PARIS—“Do I believe in fate? I do. I think you can take advantage of fate with hard work; I don’t think that fate without preparation works,” says Lawrence Brownlee, one of the most in-demand male voices in opera. A practical statement, to be sure, but Brownlee soon revealed he was skeptical about the start of his own journey.
Lawrence Brownlee is one of the greatest bel canto singers of our time. He was named “Male Singer of the Year” in 2017 by International Opera Awards and Bachtrack. He’s been invited onto the most prestigious stages in the world. “The word ‘honey’ comes to mind,” mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato once said of this voice.
But he didn’t always want to be a great singer.“The interesting thing about me, when I was a child I sang at church; I sang with my family,” Brownlee said. He sang gospel with both his parents, his four sisters, and his brother. “But in the beginning, I didn’t want to be a singer. I wanted to be a lawyer!”
