Sandra Eddy

The lights dim. Conversations soften to a whisper. As music starts to resonate from the orchestra pit, the audience becomes silent. The red curtain rises, and the Opera begins.

Though many people have experienced the thrill of attending the opera, few can describe what it is like to perform in one. Sandra Piques Eddy is one of those rarities.

“I’m sometimes nervous when I first go out, but once I go off [stage] I can’t wait to get on again.” Eddy said.

A 1999 graduate of Boston University’s School for the Arts and a second year student in the CFA Opera Institute, Eddy was recently chosen to become a part of the Metropolitan Opera.

“I was just thinking I’ll do the best I can,” Eddy said of her audition for the Metropolitan.

The next day she received an e-mail with the news that she had been accepted into the Metropolitan. Eddy said she initially thought someone was playing a joke on her. However, she soon discovered the news was true.

“I have never been so happy to go to work in my life,” Eddy said.

Eddy’s first show, Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten, or The Woman Without a Shadow, opened on December 13, and ran through January 17. “When I first started I thought I was going to be nervous,” Eddy said.

Despite her expectations, since joining the opera Eddy said she has become more comfortable with the company. She said the atmosphere is professional, supportive and cooperative.

“Everybody really wants to make a beautiful piece of art,” Eddy said.

Eddy will be a member of the Metropolitan through May and is set to perform in four shows. She will play the roles of Countess Ciprano in Rigoletto, Dragonfly in L’Enfant et les sortileges, and Handmaiden in Sly.

Eddy’s entire career, it seems, can be characterized by an eagerness to perform. Sandra said her affinity for the stage was apparent even in her childhood. Although she was often shy in school, her creativity emerged when she was in the comfort of her home.

“I would put on little shows and dress up people in different characters,” Eddy said.

Eddy earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Boston Conservatory in 1994. While at the conservatory Eddy learned to play a variety of different instruments and although she was not a performance major, she said she never stopped performing. She gained experience by participating in several theatrical and musical productions at the school.

“They let me get up and try things out,” she said.

After graduating from the conservatory, Eddy taught music education to middle school students for three years. Each class served as an opportunity for Eddy to perform, even though it wasn’t for a traditional audience.

“Every class is a performance,” Eddy said. “You perform seven classes a day as a teacher.”

While teaching, Eddy also directed a choir on Saturday mornings. The choir, which was initially composed of 11 girls, grew to include 62 girls in just a few years.

“They inspire me,” Eddy said of her students. “Their love of singing is so obvious in their faces.”

Eddy said her teaching experiences improved her ability to perform on stage.

“Teaching helped me become a better communicator,” Eddy said.

After teaching for three years, Eddy decided to return to school and enrolled in CFA to pursue a master’s degree in vocal performance.

“I missed singing so much,” Eddy said.

Though it was difficult to leave a secure job to study singing, Eddy decided that returning to school would allow her to improve her own singing and also help her improve her directing skills.

“If I was trained in voice, I felt I could be a better choral teacher,” she said.

Eddy said she received encouragement from her husband and her voice teacher Susan Ormont, a teaching associate at CFA’s School of Music. Ormont, who has instructed Eddy for the past 4 years, said when Eddy enrolled she intended to advance her vocal skills because she wanted to be a more efficient educator. However, as Eddy progressed through BU’s program her personal aspirations grew.

“As she got more advanced, her motivation became more intense to become a performer,” Ormont said.

While at BU, Ormont said Eddy’s voice, “developed beautifully.” Ormont helped

Eddy switch from soprano to mezzo-soprano because she has a lower voice than a regular soprano. Ormont said mezzo-sopranos are more unusual than sopranos and there are less of them in the industry.

“It’s a voice that has great appeal to the listener, an extremely beautiful vocal color,” said Ormont. “It’s very warm and dark and resonant.”

While enrolled in BU’s Opera Institute, Eddy returned to the stage to perform. She performed about 3 roles a year, gaining valuable experience. Eddy said she enjoyed performing at BU because they sponsored a diversity of Operas. This year BU students performed in “The Marriage of Figaro,” which Eddy said is a very traditional opera. However, last year she performed in “Postcard from Morocco,” a more obscure opera.

Eddy said the feedback she received from her coaches, teachers, language instructors, and colleagues at BU has helped her grow as a singer, and has enabled her to succeed.

“[BU] has the highest level of professional standards,” Eddy said. “When given those standards you want to reach them, and then exceed them. There is a good balance between a challenging and nurturing environment.”

After graduation, as her career progressed, Eddy said the BU community continued to lend their support. Eddy’s teachers and friends from the Opera Department recently traveled to see her perform for the Metropolitan on opening night.

“I am so grateful for their support,” she said of her BU colleagues and mentors. “They want to see you succeed.”

Though Eddy said she is ecstatic to be performing for the renowned Metropolitan, she is also looking forward to rejoining the Glimmerglass opera this summer to play Meg in an operatic version of Little Women.

“I’m so excited about this opera,” she beamed. “When you get asked back to a company you’ve worked with before it feels really good.”