New Juilliard vocal faculty member, Darrell Babidge, discusses his career of training a generation of the world's opera singers. He discusses what it is like to be a vocal teacher of these elite musicians, what his voice lessons are like, and how he works with singers to perfect their craft. The interview is peppered with magnificent performances of his renown students, including Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Shea Owens, and Rebecca Pederson. The discussion includes an acknowledgement of the prominence today of LDS opera singers at the most important opera houses in the world and imagines what that critical mass of talent might mean for the culture itself. To conclude, Darrell is also heard performing the lead role of The Book of Gold, an opera by Murray Boren about Joseph Smith and the publication of the Book of Mormon. 

Support the show