Charles Eliasch
Charles Eliasch – On the Way to Carnegie Hall
by Jay S. Jacobs
Carnegie Hall is one of the most renowned musical venues in the world, so it says something about a young performer when he gets his first performance there at merely 20. However, this is where Swedish-born, New York-educated opera singer Charles Eliasch finds himself. He will be making his Carnegie Hall debut on March 31, 2013 at the Weill Recital Hall.
What are your earliest musical memories?
My earliest memory is singing in choirs. Really the one which is significant I can’t particularly remember. When I was two years old, my mother [British director Amanda Eliasch] took me to the opera to see Don Giovanni by Mozart. She thought at intermission I’d be fed up, so she decided to leave. When I realized that, apparently I made a huge scene and insisted that we stay for the whole thing.
When did you first decide you wanted to be a singer?
I would say when I was about 13. My grandmother [Caroline Brown] was an opera singer. It was also when one of my mother’s friends showed me a film called Farinelli. There was something about that film, which was about an opera singer in the 18th century. I don’t know, it just inspired me to become an opera singer. Also, there are a lot of musicians in my family, so that has been an instrument. But it was that film that started it all.