Episode 5.6 – Wendy Bryn Harmer – In Another Life I Would’ve Been a Spy

The Ghost Light Podcast (Utah Symphony | Utah Opera)

Just prior to the opening night of Utah Opera’s production of Utah Opera’s October 2020 production, soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer joined the Ghost Light Podcast. Wendy Bryn was born in California, but grew up in Bountiful, Utah. Her career has taken her to New York and the Metropolitan Opera, and around the world to play roles as a dramatic soprano. She was slated to make her Utah Opera debut in fall 2020 playing the role of Senta in Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. Due to circumstances of the pandemic, that production was cancelled and replaced by Francis Poulenc’s The Human Voice, a monodrama based on the fictional story of Elle, and her sung conversation with an ex-lover who will soon be married to another woman. Harmer notes that learning and memorizing a new role was not what she planned for 2020, but was grateful for the opportunity to be on the Capitol Theater stage. The pandemic has hit the vocal musician community especially hard, especially here in the US where most professional singers have been sidelined for months. Ms Harmer finds that she is uniquely equipped to manage the isolation and expectations in an ever-changing world due to her recent battle with ovarian cancer. What topic would she like to be see be made into an opera? Has Wendy Bryn seen a ghost? Find out in the latest episode of the Ghost Light Podcast.