In conversation with Jeanette Veccione-Donatti Part 1:"I was a basketball player before my passion for classical music took hold of me!"

08. Januar 2024

Rubrik Interviews

©Nicole Nixon

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti is an US-American soprano and Co-founder of Winfield Street Coffee. With 11 branches between Florida Connectitut and New York Jeanette proves to be every woman, strong determined and successful, a mother of two boys, wife and artist alike with ambitions to conquer the opera world after some years of absence from the show business.

As a former basketball player, on her way to build up a professional career in sports, destiny decided to have her musical talent rather brought to light out on a stage instead of a court.  But with her sportive background and a stamina to die for, Jeanette managed not only to develop a solid vocal technique, but also unique characteristics, which make her voice stand out of the singing crowd.

A classical Italian belcanto style is what makes Jeanette´s voice one of a kind and truly sets her apart in the field of operatic singing. A warm, yet multifacetted timbre, cystal clear high notes with a brilliant shine and a soulful depth: What more could the opera world wish for?

Operaversum: Dear Jeanette, by coincidence I recently learnt through one of your Instagram stories that you are an amazing coloratura soprano with a voice and an emotionality to die for.

Where have you been the past couple of years?

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: Well, I took some time off, when I had my first son in 2015 but was about to enter the stage again just one month later.

At that point I did not know what I was getting myself into having a baby. I just thought I could go back to normal and sing "Queen of the Night", which I had planned to do in Verona with the Teatro Philhamonica.

But it soon dawned on me that I had to cancel the performance. So I did only get back into singing when my son turned five months, which was the time when I was struggling financially, not making enough money to supply for our whole family.

On top of it all my husband got dismissed from his job. So finding ourselves in a very difficult situation, we apparently decided to start our own business, which did cause a lot of stress, particularly because I was still on travel to take on any job opportunity that came across my way.

Then in 2017 it was getting too much to take. So I paused to reflect on the situation, telling myself that I wanted to make real money before getting back into the music business, as I realized that there was a very big difference between singers that did not make a lot of money and those who did.

And I came to the conclusion that I did not want to be part of the singing crew that would be struggling and undervalued. So I chose what I considered important to me and started creating a unique vocal technique that would help me stand out.

You know, with a very classic old-fashioned belcanto sound, I try to offer a whole package which is truly missing on stage these days. For example perfoming the pianissimo like Renata Scotto did, when she held a high B or C and would then "diminuendo", is something of rare vocal quality nowadays. 

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: So you intended to create something unique without the financial pressure behind that would have most certainly sacrificed the quality of your voice?

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: Exactly, as I already mentioned I was so frustrated at one point, because I felt I needed to take any of these jobs for simply making money at the expense of my artistry, which at the same time implied I would not have managed to offer high quality.

But in order to sing on a high level, I really needed to study the score in an out, I needed to know everybody elses part. Moreover I needed to thoroughly understand the story underlying the stage production.

But since I had to make money at the same time, I could possibly not perform, applying all these quality aspects. And to also reach a vocal level of excellence, as in technique, sufficient time was essential to develop those skills.

So I stopped singing the way I did and additionally worked a lot on my mental health which means that I learned how to trick my mind in a direction that it would not go into a big stress mode whilst performing on stage.

Honestly the feeling of when you are stressed can thwart the ability to perform. So being able to pull away that stress, was a big game-changer for my voice and my overall performance.

Operaversum: So is this a suggestion for opera singers to ideally have a second professional pillar in place in order to start a sound and solid career in singing? I mean you are the first professional opera singer I have met who is a business woman at the same time! 

Jeannete Veccione-Donatti: I did meet one singer though, who is very successful being an opera singer and having real estate all over Europe.

And even though with a second income in place I would be told that one never knows when somebody is going to take your place on stage.

And sure enough, I think that COVID showed singers that you need to have other income sources apart from the music business.

In my opinion I find it essential to have other forms of income or renvenue to be on the financial safe side.

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: Coming back to your artistic profession: What made you opt for becoming an opera singer in the first place and which was your key experience that basically drove you in that path?  

Jeanette Veccione-Donatti: Well, to be honest, I did not grow up with opera at home. I was a basketball player through and through and played basketball my whole life before my passion for classical music took hold of me.

I was even looking for going to a basketball school and already had scholarship offers to very good schools here in the United States. But as you get older, you have to take electives, which I did. And as I loved art and knew I could sing, I took an elective as in art chorus in New York.

And since they do state competitions which can get you on the state chorus, I really wanted to participate in it as the competitive athlete I was back then.

But my chorus teacher was not too convinced of my singing capabilites, as she had never heard me sing before. So I had to convince her that I could sing.

So she finally gave me a piece to learn which was one of those Italian art songs called "Pur dicesti". So I sang that song for her in a Mariah Carey style, whereupon she just rolled her eyes and made a comment about me being a typical singer not knowing in which style to sing.

But once I demonstrated to her that I could also sing it in an operatic style, she got so impressed with me that she called up my parents right away, which left me anxious thinking I might have gotten myself into real trouble for making fun of opera.

But after having spoken with my parents she came back to me with an approving smile on her face, which was unusual and thus a big thing. "You are an opera singer", she went on and added "You need to go to Juilliard School". 

Thinking that she had gone completely crazy I went home to my parents who did not have a clue what was going on. Really perplexed I calmed them down and convinced them that there was nothing to worry about and that I would certainly not go to Juilliard School.

But as the weeks went by and I started to dig deeper into the art of Maria Callas, trying to mimick her voice, my chorus teacher found out that I was a coloratura soprano. I could hit the high F´s in "Una voce poco fa" easily when doing the ornaments.

So little by little that summer I just started to fall in love with opera. My parents then found me a vocal coach at the Met Opera in New York, Loretta di Franco, who was more than supportive and became my voice teacher:To cut a long story short: I ignorantly came across the difficult Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's Magic Flute which I subsequently sang for my Juilliard audition and received a full scholarship to attend there."

And so it all happened that I gradually followed the path of becoming an opera singer.

©Nicole Nixon

Operaversum: Well that sounds like absolutely incredible. And it seems like a path you did not even know you would follow. But did your parents have a musical background at all? 

Jeannete Veccione-Donatti: Not at all. My dad was a pastor and my mum occasionally played the organ at church. I mean, I have to say that my parents gave me the opportunity to have piano lessons since I was five years old.

And back then I was told I should go to Julliard for pinao but I was not interested at all. My parents only pushed my talent, but never forced it.

So, yes, I always did have this musical talent of mine, but it never really bloomed until I got a little bit older.

Operaversum: So I take it that your sportive background also prepared you for that profession in music? I mean you have to be very competitive driven in sports, well-toned, strong and fit in order to build up your stamina for singing? 

Jeannete Veccione-Donatti: Absolutely, even though I remember my teacher saying that I should not be lifting all those weights as it would possibly make my throat tight.

But when I stopped working out for a while, she would really wonder why my breath flow was so lazy. Telling her that I had paused with doing exercises, she soon realized that working out was good for the voice and that was when I kept continuing doing sports.

Be kindly invited to read part 2 of the interview 9th January 2024.