BOHEMIAN GIRL
posted by James Reel
In the latest Tucson Weekly I interview a UA voice student who seems poised for good things:
When college student and budding opera singer Martina Chylikova moved to Tucson in 1995, she left behind not only her native Czech Republic, but also the distinctive Slavic vocal style that had spread from Russia through Eastern Europe.She’s giving a solo concert on Valentine’s Day. As the Tucson Citizen used to say at every such opportunity, Czech it out here.
"When I started," she says, "my range was very small, because my voice was heavy; it was back in my throat, and I couldn't sing much." But now, after several years of work with the University of Arizona's Faye Robinson, Chylikova's voice has opened up remarkably. Not long ago, she returned to Czechia to sing the mezzo-coloratura role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Right now, she's in rehearsal for a UA production of Mark Adamo's recent operatic version of Little Women; Chylikova sings the lead role, the teenage Jo. In a few months, she'll look several decades older on the stage of Prague's National Theater, where she'll sing the important supporting role of the Old Woman in Leonard Bernstein's Candide.
