Kimberly Brockman ’86 always loved to sing. She started out at Ithaca as a music education major, but somewhere along the line she decided teaching wasn’t her thing. She switched to communications and learned about public relations, TV, radio, and recording.

After graduation Brockman worked in the advertising field for a couple of years, and in 1988 she landed a job in the New York Philharmonic’s development department. After a few promotions, she became assistant director of the annual fund.

Surrounded daily by talented artists and their music, she became inspired to revisit her own singing ambitions. In 1992 a friend referred her to a voice builder, Nino Tello. Tello became her teacher and mentor, helping her gain the confidence and technical skills needed in the world of opera. Her first professional singing role was Mimi in La Bohème with the New York Opera Forum. She also played Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Amato Opera in New York. But she wanted very much to work in Europe. She spent a month auditioning throughout that continent. It paid off. She was offered some small roles with the Cologne Opera in Germany — and promptly quit her job and packed her bags.

In 1995 she moved to St. Gallen, Switzerland, to work at the Stadttheater on Lake Constance. There she played Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore. In 1998 Brockman was offered her "breakthrough" role: Sophie Scholl in Udo Zimmerman’s Weisse Rose. A huge success, the production — and Brockman — received critical acclaim. Brockman says it was the most demanding and difficult role she has had so far.

She will stay in St. Gallen for the next season, playing the roles of Blonde in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Esmeralda in Janacek’s Die Verkaufte Braut, and the soprano in the world premiere of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu CoCu, commissioned by the Swiss composer Gerard Zinsstag.

In her spare time Brockman sings with composer and musician Silvan Lassauer and his Swiss pop group Hollow Man. She also sings with Birdland Bigband and Jazz Strings St. Gallen — which appeared at a sold-out New Year’s Day con-cert at the St. Gallen Music Hall.

Brockman misses Ithaca and her years spent there. She compares it to Switzerland, with its lush green hills, wineries, and the lake. The biggest difference? No Alps in Ithaca!

She has some advice for young singers: "Don’t be afraid to start out with smaller roles before taking on the big ones — we all start out somewhere, and it’s more rewarding at the top when you think back to all the hard work and patience that put you there. As it says in something I recently read, ‘Learn to love the journey, not the destination.’ "

— Jennifer Everritt