Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Gill.
Annie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I think I’ve had the desire to perform since I learned to walk and talk! I’ve always enjoyed entertaining people, and even as a little child, I would put on little shows with my sister for our family. I am very lucky, in that my parents have been extremely supportive from the moment I showed interest in the performing arts. They helped my development as an artist early on in my life, and with their support, I was able to take voice lessons, piano lessons, flute lessons, and acting classes starting in elementary and middle school. I also participated in every music and drama class that was available at my school and even added extra chorus and band classes before and after school as I grew up. By the time I reached high school, much of my day was devoted to various arts and performing classes, but I always made sure that I never neglected my academic classes at school. By my sophomore year of high school, I knew I wanted to pursue music in college. I dedicated a lot of time to prepare for college auditions, and after several acceptances to great schools, I chose Indiana University for my undergrad program. I obtained a BM in Vocal Performance from IU, then went on to earn an MM in Vocal Performance from Boston University, and finally a GPD in Vocal Performance from the Peabody Conservatory.
All throughout these programs, however, I made sure that I sought performance opportunities outside of school, as well as in school productions: I knew that so much of the performing arts is making and keeping good professional contacts, and while school prepares you in many ways for a career, it doesn’t necessarily give you the real world connections that are vital for maintaining that career. Since graduating from Peabody, I have been working professionally in the DMV since 2008. I’ve also worked in Europe, performing at several festivals in Italy, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Although I had focused solely on music (and more specifically, on opera) throughout my college and graduate programs, I was able to reconnect with my acting roots when I was cast as the Opera Singer for the season two finale of House of Cards (Netflix, 2013). It was then that I realized that I could do many things – not just sing – but also act in commercials, television, and movies, and work as a voice-over artist, as well. I have been working consistently in all of those fields since my appearance on House of Cards, and to date have appeared in eight movies, six television shows, 17 voice-over projects, and nearly and nearly 50 commercials and industrials.
My life as a performer is not what I had imagined growing up – and that’s a great thing! Sometimes you make plans, and your life goes in different directions. For me, I have tried to roll with it – by loosening my expectations, I’ve allowed myself to continually be surprised and excited by the new, interesting directions of my unique career path.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been anything but smooth! I don’t like to dwell on the past too much, but there were certainly many difficult times in my career so far, particularly throughout my 20s and early 30s. Many disappointments along the way – from not making the right professional connections to not being accepted into the right young artist programs, to very seriously worrying about finances and if life as a performer would be feasible long-term. The opera world is very tricky, and unfortunately, there is a prescribed timeline for many young singers – if you haven’t reached certain industry goals or milestones by a certain age, you feel like you’ve missed your chance for a significant, meaningful career. The age limits are lower for women (which is terrible – don’t get me started!), and as I passed each of these age brackets, I definitely felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment and lack of control over my own career and life path. But as I’ve let go of those traditional goalposts, I’ve been a lot happier, both personally and professionally. It’s very difficult to be a singer because so much of your self-worth can be wrapped up in your instrument. And when your instrument is in your body – *IS* your body – that can be very difficult to deal with. In my 20s and early 30s, I had some struggles with my vocal technique and found very quickly that not many people have the patience to deal with a soprano who is less than perfect.
That sounds harsh, but it’s absolutely true (trust me, I’ve lived it). But I realized that those people are not the people I want to work with and for. We are all human, and to work with singers means to work with a living, breathing, ever-changing human being. The best artists realize this and celebrate it. And I think expanding my interests and what I do as a professional performer – adding the acting and voice-over parts to my career – has made me a better singer and helped me to chill out a little bit. Oh, I’m still paranoid about getting sick, don’t get me wrong! But overall, I’m less neurotic about how my voice is feeling on any given day. Becoming a parent has helped all this immensely, as well. I just don’t have the time to freak out or worry about the things I used to, and with age and maturity, I’ve tried to focus on the things I can control, and worry less about the things that are out of my control.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I like to think of myself as a very versatile performer, but I’m also very aware of my individual strengths and weaknesses. In opera, singers belong to certain “fachs” or vocal categories. I’m a soprano, but it gets a lot more specific than that. Some singers find comfort in belonging to just one fach, but I’ve sung repertoire across several “fachs”, and now, my singing philosophy is pretty much “I’ll sing it as long as it feels healthy and I can give a credible, professional performance”. I’ve sung everything from soubrette to lyric, to the full lyric, and even some spinto repertoire. I think my voice excels in Puccini and Verdi, but I also really enjoy singing Mozart and Handel. I’ve crossed over to the musical theatre and some pop music as well, and one of my proudest moments was singing a concert (with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival) where I sang so many different genres in one evening – folk, pop, light rock, musical theatre, and new age. So as long as something feels vocally comfortable, and I can bring a sense of authenticity and credibility to the project, I’ll go for it! In terms of acting, I certainly have a “type” – I’m frequently cast in the roles of a mom, nurse, news reporter, and politician. But recently, I’ve also played several roles in feature films that were definitely against type: a very mercurial member of a vegan cult, a femme-fatale secretary in a period piece, and a very stoic commander in a Sci-Fi short. So in many ways, I think there’s a similarity between the acting world in the singing/classical world – if I can bring authenticity to the role, and perform it with credibility, I’m up for a challenge!
As a colleague, I am very supportive, always prepared, and collaborative. I am always open to discussion and exploration of the material, but try to bring my own unique perspective to every project, as well. I’m also very considerate of my colleagues, and ready to advocate for my peers, especially younger singers and actors, as they might not feel empowered yet to speak up for themselves (I know I didn’t in my younger years). I try to bring positivity to every stage and set I’m on, and I’m always focused and ready to work!
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Defining success – that’s a difficult question because I think any one person’s definitive success can change so much throughout their life. When I was younger (starting out in college and my early professional years), I really wanted the worldwide success of an international opera singer. I didn’t even consider a personal life – I just wanted to sing at all of the best opera houses and travel the world. That’s an amazing dream, but so few singers reach that level of the opera world. And if that had happened to me, especially if I had had that kind of success when I was younger, I wouldn’t have even touched on the areas of acting and voice-over that are so incredible and fulfilling in the career I have now. So now, to me success is having high-quality projects of wide, varying subject matter, and being able to work in all of the performing fields that I love – singing, acting, voice-over, and even hand modeling! Making a respectable living and having the work I do value from a monetary standpoint is important, too. Money isn’t everything, but I’m a highly skilled artist with a lot of training and experience – and those skills deserve the proper compensation. That’s something that I definitely didn’t realize in my youth – but is so important to any working artist – your skills have value!
And certainly, success for me is taking care of my family, and being able to provide for and support those I love.
Having a strong support system, and having your loved ones happy and healthy means everything. To me, success means nothing if you can’t share your good fortune with others. And being able to give back to your community – through mentoring or lending a helping hand to those in need. My family is now in a position where we can contribute more financially to charitable causes, and that is an amazing place to be (financially speaking) as an artist. The Alzheimer’s Association and St. Jude are two of our favorite organizations, but there are many other important charities, as well. That (giving back to one’s community”) has become increasingly important to me as I’ve gotten older.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anniegill.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anniegill/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annie.gill.104
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DivaG81/videos
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/annie-gill
Image Credits
Girondines with Wilmington Concert Opera (Oct. 2022), Help at Home commercial (Aardvark Video Works, June. 2022), Little Treasury Jewelers (Nov. 2021), Wild Fire (May 2022), Jessica Fenfert Photography, Rosa Ponselle Concert with Baltimore Musicales (Oct. 2018), George Peabody Library, Mozart Birthday Celebration with The In Series (Casa L’Italiana – Jan. 2018), 1920s Cabaret – Annapolis Shakespeare Company (Sept. 2018)
