Kristen Choi photographed by Kate Marley.

(Santa Fe, NM) - The first time I encountered mezzo soprano Kristen Choi, she was onstage as Wowkle in The Santa Fe Opera’s 2016 production of La Fanciulla Del West. At the time, I didn’t realize Kristen was an apprentice artist in a principal role. It wasn’t until her second apprentice season that we properly met and became friends, Kristen having some of my fave musical moments (and 80-90s outfits) in the world-premiere of Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

It was a delight to get to know this incredible artist through her Instagram feed and DMs as she worked and traveled across the USA and Europe. In addition to operatic roles, Kristen joined the Lincoln Center Broadway Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I as an ensemble member and Lady Thiang understudy; we were thrilled to see her June 20, 2018 performance of this classic in Albuquerque.

I was hopeful that Kristen would be interested in sharing her pop music and opera thoughts because in addition to opera, her Instagram account is my one-stop shop for all things K-pop - the latest hits regularly shared though dance videos of her original choreography (not to mention avid rock climbing, nature, food and family adventures). Authentic storytelling is the key, as you’ll see below. - JM

By Kristen Choi

(Los Angeles, CA) - “What could opera learn from pop music?” What a simple yet loaded question. Let me begin by introducing my background in music and the journey of my falling in love with opera and then pursuing it as a career.

I was a Disney kid who loved singing along to classic songs from Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Popular mainstream music was always on my playlist, too, along with boy bands, Britney Spears, musical theater and jazz in the mix. My musical tastes have always been eclectic, especially since I love dancing; I was no stranger to 90s and 2000s hip-hop.

In truth, I never really listened to classical music recreationally unless it was to help me practice piano or to focus while studying so, understandably, I wasn’t drawn to opera or exposed to it. However, I was always open to it. So when I was fortunate enough to go on school field trips to see an opera, I was always blown away. But opera didn’t really stick until I was older. I’d begun studying classical voice at university, but was still undecided on what career path to take. It wasn’t until I landed the role of Barbarina in a regional production of Le nozze di Figaro that I truly fell down the opera rabbit-hole. Maybe it was the power of Mozart, but something about telling this hilarious story in Italian captured my full and undivided attention. From that point forward, I was hooked. I’d had my “A-ha” moment and finally understood the big deal of this beautiful art form.

So, what can opera learn from pop?

What it all comes down to is why “pop” music so appealing. As a K-pop fan, why is this genre garnering so much attention globally and in the United States? How did this South Korean Hallyu (South Korean wave) arrive and then go on to sweep the global music market?

I honestly don’t think opera must conform or change itself to sound more like pop. As librettist Mark Campbell said, it doesn’t need to be “accessible” in order to be successful. Pop music is popular music and right now that means an array of eclectic sounds and styles. Further to this point, artists are actively blending genres and styles. Fusion is most definitely “in”.

If fusion is a pop music trend, couldn’t pop music borrow from opera, becoming even more unique and exciting?

Just like when I was growing up, many people aren’t exposed to opera or their idea/impression of the art form, as a whole, is that it’s archaic, traditional, boring and elitist.

I do have a theory as to why K-pop became popular in the USA. One of the biggest K-pop groups is BTS - you’ve probably heard of them because their song “Dynamite” just hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the first all-South Korean group to achieve this; they’ve pretty much taken over the genre and are a global phenomenon. But how did they achieve this incredible success? Their secret sauce is actually quite simple.

BTS uses their music and art to encourage healing, and to spread a universal message of self-love to people of all ages around the world.

This BTS fan knows that group members are heavily involved in the writing and production of their music, and that they consistently demonstrate how they care about their listeners and fans. Like opera singers, their art is genuine. Their storytelling is also genuine and feels that way, too. So often, it’s this genuine STORY-TELLING that gets lost in translation across so much of today’s popular art and music. BTS is different, though, and it shows up in their success and fan loyalty.

We also connect through stories in opera. The majority of us aren't in this industry just to make money or flaunt musical knowledge and/or our egos. And yes, I understand that not all operatic works tell a great or coherent story (ahem, Handel’s music or some Rossini operas), but the spectacle and virtuosic talent found in these works remain integral to the global, musical firmament.

Whether it’s K-pop, opera, musical theatre or pop music, we all benefit from genuine stories told through song.

Kristen Choi as Suzuki in Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s Madama Butterly (2018). Photo by Julius Ahn. — Kristen Choi as Suzuki in Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s *Madama Butterly* (2018).
Photo by Julius Ahn.

Mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi has been hailed by Opera News as a “powerhouse in the making” for her portrayal of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Her 2019-2020 bookings included a house debut in this signature role, with performances at Opera Omaha. Kristen is set to make her Opera Philadelphia house debut in their 2022 production of Puccini’s masterpiece. Recent engagements also included a role and house debut with Opera Maine as the Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute, as well as creating the title role in a brand new production of Murasaki's Moon, a completely new work in partnership with Onsite Opera and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Wall Street Journal review here). Kristen Choi is represented by Stratagem Artists.

Visit Kristen Choi on Instagram | kristenchoi.com

By Mark Campbell

What a useless and corrupting little label “pop music” is. The word reared its ugly short head around 1926, reduced to a three-letter palindrome from the phrase “music with popular appeal,” and was devised by marketeers to distinguish music that you could hum or dance to from an equally inane label, “Classical music,” which might break your ears off. Separating music into labels like this does a disservice to both: pop music is considered cheap and lowly but fun and Classical music intellectual but boring. The comparison kind of reminds me of the Stephen Sondheim lyric from Follies, “The Story of Jessie and Lucy.”

“You see, Jessie is racy
But hard as a rock.
Lucy is lacy
But dull as a smock.
Jessie wants to be lacy,
Lucy wants to be Jessie.
That's the pitiful précis.
It's very messy.
Poor sad souls,
Itching to be switching roles.
Lucy wants to do what Jessie does,
Jessie wants to be what Lucy was.”

When we try to apply the term “pop” to music composed for opera it becomes even more complicated. For a very long time—indeed throughout most of opera’s history—opera music was considered pop music. People listened to arias from operas as they would listen to the latest hit from Taylor Swift today. Sadly, critics and academics started to condemn anything that might be perceived as pop music in opera as frivolous and pandering about the same time audiences began to condemn contemporary opera for its lack of “tunes.” It’s the “Lucy/Jessie saga” all over again. And that has pretty much created a lose/lose situation for opera.

It has also created a horrible struggle when we have to find words to describe a new work. We are sometimes forced to use the word “accessible” to define a composer’s sound, lest we scare off our audience and sell no tickets. But “accessible” only means “similar to music you’ve heard before,” which reduces the composer’s voice by making it seem unoriginal. And composers get the damned if you do/damned if you don’t scenario when they are taught to write as complicated and alienating as they can to appease critics’ and academics’ claim of superiority over audiences.

My own work as an opera librettist isn’t seriously affected by this issue. But what actually makes a tune a tune is not how the notes are arranged but an audience’s familiarity with it—or how often a composer chooses to repeat a melody. And the repeat of a melody usually requires a librettist to know how to write using song structure in which sections of songs repeat in scansion and rhyme scheme—like you find in “pop music.”

There should be no shame in stealing from pop music. There should be no shame if a composer hears a sound in pop music that will help them tell a story truthfully. Mason Bates’ music for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs certainly finds inspiration in pop music—but it also perfectly captures the period and the soul of its titular subject; and there is not a moment in that score that isn’t a challenging and complex as any in the modern repertoire. Similarly, Paul Moravec’s brilliant music for the score of The Shining contains true arias—even those that follow the pop song structure of AABA. But it always does what the story demands and never panders or strives to be “accessible.”

Since I don’t believe in the separation of pop music and Classical music and love both forms, I don’t think one or the other can save opera. What will save opera—if it needs saving—is music by composers that doesn’t fall on either the Jessie or Lucy side of these labels. Opera will only succeed if composers are good storytellers and continue to write in their own voices. And…if we tell stories that are relevant to the times in which we live.

Pop Music & Opera thoughts from a K-pop dancing, musical theater and jazz-loving opera singer

By Kristen Choi

Librettist Mark Campbell on Pop Music, Opera and 'the Lucy/Jessie Saga' of it all

By Mark Campbell

ABOUT

RESOURCES

CONNECT