Nicole Cabell Has the Career Other Singers Envy
by Kim Davis
Most stories of fame and success start with a burning dream, relentless practicing, and a long, hard struggle to claw their way to the top. Not for Nicole Cabell. The singer has just released her debut solo album, simply entitled Soprano, and it could not have been easier.
Nicole Cabell was born in Ventura, Calif., in 1977. She stood out from the crowd from the beginning, with her unique African American, Korean and Caucasian heritage. "My ethnicity is very important to me," she says. "I'm grateful to have grown up in an environment in which it was totally welcomed and accepted."
She did not listen to classical music as a child, but eventually gained some music training by playing flute in her junior high school band. The only singing experience she had was imitating "opera singers" with her basketball buddy in good humor. One day, her mother heard her sing and encouraged her to join the school choir. By the time she reached the age of 15, she noticed that her voice was getting attention. Her first role was in the musical Once on This Island, where she played the mother.
"People obviously can hear something, even if I can't," she says modestly. "That's sort of how it's been. I've been walking through doors as they've been presented to me."
And so the journey began. Cabell went on to study at Eastman School of Music, Juilliard School, and the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She studied with great opera legends including Marilyn Horne.
"Nicole's voice is beautiful," Horne boasts. "It's luscious and round, with terrific ring in the top register. She has a very smooth legato. It's a voice that wraps itself around you."
Horne is not her only fan. In June 2005, just three months after completing her studies, she was awarded the Main Prize in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
"None of us who were competing thought that much about the pressure until they told us the competition was going out over television and radio to an audience of millions," Cabell recalls. "But I enjoyed every minute, and it was thrilling to receive the crystal trophy from Dame Joan Sutherland and to meet each member of the jury, which included so many important artists."
Shortly after, she completed her first recording, which was of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Her passion for the work carries over onto her new solo debut, which features one of her favorite songs, "Summertime." "I want everyone to remember what a fabulous work Porgy and Bess is," she notes.
Soprano also features a mix of arias in Italian, French and English, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
Despite collaborating with many of her mentors, she chose all of the pieces herself. "I wanted to sing not simply pieces that I love, but the music that I believe fits my voice best," she says.
Cabell is especially attracted to Bellini's Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi and dreams of portraying her onstage. "What a wonderful entrance, with that dramatic recitative followed by such a gorgeous aria," she enthuses. "Giulietta has the kind of legato that relates specifically to what I feel I can offer as an artist."
She has a similar reaction to Gounod's version of that same heroine. "Juliette's waltz ['Ah, je veux vivre'] and her potion aria ['Dieu! Quel frisson … Amour, ranime mon courage'] show two radically different sides of her character. Her development from child to woman fascinates me. I'm captivated by the sound of the French language itself, and I enjoy using it to discover new colors in my voice."
But don't let her passion and confidence make you think a new diva has been born. "My career isn't about being a diva," she asserts. "I just want to sing music that matters to me, suits my voice, and pleases my audience." She wants to sing "something that speaks to their emotions."
She also knows her limitations. Cabell is devoted to Puccini, but clearly states, "I'm not planning to push my voice into Tosca, no matter how much I love the character and her music."
