by Mike Telin

As a young girl growing up in the Caribbean, soprano Jeanine De Bique had no idea that it was possible to make a living as an opera singer. “I come from Trinidad and Tobago, where you are surrounded by music all day long. Whether it’s classical music, calypso, soca, or chutney, it’s always around you,” De Bique said during a Skype conversation from Barbados.

“When I finished high school at 18, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I thought about being a lawyer or physiologist, but my voice teacher asked me if I wanted to pursue music. I had no clue that you could have a career in opera. When a country doesn’t have any means for you to see an opera — where people are doing that as their job — you have no idea that those jobs exist.” [Read more…]