A booming bass making a career out of opera
Music professor Laura Diddle was serving pie and coffee to Benjamin Sieverding and his parents after a Friday afternoon concert performance.
But it wasn’t her hospitality that changed the sophomore’s life, it was her assessment of his ability. “I think your son needs to be a professional opera singer,†Diddle told Gary and Deb Sieverding in spring semester 2007. A decade later that’s exactly what the 2009 music performance graduate is doing.
After a master’s degree, postgraduate training and stints as a young artist-in-residence, Sieverding now is a full-time, freelance musician.
He said Diddle’s 2007 pronouncement “just made complete sense to me. I don’t think my parents were all that surprised either. (After all, he was taking private voice lessons at age 16.) It was just the first time we had said it out loud and set it out as a goal.†They also knew the goal would take Sieverding, a Sioux Falls native, on a career away from South Dakota.
Since fall 2015, Sieverding and his wife, Kelsey (Solberg, a 2010 SDSU psychology grad from Dell Rapids), have called Minneapolis home.
They met in high school honor choir, started dating in their senior year of high school, have been married for six years and traveled through much of the country.
Well-traveled career start
After SDSU, Sieverding headed to the University of Michigan for a master’s degree in vocal performance (2011). After another two years of postgraduate study there, he had young artist roles with Santa Fe Opera, Opera Colorado and Minnesota Opera.
However, just because the 31-year-old has completed that honing stage of his career, Sieverding is by no means a home body.
As a full-time, freelance musician, he could be on the road up to two-thirds of the year. “You’re not going to have a normal life,†he said of his career. His wife, who is “very musical herself,†continues to be very supportive. “She is my handler, my support system.†Preferring to stay out of the spotlight herself, Kelsey works on the administrative staff for Cantus, an all-male vocal ensemble out of the Twin Cities.
Minneapolis, with a “thriving arts community,†provides Sieverding the chance to work with Minnesota Opera as well as smaller companies in the region.
His 2018 schedule includes “Dead Man Walking†with Minnesota Opera in late January and the Madison (Wisconsin) Symphony May 4-6.
Trying to make a career as an opera singer is a risk. However, it’s one he feels good about. In August 2017, the bass performed with the Minnesota Orchestra in “Salome,†an opera by Richard Strauss, who “wrote tremendously well for the voice.
“Just listening to it gives me goosebumps. That’s what music is supposed to do. It’s supposed to transport you out of your everyday experience,†Sieverding said.
– Dave Graves
