Being fired from a job renting out videos confirmed to Emma Pearson she just was not cut out for the simple life.
"I’m a bit of the absent-minded professor: the simple things get me. So I decided to find the best use for my brain and it seemed best suited to opera, classical, modern music."
So the girl, who grew up in the Perth countryside with a dad who grew and exported wild flowers, became a professional singer.
Almost 20 years later, Pearson is living in Wellington, married to Kiwi singer and lecturer Wade Kernot with their 4-year-old, and about to embark on her first tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hamish McKeich.
"It is an unknown beast, but we have enough time to listen to each other. By the time we come to Dunedin, we’ll be in great form."
It is also a bonus for the singer as she gets to perform some of her favourite works, Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen and Four Last Songs.
"It’s like a birthday present. He looks after sopranos’ voices so well. It’s really fun and satisfying to sing."
The last-minute nature of her joining the tour means a quick search for a dress is necessary and not that straightforward.
A singer needs to have room to breathe in a dress, and avoid plunging necklines and thigh-high splits, yet it can’t look old-fashioned or frumpy.
"You need a full skirt and boning in the bodice. You want to look a little bit this century; it can be a bit tricky."
As she fears tripping or slipping on things, she did not want her skirt to be too full.
"If you have too much skirt you can catch on the musicians as you go past. I’m sure a big diva doesn’t worry about that. But I have to be very confident about length and width of my dress."
Pearson knows from experience — she spent nine years as the principal artist at the Hessisches Staatstheater, Wiesbaden, in Germany.
It was a role she secured after being awarded a 12-month scholarship after winning the More Than Opera German-Australian Opera Grant.
"I think I did 80 performances that year and they decided to keep me on."
It gave her the opportunity to perform with the neighbouring symphony orchestra as well as in operas and operettas.
"It was very inspiring. I had wonderful colleagues, amazing coaches and immersed myself in German language and culture."
She performed more than 30 roles for the company including the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Woglinde, Gerhilde and Waldvogel in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Adele (Die Fledermaus) and Norina (Don Pasquale).
For Staatstheater Wiesbaden’s Internationale Maifestspiele in 2009, Pearson performed the title role in Alban Berg’s Lulu, conducted by Marc Piollet. This earned her a nomination as "Singer of the Year" by OpernWelt magazine. In the 2011 Maifestspiele, she performed the title role in Rodion Schtchedrin’s opera, Lolita, its national debut for Germany.
It was also an amazing experience in terms of lifestyle.
"I loved living in an old building with a view over the park and a mariachi band playing all the time. It was very romantic."
As she was near the French border, she could catch a train to Paris for macaroons when she wanted.
Having a fulltime singing job with all the advantages of permanent work gave her the opportunity to have a "responsible way to live an artistic life".
It also gave her the opportunity to perform around Europe and in the United States.
Pearson also returned home to Australia when she could, performing title roles for Opera Australia, Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera. She also sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Micaela for Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
On visits to New Zealand, she has sung Queen of the Night, and Frasquita and Micaela in Carmen, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Gilda and Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte).
But her husband, whom she met while singing Carmen in Wellington for New Zealand Opera, was working in Switzerland so they only got to see each other during time off.
"It wasn’t working out, so we decided to come home."
On her departure from the company, she was awarded the honorary title of Kammersangerin, making her the youngest opera singer to have received the title.
Soon after arriving back in Australia, Pearson discovered she was pregnant and the couple decided to be closer to her parents in Perth and his in Auckland.
It has meant taking on a freelance career, which is more of a gamble than her European lifestyle.
Last year, Kernot accepted a voice lecturing job at the University of Victoria, so they moved from Sydney to Wellington. It was a move that proved very fortuitous given the events that have unfolded this year.
"We’ve been very grateful for his income to pay the bills."
While the decision to make music her life was made for her in a way, she admits it has not always been easy.
A soprano needs to be ambitious, make sacrifices and make her career the main priority to be successful, she says.
"You have to get those notches in your belt."
Pearson was lucky to win scholarships, and was able to complete most of her training at the University of Western Australia.
While studying at the Australian Opera Studio, she won the Australian Singing Competition, the Symphony Australia Young Artist Prize and as well as the scholarship that sent her to Germany.
She also made her professional operatic debut with the New Zealand Opera, in the role of Fiordiligi in their Cosi fan tutte Winter Tour and then as Frasquita for their main stage production of Carmen.
