FIVE QUESTIONS
In tune to launch vocal classics festival

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Milagro Vargas will be among the vocalists at this weekend's Hawai'i Vocal Masterworks Festival. First Annual Hawai'i Vocal Masterworks Festival 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday Mystical Rose Oratory, Chaminade University $20 general, $35 preferred seating; $15 seniors and military; $5 students 255-1892

"I've been living in Oregon for the past 10, 11 years, but it's a delight to keep returning to Hawai'i," said the classically trained soloist with credits domestically and abroad.

The program, featuring Haydn's "Mass in Time of War," assembles other voices: Leslie "Buz" Tennent, bass; Cheryl Bartlett and Rosanna Perch, sopranos; Wayne "Doc" Wilson, tenor. Tim Carney conducts.

We asked Vargas Five Questions:

Q: What's your connection to the Islands?

A: "I got invited by Timothy Carney to sing with the O'ahu Choral Society some years ago and I get asked back frequently. I love coming over; such a delight. And especially to help kick off a new festival."

Q: How did you settle into classical music?

A: "Not unlike a lot of singers, I started singing in church, actually following in the footsteps of my older brother, who was in the church choir in the Bronx. I also wound up in the school choirs, but by the time I was in high school, I was lucky enough to have helpful people step in and guide my talent. I had private voice lessons; I went on to college and the Oberlin School of Music. And I eventually moved to Europe, where I sang with the Stuttgart Opera. "

Q: You're both a performing artist and an educator. Is this a delicate balance?

A: "It requires a lot of organization, as you can well imagine, in terms of taking care of students and making up lesson plans so you can get away to perform. To me, performing is important for my students and for me; to be a professor of voice (she teaches at the University of Oregon School of Music), it's important to maintain a career, too. Both professions inform each other. I consider this a wonderful combination — I'm lucky to have both."

Q: What doors have opened for you since venturing into music?

A: "We're in a precarious moment, in terms of the performing arts. Budgets (supporting the arts) are being slashed; audiences out there listening to these composers now don't know if these opportunities will exist a decade from now. So I try to schedule concerts whenever possible. That's where my organizational skills really come into play. You work when there are singing opportunities."

Q: Any tips for those who want to mix singing with teaching?

A: "There is no formula; my career is a good example of not being formulaic. The thing is you have to love what you're doing and realize it's hard, demanding work, requiring a kind of real passion."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.