High Notes & Michael Lapina

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Hi, Helena. Hi, Adam. And hi to all of our listeners.
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We've got a great episode for you today and really excited to be back here for
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our second episode of 2026. I feel like that's right.
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With the brilliant Michael LaPina.
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But before we introduce Michael, Helena, why don't you briefly introduce yourself?
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It would be my pleasure. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Helena Dix.
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I'm an international opera singer who's recently moved back to my home ground
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of Melbourne, Australia.
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I like high notes, I like anecdotes, and I love to laugh.
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And my name is Adam Miller. I'm a former opera singer turned producer, writer, and director.
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And Helena, you and I have worked together all over the world in all sorts of
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different ways, and now we podcast.
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So, you know, it's the madness continued, and we love it. It's really good.
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Too cool for school. Are we cool?
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Are we cool? Like... We think we are. That's the most important thing.
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We try so hard. Mark Cunningham thinks we are. Mark Cunningham thinks we're
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cool. We'll take that. We'll take that for sure.
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So on the episode today, we have got the brilliant Michael LaPina.
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Michael is a versatile tenor working across opera, musical theatre,
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concert and oratorio repertoire.
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He's performed major works such as Verdi's Requiem, Handel's Messiah and Puccini's
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Mesa de Gloria and has been recognised for leading roles such as Manarico in Verdi's Il Trovatore.
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Alongside his performing career, he is active in the community and known for
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his extensive fundraising work, including projects connected with Rotary,
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where he has held senior leadership roles, including district governor recently.
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Now, as we pick up the conversation, we open with Michael revealing his bank
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of 3D printers that he keeps in his office. and you get to hear a little bit of us nerding out.
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If that sounds interesting to you, then listen on.
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But you want to see how nerd out I am? This is my office, right?
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So technically, I have my microphone down here because I'm currently rehearsing
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Namorino for A Literature of Love.
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But this is my... Oh, my God. That's fantastic.
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Yeah, I got a status and I've got all of this stuff. A dungeon of nerdsville.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Big time. Big time. I'm nerding out big time.
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And I got, when I was in Rotary, I was, I wanted to do 3D printing.
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I've been wanting to do 3D printing for a long time. But the thing was,
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when I was in Rotary, I had no time, so I was like,
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I bought a 3D printer and it sat in the box for about 18 months.
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Then when I finished being the governor last July and he came out of the box
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and within about two months I bought another 3D printer.
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And now there's a 3D printer. This is really bad. There's a box over there with
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another 3D printer. So it's my third 3D printer and I haven't taken it out yet
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because I just don't have any room here.
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So is the ultimate goal to make, because of the singer in you as well,
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as well as the nerd is the ultimate goal to make a quartet of 3D printers and,
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you know, and then have them run at different frequencies. I mean, I'm just asking.
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Do you know what? I haven't even thought of that. That's really,
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really good because you could do, you could actually do a calibration and it
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does a calibration where it vibrates.
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So one will vibrate at a different rate than the other.
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You've got harmony happening. Oh my God. Helena, now you can see why I get on so well with Michael.
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What I hadn't realized is that when Helena and I do a little chat beforehand
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just to, you know, get our questions together and chat about our research and
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all these kinds of things about our guests, but I didn't realize that you and
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Helena are not super tight.
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Like, I think of you, Michael, as knowing everyone and everyone knows Michael.
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Yeah. I know Michael, but I don't know him that well. Like, we're not like,
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you know, like, yeah, I don't know things about him.
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I certainly didn't know he had three 3D prints. Yeah, I would have thought that
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you would have known him well enough to go, oh, yeah, Michael,
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uber nerd at the core. He's right there as well.
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You know what's really weird? And I think, Helena, we've had so many chats.
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And whenever we walk into the room, for instance, the last time we were rehearsing
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was for the Puccini Gala.
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And I think you were rehearsing another show at the time. Yes, for Angelica.
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Yeah. So you were rehearsing that and I was getting some coaching with Raymond
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in the room. and I'd walked in and it was like, I mean, you'd come from overseas.
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It was like you and I had, it's like these friends who haven't been,
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who haven't seen each other for a while, but you just
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connect straight away it's like that time hadn't stopped
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I think it's because there's so much respect you and
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I don't know each other super well on a personal level but every time
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we've met musically and everything I I
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have so much respect for you and I always really love and love listening to
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you and love love listening to you rehearse and everything and so I think that's
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you know instant kind of like hey you know because you know I'm a bit of a judgy
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cow you know I'm a bit of a judgy cow so you know when there are actually good
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people around that I respect I'm like yeah I'll give you my time, you know. Oh, I love you.
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Do you know what it is, though? I think, you know, I love going around to everyone,
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especially some of the students that I've come across at Halebury.
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So one of my students – no, no, I don't teach him anymore, but I was teaching
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him, and his family absolutely adore you. Oh, that's so nice.
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Oh, yeah, yeah. I know, Helen. You know, she and I are like that. You know.
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And so every time they see me, they go, so how's Helena?
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Yeah, she's great. We spoke the other night. Yeah.
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We caught up for coffee when she wasn't here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,
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that's right. That's right. I love it. So look, we've established now you guys have worked together.
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Michael, you and I have worked together a fair bit in the past as well in lots
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of different capacities.
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Tell us about your journey to how you got to here. I'm really fascinated because
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I know that you've had such a rich and interesting background in lots of different areas.
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When I researched you, the first thing that came up was that you started with Walt Disney.
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That was literally the first thing that came up. So I'm curious how that kind
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of took its place in this journey.
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Do you know, I say this, I tell people this story all the time and even when
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I recount It's very, very hard to believe because every little step seems to
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have been luck, sheer luck.
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But we know in this industry it's a bit of luck, but there's a lot of perseverance
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and there's a lot of people who know you and support you.
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And if they click with you, they will do things and open the doors for you.
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So I honestly think that that's how it's been.
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I was really, really, it was a really strange thing because it all dates back
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to when I was in high school and my sister, my older sister,
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was getting singing lessons. She was in the choir. She was in the school musical.
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And I was just the...
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Younger boy, younger brother going, if she's got it, I've got to get access to that as well.
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And mom and dad loved spoiling their only male son, Asian family.
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So bless my family. I absolutely adore my parents and they really, really looked after me.
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But they gave me access to violin lessons, singing lessons, drum lessons, piano lessons.
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And so with my sister in choir, I joined the choir. My sister was in the musical.
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I auditioned for the school musical and I got the lead role because not many
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boys were auditioning for the musical. So I kept getting lead roles.
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And by the time I was in year 11, year 12, my sister was doing really well in musicals.
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She got, Adam, I can hear it now. You can hear Bastion.
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I can hear Bastion. I'm so sorry about that. It's my favorite thing.
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The hilarious thing is, right, I will edit so many of those noises in the background
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out. Do you pre-warn everyone about my dog now?
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Well, I have to pre-warn Michael because Michael was like, oh,
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can you hear the 3D printers in the background? I'm like, trust me,
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there'll be nothing compared to Bastion.
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And now it's just, it's perfect. Yeah.
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I shouldn't have put his water down outside of the room. Sorry, my apologies.
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No, gorgeous. At least he's not snoring. Not yet. Sure it was Bastion. Yeah, sure it was.
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We were talking about singers' adenoids before.
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But I was following Bastion's journey from Europe, so I love the fact that Bastion's here.
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You and me both. Yeah, no, it's great. So my sister was getting into musicals,
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By the time she was in year 12, no, she'd just finished year 12, she got an agent.
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Someone saw her performing Bloody Mary on stage and picked her up.
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And so, but I was on stage with her. And again, I was that young brother going,
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hey, if she's got an agent, I've got to get an agent too.
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And we both got into the agency, the same agency. And...
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During the school holidays, we got invited to go and audition for,
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back then it was called Disney Live, and it was a singer-dancer audition.
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And I said, oh, but it says dancer. I don't know how to dance.
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And they said, oh, no, it's okay. It's singer slash dancer. So they'll get the
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singers separate and the dancers separate. No.
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I got into the audition room. We've all been to audition rooms.
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I got into the audition room dressed like an opera singer in my rink of a jacket,
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my slacks and my leather shoes and everyone was stretching and they'd all come
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out of a production of Cats or Anything Goes or anything like that.
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And so we had a dance audition first. And so I was dancing in my formal singing outfit.
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Excellent. The show was Aladdin coming to Melbourne.
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So Aladdin had just gone out in the theatres. And so I had to dance and I fell on my back.
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They asked me to do double pirouette and I landed on my back.
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And the choreographer was sitting there thinking, you're wasting my time.
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I don't even know why you're here. Oh, no.
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And I felt crap. My sister was in the room as well.
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And so they said, okay, well, now you have to sing for us.
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And one of the things they asked us to do was we needed to have a backing track.
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So we only sang to backing tracks.
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They didn't have a pianist there. So I remember going into the bathroom while
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everyone else, I think this was a,
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in a dance studio in South Yarra.
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I remember going to the bathroom and I could hear all the other dancers going
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in there singing, and they were only singing like the first four bars of their song.
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And I'm there in the bathroom, drenched in sweat, trying to dry out,
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and I'm thinking, I've chosen bring him home.
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So the first four bars is just one bloody note. Yeah.
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God on high, hear my breath. Thank you. That's it. We'll call you. That's it.
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Anyway, so I've walked in there. I was one of the last ones to sing.
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I'm going to use the name, John Gibbard. John Gibbard, if you've never come
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across John Gibbard, he was very,
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very much involved with Characterland Productions. That was his company.
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And he was the head of auditioning production crew or whatever.
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And so he was sitting there and he asked us to audition.
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And I remember him standing there. And the moment the music started.
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And I thought, oh, shit, they're going to stop me. God on high,
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hear my prayer. Oh, I'm going.
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In my need, you have always been there.
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He is young, he is. Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. And then I got to the end, bring him home.
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And I thought, I'm going to milk this. Got to the very, very end.
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And put a little bit of a sub at the end. Oh, nice. John Gibbard standing there in front of me,
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Just speechless. He's looking at me, not even moving.
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And the choreographer, I won't name her because I think she's still in the industry.
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She was sitting there going, why did you let him sing to the baby?
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You didn't let anyone else sing. You heard her say that?
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Oh, no, she said it to me. Literally, she was sitting there and John said it
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would be a sin to stop an angel from singing. Oh, wow.
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I was like, oh, my God. And so John took me under his wings. I didn't get the job.
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But what he did, John took me under his wings. He got me, he connected me with
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Dance World 301 in South Melbourne.
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And I had dance lessons there. And I moonlighted by giving singing lessons there as well.
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And within a short amount of time, I re-auditioned for Disney.
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Disney went, oh my God, who are you? I remember you six months ago.
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Now you're actually able to dance.
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And I started touring around for Walt Disney.
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I was teaching singing at Dance World. I was getting professional lessons at Dance World to dance.
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I was also at the College of the Arts at the same time doing opera.
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And so I was getting into all of these shows.
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In 1995, I got into the Victorian State Opera for the very, very first time.
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Um and and even
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then uh brian stacy was the one that
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auditioned me and hugh halliday so it was for the radical production and
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hugh halliday and brian stacy were there i love them i so love them and brian
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went break my heart when when i found out about what happened with him but brian
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um called up uh linney hume straight away after my audition and pretty much
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the audition was went something like this.
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I sang the last page of, or the last verse of, um,
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a wandering minstrel because we were auditioning for
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radical so i sang the last page of a wandering minstrel and
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because it's so short and dreaming me
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that's pretty much the end of it i thought i'd go and brian stacy he's there
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looking looking at um behind the table looking at the music and then he looks
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over his glasses as he does and he goes who the hell taught you that horrible cadet.
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And then he turns around and says, oh, well, we better let you sing the whole thing then.
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So I sang from the start to the very, very end and got the job.
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But then got a call from Lini Hume that night saying, hey, my colleagues think
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that your voice exceeds chorus standard.
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I'd love to have you come in and sing for us.
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So at about that time, I was being positioned to be one of the young artists.
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And it didn't occur because I took on roles with Disney.
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I should have been in Miss Saigon, but I was stuck in an exclusivity clause
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with Disney while I was in Singapore.
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And then all of these things happened. And in 2001, I stopped singing.
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I got married in 2000, met my wife, decided that I wasn't going to do any more
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singing because we were having kids. I've got this big house that had a huge mortgage.
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Got a big job at the National Australia Bank and went up the ranks until about
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2006 when I went, oh, shit, I love singing. I need to go back.
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And it was actually during Phantom of the Opera, which was actually the very
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first musical that I saw live with Anthony Warlow. And it was Anthony. I became...
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His number one fan. I don't think he knows this, but I became his number one
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fan. He does now. God, I hope so.
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I'm still a big fan. But I just think, you know, I wanted my technique to be
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exactly the same way as Anthony's because I just thought he had the most wonderful technique.
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So got back to singing, started having lessons again in 2006,
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got heard by Richard Gill in 2006 and And he said, where have you been?
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Literally, that was the audition. And then he started giving me understudy roles
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pretty much every single year. And I started getting a lot more.
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So that was my whole trek into where I am now, where it was really me just being
00:16:47.280 --> 00:16:49.860
jealous of my sister and wanting to do what she did.
00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:54.540
And just being very, very lucky. You know, John Gibbard turning around and opening
00:16:54.540 --> 00:16:56.040
the door, connecting me with dancing.
00:16:56.220 --> 00:17:03.920
Dancing gave me that commercial dancing career as well. And it was just an amazing, an amazing journey.
00:17:04.120 --> 00:17:06.580
The next show we do together, I'm going to need to see some more of that dancing.
00:17:06.780 --> 00:17:11.260
I don't feel like I see you dancing enough in shows we do. Let's get to make that happen.
00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:16.160
You know, I used to remember, I used to teach flamenco.
00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:24.500
What? Oh, my God. Yeah. So, what was her name? The teacher that I had at Dance
00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:27.500
World, Pam, Pam Apostolidis, taught me flamenco.
00:17:27.620 --> 00:17:31.920
And then I would take the students aside and I would teach them as well,
00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.020
just some basic rudimentary stuff.
00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:40.580
But I remember there was a time when I went back to flamenco about a couple
00:17:40.580 --> 00:17:42.580
of, probably about five years ago.
00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:45.880
And I started doing just basic drills. Yeah.
00:17:46.222 --> 00:17:51.102
My steps were still there, but my body was jiggling at least 10 hours,
00:17:51.402 --> 00:17:55.482
10 minutes after I stopped because it was still going to do-do-do-do-do.
00:17:56.942 --> 00:18:00.762
Isn't that like a representation of what happens to our vibrato as we get older as well?
00:18:02.282 --> 00:18:06.462
It's like, oh, the notes were still there, but oh. Yes.
00:18:07.122 --> 00:18:11.422
Vibrato was a bit more epic. We call that vibrato very relaxed.
00:18:12.122 --> 00:18:17.462
Very relaxed. Oh, I like that. I'm going to use that. I did a Verdi Requiem
00:18:17.462 --> 00:18:23.022
and Mark Cunningham, sorry, Mark Cunningham, I haven't got you on my mind.
00:18:23.322 --> 00:18:26.922
Mark Wildman, who was the head of opera at the Royal Academy where Adam and
00:18:26.922 --> 00:18:31.062
I did our post-grad, he got me this gig to do this Verdi Requiem and he said,
00:18:31.182 --> 00:18:34.742
oh, yes, Halita, the other singers,
00:18:35.022 --> 00:18:39.102
well, they're quite characters and we need a soprano who can like hold their own, you know.
00:18:39.302 --> 00:18:43.862
And so we got to the rehearsals and the mezzo and the tenor were married.
00:18:43.862 --> 00:18:50.302
And we had the rehearsal in the day and they were, well, the tenor was all right
00:18:50.302 --> 00:18:54.302
but he just wanted to show everyone everything he had in the rehearsal.
00:18:54.302 --> 00:18:57.062
So he basically screamed his way through the rehearsal and then had nothing
00:18:57.062 --> 00:18:57.842
left for the performance.
00:18:58.102 --> 00:19:02.902
But the mezzo was hilarious because she's like, darling, my husband and I,
00:19:03.002 --> 00:19:04.302
we both sing at the garden.
00:19:04.482 --> 00:19:06.782
Well, it turned out they were like extra chorus at Covent Garden,
00:19:06.882 --> 00:19:09.222
right? But I didn't know this. I was just, you know, I went in there.
00:19:10.042 --> 00:19:13.342
And, of course, in the Verdi Requiem there's a movement for our
00:19:13.342 --> 00:19:16.222
listeners that don't know where the soprano and the mezzo have to come in
00:19:16.222 --> 00:19:19.722
in perfect unison together and quite often um
00:19:19.722 --> 00:19:23.862
you know you one of them hums or you go yeah let's just come in together or
00:19:23.862 --> 00:19:27.182
whatever so she says to me darling darling you need to just um you know you
00:19:27.182 --> 00:19:32.182
need to just follow my lead because I have perfect pitch and um I was like all
00:19:32.182 --> 00:19:36.182
right cool and then she opened her mouth in the rehearsal and her voice the
00:19:36.182 --> 00:19:37.302
whole time was literally like.
00:19:40.462 --> 00:19:42.502
So I wanted to ask her like which,
00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:45.460
which side of the pitch you'd like me to match because, like,
00:19:45.540 --> 00:19:49.700
honestly, I was like, oh, oh, no.
00:19:49.900 --> 00:19:52.440
So I just kind of crept in with a little bit of straight tone and hoped for
00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:55.840
the best, and it didn't end well. But, yeah, there you go.
00:19:56.180 --> 00:20:02.780
Do you know in the Requiem, so I did a production of the Requiem where there's
00:20:02.780 --> 00:20:07.960
that trio where the baritone, the tenor, and the mezzo do that stuff,
00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:10.800
which is a lot, and a lot of it is a cappella.
00:20:10.800 --> 00:20:13.560
Acapella, that's a tricky little excerpt, that bit, yeah.
00:20:13.980 --> 00:20:18.360
That's the hard bit, and it's all chromatic throughout that whole bit.
00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:24.060
And so I have a very good relative pitch, and I know when I'm out of tune,
00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:29.220
Adam knows exactly when I'm singing, I'm like, okay, that was just a tight,
00:20:29.532 --> 00:20:33.832
Just a smidge flat, you know, just support a little bit. I wouldn't be saying
00:20:33.832 --> 00:20:35.592
it to Adam because Adam is perfect every time.
00:20:36.252 --> 00:20:38.552
I've seen that look on your face, Michael, when I'm singing.
00:20:38.712 --> 00:20:41.452
So I'm just going to say I'll remember that for next time.
00:20:42.512 --> 00:20:45.392
That was, no, it wasn't during that duet.
00:20:46.932 --> 00:20:52.352
But I've had so many mezzos. When they come into that, they would do the widest
00:20:52.352 --> 00:20:56.792
vibrato and say, yeah, I'm still in tune. And I'm like, yeah. One of them was.
00:20:58.732 --> 00:21:01.512
Yeah yeah and that is that's that is a that's a
00:21:01.512 --> 00:21:04.252
horrible corner as it is let alone like having someone who's not
00:21:04.252 --> 00:21:07.052
on it like i've seen yeah that go to a train wreck
00:21:07.052 --> 00:21:13.072
like like quite a few times yep you know we need to do us three here plus a
00:21:13.072 --> 00:21:17.332
good mezzo we need to do i reckon we would rip into a good fair do you reckon
00:21:17.332 --> 00:21:20.512
but adam isn't it a bit low for you you wouldn't do very do you reckon would
00:21:20.512 --> 00:21:25.872
you i've never done one i reckon i can i can work it's more yeah i can work the bass notes now.
00:21:26.392 --> 00:21:28.392
I definitely couldn't have done it a few years ago.
00:21:28.972 --> 00:21:32.672
Now that you're mature. Now that I've grown up.
00:21:35.992 --> 00:21:40.852
When those things drop. That's right. That's exactly right. And when they do, I'll let you know.
00:21:43.452 --> 00:21:44.352
Neither is mine.
00:21:46.472 --> 00:21:50.132
So you mentioned briefly before Rotary.
00:21:50.312 --> 00:21:54.172
I think that's, I very much see that as part of your journey as well.
00:21:54.292 --> 00:21:58.292
Do you want to tell us how you got into Rotary and what that journey's been
00:21:58.292 --> 00:22:00.712
for you? Because I've seen that be quite transformative.
00:22:01.112 --> 00:22:04.272
Can we tell our listeners what Rotary is? Because some people may not know as well.
00:22:04.992 --> 00:22:08.692
Okay, that's going to test me as, because I've just recently been a governor,
00:22:08.872 --> 00:22:11.492
so I should have had this elevator spiel.
00:22:11.992 --> 00:22:17.232
Rotary is a, I'll call it a membership organisation because it is built on members.
00:22:17.772 --> 00:22:21.292
But one of the big things that Rotary is known for, in fact,
00:22:21.412 --> 00:22:26.352
a significant part of what Rotary is known for is the service that it does around the world.
00:22:26.972 --> 00:22:30.292
And when we talk about service, we're talking about service,
00:22:31.054 --> 00:22:34.614
through the vocation of the people that are part of Rotary. So the members of
00:22:34.614 --> 00:22:36.014
Rotary all have a vocation.
00:22:36.234 --> 00:22:40.554
Many of them are professionals in their own right. So being professionals,
00:22:40.734 --> 00:22:44.414
they have access to networks that can raise funds to allow other people to do
00:22:44.414 --> 00:22:51.094
things like put water wells in New Guinea and all of these things.
00:22:51.814 --> 00:22:57.554
But they do a lot of, they have seven areas of focus where they just put all
00:22:57.554 --> 00:23:05.414
of their efforts into trying to develop peace, education, disease prevention, putting water there.
00:23:06.374 --> 00:23:10.534
Sanitation, all of these things. They try to make the world a better place.
00:23:10.654 --> 00:23:13.794
So it's an organisation of humanitarians, right?
00:23:13.954 --> 00:23:17.454
You know what? I'm going to bring you with me from now on because that just
00:23:17.454 --> 00:23:21.154
fixed up my – there goes my elevator spiel.
00:23:21.534 --> 00:23:24.674
That was great. Yeah, humanitarians, yeah. Well, it is.
00:23:24.674 --> 00:23:29.394
It's because a true humanitarian is one who does it when it's not their job,
00:23:29.534 --> 00:23:33.554
you know, like someone who comes from a different part of life,
00:23:33.574 --> 00:23:35.474
but a true humanitarian,
00:23:35.754 --> 00:23:39.214
like I believe people who get nominated for Australian of the Year and things
00:23:39.214 --> 00:23:43.574
like that, like a true kind of, I just feel people who give of themselves in
00:23:43.574 --> 00:23:46.694
a way that's far more than just what's expected of them.
00:23:46.694 --> 00:23:50.554
Is this how we start the campaign for Michael, for Australian of the Year?
00:23:50.674 --> 00:23:55.754
Is this what you're soft launching, Helena? I like this. I like it a lot. I was thinking of
00:23:56.017 --> 00:24:00.057
But where's Helena's OAM? I mean, that should have been a given,
00:24:00.057 --> 00:24:03.177
the way you've represented us on the international stage.
00:24:05.057 --> 00:24:10.077
But no, I'll start that, Helena. But, you know, with Rotary,
00:24:10.417 --> 00:24:14.957
Rotary is an interesting thing because when I was invited to Rotary,
00:24:15.157 --> 00:24:18.757
I had no idea what it was, similar to many of the listeners.
00:24:18.757 --> 00:24:23.517
We probably still don't know where it was. But I was invited to it purely because
00:24:23.517 --> 00:24:29.517
a Rotarian who I was working with, he was a consultant working with us at the
00:24:29.517 --> 00:24:31.517
National Australia Bank when I was a senior manager there.
00:24:32.177 --> 00:24:36.497
And I was running what we call a program office, which looks after significant
00:24:36.497 --> 00:24:38.517
projects at the National Australia Bank.
00:24:38.697 --> 00:24:43.117
So we got this consultant in and we were working together and he turned around
00:24:43.117 --> 00:24:46.097
to me and he said, you know what, you should be a Rotarian.
00:24:46.297 --> 00:24:50.897
I said, I have no idea what that is. And he invited me to a meeting and that's
00:24:50.897 --> 00:24:52.997
the standard thing that Rotarians tend to do.
00:24:53.137 --> 00:24:57.277
And I don't think it's a good strategy to try and invite people into Rotary
00:24:57.277 --> 00:25:01.097
by taking them to meetings. I think you should just show them the humanitarian stuff.
00:25:03.277 --> 00:25:09.017
But I went in there and there was an underlying reason for it because I'm,
00:25:09.017 --> 00:25:11.817
I'm Asian. It goes without saying I'm Asian, but the thing is,
00:25:12.330 --> 00:25:18.430
The way I've been brought up, there was a characteristics around all Asians
00:25:18.430 --> 00:25:25.190
where we have a certain level of deference to anyone superior to us or more senior to us.
00:25:25.610 --> 00:25:29.830
Regardless of whether they're right or wrong, you will just nod your head and go, yes.
00:25:30.850 --> 00:25:34.410
And that's how I was brought up. That's how my family brought me up.
00:25:34.510 --> 00:25:37.610
And so I was a senior manager at the National Australia Bank,
00:25:37.650 --> 00:25:40.930
and I was just letting senior managers, other senior managers get away with
00:25:40.930 --> 00:25:45.790
everything because I wasn't standing up to say, you know, you shouldn't be doing that.
00:25:45.910 --> 00:25:49.010
That is not part of your role. That is not ethical.
00:25:49.430 --> 00:25:52.910
So those are the types of things that I was afraid to do.
00:25:53.230 --> 00:25:57.910
Now, this guy, this Rotarian said, you should join Rotary because you'll be
00:25:57.910 --> 00:26:01.510
surrounded by all of these senior people. And you'll start to realize that these
00:26:01.510 --> 00:26:05.450
senior people are exactly the same as you. And I didn't get that.
00:26:05.758 --> 00:26:10.538
I really, really didn't get that. And in fact, my very first meeting was with
00:26:10.538 --> 00:26:15.198
the Rotary Club of Melbourne, which had, it's the biggest club in Australia.
00:26:15.758 --> 00:26:20.918
It's the oldest club in Australia. And it had, at the time, over 400 members.
00:26:21.098 --> 00:26:25.538
And I went to one of their lunchtime meetings and I sat next to a managing director
00:26:25.538 --> 00:26:29.998
on my left-hand side and then a director of the board of the National Australia
00:26:29.998 --> 00:26:31.698
Bank on my right-hand side.
00:26:31.858 --> 00:26:34.878
And I was nervous as all buggery. I couldn't talk to them.
00:26:34.878 --> 00:26:38.078
I felt I was so intimidated I
00:26:38.078 --> 00:26:41.298
felt like I didn't deserve to be there I had imposter syndrome
00:26:41.298 --> 00:26:44.618
happening and as a singer you know that that really plays
00:26:44.618 --> 00:26:50.498
on your own insecurities right so he saw this guy saw that that club probably
00:26:50.498 --> 00:26:54.398
wasn't the right club for me at the time so he sent me to another club and they
00:26:54.398 --> 00:27:01.438
treated me like family and uh the all of these members were also senior leaders in their own right,
00:27:01.618 --> 00:27:05.678
but they treated me like family and they treated my family like family,
00:27:05.818 --> 00:27:07.898
which was really, really probably more important.
00:27:08.078 --> 00:27:15.418
I remember going to a conference and one of the older gentlemen who ran a business
00:27:15.418 --> 00:27:20.518
carried Alex on his shoulder and we walked about two kilometers to one of the venues.
00:27:20.678 --> 00:27:25.698
And I thought, geez, this is a guy who doesn't care what his job is.
00:27:25.838 --> 00:27:30.458
He just sees people as people. And to Helena's point earlier,
00:27:30.618 --> 00:27:35.078
these are people who, Raidery has a motto called service above self.
00:27:35.258 --> 00:27:38.598
They saw the service beyond the person.
00:27:38.898 --> 00:27:44.318
And so I started to see that. And probably more importantly at around that time,
00:27:44.478 --> 00:27:48.358
so this was at 2005 and 2006 was when I went back to singing.
00:27:50.378 --> 00:27:54.278
2005, Raidery turned around and said, you know what? You have a talent that
00:27:54.278 --> 00:27:56.658
no one else has and Rotary needs that talent.
00:27:56.898 --> 00:28:03.498
I was a singer. I am a singer, and what they were using me for was they would get me to sing,
00:28:04.174 --> 00:28:08.354
at events, at fundraising events. And because I was singing there,
00:28:08.454 --> 00:28:11.174
a lot more people would come and they would raise a lot more money.
00:28:12.394 --> 00:28:17.474
And what I realized was, and I know as singers, we all have these little demons
00:28:17.474 --> 00:28:20.934
talking in our heads, right? At around that time, I was singing Nessun Dorma.
00:28:21.434 --> 00:28:27.114
I'd be sitting there and I'd be going, oh, sh**. And we're getting to that big note.
00:28:27.214 --> 00:28:30.394
And I'm going, oh, sh**, am I going to make it? Am I going to make it? Am I going to make it?
00:28:30.474 --> 00:28:35.794
And so all of those talks are in my head. the more I got to sing with Rotarians
00:28:35.794 --> 00:28:39.134
in the room, because I was pretty much getting three gigs a week,
00:28:39.334 --> 00:28:41.834
the more I got to sing, the less I started thinking about that.
00:28:41.914 --> 00:28:44.754
And I started thinking more about enjoying the event.
00:28:45.714 --> 00:28:49.674
So I got stage time. And it was because of that,
00:28:49.854 --> 00:28:55.094
that I actually got a really, really good career singing in corporate events,
00:28:55.094 --> 00:29:01.654
as well as singing at, for many of the opera companies that we have in Australia
00:29:01.654 --> 00:29:05.854
because I was just comfortable with singing in front of other people.
00:29:06.214 --> 00:29:09.514
And so what ended up happening, and Adam, you're part of this,
00:29:10.014 --> 00:29:14.834
what ended up happening was I started running my own fundraisers for other people,
00:29:15.054 --> 00:29:17.434
not just for rosary, but for other people.
00:29:17.934 --> 00:29:24.314
And I started inviting all of my friends and colleagues to come and sing. And the more...
00:29:26.220 --> 00:29:32.360
The fees weren't that big because we were supporting fundraising, but the volume was.
00:29:32.520 --> 00:29:38.440
And so it was actually giving us that opportunity to raise money for ourselves
00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:44.180
as well, getting that validation of our careers, our work, our talent.
00:29:44.320 --> 00:29:50.380
But also giving people on a wider level the appreciation of classical music,
00:29:50.540 --> 00:29:54.140
which in this country is immensely important because it doesn't happen very
00:29:54.140 --> 00:29:56.200
frequently at all. You're absolutely right.
00:29:56.360 --> 00:30:01.380
You're absolutely right. And what I found was a lot of people didn't realize
00:30:01.380 --> 00:30:05.080
that opera was so exciting until they got to hear it.
00:30:05.300 --> 00:30:09.160
And so accessible. Until they got to hear it in an intimate environment where
00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:16.860
it's not a big opera hall, but a church or a hall or even an event center, a small meeting room.
00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:20.700
They got to hear it and they got the full force of the human voice and they
00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:26.420
went, oh my God, why haven't I listened to that before? And so we started to get a lot of those.
00:30:26.540 --> 00:30:28.660
And then I realized, actually, you know what, there are a lot of,
00:30:28.800 --> 00:30:33.720
I'm now at a point where I'm spending more time teaching students and supporting
00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:38.760
other artists that we created the Rotaract Club through Rotary.
00:30:38.920 --> 00:30:43.460
We created a mini club that is for music makers.
00:30:43.620 --> 00:30:47.460
And Adam, you're a part of that. I am indeed. And we've been getting a lot more
00:30:47.460 --> 00:30:50.900
opportunities for artists to sing.
00:30:50.900 --> 00:30:56.380
In fact, Rotary, through my contacts in Germany, I've been able to send a lot
00:30:56.380 --> 00:31:02.340
of our professional artists from Australia to Germany to be part of the Bayreuth festival over there.
00:31:02.540 --> 00:31:07.040
So the last one that we sent was Asher Reichman, the tenor from Melbourne Opera. Yeah.
00:31:07.340 --> 00:31:11.340
We sent him over there and he's come back and he's sounding absolutely amazing.
00:31:11.760 --> 00:31:15.960
And every single person that we've sent overseas, James Young,
00:31:16.060 --> 00:31:19.520
for instance, was one of our earlier ones, they're all getting excited.
00:31:19.667 --> 00:31:22.827
Um uh opera contracts professional contracts
00:31:22.827 --> 00:31:26.627
on the world scale on the world stage so um rotary
00:31:26.627 --> 00:31:29.727
has done an immense job for me and
00:31:29.727 --> 00:31:32.787
it continues to do an immense job for all the
00:31:32.787 --> 00:31:35.727
other colleagues that i have um and
00:31:35.727 --> 00:31:38.607
that's a pretty cool tag to
00:31:38.607 --> 00:31:41.427
say like before you they probably
00:31:41.427 --> 00:31:44.507
weren't doing that and then you've come in and they're like oh my god
00:31:44.507 --> 00:31:47.207
who is this tenor he's amazing what is this and the
00:31:47.207 --> 00:31:49.887
fact that you've gone in i know all the stuff you've done in
00:31:49.887 --> 00:31:53.067
rotary with being governor and stuff i know all the humanitarian stuff
00:31:53.067 --> 00:31:56.067
and all the fundraising stuff is awesome but i'm a
00:31:56.067 --> 00:31:58.947
soprano and my brain is tiny so like my part of this
00:31:58.947 --> 00:32:01.787
like epic dialogue is that what you've
00:32:01.787 --> 00:32:04.547
done is you've gone in and gone hey classical singers could be on
00:32:04.547 --> 00:32:07.587
your radar of great things because we also
00:32:07.587 --> 00:32:10.447
bring people together through you know more people
00:32:10.447 --> 00:32:13.167
will turn up if there's beautiful music you know there's then
00:32:13.167 --> 00:32:16.007
a collaboration then the singers get more of a chance to perform
00:32:16.007 --> 00:32:18.667
young artists get more of a chance to perform but I
00:32:18.667 --> 00:32:22.247
have to say like I would never have linked Rotary
00:32:22.247 --> 00:32:26.027
with the opportunity to support young singers
00:32:26.027 --> 00:32:29.627
and so I find it that's a really fascinating thing that what you're saying and
00:32:29.627 --> 00:32:33.427
I know Asha very well because we've sung together a few times now and um and
00:32:33.427 --> 00:32:37.967
James of course who just um just won the Sun Aria and uh these young singers
00:32:37.967 --> 00:32:44.387
who let's face it in our current climate in in Melbourne especially there There ain't a lot of support.
00:32:44.547 --> 00:32:47.467
Yeah, we have like the big opera prizes and things like that,
00:32:47.547 --> 00:32:51.347
but the chance that you're going to actually win something like that and go
00:32:51.347 --> 00:32:54.907
on is, you know, slim given how many singers there are.
00:32:54.967 --> 00:32:58.527
So the fact that you're doing this, providing the opportunity for the singers
00:32:58.527 --> 00:33:00.127
and for them to get up and do it.
00:33:01.047 --> 00:33:03.707
Providing financial opportunity to help them to go overseas,
00:33:03.707 --> 00:33:08.787
but also, you know, on a larger scale, like introducing opera and classical
00:33:08.787 --> 00:33:13.667
music and how awesome it can be to people and to working professionals and other people,
00:33:14.311 --> 00:33:17.891
You know, which I think is important because I think we don't have enough of
00:33:17.891 --> 00:33:21.631
that in Australia and it becomes, I think opera, you know, when people don't
00:33:21.631 --> 00:33:24.771
know about it, they're like, oh, it's for the elite or it's for this or that.
00:33:24.871 --> 00:33:27.411
And you're like, no, actually when you put it, as you just said,
00:33:27.531 --> 00:33:30.091
like when you put it in a community event or a dinner and you've got an opera
00:33:30.091 --> 00:33:34.331
singer in front of you, someone said to me the other day, opera is a bit outdated and I'm like.
00:33:34.728 --> 00:33:37.808
Yeah, fine. Like, okay. Yeah. A lot of the composers are older and all that
00:33:37.808 --> 00:33:42.068
kind of thing, but you cannot tell me, I don't care. I don't give a crap who you are.
00:33:42.248 --> 00:33:46.908
You cannot tell me that a really good singer standing in front of you and you,
00:33:47.028 --> 00:33:50.248
and then going and singing a big climax and doing a big thing.
00:33:50.348 --> 00:33:53.128
You can't tell me you don't feel something when that happens.
00:33:53.368 --> 00:33:56.888
You don't have to know about it. You don't have to understand it.
00:33:57.008 --> 00:34:01.148
You don't have to, you know, you don't have to be at one with the lyrics or
00:34:01.148 --> 00:34:05.888
enjoy the crop top or enjoy someone's breasts. It's actually like just the pure
00:34:05.888 --> 00:34:09.428
power of the human voice and what that does to you.
00:34:09.608 --> 00:34:13.288
I don't give a crap who you are. It affects everyone and in a positive way.
00:34:13.428 --> 00:34:17.388
And for that reason, we'll bloody never go away, quite frankly, you know.
00:34:17.728 --> 00:34:21.508
No, yeah, absolutely right. Do you know, it's interesting because someone asked
00:34:21.508 --> 00:34:24.288
me, oh, Michael, what's your favourite operatic aria?
00:34:24.968 --> 00:34:28.088
And me being the tenor and being the facetious tenor that I am,
00:34:28.208 --> 00:34:30.388
I said, oh, it's the one that makes me the most money.
00:34:34.288 --> 00:34:37.328
It's all about the money, money, money. It is.
00:34:37.608 --> 00:34:44.208
But every single concert or event that I've had to sing at, the number one request
00:34:44.208 --> 00:34:45.988
is, can you do Nessun Dorma?
00:34:46.788 --> 00:34:52.328
And so that's in a groove now. I can just pull it out without thinking about it too much.
00:34:52.448 --> 00:34:57.868
But that has been the one that people go, I often worry, and Adam and I have
00:34:57.868 --> 00:35:00.288
had this conversation, Adam, we had a concert last year.
00:35:00.448 --> 00:35:03.908
They've asked us back. Like we can't do the same song as we did last year,
00:35:03.908 --> 00:35:10.468
but the reality is people love having those favorite Blu-ray discs or DVDs and
00:35:10.468 --> 00:35:15.228
they put it on and there are songs that they constantly love going to. O mio babbino caro.
00:35:15.548 --> 00:35:20.068
O mio babbino caro. I even got asked to sing O mio babbino caro at a wedding
00:35:20.068 --> 00:35:21.348
and I said to the bride, you do.
00:35:21.528 --> 00:35:24.708
Like I get that it's a love song, but you know she's like talking about killing
00:35:24.708 --> 00:35:25.928
herself and jumping off the bridge.
00:35:26.228 --> 00:35:29.008
She's like, oh, yeah, it's all right, love. No one speaks Italian anyway.
00:35:29.128 --> 00:35:32.188
They won't get it. Okay, cool. Just smile. Smile and sing.
00:35:33.416 --> 00:35:38.956
Yeah, I love that. It means I can get away with some really bad Italian. Exactly.
00:35:43.896 --> 00:35:47.956
That's literally what you just did, Helena. Helena just did a gig recently where
00:35:47.956 --> 00:35:52.076
she did that and she sent me a voice note where she's like, okay,
00:35:52.256 --> 00:35:55.696
I can do the first verse, but I'm just trying to remember the second verse.
00:35:55.716 --> 00:35:58.456
I've never been asked to do the second verse. And I'm like, oh no, this is a disaster.
00:35:58.796 --> 00:36:01.896
Yeah, everyone tries to avoid the second verse. When you break it up amongst
00:36:01.896 --> 00:36:05.396
people, Michael, you probably know whenever we do it as a quartet and we often
00:36:05.396 --> 00:36:09.276
do it as a quartet, when I break it up, I always try to avoid that second verse.
00:36:09.396 --> 00:36:12.616
But I got stuck with it last year and the gig I did with you in November.
00:36:12.936 --> 00:36:18.536
Yeah, that was it. And I'm kind of there. And you looked across from me and go, do you need a hand?
00:36:19.856 --> 00:36:24.756
I was so ready to jump in. I was so ready to jump in. Hey, Helena,
00:36:24.876 --> 00:36:26.616
when are you joining us for one of those gigs? Yeah.
00:36:26.797 --> 00:36:30.717
You just name it, babe. Now that I'm home, you know, that's it. Yes!
00:36:31.497 --> 00:36:34.637
Yeah. Okay, we've got it in writing. We've got it recorded. I don't know that
00:36:34.637 --> 00:36:38.517
I trust the three of us in one show, but nevertheless, yeah. Oh, gosh.
00:36:39.157 --> 00:36:42.657
That'll be fantastic. That'll be so much fun. That would be so much fun.
00:36:43.257 --> 00:36:47.577
There could be only one person in the theatre and we would still have the best
00:36:47.577 --> 00:36:48.737
time of our life. Oh, yeah.
00:36:49.017 --> 00:36:51.897
We don't need an audience. Even if it's just my mother, it's fine.
00:36:54.357 --> 00:36:59.197
That's right. So, no, it would be really good. So, I do have a question,
00:36:59.557 --> 00:37:01.617
probably a piece of advice, maybe.
00:37:01.877 --> 00:37:08.017
We have a fair few younger listeners, well, younger emerging singers who listen to the podcast.
00:37:08.537 --> 00:37:13.197
What advice would you have for young singers who might feel kind of blocked
00:37:13.197 --> 00:37:17.817
by auditions or kind of gatekeeping within the industry or financial pressures?
00:37:17.817 --> 00:37:23.057
And how could like service-based work like Rotary and other kinds of outlets
00:37:23.057 --> 00:37:27.717
give them an opportunity to build confidence, to build visibility and build their skills?
00:37:28.517 --> 00:37:33.257
That's a really, really good question because it's been something that for me when I was,
00:37:33.377 --> 00:37:38.617
I think it would have been 2010, I realized that we spend a lot of our times
00:37:38.617 --> 00:37:42.997
as professional singers waiting for someone else to make the decision that we're
00:37:42.997 --> 00:37:44.737
good enough to be on their stage. Yeah.
00:37:45.357 --> 00:37:50.797
And I hated that. I hated that. In fact, it was about that time that I started
00:37:50.797 --> 00:37:52.717
going out and creating my own opportunities.
00:37:52.957 --> 00:37:57.657
And I often say to my students, in fact, I've got a student in East Brunswick
00:37:57.657 --> 00:38:00.897
at the moment who's a contemporary student, and I say to her,
00:38:00.977 --> 00:38:03.637
look, even if you're singing for your friends or your family,
00:38:03.797 --> 00:38:05.937
what you need right now is stage time.
00:38:06.637 --> 00:38:12.557
And to really get the confidence in your technique under pressure when you're
00:38:12.557 --> 00:38:17.277
in front of people who you think are being critical. We're our own worst enemies,
00:38:17.417 --> 00:38:19.017
but they're always going to love you.
00:38:19.437 --> 00:38:23.397
Regardless of what you do, they will always love you. So I say to younger students,
00:38:23.597 --> 00:38:27.537
a lot of the times we sit back and wait for other people to make the decision
00:38:27.537 --> 00:38:29.917
and make our careers for us. Don't.
00:38:30.147 --> 00:38:33.587
Don't. There are opportunities everywhere.
00:38:33.767 --> 00:38:37.047
And I've found them, if I pick up the phone and talk to a nursing home,
00:38:37.207 --> 00:38:41.007
if I pick up the phone and go to a school and say, hey, would you like me to
00:38:41.007 --> 00:38:44.847
show opera to some of your students so that at least some of the...
00:38:44.847 --> 00:38:49.167
I've got a lot of friends at primary schools, and most of the times they do
00:38:49.167 --> 00:38:52.887
things like performing arts as one of their topic areas.
00:38:53.067 --> 00:38:56.247
And they call me up and they say, hey, can you show these kids how to sing opera?
00:38:56.747 --> 00:39:00.607
And just show them how amazing it is to have this huge voice, coming out.
00:39:00.847 --> 00:39:07.367
And so often, and I've done this so many times, often we sit back and we think,
00:39:07.527 --> 00:39:14.887
if I'm going to perform, I need to be compensated for my work and my talent. Yes, you do.
00:39:15.347 --> 00:39:20.107
But sometimes you just need to get the momentum started. And then all of a sudden,
00:39:20.207 --> 00:39:21.647
and this happens in Rotary a lot.
00:39:21.947 --> 00:39:27.407
So I'll just share with Helena and your listeners as well, Rotaract music makers,
00:39:27.647 --> 00:39:32.607
every time a music maker sings, they get paid. And it's a set fee.
00:39:32.787 --> 00:39:38.267
It's not the biggest fee, but it's a set fee. And the only proviso that we give
00:39:38.267 --> 00:39:43.787
our music makers is you need to donate a portion of that, doesn't matter how much,
00:39:44.147 --> 00:39:48.567
a portion of that back into the Rotary Foundation to help other projects flourish.
00:39:49.447 --> 00:39:51.967
And that's your service. That is how you do your.
00:39:55.398 --> 00:39:58.538
A little bit. So for instance, you sing at church and you get paid $50.
00:39:59.278 --> 00:40:02.478
Someone in that audience is going to hear you and go, hey, can you sing at my wedding?
00:40:03.178 --> 00:40:08.958
And then automatically there's a $600, $800, $2,000 gig for you immediately from that.
00:40:09.138 --> 00:40:15.218
Now, if you constantly try to price yourself out of the market because you think
00:40:15.218 --> 00:40:19.158
that's what I'm worth, then there's always going to be another tenor or soprano
00:40:19.158 --> 00:40:23.318
out there that will charge just that little bit less and they'll get the job.
00:40:23.978 --> 00:40:26.898
Just get in there at the end of the day all you
00:40:26.898 --> 00:40:30.398
want to do is share your talent with
00:40:30.398 --> 00:40:33.238
the world and someone's going to turn around and want to pay for
00:40:33.238 --> 00:40:35.838
that they will it's especially if you
00:40:35.838 --> 00:40:42.178
go to an organization like rotary where it's filled with professionals and they
00:40:42.178 --> 00:40:47.818
know that if they want to have good talent to attract people to help them raise
00:40:47.818 --> 00:40:52.378
funds they need to pay for that And if you're not sure how to have that conversation
00:40:52.378 --> 00:40:54.458
with Rotarians, well, you've got people like me.
00:40:54.878 --> 00:40:59.478
Adam's now in that mix as a Rotaractor. But there are people like me that make
00:40:59.478 --> 00:41:05.638
sure that young artists through Rotary are still respected for their talent. Yeah, it's so true.
00:41:05.798 --> 00:41:09.258
So, Michael, you know, you said that someone calls you and say,
00:41:09.418 --> 00:41:13.658
hey, you know, our school wants to learn a bit about it or blah, blah, blah.
00:41:14.318 --> 00:41:19.558
So what makes you the guy that people call? what what makes you the the elvis
00:41:19.558 --> 00:41:23.838
of the uh collaboration is it is it primarily through,
00:41:24.418 --> 00:41:29.538
rotary or is it just that everyone knows michael lapina and like it just you
00:41:29.538 --> 00:41:33.358
know what is it is it a bit of a mix of things like like how to how does someone
00:41:33.358 --> 00:41:37.618
else shadow what you're doing and become as awesome as you are or do you think
00:41:37.618 --> 00:41:43.958
it's just a case of these steps have led you here it's You know, you know.
00:41:44.198 --> 00:41:50.058
I go back to what I said before. A lot of, I still can't explain how I got this
00:41:50.058 --> 00:41:51.758
pathway. All these connections, yeah. Yeah.
00:41:52.049 --> 00:41:55.649
All these connections. I think it's got a lot to do with, you know,
00:41:55.869 --> 00:42:01.249
um, John Gibbard, one of the, uh, the guy who auditioned me at my very first, um, Disney audition.
00:42:01.469 --> 00:42:04.809
One of the things that he said to me was, Michael, you never want to be that
00:42:04.809 --> 00:42:07.449
artist who people talk about in the wrong way.
00:42:08.549 --> 00:42:13.669
It's such a small world. It's such a small world. So I often try to,
00:42:13.949 --> 00:42:18.089
if, if I'm working in a production where I really don't like the person,
00:42:18.249 --> 00:42:22.469
I'll just keep my mouth shut and just keep doing what I do best and then walk away.
00:42:22.609 --> 00:42:27.709
But I will never, ever say a bad thing about anyone because we're all in the same boat.
00:42:27.849 --> 00:42:32.149
Oh, my God. We're all insecure. We're all trying to get our voice out there
00:42:32.149 --> 00:42:34.609
and we're all competing with the next person who's going to come along.
00:42:35.089 --> 00:42:39.049
Asha's going to come along and be a better tenor than me. That says a lot,
00:42:39.149 --> 00:42:40.829
you know. He's back a good artist.
00:42:41.169 --> 00:42:45.929
But they do call you the Pavarotti of Hopper's Crossing, I read on the internet.
00:42:47.709 --> 00:42:52.269
And so no one can beat that. Yeah, they do. quite frankly yeah well thank god
00:42:52.269 --> 00:42:53.489
asha doesn't live in hoppers.
00:42:57.469 --> 00:43:00.449
But but i think i think what
00:43:00.449 --> 00:43:03.469
it comes down to is um i just allow myself to
00:43:03.469 --> 00:43:08.169
be accessible and accessibility is one of the hardest things people often i'll
00:43:08.169 --> 00:43:13.489
give you a little example there's this wonderful um soprano who i grew up with
00:43:13.489 --> 00:43:21.149
oh sorry okay i wasn't going to use her name because she I just heard wonderful soprano. Sorry. Okay.
00:43:21.549 --> 00:43:25.389
Yeah, but Helena, you allow yourself to be accessible.
00:43:25.709 --> 00:43:31.529
This person doesn't. And I find it very hard to build that rapport with this soprano.
00:43:31.709 --> 00:43:34.009
And so it's just one of those things where
00:43:34.243 --> 00:43:37.803
If you allow people to connect with you, I'll give you a little,
00:43:38.003 --> 00:43:41.623
another anecdote or a side story.
00:43:41.963 --> 00:43:45.823
I was talking to one of the international presidents for Rotary.
00:43:45.963 --> 00:43:50.783
Now, if you're going to be the international president for Rotary, you're the bee's knees.
00:43:50.943 --> 00:43:54.223
You're like the grand poo bar and everyone around the world.
00:43:54.483 --> 00:43:59.143
Rotary's got 1.4 million members. So this is the top of the tree. You become that person.
00:43:59.323 --> 00:44:03.523
And I was, I became very, very good friends with her last year while I was governor
00:44:03.523 --> 00:44:04.543
because she was my president.
00:44:05.203 --> 00:44:08.743
And I said to her, don't you get tired? People, you're walking along and then
00:44:08.743 --> 00:44:11.263
people grab you and just get photos with you just to get a photo.
00:44:11.903 --> 00:44:17.143
And she said, you know what? It takes no effort to make yourself accessible.
00:44:17.343 --> 00:44:18.943
I was like, huh? Yeah, you're right.
00:44:19.463 --> 00:44:21.963
It takes time. It does take time.
00:44:22.783 --> 00:44:28.203
But the impact you give to the person when you give them a little bit of you,
00:44:28.203 --> 00:44:31.323
they suddenly go oh my god you've changed their
00:44:31.323 --> 00:44:35.043
life they've put that photo on facebook
00:44:35.043 --> 00:44:37.763
on all their socials and they feel like they can
00:44:37.763 --> 00:44:43.203
conquer the world um people who get to sing with me they feel like they can
00:44:43.203 --> 00:44:50.303
conquer the world because we've made them become the star of the show so i don't
00:44:50.303 --> 00:44:56.803
think um i i think it's just my philosophy that every i would prefer that other people shine around me.
00:44:56.983 --> 00:45:02.803
And if getting access to my colapina is something that helps them, then.
00:45:03.348 --> 00:45:06.468
Bonus, but it doesn't cost me anything. Yeah.
00:45:06.608 --> 00:45:10.168
And it's funny because you talk about accessibility and, um,
00:45:10.388 --> 00:45:15.728
people feeling a part of, you know, that journey with you or supported by you or anything like that.
00:45:15.788 --> 00:45:20.468
And I think, especially for our younger singers and stuff, it's so important
00:45:20.468 --> 00:45:25.028
that there's a wider community of people that are being supportive of them as they go up.
00:45:25.088 --> 00:45:28.268
And I know now with social media, we've got a lot of, um,
00:45:28.728 --> 00:45:32.008
there's a lot of negativity behind social media but actually one of the things
00:45:32.008 --> 00:45:37.028
I love about social media is things like getting to know artists who like yourself
00:45:37.028 --> 00:45:42.468
in your position put themselves out there so we've had people on this podcast like Christine Gerke,
00:45:42.568 --> 00:45:46.428
Jamie Barton like some of the greatest singers there are in this industry and
00:45:46.428 --> 00:45:50.388
what I love about them is they're very real they're very open and honest on
00:45:50.388 --> 00:45:55.288
social media there's no you know being aloof as an opera singer or behaving
00:45:55.288 --> 00:45:57.388
like a diva and Whereas back in our day,
00:45:57.528 --> 00:46:01.148
like if you admired a singer or thought, oh, my gosh, you know,
00:46:01.208 --> 00:46:02.928
I love Joan Sutherland, for instance.
00:46:03.208 --> 00:46:07.128
Well, you'd never be able to just go online and see what she's up to or see
00:46:07.128 --> 00:46:10.808
whether she's walking her dog or what she's cooking for dinner or that kind of thing.
00:46:10.928 --> 00:46:15.188
And there's something that happened to our society probably back in the days
00:46:15.188 --> 00:46:22.288
of when, like, Big Brother started where people became quite invested in getting to know people.
00:46:22.450 --> 00:46:25.870
Actual people behind you know behind the
00:46:25.870 --> 00:46:28.750
celebrity or behind the facade and so I
00:46:28.750 --> 00:46:31.430
think you're right and that accessibility it's yeah like
00:46:31.430 --> 00:46:34.270
giving giving a little bit of yourself but also like
00:46:34.270 --> 00:46:37.210
a little bit of genuine like I'm actually human behind
00:46:37.210 --> 00:46:40.110
it and I think yeah people used to give the advice
00:46:40.110 --> 00:46:43.090
don't do that like in opera don't like I got the advice from
00:46:43.090 --> 00:46:46.110
one of my mentors to say Helena you cannot be yourself
00:46:46.110 --> 00:46:49.810
when you walk into an audition because you're far too friendly and bubbly
00:46:49.810 --> 00:46:52.550
and it doesn't match the the voice that you have and
00:46:52.550 --> 00:46:55.190
I just thought that's out of bullshit because at the end
00:46:55.190 --> 00:46:57.930
of the day like if an opera company is going to work with me I'd love them
00:46:57.930 --> 00:47:00.630
to know that I'm fun and perky and and will be
00:47:00.630 --> 00:47:04.050
a good person a good colleague to have in the room yeah and and
00:47:04.050 --> 00:47:06.870
and I think the olden day view
00:47:06.870 --> 00:47:10.010
of of opera and what that means is actually
00:47:10.010 --> 00:47:12.930
quite outdated so what you're saying goes hand in hand with what I
00:47:12.930 --> 00:47:16.670
love about where we are in the industry i love seeing artists and
00:47:16.670 --> 00:47:19.330
and the reality and you get a lot of big artists at the
00:47:19.330 --> 00:47:22.510
moment talking about you know the reality of how
00:47:22.510 --> 00:47:26.130
tough it is on the road like karen kaghill who kaghill scottish
00:47:26.130 --> 00:47:28.830
met so who did this whole thing on mental health on the
00:47:28.830 --> 00:47:32.050
road and what it's like as a singer like the reality of what it can feel like
00:47:32.050 --> 00:47:35.370
this whole stream on it on instagram it was really telling
00:47:35.370 --> 00:47:38.090
and beautiful and interesting and and you
00:47:38.090 --> 00:47:41.410
know and again that draws people into her and then we become
00:47:41.410 --> 00:47:45.170
invested in her not only as an artist and she's an exquisite artist but also
00:47:45.170 --> 00:47:50.410
like in in that person and and adam and i have talked about this numerous times.
00:47:50.410 --> 00:47:54.750
With different guests about how opera companies now are not invested in in in.
00:47:54.750 --> 00:47:58.470
Artists in the people it used to be they used to have a community of you know
00:47:58.470 --> 00:47:59.870
like opera australia used to have
00:48:00.197 --> 00:48:02.897
you know, on their roster, a group of singers and all that kind of thing.
00:48:03.357 --> 00:48:07.137
And, and, and this is why the German system works so well, because in Germany,
00:48:07.337 --> 00:48:11.997
of course, they attend opera more regularly, but also the people who are local
00:48:11.997 --> 00:48:16.037
feel very invested in the house singers because the house singers are a group
00:48:16.037 --> 00:48:18.297
of people who they see, they become invested in them.
00:48:18.697 --> 00:48:22.217
They follow them on socials. They actually really want to be there for them.
00:48:22.357 --> 00:48:26.517
And yes, okay. They love opera, but, but actually they're investing in the people.
00:48:26.757 --> 00:48:29.717
And at the end of the day, the music is, is the very first
00:48:29.717 --> 00:48:32.537
thing but the people should be the very second and so what you're
00:48:32.537 --> 00:48:35.677
doing from my understanding is you
00:48:35.677 --> 00:48:38.977
know bringing that background and collaborating and and making
00:48:38.977 --> 00:48:42.817
it about and creating community you're yeah yeah you're absolutely right because
00:48:42.817 --> 00:48:47.197
that is one of the things i love about working with you michael is i know the
00:48:47.197 --> 00:48:53.157
the artists that that you collaborate with and the the sense of community that
00:48:53.157 --> 00:48:56.717
you build i know whoever i'm going to work with a I'm going to love them like
00:48:56.717 --> 00:48:58.077
they are Michael approved.
00:48:58.317 --> 00:49:03.337
But also we, we know that because you have really curated this,
00:49:03.497 --> 00:49:06.277
this community, they will have worked together on different gigs.
00:49:06.297 --> 00:49:11.357
And so we know we have shared repertoire, we have shared styles of performance.
00:49:11.677 --> 00:49:15.677
And so there's something really lovely about walking into a room and we'll chat
00:49:15.677 --> 00:49:19.017
about this in a moment, but you and I are doing a gig when this recording goes
00:49:19.017 --> 00:49:22.137
to air, I think it'll be in a couple of weeks up in Rochester.
00:49:22.417 --> 00:49:27.317
And there are eight of us on stage, I think, from memory. But I know all eight
00:49:27.317 --> 00:49:28.677
of those people are going to be amazing.
00:49:28.997 --> 00:49:31.177
And, you know, whether we've met or not,
00:49:31.390 --> 00:49:34.430
We know that we can share repertoire that, you know, we've already worked out
00:49:34.430 --> 00:49:38.130
duets and things like that and trios and big ensembles we can do.
00:49:38.550 --> 00:49:45.590
Again, because you've created a sense of community and safety and trust and
00:49:45.590 --> 00:49:47.290
a really collegial atmosphere.
00:49:47.590 --> 00:49:51.470
And as Helena said, not a whole lot of opera companies do that,
00:49:51.610 --> 00:49:54.690
but you're actually creating that within the music industry.
00:49:54.910 --> 00:49:59.070
So for that, you know, I've got a lot of respect and a lot of appreciation.
00:49:59.470 --> 00:50:05.390
It's wonderful. Adam, I'm going to throw to you in a minute. You have a saying about
00:50:05.680 --> 00:50:10.580
um, who you, when you decide or how you decide if you're going to work with
00:50:10.580 --> 00:50:12.180
someone, what's that saying?
00:50:12.400 --> 00:50:15.840
Yes. Yeah. Never, never cast anybody that you wouldn't tour with.
00:50:15.920 --> 00:50:17.460
There it is. I love it. I love that.
00:50:17.600 --> 00:50:21.360
I love that. And I think about the number of times I've toured and especially
00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:25.900
in the back of a bus where you, you're going for 10 hours between two big venues.
00:50:26.080 --> 00:50:30.800
Um, and you're sitting there and, you know, people need to go to the toilet.
00:50:31.020 --> 00:50:35.740
They, they're, they're, um, sleeping, They're taking up a lot of room because we've got our bags.
00:50:35.840 --> 00:50:40.860
And you just know that everyone's there to support each other because we're all in the same boat.
00:50:41.280 --> 00:50:45.860
But you also know that there are those that will go, I should have my own two
00:50:45.860 --> 00:50:49.600
seats and I need to be here and I need to be able to stretch out.
00:50:49.600 --> 00:50:52.900
Hey, listen, if my bum takes up more than one seat's room, you can't.
00:50:53.120 --> 00:50:57.540
Please don't be biased, okay? Sometimes the breasts and the butt need a little
00:50:57.540 --> 00:51:00.000
bit more room, okay? So don't judge me. No, I'm joking. Okay.
00:51:01.580 --> 00:51:03.080
You know, I love that about you.
00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:08.260
We need to cut that bit out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:51:09.480 --> 00:51:14.900
No, no, we need to stick up. But Adam, that is an amazing philosophy there because
00:51:14.900 --> 00:51:19.180
you know that when you work with people, we have such a small industry here.
00:51:19.180 --> 00:51:22.200
I remember when one of our colleagues, very close colleague,
00:51:22.560 --> 00:51:29.520
um, passed away recently and how we all, every single person from around the world that knew her.
00:51:30.200 --> 00:51:33.160
Bandied together to support her family that she left behind.
00:51:33.380 --> 00:51:35.180
And that is the family that
00:51:35.450 --> 00:51:40.850
I love, this is our industry here in Australia, such a small industry,
00:51:41.150 --> 00:51:42.430
everyone knows everyone.
00:51:42.770 --> 00:51:48.070
And so what's the point of competing when you really want to see if they're
00:51:48.070 --> 00:51:50.270
your family, you want everyone to succeed, right?
00:51:50.490 --> 00:51:54.570
We just don't have an industry that supports it the way we'd like it to.
00:51:54.750 --> 00:51:59.230
Yeah, of course, the reality of that climate is very different. But as you said,
00:51:59.370 --> 00:52:03.910
when you're out there and creating opportunities, and I have to say,
00:52:03.910 --> 00:52:07.150
and like coming home after 22 years and now I'm
00:52:07.150 --> 00:52:10.850
I've set up a studio myself and I'm working with a few absolutely outstanding
00:52:10.850 --> 00:52:13.690
young artists and and a couple of whom are doing things
00:52:13.690 --> 00:52:16.910
like fringe shows they're creating their own shows
00:52:16.910 --> 00:52:20.610
they're going in and doing stuff and I'm like this is cool opera was never you
00:52:20.610 --> 00:52:25.250
know this kind of widely accessible you know when I was growing up in in the
00:52:25.250 --> 00:52:27.910
industry it was only ever you know a couple of things that you could do but
00:52:27.910 --> 00:52:31.770
these young people that are coming up are being immensely creative about the
00:52:31.770 --> 00:52:34.890
kind of spaces and and the kind of things that they can do. And I love that.
00:52:35.050 --> 00:52:36.150
I think that's fantastic.
00:52:36.390 --> 00:52:39.230
Yeah. I think what I love is the entrepreneurship process.
00:52:39.519 --> 00:52:43.159
That's happening with many of these artists. Well, they have to. They have to be. Yeah.
00:52:43.939 --> 00:52:48.319
One of the things that I struggle with and Rotary has really helped out with
00:52:48.319 --> 00:52:54.639
is this whole risk or wearing the risk and underwriting the risk of loss when
00:52:54.639 --> 00:52:58.359
you're putting on a production and you may not get the people coming to watch
00:52:58.359 --> 00:52:59.999
it. You still have to cover their costs.
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:03.999
So Rotary has been very, very good at supporting me in that way.
00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:08.719
And so I would often suggest to people, make sure you partner with groups like
00:53:08.719 --> 00:53:15.039
that. That gut and leverage of benefiting from you, it needs to be a quid pro quo.
00:53:15.239 --> 00:53:19.359
It needs to be a win-win from both. That's it. And I think there are other organizations,
00:53:19.379 --> 00:53:24.179
and it just comes to mind, the Art Etcetera Collective do that kind of work
00:53:24.179 --> 00:53:28.139
where they partner with individuals who are coming up, who want to try something,
00:53:28.359 --> 00:53:29.659
and they give them a framework,
00:53:29.919 --> 00:53:31.999
and they'll usually give them a platform to do that.
00:53:32.159 --> 00:53:37.399
So, you're right. Seeking out those partners is fundamental to helping with
00:53:37.399 --> 00:53:39.119
that entrepreneurship. ship. It's so true.
00:53:39.319 --> 00:53:42.759
I'm very conscious, Michael, that we're coming to the end of our time.
00:53:42.899 --> 00:53:48.839
And before we go, I did want to give a super quick plug for the show that you
00:53:48.839 --> 00:53:51.739
and I are doing in a few weeks. Do you want to take it away?
00:53:52.839 --> 00:53:59.619
So, Songs at the Silos is that it stems back from, I visited Rochester,
00:53:59.819 --> 00:54:01.479
the Rotary Club of Rochester was up there.
00:54:01.619 --> 00:54:05.379
And I visited them because about Three years ago, they had a really significant
00:54:05.379 --> 00:54:09.379
flood, a flooding event in the Tampaspe Shire.
00:54:09.599 --> 00:54:12.679
And Rochester was literally underwater.
00:54:12.979 --> 00:54:20.299
The whole Main Street and all the places that all their houses were underwater. And so that hit.
00:54:20.561 --> 00:54:25.421
Places like Shepparton and Marukna, and also all the way to another part of
00:54:25.421 --> 00:54:29.681
the Mali, all of that area was significantly impacted.
00:54:29.921 --> 00:54:34.401
And that was three years ago. Some people still haven't moved back into their homes.
00:54:34.581 --> 00:54:38.421
So, you know, it's taken a long time for insurance to get sorted,
00:54:38.661 --> 00:54:42.521
get all the tradies in to be able to rebuild the homes.
00:54:42.561 --> 00:54:47.241
And it's really impacted many of the people there through their mental health.
00:54:47.241 --> 00:54:51.781
So last year or two years ago.
00:54:52.546 --> 00:54:58.546
I saw the silo, a big silo, and it's a beautiful silo there with a kingfisher
00:54:58.546 --> 00:55:00.746
on it, and it's absolutely divine.
00:55:01.226 --> 00:55:06.066
But I said to the president of the Rotary Club in Rochester,
00:55:06.266 --> 00:55:11.446
I said, hey, you know, I did a concert during COVID in front of the silos in
00:55:11.446 --> 00:55:16.046
Warwicknabil on Sheep Hill, one Sheep Hill or something like that. Wow, that's cool. Yeah.
00:55:16.266 --> 00:55:19.506
It was absolutely amazing, but it was during COVID.
00:55:19.986 --> 00:55:24.406
So we had to get all these permits. And I sang on the back of a truck.
00:55:25.706 --> 00:55:28.706
And it was like a drive-in because people were allowed to drive in,
00:55:28.766 --> 00:55:30.346
but they weren't allowed to get out of their cars.
00:55:30.526 --> 00:55:35.406
And the local radio station was piping me into their cars.
00:55:35.426 --> 00:55:41.406
So I've actually got a video of me doing a Mexican wave with the cars doing
00:55:41.406 --> 00:55:43.806
a horn, you know, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, like that.
00:55:43.886 --> 00:55:48.826
And then when it got dark, I got them to do their lights as they span across
00:55:48.826 --> 00:55:49.946
the line. Oh, that's so cool. Mexican wave.
00:55:50.586 --> 00:55:54.166
Absolutely amazing. But I think I was responsible for a couple of cars that
00:55:54.166 --> 00:55:56.166
had a flat battery by the end of the night.
00:55:57.466 --> 00:56:02.126
But that happened during COVID. And I said to the president of Rochester,
00:56:02.346 --> 00:56:07.826
why don't we do a big fundraiser here where we put a concert on?
00:56:08.186 --> 00:56:14.026
And it's a free concert for the community so that they can come and just appreciate
00:56:14.026 --> 00:56:18.986
opera and music theater. And it was such an eclectic program last year.
00:56:19.346 --> 00:56:22.506
And the president went out and got a grant.
00:56:22.929 --> 00:56:28.909
Enough money to be able to pay for all of the equipment, but at the same time
00:56:28.909 --> 00:56:32.489
pay for the artists that went up and also gave us accommodation while we were up there.
00:56:32.589 --> 00:56:36.789
So it was an absolutely amazing thing that Rotary did, and we were able to go
00:56:36.789 --> 00:56:41.829
up there, perform, have a weekend away, and then it was so successful that we've
00:56:41.829 --> 00:56:43.209
been asked to do it again this year.
00:56:43.309 --> 00:56:46.609
And this year we're bringing the Rotary Music Makers up there.
00:56:46.789 --> 00:56:49.069
We've got eight artists going there to perform.
00:56:49.649 --> 00:56:52.709
It will be, Adam, do you remember the date? I think it's 7th of March,
00:56:52.849 --> 00:56:54.029
wasn't it? 7th of March. That's correct.
00:56:54.209 --> 00:56:58.589
Yep. Saturday the 7th of March. So we're going back up there and we're going
00:56:58.589 --> 00:57:00.529
to perform with the Eighth Singers.
00:57:00.629 --> 00:57:06.089
We're going to be in front of the silos and we're going to perform for the Hall of Compass Bishire.
00:57:06.269 --> 00:57:11.769
So last year we had about 800 people there and it was almost a safety hazard
00:57:11.769 --> 00:57:17.989
because it backed onto a major road where the road trucks, you know.
00:57:18.249 --> 00:57:20.609
And it will be again because Adam's singing. They're being dubs. Yeah.
00:57:21.149 --> 00:57:24.869
Yeah, Adam does that every time. He just draws the crowd.
00:57:25.029 --> 00:57:28.809
But I think we're going to angle a little more so that we're going to go onto
00:57:28.809 --> 00:57:32.769
the side road a little more rather than spill out onto the main highway.
00:57:32.949 --> 00:57:38.789
But we're looking forward to it. And it's going to be an eclectic mix.
00:57:38.929 --> 00:57:43.169
But this time, I think we'll have one or two opera pieces, but mainly music
00:57:43.169 --> 00:57:44.869
theatre and contemporary this time around.
00:57:45.229 --> 00:57:49.089
Adam, I know you have a trio going up there to do some jazz.
00:57:49.289 --> 00:57:51.809
That's right. Yeah, we're getting a little bit of jazz going there.
00:57:52.009 --> 00:57:56.329
And again, working with some of those fabulous artists that you've introduced me to.
00:57:56.449 --> 00:58:00.709
I didn't really know them before working with music makers or even just working
00:58:00.709 --> 00:58:03.689
kind of in your circle of a fantastic community.
00:58:04.069 --> 00:58:06.809
So it's been really wonderful. I've enjoyed that so much.
00:58:07.189 --> 00:58:11.889
As I said, we probably have to wrap this up. I'm conscious of everybody's time.
00:58:12.049 --> 00:58:16.949
However, we like to ask five rapid fire questions of all of our guests.
00:58:17.489 --> 00:58:22.189
Are you up for our five rapid fire questions, Michael? Do you have your finger on the beep?
00:58:25.447 --> 00:58:33.047
I'll say it's not a beep. It is a duck quack. So we are a swear friendly show.
00:58:33.067 --> 00:58:35.607
We can quack you. No problem. We can quack you out.
00:58:36.547 --> 00:58:39.767
Great, great, great. I'm okay with that. Let's do it. Fantastic.
00:58:40.087 --> 00:58:41.847
Helena, do you want to kick off or do you want me to kick off?
00:58:41.987 --> 00:58:46.147
Yeah, I'll kick off. What is your go-to karaoke song? Keelous Whispers.
00:58:46.487 --> 00:58:49.687
Oh, fantastic. That is the quickest response we've ever had.
00:58:49.687 --> 00:58:53.807
I have to say, the number of people where I have to edit out the four minutes
00:58:53.807 --> 00:58:56.947
of awkward silence, where they're desperately trying to think of their karaoke
00:58:56.947 --> 00:58:59.227
song. Michael's definitely a karaoke king.
00:59:00.887 --> 00:59:04.427
I'm a Filipino. We were born with a karaoke mic in our hands.
00:59:05.707 --> 00:59:08.867
I love it. That is brilliant. Oh, my God.
00:59:09.587 --> 00:59:14.567
Okay, question number two. What will the title of your autobiography be?
00:59:14.947 --> 00:59:20.047
This Lucky Boy. Oh, that's so good. That's so sweet. It's so good.
00:59:20.267 --> 00:59:22.047
I love it. Oh, that's brilliant. Okay, question three.
00:59:22.347 --> 00:59:24.867
It's all luck. If you had to give a TED Talk with no notice,
00:59:24.887 --> 00:59:28.707
what could you give a lecture on for 10 minutes with absolutely no preparation
00:59:28.707 --> 00:59:31.987
that's got nothing to do with your normal life? Do you know what?
00:59:32.147 --> 00:59:36.887
Rotarians will laugh at this because I'll say ikigai. All right. Ikigai. I can talk.
00:59:37.267 --> 00:59:41.287
Ikigai. Ad infinitum about discovering your purpose.
00:59:41.627 --> 00:59:46.647
Yeah. And identifying what your true purpose is that will make everything around
00:59:46.647 --> 00:59:50.667
you just happen because you just love what you do. That's so good.
00:59:51.484 --> 00:59:55.144
I love that. To be honest, I want to hear that 10-minute TED Talk,
00:59:55.224 --> 00:59:56.924
but we won't be able to fit into this podcast.
00:59:57.064 --> 01:00:00.044
We'll have to do another one just on ikigai. I love that.
01:00:00.944 --> 01:00:07.024
Okay, question number four. What is your most controversial, boring opinion?
01:00:07.244 --> 01:00:12.084
So, for example, my most controversial, boring opinion would probably be that
01:00:12.084 --> 01:00:17.684
I think that there is no wine on earth that tastes better than apple juice.
01:00:18.004 --> 01:00:20.264
Wow. My most controversial.
01:00:21.204 --> 01:00:22.884
Wow, that's hard. That stumped me.
01:00:24.964 --> 01:00:26.444
So it's got to be low stakes.
01:00:27.115 --> 01:00:31.015
But it's got to be the one that, you know, you really could start a conversation
01:00:31.015 --> 01:00:34.995
on that by going, I believe this thing wholeheartedly. Oh, okay, okay.
01:00:35.235 --> 01:00:38.455
I believe, here's something, because I'm allergic to alcohol.
01:00:38.755 --> 01:00:45.555
I love my red wine. Absolutely adore drinking pina colada and an illusion cocktail.
01:00:45.735 --> 01:00:51.035
But I'm allergic to alcohol. So my controversial opinion would be that the best
01:00:51.035 --> 01:00:55.375
alcohol that I can have is a Pepsi Max. I know, yeah, Pepsi Max.
01:00:58.835 --> 01:01:01.695
I would just like to say, I would just like to say, Adam, that,
01:01:01.755 --> 01:01:05.415
that my most controversial, boring opinion is that one of the worst movies ever
01:01:05.415 --> 01:01:07.815
made is the matrix. I'm just going to put that out there. Okay.
01:01:09.375 --> 01:01:16.575
Oh, I'm in this right now. We are so ending this right now. Oh my God.
01:01:16.915 --> 01:01:19.535
Okay. Oh, that is controversial. You're absolutely right. Yeah.
01:01:19.715 --> 01:01:22.355
That is controversial. That is a, I'm going to, I don't even know if I'm going
01:01:22.355 --> 01:01:24.595
to edit that out. That is too controversial for this episode.
01:01:24.855 --> 01:01:28.835
This is genuinely, I've got like, I think that's just become the headline for
01:01:28.835 --> 01:01:30.495
this head. Wow. Absolutely.
01:01:31.155 --> 01:01:34.855
Absolutely. Listen, everyone just take a deep breath. There is no spoon.
01:01:35.215 --> 01:01:38.515
There is no spoon. At the moment, there's no Helena.
01:01:39.875 --> 01:01:44.355
So stupid. All right. So our final question is this.
01:01:44.655 --> 01:01:48.335
Our podcast, High Notes and Anecdotes, is putting together a crime gang.
01:01:48.695 --> 01:01:53.455
What skill, Michael, do you have that we could use to rob the Louvre? Wow.
01:01:54.374 --> 01:01:59.214
Skills, seriously. Oh, look, I could talk the... I could talk the...
01:01:59.214 --> 01:02:00.954
The wackier, the better.
01:02:00.974 --> 01:02:04.274
Yeah, I could talk the security guy to death so that they can just forget about
01:02:04.274 --> 01:02:06.134
everyone else. I'll be the biggest distraction.
01:02:07.314 --> 01:02:10.974
Love it. Have you got anything else? Have you got any wacky qualities that we could put in there?
01:02:11.554 --> 01:02:16.294
Oh, I can create a 3D printed key.
01:02:17.314 --> 01:02:22.194
Master key. Yes. Regardless, I will make it. I will have it.
01:02:22.834 --> 01:02:25.334
Do you want to know something else? So I've got this beautiful car.
01:02:25.774 --> 01:02:28.414
Adam, you've seen my car. It's the electric car. And it's a plug.
01:02:28.554 --> 01:02:30.074
It's got vehicle to load.
01:02:30.254 --> 01:02:34.514
So I'm planning to put two of these printers in the back of my car one day so
01:02:34.514 --> 01:02:36.714
that you could, it's an electric vehicle.
01:02:36.834 --> 01:02:39.974
So it's got power anywhere you go. I'm not going to be away from it. Yeah.
01:02:40.834 --> 01:02:44.614
Yeah. 3D printing. All right, done. We'll lock that in. And it's a beautiful,
01:02:44.614 --> 01:02:47.414
it's a beautiful callback to the start of the podcast as well.
01:02:47.734 --> 01:02:50.974
When we were talking about your 3D printers, you've brought us in full circle,
01:02:51.074 --> 01:02:52.954
Michael, because that's the kind of artist you are.
01:02:52.954 --> 01:02:55.874
Like that's that's just that's a gift right
01:02:55.874 --> 01:02:59.214
there we love that but on that on that beautiful callback
01:02:59.214 --> 01:03:01.854
note back to your your 3d printers i'm gonna
01:03:01.854 --> 01:03:04.934
say a huge thank you for for coming on the episode it
01:03:04.934 --> 01:03:08.614
has been a joy i never ever don't
01:03:08.614 --> 01:03:11.714
love chatting with you michael you are an infinitely interesting
01:03:11.714 --> 01:03:15.074
human it's just so so cool you've got so
01:03:15.074 --> 01:03:18.154
much to share with the world and you know you're just a fun person
01:03:18.154 --> 01:03:21.174
to chat with so thank you so much for coming on the episode love
01:03:21.174 --> 01:03:23.894
you guys i mean good to see you and continue doing all the
01:03:23.894 --> 01:03:27.634
great things that you're doing for our our community and our little world it's
01:03:27.634 --> 01:03:31.994
much appreciated i want you guys to be a part of it because you are pretty awesome
01:03:31.994 --> 01:03:37.114
and the world needs to hear you and see you and know you super kind and vice
01:03:37.114 --> 01:03:41.094
versa and it's always mutual so we're going to say goodbye and thank you so
01:03:41.094 --> 01:03:43.734
much see you michael bye bye.
01:03:47.172 --> 01:03:50.372
Oh, what an awesome, awesome episode.
01:03:50.572 --> 01:03:53.552
That man is a force of nature.
01:03:53.732 --> 01:03:58.132
He's so full of energy and so full of generosity and goodwill.
01:03:58.312 --> 01:04:00.072
It is contagious, I have to say.
01:04:00.592 --> 01:04:03.472
Really, really amazing. It's contagious when you're in a rehearsal room with
01:04:03.472 --> 01:04:06.572
him and it's contagious when you're recording a podcast with him.
01:04:06.632 --> 01:04:08.912
And I think it just opens your eyes. You know, as performers,
01:04:08.912 --> 01:04:12.472
we think of, you know, just the singing route or whatever.
01:04:12.592 --> 01:04:16.232
And the fact that Michael's done all these kind of things that kind of reinvented
01:04:16.232 --> 01:04:21.152
the wheel each time and then now in a position to be able to help young talent
01:04:21.152 --> 01:04:26.292
and to be able to provide that like nurture and support of a platform where
01:04:26.292 --> 01:04:31.072
he's not only allowing young singers to get the opportunity to do all these
01:04:31.072 --> 01:04:32.092
different kinds of gigs,
01:04:32.252 --> 01:04:36.272
albeit not necessarily big things, but as we've spoken about many times,
01:04:36.452 --> 01:04:38.052
performance opportunity is such a big thing.
01:04:38.172 --> 01:04:41.332
Like when you're building your career, just being able to get up and do it is
01:04:41.332 --> 01:04:46.912
important. But also, on that flip side, when he was talking about bringing opera
01:04:46.912 --> 01:04:50.392
to people that maybe would never, you know, never usually experience it.
01:04:50.572 --> 01:04:54.052
What a cool platform to be able to use to do that, right? I know you're heavily
01:04:54.052 --> 01:04:57.212
involved in the rotary stuff now as well.
01:04:57.352 --> 01:05:00.692
And you must think that's a really cool thing to do. Oh, I love it.
01:05:00.772 --> 01:05:03.252
I really love it. But I love the...
01:05:03.944 --> 01:05:08.764
The place that it came from as well, where Michael saw this need and went,
01:05:09.004 --> 01:05:11.504
right, I'm going to provide these opportunities for young performers.
01:05:11.604 --> 01:05:15.704
I'm going to provide fundraising opportunities for Rotary.
01:05:15.884 --> 01:05:20.204
And we're going to try to give everyone a win out of these situations. And I love that.
01:05:20.364 --> 01:05:24.084
Like there's nothing better than finding someone as well who has a brain who
01:05:24.084 --> 01:05:28.104
goes, how do I create situations where everybody has a win?
01:05:28.264 --> 01:05:31.864
And I love that. And I'll tell you the other thing that I really enjoyed,
01:05:32.064 --> 01:05:36.484
as long as I've known Michael, I had no idea that's how he got his start in
01:05:36.484 --> 01:05:41.224
singing in musical theatre with Disney like that. That was so interesting, that journey.
01:05:41.364 --> 01:05:45.844
And now I can kind of see it. Now I'm like, oh yeah, I can see that journey for you.
01:05:45.904 --> 01:05:51.244
I can see how he loves being connected to audience because that's so much of
01:05:51.244 --> 01:05:54.424
the Disney ethos is about that engagement.
01:05:54.664 --> 01:05:58.124
And he does like have puppy dog eyes, which is the first thing for Disney.
01:05:59.444 --> 01:06:05.084
Straight away. You know, like that endearing nature, both vocally and just in
01:06:05.084 --> 01:06:07.504
his personality and those big eyes that you go, oh.
01:06:08.124 --> 01:06:12.624
Yeah, so I can see how that started with Disney because I feel like Disney, you need that, you know.
01:06:12.844 --> 01:06:18.064
Oh, for sure, for sure. No, he absolutely oozes Disney. I approve of that because
01:06:18.064 --> 01:06:19.624
I'm a big Disney fan myself.
01:06:20.084 --> 01:06:24.204
Look, now that I've said the word ooze, I feel like we've hit the end of the
01:06:24.204 --> 01:06:27.104
episode now officially. Actually, I really don't know how I come back from that.
01:06:27.224 --> 01:06:28.864
There's nowhere else to go. There's nowhere else to go.
01:06:29.064 --> 01:06:32.944
So let's wrap it up here and we'll chat with our audiences next week.
01:06:33.104 --> 01:06:35.604
How does that sound? Sounds fantastic. Looking forward to it.
01:06:36.164 --> 01:06:38.904
Amazing. Well, Helena, goodbye. Bye.