India Rowland is an American soprano based in New York City exploring a new way to engage with opera arias: as short films. As an emerging artist, India has seen firsthand the pipeline opera singers are encouraged to take. The constant cycle of auditioning and seeking approval from institutional gatekeepers leaves little room for those looking to engage in experimentation with the seemingly monolithic art form that is opera. India’s film projects take inherited repertoire with longstanding legacies and allow for a more in-depth visual narrative in combination with her own performance.

Growing up in LA with parents involved in the theater and film scene, India’s passion for narrative art ingrained itself into the fabric of her early life. 

“I’ve been performing since I was a young child,” India says. 

As opera singers often do, India attended conservatory and graduate school before beginning to audition as a professional vocalist. Audition season in New York City can feel like a revolving door at the Opera America building in midtown Manhattan, with so many singers from the city and beyond clamoring for coveted roles and spots in programs for next season. 

“You do the fall audition season, you put a lot of your self-worth in what outside people are saying about you,” India says. 

It’s true, the life of a singer has traditionally relied on awaiting discovery by someone else, creating a system that emphasizes hierarchy and often leaves singers with more experimental ideas sidelined. 

Through her studies, auditions, and attending new opera productions India began to recognize an up-and-coming trend in the opera industry: a new focus on film and technology. 

“As opera singers, we need to understand that the medium is changing constantly,” India says. 

Opera is known as an art form that took root so long ago and is constantly fighting for its existence. To attract new audiences, even some of the most significant opera houses have taken part in this new frontier of opera production. In 2022, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City mounted a new production by Australian film and theater director Simon Stone that featured modernized costumes and live video feeds projected for the audience to view different perspectives of the action on stage. 

Even before the larger houses took on this new trend, India had explored it solo with the creation of her own video production of “The Tower Aria” from Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. The initial impetus for this experiment? A 2019 headshot session with renowned opera photographer Fay Fox. After a successful photo shoot, Fay posted the photos to Instagram and spoke with India about the positive reactions she received. Fay then asked if India had ever thought about doing film or creating salon-style performance videos. 

“I don’t think she meant what I ended up doing, but once she put the idea in my head I realized I actually really like this,” India says. 

In 2020, live performing arts stood still due to COVID-19. India explored her interest in film and she began to look at the arias she had been singing with new eyes, looking for the right one to act as the centerpiece of an experiment she began to devise. 

“Opera is a spectacle, it’s dramatic, and why not take advantage of other ways of portraying it rather than saying ‘Oh I’m just going to stand in front of the piano and sing,’” India says. 

Interested in merging her dramatic and musical interpretation with thoughtful narrative visuals and production design, India decided to focus her work on “The Tower Aria” from Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. 

India also says that this was not a solo effort. Her father, a film producer, contributed as the Production Manager and a family friend who worked on the project as the Director of Photography. India also mentions her boyfriend, a sound designer, who assisted with the project.

“A lot of people pitched in their time and free services. I’m incredibly grateful,” India says. 

Finding people to help with projects, especially DIY creations or initial concepts before funding is readily available can be incredibly difficult. When asked about her approach to asking for help, India shared her advice: to take the risk and just ask. 

“The worst they can say is no. I don’t think people are going to cut you off because you ask them for something and they can’t do it,” India says

As she continued work on the film for “The Tower Aria,” India recalled struggling with impostor syndrome and felt very critical of herself as she slowly sifted through the footage from the film shoots. 

“I feel like each challenge lies within me, my own self-criticism, my own reticence to dive in,” India says. 

Self-criticism and doubt plague us as artists because examining ourselves through different lenses is inherent to the creation and interpretation of art itself. Working in mediums like film after primarily presenting live performances initiates an entirely different set of criticisms because where before a performance could vanish as soon as it was completed, once filmed, a performance can live on in perpetuity, allowing the performer to review and self-examine in perpetuity. 

After many hours of shooting, editing, recording, planning, and performing India’s project was complete. She shared that she posted it to her website, but felt hesitant towards sharing it more broadly on social media. 

“I think I had just gotten some rejections, and I thought ‘Well this is a moment to say I do have something more to offer and it’s not up to these people to decide whether I have something to offer,’ So I decided to promote myself,” India says. 

One of the strangest curses emerging opera singers deal with is coming to terms with older recordings. By the time the project was completed, India’s voice had grown and changed as she continued to study and practice. Suddenly, she didn’t sound like the recording in the film she had spent so much time and creative energy on. She found herself promoting a project that displayed her with a voice she had grown out of. 

“I worked really hard on my voice and I sound a lot better than I did in 2020,” India says. 

Since creating her project, India’s relationship to her work and practice as an opera singer has evolved. She found herself more able to take apart the pieces and roles she works on, working to view them in many different ways. One way she continues to interact with her passion for visual storytelling is through the creation of collages for each aria she works on. 

India’s shift from interpreter to creator through this initial project allowed her to view her role as an artist in a different way, but she finds this new inspiration comes in waves. 

“Releasing yourself from the judgements and opinions of other people is another way to feel more empowered,” India says. 

As she looks forward to her next audition season while continuing with a new film project she began shooting in France, India brings knowledge and experience beyond that of a standard performer. 

In a field with multitudinous gatekeepers, age-old traditions, and a culture of competition, it can feel like the only job of a performer is to be judged over and over again, in the hopes of being deemed worthy. India’s film projects serve as a reminder to herself and to all of us in the audition circuit: we can decide our own worthiness, we can create our own artistic futures. 

“I’m not just offering myself as a singer, I’m offering myself as an artist, as a collaborator, as someone who comes to the table with ideas,” India says.

You can keep up with India by visiting her website www.indiarowland.com