Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarabeth Belon.
Sarabeth, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve been singing since the age of four. I would sing into my toy microphone and record myself singing random melodies that came to me. I have been singing in a choir since I was eight and started singing as a soloist at age nine at the church I attended with my mom. I always loved music, but I first fell in love with classical music through the piano. That was my first instrument where I received formal training and I learned to love the theater through dance at a young age. I remember the exact day I knew I wanted to be an opera singer. There was this young soprano at my church that had a gorgeous bell-like voice (that later went on to the Curtis Institute of Music), and I wanted to create sound like her. From that day on I started taking classical voice lessons at age fifteen and then later on went to college for music.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am an opera singer. I love all forms of classical music, but I continue to fall in love with opera because it amazes me what the human voice can do. The human voice is able to create spectacular sounds with just the use of air. I can close my eyes and not know what the words are to an aria, but I will know how the singer feels just through the quality of sound she or he is able to create. I want people to be able to sit and just listen to an opera and be able to pause their life for a couple of hours just to be reminded of how beautiful life can be.
The stereotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
Save, save, save, work, work, work! It is very important to be wise with where you spend your money and to know exactly how much you are making a week. Most of my work is as an Independent Contractor, so I have to save for tax season and the summer. Voice lessons and coachings can get really expensive. I try to limit my spending in other areas as much as possible. I find fun free outdoor activities to do with friends, so that I don’t have to be a hermit at home just because I am trying to save money.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The next production I am in is Little Red Riding Hood by Seymour Barab though the San Diego Opera Exposed Program. Also in August I will be in a production called Partenope by Handel through Opera NEO. People can support my work by going to the performances of San Diego Opera!
Contact Info:
- Email: sarabeth.belon@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Carolyn DiLoreto
Angel Mannion
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