If there was ever an example that your dreams will come true by believing in yourself and working hard, it is Mezzo Soprano Jennifer Larmore. “I, many times, have asked God, ‘Why me?’ Why did I get, first of all, the desire, and, then, I developed the voice to do it. I mean, I wanted it, and I got it. Why me? But there’s no answer to that. Call it fate, call it whatever you want, but I feel like it’s a gift.”

Her gift has made Jennifer Larmore a Grammy winner and allowed her to perform for Presidents, Kings and Queens, in every major opera house and in the most exotic of locations around the world. She has recorded over seventy CDs, making her the most recorded mezzo of all time. In 2002, in recognition of her contributions to the world of music, she was given Knighthood by the French Government, her title, Chevalier des arts et des lettres.

Jennifer lived in southeast Atlanta, Georgia until she was twelve years old. Her family then moved north to Marietta, Georgia, where her father worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. “I thought we were moving to the sticks! I thought we were going to the country and I thought I’d never be heard from again.” She laughs and continues with tongue-in cheek dramaticism, “There was nothing there, but one tiny little store and we had to traipse through the meadow to get there!”

“I went to J.J. Daniel Middle School, then I went to Sprayberry High School. I always wanted to sing, I was always doing something in music. My mother said I sang before I talked. I played the piano, I played the flute, but singing was the thing I wanted to do the most. My mother said I had a one-track mind. My father exposed us to listen to opera records and people singing classical music, every Wednesday. We didn’t like it. There were four of us, Cathy, Wendy, Ray and me. Every single one of us had good voices. I really believe my sister, Wendy, could have been professional; it’s a beautiful soprano voice. She went into teaching, she teaches special-ed and kids with behavioral problems. Cathy is a dietician and Ray is the head of his own concrete crew, but they all love music.”

“To say I came from a musical family, though, would not be right. My grandmother did play the piano in the silent movies. My mother was a nurse. My father, who is now 91 and is in fantastic shape from working out every day for the last 70 years. He is an author of short stories and poetry. He just got an agent last year and he’s being published in all kinds of magazines. He always sang amateur opera and loved music, always has. He went to the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California and got a degree in lighting, so he was always the one to tell me to find the light and feel the warmth of the light on my face. Even when I was just a teenager going to competitions to sing in the ‘All State’ vocal competitions, they would come along. They’d be very, very supportive. They always told all of us, ‘You can do anything you want. Whatever you do, you’ll be successful at it.’ I guess I was just young enough and innocent enough to believe everything they said.”

“As a teenager, I just wanted to sing, to be doing something. My voice developed when I was about fourteen or fifteen into an operatic sounding voice. So, of course, all my teachers and everybody that had anything to do with influencing me encouraged me down that road. Then I really fell in love with it. I love the dramatic part of it and dressing up in costumes and being on stage, being under the lights, seeing how the people respond. I know it was absolutely the right life for me.”

“I thought I would go to college and be a voice performance major. I went to Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, which is quite a stretch to go from Georgia to New Jersey and a culture shock to be sure! I was one of the only voice performance majors. I remember my friends saying, ‘Voice Performance? What is that?’ They said, “Why don’t you take Music Education to fall back on?” I said, “Fall back on? What does that mean?” It never occurred to me that I’d have to fall back on anything.”

“After college, I studied three years with John Bullock, who is Sandra Bullock’s father. They were very musical, they were into opera, and her mother was an opera singer. John was a fantastic teacher. After that, I just decided I was going to have a career. In the mind of a young person, they just think, well, now, I’m ready, very innocently and naively.”

“The time between college and the real world, I call that the abyss. You feel like you’re in a dark hole from which you’ll never, ever recover. Everyone that wants a career faces this time in their lives. You don’t need to look at it like it’s a bad time. There are many, many different ways to get from here to there. Getting from one place to another on your chosen path requires small steps forward. There are steps that young singers can take. That is a very difficult time, also, because you don’t really know what those steps are. You need people like me,” she laughs, “who have done it and stumbled and fell, did it the hard way and made all the mistakes, to tell you, to help you. I think the people in our position have a real duty to help the younger ones, because, these days, I think it’s harder than ever. Especially with the financial crisis the way it is.”

“I would strongly advise young artists to cultivate a good head for business. No one is going to take as good care of you and your career as you will. One of the steps is finding an agent. When I tried to get an agent, it wasn't easy! I tried to convince the best one at the time to take me on but he just wasn't interested. I was just too unknown and too young. I kept writing him, I kept calling him. I was persistent. If nothing else, I was really persistent. Finally, I found a card that said, ‘Get me while I’m still cheap.’ I sent it to him and he thought it was hilarious. He took me on for that, just because he thought I was charming and because he thought that was funny. He then got me the auditions that started my career.”

A career that she remains passionately in love with, “Music is one of the greatest freedoms in the world. You get up on stage, you give every bit of it that you’ve got and you feel fantastic. It’s a way to communicate that is not like any other way. You can sit down and talk to somebody and have a great conversation, but when you’re singing, you’re vulnerable. Singers, I think, are some of the most vulnerable creatures on the planet. We’re just putting it out there for everyone, and everyone’s an expert, everyone is going to have an opinion. I’m a person that comes from the drama standpoint; I love something I can sink my teeth into. When it’s a recital, it’s just the music, the pianist, the people and me. Singing transports you. It makes you soar. I know this sounds corny, but it makes you go to another place, another world. I try really hard to bring the audience up on stage and make them a part of my experience. To me, it’s everything.”

Of all the honors and fantastic experiences, she recalls the two, which are foremost in her mind.. “When I sang at the closing ceremonies at the Olympics in 1996 here in Atlanta... You have no idea what it feels like to walk into a stadium, see the Olympic flame and know that you are a part of all of it. Also, when I made Metropolitan Opera debut as Rosina in the Rossini opera ‘The Barber of Seville,’ I come out and I sing this aria called Una voce poco fa. I came out at the top of these steps, and when the door opened, the whole audience just started screaming and clapping because there had been a real ‘buzz’ about me coming there. I’d been in Europe for the eight years prior and so when I came back to America, it was not only a ‘debut’it was a ‘homecoming.’ I just remember,” she gasps, “that it was so incredible to hear that people liked me.”

“I sang ‘Rosina’ in ‘The Barber of Seville’ over 500 times during my career. Many people have asked me how I could possible keep it interesting. I said, “Because I’m a ‘re-actress.’” When I act or when I speak or when I have a conversation with someone about my career for the one-millionth time, it’s whatever they ask me, whatever they inspire me to say. People think it might be and that it’s easy and that we just stand up there and open our mouth and it all comes out, but no, you go through a process. You go through rehearsals with different people each time. Since I’m a real dramatic animal, whoever is in front of me, I react to them or whatever they do onstage. It’s never the same, ever. It’s a philosophy you develop. So you are essentially telling the same story, in a different way.”

Jennifer’s aptitude is not limited to just singing at the opera; she also hosted her own satellite radio program for three years called, Backstage With Jennifer Larmore, and still does ‘operatic’ commentary from time to time for APR. She teaches Master Classes around the world and writes for magazines such as Classical Singer and Opera News. “I’ve been writing children’s books. I had a little dog, Sophie, and she died in August, and I have not been able to go back and continue the book, but it’s about opera from little Sophie’s point of view. It’s to help children get an idea of what opera can be like, and then the whole world, not just boring them with opera stories. For me these books are a way of letting them go through a day with little Sophie and see what it’s like to speak other languages, go other places. I’m hoping that will have a future one of these days.”

On the days she has down time, Jennifer says, “I love to read, I eat books, I’m voracious. I really love to walk, I’m not a big hiker, but I love to walk places. I have a lot of good friends that I like to talk to. I’m a really big web-head. I am technologically inclined. I love electronics and things like that.”

“I listen to rock n roll. I normally never listen to classic music because I’m always doing classic music and I hate to hear it tinny out of a radio or ipod, I prefer to hear it live. I like some jazz; I like smooth jazz in the background. I love bluegrass, and some country. I’ve always been a big Led Zeppelin fan and all the old classics like Jimi Hendrix.”

“I think music is always better live. Someone asked me about people going to see opera at the movies. The American part of me says fantastic; I think it’s a fantastic way to reach a wider public. The European part of me, because I’ve lived so long and been so much over there, says it’s scandalous, because, I think, going to the movies to see what is a live art form is a bit strange. Over there, you talk to anyone, I talked to someone and said, ‘What are you doing Tuesday night”’ and she said, ‘Oh, I’m going to the opera’ and I said, ‘Oh, what are you going to see?’ and she said, ‘I don’t know, it’s Tuesday night, it’s when I go to the opera.’ It’s part of their culture; it’s a weekly thing. And us, we don’t do that. I said one time, we have a national pastime, baseball and we say, ‘take me out to the ball game’, it’s not, ‘take me out to the opera.’ We don’t go to the opera here, but I do believe the movies are helping.” She says, “There’s nothing like getting dressed up, going through the experience of getting your tickets, if you can afford them these days, and getting someone and going, having a dinner, just being a part of that whole exciting experience. I think a lot of Americans don’t realize there’s a whole process of going to the opera, you need to know what the story is, do a little homework before you go and you will enjoy it so much more. There should never be any reason why anyone should be scared to go to the opera these days because we have subtitles, even at the Metropolitan Opera, you can push a little button on the back of the seat and the translation is right there in front of your eyes. Art, over here is the first thing you cut because of financial problems. Over there they wouldn’t think of cutting it, it’s something you need, it’s not an elective. It’s something that’s a staple of the culture.”

In regards to her return to Georgia to teach a Master Class at Kennesaw State University for the fourth year in a row, she sighs wistfully, “I love coming back here. I’m not just saying that, there’s something about coming home again that always makes you feel like you can breathe just a little deeper. You don’t realize that you don’t breathe deep during the day until someone massages your feet or your shoulders and then you go, “Ah, that feels so good.” That’s the way I feel when I come home and I see the pine trees and the red clay and I get my black eyed peas and my Chick-fil-A, all the things that we have here in the South and see the faces of the people that I love. I’ve traveled a lot of places, but I always love to come home. This is where you know what to do. In Paris, I love Paris, it’s one of my favorite cities, and I love living there, it’s always been a dream, but there are some things I have to figure out, here you don’t have to figure it out, you know where to go. You know what to say; you know how to get things done.”

Though her life has been full of blessings, she has also had her fair share of tribulation. “I was married for 25 years, we got divorced, just recently. This past year has been probably the most devastating year of my life. I lived out of a suitcase for 11 months. I left my home and my old life behind and I moved to Paris. That’s a very positive part of it. I feel like the decisions I made this year were fantastic.”

Jennifer understands her career choice is not for the faint hearted and that while the rewards have been great for her, she had to be willing to make sacrifices too. “It depends on the person, what you really want out of your life. If you want a big family, you cannot have a career like this. So many times I feel like this has been my baby. I’ve stayed up nights with it, I’ve nurtured it, I’ve fed it, I’ve worried about it. Everything I would have devoted to a child got devoted to the career. I have really no regrets because I don’t believe in regretting. I believe in making decisions and then living with them. You make your bed, you lie in it and you find a way to be happy in it. These are chapters. Your life goes in chapters. You close one and a new one starts, and, hopefully, you start it with a good attitude. A good, positive attitude.”

A lesser woman who experienced such success might have allowed it to enlarge her ego, but Jennifer Larmore knows her achievements were not just of her own doing. “Nobody makes a career all on their own, I have to emphasis that. Yeah, God gave me the gift, I have the voice, I’ve worked really, really hard – really really- hard for this, but I’ve had a lot of help. From my parents, especially, who started me off on the right track, to my friends. I’m having lunch with a bunch of girls from high school whom I ran around with from high school. We were always together. When we were fifteen or sixteen they all said, ‘When you sing at the Metropolitan Opera, we’re gonna come, and be there.’ The first time I sang at the Metropolitan Opera, they all came.. It blew my mind, they kept their promise, it was fantastic.”

“You have many people that help you, agents, husbands, and friends. It’s something you might want, but a lot of people put a lot of effort into it, as well. My strongest advice would be to enjoy what you are doing, but be very practical, keep your feet on the ground. Keep your head where it needs to be. Enjoy performing; be as prepared and anti-diva-like as you possibly can, because, really, everyone is trying to do a good job. There is never any reason to throw a fit. When I saw that, I would take them by the scruff of the neck, I’ve done it, and say, “Hey, don’t you act like that, there’s no reason for you to act like a diva.” When I see really famous singers or performers acting like a diva, I lose respect immediately for them.. I, first of all, feel sorry for them, because I think they have a lot of insecurity. Then I lose respect for them. Everyone should remember that they are lucky to be in the position in which they are. They have been given an opportunity that not many people get. So enjoy it, cherish it and thank the people that helped you get there. Don’t think that you are the only one that did it. Just keep your head on your shoulders.”

“The only places I haven’t gone are Africa and Antarctica. If they have opera companies there, maybe one day I’ll go,” She says with a chuckle, “Oh, and I haven’t been to Vermont, a place I’ve always wanted to go, or Rhode Island. I can truthfully say that I’ve accomplished everything that I want to accomplish, which is a feat unto itself, to be able to say that. I’ve done everything I want to do; now it’s more icing on the cake.”

Though Jennifer may have accomplished all her old goals, she is still striving to attain new ones, “I’ve created a new group called Jennifer Larmore and Opus Five. It’s a new way to give recitals; it’s me singing with a string quintet. When you add a double bass to quintet, it becomes a little orchestra! It’s beautiful because we have Sebastian Hamann who is one of the most incredible violinists in the world. They’re all first class musicians in their own right. If we have duets, like the Barcarole for example, a very famous duet from the Tales of Hoffman by Offenback, it’s normally a soprano and a mezzo that sings it, well the soprano voice will be Sebastian on the violin, so I’m doing duets with a violin.”

“I get criticized a lot by my own peers because I say, “Yes, I’m an artist, but I’m an entertainer first.” I’m there to entertain these people, to take them out of the hard day that they’ve had, or out of the crappy weather and bring them to a place that’s a lot more beautiful. That’s my job.”

She has lived her life as a superstar in a world foreign to most of us, a world where it could have been very easy to fall prey to pride and greed. Yet, she remains a gracious, joyous spirit. Jennifer Larmore’s triumphs have come, not from a sense of entitlement, but from a place of warranted confidence in her extraordinary gift.