米沙利尤西比奥 | International Student Blog

米沙利尤西比奥, 四年级加拿大男高音, tells us about his unique high school in Toronto, his early years in 的 Philippines, and cultural differences between Canada and 的 U.S. (他们存在!).

When was 的 first time you 真的 got involved with vocal arts?

Being Filipino-Canadian has its perks. Filipinos love to sing — it’s our national pastime. 每次家庭聚会都会有卡拉ok机(每个菲律宾家庭似乎都有一台), haha) and singing our hearts out until 5 in 的 morning. 我最早的唱歌记忆是在我4岁的时候偷了我堂兄克里斯蒂安的麦克风. 我想我第一次 真的 got involved with vocal arts was when I had just turned 16. 幸运的是，我的学校隶属于一位声乐老师. And 的n I sang Valjean for my school’s musical. It was seven shows and two were at 的 Isabel Bader Theater. 这是一件大事，因为我们在加拿大合唱团的舞台上非常重要. 环球电视台和TVO制作了一部关于我们学校的纪录片，讲述了我们的合唱团之旅(这部纪录片获得了加拿大电影奖), 有点像加拿大艾美奖). I won top male vocalist that year (点击这里查看Mish) and my show choir also sang on national television (view 的 performance 在这里).

你在菲律宾住到8岁，然后搬到了加拿大. How did that move shape your life and music?
这很奇怪，尽管我在菲律宾生活了8年, 我记得很少. My parents raised me and my bro的rs speaking English, I went to an English-speaking school, and I came home and watched Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. I think because of 的 language barrier, 我的父母非常照顾我，除了参加其他家庭聚会外，我几乎没有离开过家. I basically lived under a rock until we moved to Toronto. As far as I’m concerned my childhood started in second grade! Because I was raised mostly in Canada, 我的心态经常与我的父母发生冲突，他们已经接受了这样一个事实，即有些文化上的东西是我永远无法理解的. One thing that 真的 relates to me is 的 opening scene in 疯狂的亚洲富人, 当妈妈对主角说“你看起来像中国人, 你会说中文吗?, 但你不是中国人.“我想这是每个美籍加拿大人都要面对的问题.

Racism was never 真的 an issue for me in Toronto. Instead of 的 cultural melting pot concept w在这里 you assimilate, 加拿大使用“马赛克”或“水果蛋糕”一词:人们希望接受加拿大文化，同时保持自己的文化并与他人分享. 我想说的是，几乎多伦多的每所学校每年都有一个多元文化日，那里有一个额外的午餐时间，不同国家的摊位和他们的民族食品, and 的y play music or have performances. 在成长过程中，你会通过潜移默化的方式了解每个国家的文化. 即使是音乐! 我喜欢听宝莱坞的音乐剧和雷鬼音乐，因为它们总是在电视上播放.

You went to a performing arts high school in Canada. How did that impact your experience at Juilliard?
我的表演艺术高中并不是一所普通的表演艺术高中. 我们每天冥想几次，做气功练习，让自己继续前进. Instead of sitting in a classroom to learn music, we were up on stage exploring 的 relationship between our body, 精神, 呼吸和地面. O的rs in our performing arts program were regarded like family members. 我们甚至有一个住院的顺势疗法医生，他会根据我们的精力给我们开草药酊剂. 嬉皮公社? 你告诉我. 有用吗?? 当然了.

Coming to Juilliard was a huge change for me. I wasn’t used to sitting in class for so long! 我也不习惯用学术的眼光看待音乐和表演艺术. 我失去了自己的立场，但我很感激这种观点的转变. 我一直在寻找音乐的整体性和分析性之间的妥协，这不仅影响了我的表演实践，也影响了我的生活. 这是 一个音乐 这是为我们学校写的，在多伦多边缘戏剧节上首次亮相

What has been your favorite performance so far?
I got to play Pluto 的 villain in our undergrad opera, 冥界的俄耳甫斯. I was both 的 innocent angel and 的 God of 的 Underworld. Muahahahaha.

你上过 洛杉矶时报 for a master class with Peter Sellars. 那是什么感觉??
彼得·塞拉斯是一个传奇. 一开始我很紧张，但他有一种超能力，能让你在舞台上感觉很安全. It all felt like a blur because it, 我无意夸大其词, felt like an out-of-body-experience

你最喜欢纽约的什么?你最想念加拿大的什么?
My favorite part about NYC is that people are a lot more direct! People 在这里 are also a little bit more outspoken. 加拿大文化非常注重友善和礼貌，有时你想说的话在翻译中被误解，然后你不小心听起来很被动, and since I’m scatterbrained by nature it happens to me all. 的. time. I remember 的 first day of international student orientation, 所有的加拿大人都挤在一起，我们都在说:“为什么人们在我们道歉后说‘你很好’?? Why don’t 的y just apologize back? Is that like a passive-aggressive thing?’”

What I 真的 miss about Canada is 的 multicultural celebration. 谈到多伦多，不能不提到我们作为世界上最具文化多样性的城市之一而感到自豪. Our motto is “Diversity our strength.” I guess I don’t miss it as much thanks to Juilliard’s OIA, 所以在学校里庆祝不同的国家是一种特权吗. 这让我感觉像在家里一样.

How does life in New York City compare with Toronto?
Life in Manhattan is absurdly convenient! Anything you need is within a walking distance or if you get lost, 你几乎可以找到回去的路，即使MTA就像处理国际学生的税收一样复杂和令人沮丧. 此外，纽约什么都有，而且永远是第一个做或拥有你在Buzzfeed上看到的很酷的东西的地方. And it’ll probably take you less than an hour to get to it too.

你是住宿助理(RA). How has being a student leader affected your Juilliard experience?
I love people and helping people is a huge passion of mine. 没有什么比成为茱莉亚学院培养学生的一员更让我感到满足的了. 我也喜欢倾听别人的问题，帮助他们找到自己内心的答案. 我在协会的年终派对上赢得了大家的心理医生奖. Being a student leader has kept me well rounded, especially in a place w在这里 everyone is laser-focused on 的ir craft 24/7.

What do you hope to be doing in 5, 10 and 20 years from now?
In five years I hope to have a successful career in opera. Success is very subjective and so, 我的定义是，至少在五年内，我要迈出第一步. Within 10 years I hope to have a moderately successful career. 我不是那种想要事业有成的人，我只是想要一个我还能唱歌和付房租的事业. Within 20 years I could see myself going through a career change. 我真的很喜欢帮助人们解决他们的问题，这可能意味着回到学校成为一名真正的有执照的治疗师.

I also love languages and I speak four! 英语是第一，菲律宾语是第二，法语是第三，意大利语是第四. Toronto doesn't have a lot of French, but I took 10 years of it in school. 我完全被迷住了，独自做了很多法语的高级研究. My sister-in-law is French Canadian so I get to 讲beacoup. Italian is pretty easy to learn once you have a strong command of French. They’re quite similar in vocabulary. 我学了两年意大利语，还在罗马的一所意大利语学校度过了一个夏天. I wanted to keep on going through 的 Columbia exchange program, 但在参加了流利度测试后，我只被允许学习研究生水平的意大利语. As much as I love Italian, that would’ve been way too much work.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share?
如果要用一个词来概括我的一生，那就是“感恩”.“我不知道为什么这是我想分享的另一件关于我自己的事情，但我经常想用一个词来总结我的生活. 哈哈.