Anya Bulchandani

Classically trained since she was just 13 years old, Stanford sophomore Anya Bulchandani, who is studying Mathematical Computational Sciences with a Minor in Vocal Performance, has always had a passion for singing that has never, ever wavered.

MOVES: What was the motivation where you felt that you wanted to perform, or you wanted to be an opera singer? Every child has that one moment right at the beginning where they’re like, oh, this is great. What was that moment for you?

ANYA BULCHANDANI: I would say [first hearing] music in general. When I was about six or seven, I would just spend all day walking around singing to myself, and I felt like that was the most effective way that I could express anything I was feeling at such a young age without knowing what that was like. I had no words to describe anything that was going on or like no words to even think about what was my existence at age six. But I just knew that when I was singing, I felt like something was being relieved. 

So that’s when I knew I loved to sing. And then when I knew that I love to sing opera was a little bit later in life, probably around 13/14, when I had started learning that technique. I was able to get that same emotional gratification and that catharsis of, like, a stream just flowing out of me, and in a way that nothing else like that I could really relieve in such a manner. But opera technique is also very cerebral. And so in a way, I felt really intellectually stimulated because I had to think really, really hard. I could somehow feel the music that I was performing, while also thinking about how I was performing it. And that satisfied every single part of me. Time completely disappeared in those moments, because every part of myself and my consciousness was so present and engaged, in this one thing I was doing.

MOVES: It’s a pretty comprehensive answer. And it [music] obviously has captured you, in your heart and soul. You touched on and said that, music—the moment you would listen to music, you found it so cathartic, almost as if you’d come home is what I’m guessing. 

AB: That’s when I would sing, it wasn’t just listening to music. It was always singing, that’s what I was trying to qualify.

MOVES: Do you perform any instruments at all? 

AB: I played piano and violin when I was younger, but those never stuck. I wish I was better at piano now, but it felt like a block between me and performing music. Whereas when I sang, it didn’t matter how good—maybe it sounded awful—but I could do it. Whereas if I can’t play piano, I’m stuck.

MOVES: I sense there was this whole ownership that was taking place, that it was your space, you owned it and once you knew you loved it, was that something personal to you? Did you find that it was easy to share at a young age, the space that you love so much? 

AB: Yeah. I’ve always shared the fact that I sing with my whole life because I started so young, and I loved it so young and I was like, pretty good when I was nine, so the fact that I sang is always a big part of who I am, and I always love to share that with people because it is so much of myself. But the opera I was recently told I don’t share with people as much… I don’t know any other classical singers my own age. and so that always felt like this is something reserved for me, this is not something I talk about a lot because I also don’t often perform it. I’ve performed in one opera and that was in Greece [at Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Dido and Aeneas].

MOVES: You’ve touched on there that it was something personal, and you didn’t feel you need to share it. 

AB: I’ve never been a huge social media user. I don’t feel the need to give more of myself to people than I want to. I think it gives me a lot of power to intentionally reserve some things for myself. As you said, in an age where it is really difficult to acquire privacy and to let anything be reserved for the self, the fact that I can have this huge part of my life still be mine and not give that to other people gives me a lot of power and I like that.

MOVES: So take me into your personal space on the opera side. How much training do you feel you need to put in and how much time do you vest? 

AB: I cannot just sing and try to make it work at that moment. It is a very, very technical skill which I have not anywhere near perfected. Every single time I’ve performed a piece of classical music, I practice it for a minimum of one month with my voice teacher, just to make sure that I’ve at least been able to nail this specific piece of music, and to make sure that I can do it any time I need to.

MOVES: Who would be your top two people [opera singers]? And why? 

AB: Specific musicians. Jessye Norman is my personal icon. Pavarotti is amazing. And then there’s a Russian soprano who I listen to with my dad all the time, Anna Netrebko. She’s brilliant.

MOVES: So where do you see yourself with this artist side of you in the future? 

AB: I will always sing, if I ever stop my parents will probably shoot me I think, because they will know I’m not making wise decisions for myself. In the future, I don’t think it’s going to be any type of career of sorts, or I don’t think I will ever do it professionally. I definitely don’t want to do it professionally, because I think taking a hobby and making it a profession kind of ruins the sanctity of a hobby. I always want it to be just for me. I’m in an acapella group at school right now. That’s very fun, but I want to do more with it because I think I underestimate how much I love to sing. 

MOVES: If there’s any advice you’d give any young person that was either thinking about music from somebody who is young, in that space, what would it be? 

AB: Do it because you love it. I’ve seen a handful of people pursue an art, such as music, especially classical music, as a way to get ahead. And like, getting into college is the easiest example. And I think any art form you should not just be doing for that reason, obviously, but I think very specifically with classical music, it’s so technical and it’s so easy to say, ‘I’ve done this right, and I’ve done this wrong,’ that doing it out of anything but love, I think, is a really dangerous game.

I never really related to the idea of a passion, just because I think that that word gets thrown around very lightly—it’s a lot deeper than just finding the activity. I love singing, it is one of the deepest forms of catharsis. But also, when I connect to my own voice in that manner, I feel the presence of being—when I was 10 and singing in my choir, and how good it felt then, and the woman who taught me to sing.

So for anyone, the advice I would give to somebody struggling to find that escape is, it’s not about the activity, it’s about how you feel doing it. I’ve recently started running more. I don’t love it, but if I sit in that moment and I think this is my time to be present, this is my time for myself, then I do, and then I feel very relieved.