonderful practice. I need to get back to do more of it. It's just a fantastic whole ancient practice that's also good, not only strength and flexibility, but also body-mind integration. It's a wonderful practice for singers to engage in.

What I'm promoting with my book is just more of a sports specific approach to training. What fitness trainers do when they've got an elite athlete that their trying to prepare to win that gold medal or do better for their team of their sport and that's just taking a step back and looking at what are the assets that an athlete needs to do their job well. What movements do they need to excel at, what do they need for strength and flexibility. Do an assessment of that athlete to know where they've got some strengths and some weaknesses, what they need to bring them into better balance, what you need to focus on to make them excel at the movements they need to engage when they're playing their sport. So a bit of an analysis of that for the vocal athlete in the studio and there's a collection of exercises and directions in the book, but you don't need to use these exercises. You can go to a yoga studio or work with a fitness trainer. What I want the readers to understand is that these are the things that I need to work at, these are my goals and so what's the modality, what's the routine, that's going to be the most enjoyable to stick to in order to achieve those goals.

FS: Great! Now I know you said we need to look at the WHOLE body, but if you had to give just three exercises that a singer should include in their workout routine, what would they be?

Claudia: Well as I said in the book, I was reluctant to say this is "the singer workout" because everbody needs such individual special things for the same reason that the voice lesson you get from your voice teacher is not necessarily the same lesson as your other colleagues in the studio are going to get from that teacher. That said, one of the things that I think is most important for singers is to be able to stabilize their shoulders so that they can maintain an open and relaxed ribcage, a dynamically engaged ribcage while they're singing. A common problem I see in singers of all stripes is that sometimes the chest collapses, so it's pressing down to drive air out of the lungs as you sing and this is not going to be great for the biomechanics of the larynx and that's one of the reasons I got into this because I would see students doing this and I would say, "No you need to let your sternum stay high". Well how do you do that?

Having high sternum means that you are able to stabilize your shoulders [brings out resistance band, 14:30 on the video], the rhomboids, the middle and lower trapezius are those muscles that are between the scapula and stabilize your shoulders. You can try this yourself. Slump forward a little bit then bring yourself back up into good alignment. You're going to feel how those muscles between your shoulder do that. Though I don't recommend doing exercises in isolation this is one I do in the studio, which is to engage those muscles and I would put my hands on a student's shoulders to feel it going. [Holds resistance band out in front with both hands shoulder width apart]. And have them exhale and vocalize while pulling on the resistance band so that those muscles in the back stay engaged. My sternum actually gets pulled up as I do this. So focusing on engaging, strengthening, stabilizing the scapula the muscles between the shoulder blades, the rhomboids, the mid and lower trapezius and also massaging the upper trapezius. There's another thing I can recommend. We all tend to be overactive with our upper trapezius and if I'm elevating my shoulders all of this is encroaching on space that I need around my neck for my vocalizing, so being able to release that muscle is important.  One good way to do that is take a small massager and I can hold this on my trapezius [demonstrates massager on trapezius], going around to the back and I'm going to elevate my shoulder a roll it to the back and down and then straight up, I'm not going to come forward, while I'm massaging it. That's going to help the trapezius release so it will be easier for me to engage my shoulder stabilizers and avoid having the shoulders come up to my ears. 

I think that's a pretty good example. These are a couple of things I think are important for most singers. I don't think you have a teacher who wants you to elevate your shoulders while you're singing. If they do that's ok, I can help you strengthen that too, but I rather that we didn't. [Laugther] Just being able to release that muscle and stabilize the shoulders, there are certain things I can't really help you to do withing the context of a voice lesson, but if I take you to the gym I can show you how to work on these muscles and do things that can keep your sternum elevated very easily while you sing so you don't have to think "keep the sternum up, keep the sternum up", it will just stay there.

FS: Thank you so much for being here this has been a lot of great information. 


Want to work on your vocal fitness? Then join our online community at Vibrant Body Vibrant Voice.

​Welcome to The Fit Singer’s first podcast. I am so excited to be able to share this interview I had with John Henny.
 
John has had amazing success with his weight loss: over 100lbs! All by switching to a whole food plant-based diet.  I talked with him about his experience and how it’s affected his voice.
 
I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the interview itself. I must admit that I jumped head first into this project without being fully aware of what it would all entail, but it’s been an exciting start to what I hope will be a regular feature on my blog and eventually a podcast in it’s own right.

​TFS: October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. You have had your own battle with cancer. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience, especially from the perspective of a singer?

Tracy Dahl: As a singer there were many concerns of course along the path to health after my diagnosis.  The first casualty was work.  I lost a tremendous amount of work that year having to cancel engagements for the second surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. I managed to sing after my biopsy and just before the lumpectomy but after the pathology of that surgery we knew we were going to be in health mode for the better part of a year. it is hard to believe that is that long but in reality for me it was just shy of year from mammogram to last day of radiation.
There were concerns about intubation, reconstructive surgery and any damage or loss of lung capacity due to radiation. I have had other surgeries where intubation was required so simply informing them of the importance of my vocal chords was imperative. The reconstructive surgery happened at the same time as the mastectomy. There was a chance that they would have to cut abdominal wall muscle to find an artery to attach the new tissue to the chest wall. In attaching that new blood vessel there was also the removing of cartilage from my ribs. The location of which is pretty much right in the centre of your breasts.  I can still feel that place now.  At one point during chemotherapy and before radiation they sent me to lung specialists to see how my lung capacity had been affected by the chemo as there was certain to be some with the radiation and where it needed to be centered for optimal effect. There is, for anyone, the concerns of putting so many poisons into your body in order to rid it of cancer.

​

FS: You’ve been doing the CIBC Run for the Cure for a few years now.  Was this the beginning of a health/fitness journey for you?

TD: Yes and no.  I had been active before but more as a swimmer. Swimming is not as comfortable for me now since the surgery.  It wasn’t until the second summer that I joined the Running Room learn to run for breast cancer survivors. The first October run for the cure for me was shortly after my treatment ended.  I was unaware of the event before that time.  My sister brought it to my attention.  She is a runner.  She and her husband said they would join us if we wanted to go.  So my family met them there.  The following summer I joined the Survivor Clinic and that was the beginning of my running.

TFS: Since being diagnosed how have your fitness and nutrition routines changed?

TD: I am certainly aware that fitness and nutrition are important.  I have already been on a gluten free diet for many years due to gluten intolerance.  I really have not changed much in my diet to be truthful.  Prior to the cancer I ate a healthy diet of veggies, fruit and in my case, meats and grains.  I had to take lactaid to help with digestion of milk products.  Being on post cancer oral drugs has issues as well.  I needed to boost my calcium intake and as much as I love broccoli adding milk products for me was necessary. The one thing that I now avoid, as much as possible, are soy products.  My cancer is estrogen driven so soy products were out.
My regime is  walking daily, seasonal running and seasonal cross country skiing after cancer I added in yoga as well.  This is something I wish I had started sooner.  I did not do any activities that involved being in a class because of the risks that are involved with infection during treatment. ​

TFS: What does your normal fitness routine consist of?

TD: Two times a week yoga, sometimes three.  Walking daily 3-5 km. Running only happens seasonally for me, not long distances. When I do run outdoors it is between 3 and 4 km. Indoors on a machine I will go 5km.   When I am on the road and I have access to a fitness room then I definitely use the elliptical machine.  (Fewer problems with sciatica) Seasonal skiing would be twice a week.

TFS: Do you have a favourite exercise or activity?

TD: It changes with my mood!  Sometimes the yoga is exactly what I need other times I love being outdoors. If I can combine my activity with my family I love it all the more - skiing or hiking. We have done some amazing hiking over the years in the mountains. This past year we hiked to the top of Ha’Ling Peak in the Canadian Rockies.  I still cannot believe I made it to the top.


TFS: I know you have an amazingly supportive family. How are you encouraging a healthy lifestyle for your boys?

TD: The boys are physically active on their own.  I don’t need to encourage them to be active.  Biking, skiing, ultimate frisbee, soccer, trampoline ...I do however need to present healthy eating options for them or they will chose the fast “KD” route.​

TFS: How do you maintain your lifestyle while traveling?

TD: Most often hotels and the like have a gym.  In T.O. I had a routine with the treadmill, Calgary I use the elliptical.  In some cities walking is all I have time for - and if that city is Vancouver or Victoria there are so many beautiful walking paths to chose from.

TFS: What do you do on a performance day?

TD: It depends what city I am in!  In Winnipeg life with family demands continue, so I may be running errands or taking children to lessons … whatever needs to happen.  When I am on the road.  I make sure to get some exercise that day; walk or treadmill and I will spend a portion of the day going through the text for the evening’s performance. It is a balance of conserving my energy and getting ready for the show.

TFS: You have been a fabulous mentor to so many singers, many of whom have stood by you and even Run for the Cure with you. What advice do you have for other young singers?

TD: Keep those you love close to you.  Cherish your health. Enjoy the journey because sometimes we end up in different location than we expected but it can be just as special.  When auditioning or performing set goals for yourself.   I  will use the number five as an example; I would make three goals I know I can achieve and two that are a stretch.  We want to feel like we succeed.  Most singers are perfectionists and it is hard to live with yourself if you are constantly only hearing negative things from yourself.  That is the only control you have.

TFS: What have you found to be your most physically demanding performance?

TD: That is a difficult question to answer. I think I would have to say either Marie in Daughter of the Regiment or  Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. Both these roles require a great deal of agility physically and vocally. There is often dance and movement involved in both of those works and are marathon sings. I love singing the Donizetti ladies; Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda and they have challenges that are not directly physical in the same regard as Marie or Zerbinetta but most certainly feel like a work out in every way by the end of the evening.

TFS: Thank you so much for sharing Tracy. You are such an inspiration to so many through your art and your health journey.
​
Note: Much cancer can be prevented by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, which includes exercise and eating a healthy whole-food diet.
​

​Ms. Fleming’s own performance day rituals:

• She tries to live moderately.
  
• On performance day she stays away from restaurants or any public place where you may need to raise your voice.​
  
• Don’t talk. (A story she related was being at home and having a mom moment with her daughter. Translate that to yelling. Then she was hoarse and couldn’t sing. After this incident she was ever vigilant about protecting her voice).

​And finally a bit of advice to young singers:

• Opera requires a complete performance.
• You must develop believable characters.
• You need to deal with the demands of the directors.
• Worldwide opera is desperate for stars, so you must have the WHOLE skill set.
• Image and personality are important.

 We took some time to discuss his health and fitness journey.​

​TFS: How did you start your health/fitness journey?
 
MA: I would have to give credit to my dad to helping me start on my fitness journey.  As a child I was not terribly active; I enjoyed reading and academics and games.  My dad made a point of giving me physical challenges like push-ups and sit ups, 3-5 mile runs, etc. to boost my mental toughness and physical ability.  As a reward, I would play badminton with my sister and my dad.  Gradually I started to really enjoy the challenge and sense of accomplishment and now need very little encouragement.  I am usually at the gym a little too often! 

​TFS: What does your normal fitness routine consist of?
 
MA: I have 4-5 weight workouts scheduled throughout the week with 3 quick ab workouts as well.  I plan for cardio 2-3 times a week and, as time permits, attend a Chen Tai Chi class on Sundays for about an hour and a half.

​TFS: Do you have a favorite exercise or activity?
 
MA: I can’t say that I have a favorite exercise; I like each part of my workout plan for different reasons.  That being said, I do enjoy lifting weights and tai chi perhaps the most.  I generally dread going for a run because cardiovascular activity has never been my favorite activity.  That being said, it is good for me and builds character.  And it is rewarding to finish a run and feel great afterwards.

​TFS: What do you typically eat? Do you have a specific diet or nutrition plan?
 
MA: I tend to eat protein rich meals with a moderate amount of carbohydrates and fats.  Generally, my meals are larger at breakfast and lunch, and taper down in size as the day wears on.  I eat 5 times per day.  For supplements, I use a whey protein powder, a greens powder as I find it a challenge at times to eat enough greens, a CLA supplement and Korean Red Ginseng.

TFS: What advice do you have for other singers?
 
MA: Keep studying and reflecting to understand your voice.  Incorporate activity into your life to help keep stress at bay and keep the body healthy and fit.

​TFS: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now?
 
MA: An interesting question.  Currently I am starting to perform again and also work in the hospitality industry.  I enjoy both for different reasons.  I would be happy to still be doing both within 5 to 10 years with a great amount of performing as a part of my days.  Perhaps also teaching voice?

​TFS: What have you found to be your most physically demanding performance?
 
MA: My most demanding performance was during a staging rehearsal at the University of Manitoba’s Contemporary Opera Lab; I was singing Zizi’s Lament and had to do it while doing a series of cartwheels.  How or why I was asked to do this escapes me at the moment but the memory of trying to support the voice while my body was supporting itself and spinning upside down to right side up and back again was a ridiculous challenge!

TFS: Thanks so much Michael! It's been a pleasure to talk to you and, of course, work with you again.

​​TFS: How did you start your health/fitness journey?
 
NE: I think my attention to cleaner eating really started around the time that I was finishing my degree at University.  Between a busy school schedule and my teaching and performance schedule, I had really started to neglect my body.  I was having ongoing stomach issues and found that I was often eating unhealthy “comfort” foods and not making any time for exercise. As a result I was carrying some extra pounds and overall, just felt like my energy was not what it should be.  The desire to pursue a performance career post university really helped me to focus in on what my body needed - not only was I in poor physical shape, but I was also compromising my heath, making me more prone to the virus of the day. Being sick makes my job nearly impossible, and traveling can sometimes make those goals harder to achieve. With a good plan, some research and a commitment to making a change I found that the pounds came off and I  felt so much better and stronger.  I even started craving the healthy foods and snacks that I had incorporated in to my diet.

TFS: What does your normal fitness routine consist of?
​
NE: I try to move my body in some way every day for a minimum of 30 mins.  I have a number of exercises that I enjoy and I rotate them throughout the week to make sure that I am getting a good total body workout. My workouts also are also portable so that I have no excuses.  Body resistance training  for strength and conditioning, running for my longer cardio days and yoga for recovery seem to work best for me. Best of all, I don’t need a gym membership to do it. I just have to wake up in the morning and commit to getting it done.  Sometimes that means getting up a bit earlier, having one of my daughters follow me on a bike, or shutting off the media distractions earlier in the evening to decompress with some yoga. It’s me time, and I always feel better after doing it.

TFS: ​What impact have you noticed on your voice from your healthy lifestyle?

NE: Staying healthy is key - especially with two young girls who both go to school and have brought home some nasty viruses.  If I am eating healthy my body has a better chance of fighting of those virus.  I also take supplements daily such as Wellness and B vitamins to keep my immune system in top form.  It is not always possible to get the best nights sleep or to avoid stress, but fueling your body with nutritious foods and supplementing wisely can help you stay on track.

​TFS: How do you maintain your lifestyle while traveling?
​
NE: I am committed to finding the healthiest non processed foods no matter where I am. Often asking locals where the best produce or organic selections are will help to make sure that I can cooking or eating healthy on the go.  Otherwise, I can always simplify what I would normally cook in my own kitchen by cooking with whole ingredients and using  jarred spices to add flavor.

TFS: ​What do you do on a performance day?

​NE: I try not to do anything to different from a normal day, except that I will try to relax and meditate in the afternoon before heading to the performance venue to hit the “reset” button.  Having two young girls who often travel with me means that I am still on duty during the day and I although they know that we won’t be doing any big activities on work days, we still spend time together and sometimes even share a meal before I leave. I still workout on performance days and find that a good sweat will open up the body and make my vocal warm up faster.

TFS: ​What’s your guilty pleasure?   NE: Chocolate - dark chocolate and a glass of white wine.
 
​
TFS:What advice do you have for other singers?
​
NE: Treat your body with respect and it will perform for you. Be realistic about your goals, both personal and professional and don’t compare yourself to others. 

TFS: ​Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now? 

NE: I plan to just keeping doing what I am doing for as long as I can.  I love being a mom, and Music is such an integral part of my life. I can’t pinpoint anything too specific that I hope to have achieved, but I know that the health and happiness of my family is very important to me and I will strive to hold that as my goal as the years go by.

TFS: What have you found to be your most physically demanding performance?

NE: I recently performed in a “Beethoven Marathon” performance with the SF Symphony Orchestra, which was the combination of two concert programs, one beginning at 7:30 and the second beginning at 9:30 wrapping up around midnight - the challenge, however, was that I got up at 5am the next morning to run a Half Marathon and still somehow managed a sub 2hr pace. :)

TFS: That is amazing! ​Thank you so much Nikki. Hope the rest of the run of Mice and Men goes well. The opening night performance received great reviews!

​If you happen to be in Winnipeg you can still catch performances of Of Mice and Men on Tuesday, April 26 at 7 pm and Friday, April 29 at 7:30 pm at the Centennial Concert Hall.