Saskatoon Symphony hosts Canadian Mezzo-Soprano Julie Nesrallah

Julie Nesrallah is many things: a mezzo-soprano classical singer, a radio broadcaster for CBC’s Tempo, and a first-generation Canadian born to Lebanese immigrants in Ottawa.

She is performing with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra on Sat., May 25, for a night of torch songs that explore unrequited love. 

Nesrallah teamed up with the SSO to record a new album of jazz standards and torch songs in the fall of 2022. The album Too Good To Talk About comes out later this year.

650 CKOM’s Alex Brown had the chance to sit down with the legendary singer at Persephone Theatre during a break in symphony rehearsals.

ALEX BROWN: So talk to me about what you’re gonna be doing this week, and why you are in Saskatoon?

NESRALLAH: I’m in Saskatoon to do a concert of torch songs, which was made possible by the brilliant Mark Turner (CEO and Creative Producer of the SSO), who had a dream that I was singing torch songs. Then he called me, and I told him that that was my dream, but he actually had a real sleeping dream. But it was just one of my career goals. I always like to say that Mark’s dream helped my dream come true.

For people who are unfamiliar, how do you define torch songs?

I would say something like, “a man that done me wrong”- type of song, or a song that celebrates the more sexy parts of being in love. Or having a person in your life or a song about how someone abandoned you, leaving you heartbroken, and in need of care. Like Jessica Rabbit. Like you might expect to see in a hotel lounge somewhere.

How long has this idea been in production for? It’s not your first time in Saskatoon, correct?

No, actually, I did my first Carmen here in Saskatoon in 2003, so I’ve been coming here for a very long time.

This has been in production for a few years. Mark Turner had the dream years ago, and then we finally picked music and then we had to have the music created. It’s all a process. So it’s taken a few years. This wasn’t just from one season to the next season type of thing. And so to have it actually come to fruition, and have this concert happen, and the album almost in the palm of our hands, it’s been a journey. A very good one, not a bumpy one at all. So it kind of feels like it was meant to be in some ways.

Was 2003 the first time you performed with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Does your history go way back?

No, that was the very first time. So I have a real soft spot for Saskatoon. And so it feels like a second home to me. When I arrive, people say, “Welcome back, it’s great to see you.” Even the guy at the hotel was like, “Welcome back.” I like that ’cause I remember faces and I remember names and it’s nice when other people remember you too.

Saskatoon Favourites

What would you say is an unexpected similarity between Toronto and Saskatoon?

How vibrant the music scene here is.There’s always something happening. I adore Mark Turner, not only personally but professionally. I feel like all the stuff that he chooses and all the other things that are happening in this town are giving Toronto a run for their money. This is such a rich musical town with great restaurants. And you know, people say that people in Toronto are cold, but I haven’t found that. They’re very kind. And people actually say “good morning” to each other on the street there. And then here, it’s just kindness on steroids. It’s just like everybody’s so kind, how can you not feel like you’re at home? So, yeah, but I’d say the music scene is hot here. You guys got stuff going on. Who would have thought Toronto and Saskatoon have this thing in common?

What is your “must-stop” when you come to Saskatoon?

Filosophi.Every time I leave the airport, I send a Mark (a text), “can we go to Filosophi?”

The food is great, the cocktails are delicious, the service is amazing. The food here (in Saskatoon) has been great, but I keep going to Filosophi..

Does Saskatchewan’s dry air affect your voice at all?

Well, a little bit. I don’t really think I’ve noticed it before, but I’m not like a precious singer in that way. I don’t walk around with a (water) bottle.

Have you performed here in the winter?

Yes. I think I was too cold to notice. It was one of the first recitals I did here, and it was minus 40 with a 50 windchill, like it was bananas, and I just wrapped myself up. But no, I don’t think it does bother me.

Get to Know Julie

How does Julie Nesrallah unwind and unplug?

I’m one of those people who’s an extrovert who then needs to be alone for the rest of the evening or whatever. So I unplug. I go home. I listen to jazz, I listen to Zeppelin. I do crossword puzzles. I run. And I just decompress very, very quietly with very basic things. Even just sitting and looking at music that’s coming up is a very nurturing, quiet experience. So I would say it’s a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde that way to me, it’s just shut the door.

How does Julie Nesrallah warm up and get pumped up for a big evening?

Doesn’t take much! I start warming up my voice a couple of hours before like really just quietly.

There’s gentleness that you treat yourself with. And then I go a little bit more and more. I stop, do laundry in between, or maybe the dishes. I don’t just pound away at my voice.So I’ll start to warm up for a couple of hours, and then by the time I’m ready, and the makeup’s on, the kit is on, and you’re waiting backstage, then it’s just, let’s do it. The worst part is you have to just keep your energy to yourself, which I have a lot of, so I don’t really need a big band behind me going “go go go girl!” I got it, I’m going already.

What would you say is something that’s not well known about Julien Nesrallah?

I have to tell you that in my spare time, of which I don’t have a lot, I decided I would like to start in 80s cover band, which I did. Nobody knows, you’re the first person I’m telling. It’s me and another guy whose name shall remain nameless, but it’s a duo. So we were gonna start out with a larger thing, and we thought, well, why don’t you and I just start doing a bunch of hits? I have a passion or a hidden desire to sing 80s hits because that’s when I went to school. I went to Ridgemont High, and at that time the movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” came out, so it was obligatory. We even had a Jeff Spicoli-like guy in our class, so I would say that would be my guilty pleasure. And in fact, the show is called “Julie Nesrallah and the Guilty Pleasures”. That’s my partner’s idea, I didn’t come up with that line.

So can we expect like rock ballads or is it like synth?

No, it’s acoustic guitar. It’s guitar and me and it also incorporates storytelling about my high school days and what each song brings to mind, or represents from back in the 80s, when all these songs were from. If we had playlists back then, these totally would have been on my playlist because they’re still in my playlist now. I went to high school a million years ago, so it’s happening. We already did one gig in Orillia, Ontario, in a little pub and it was packed! We have three more gigs coming up in the fall, one of which might take us up to the Great White North.

So it’s not confirmed yet, but Julie Nesrallah and the Guilty Pleasures is green-lit. It’s power ballads, it’s Journey, George Michael, Billy Joel.

Is there anything that you want people to know about you?

I have a tiny company and I produce the opera Carmen in pubs or in restaurants, and it’s called “Carmen On Tap” and I have been hauling that around since 2012. It’s hugely successful. It travels well because it’s just eight or nine people. There are eight people in the cast and a pianist.I do the staging and all the production and all the organizing and then I actually sing Carmen for the show. But it’s a really great traveling show, which brings this intimacy and all the nasty. Like Carmen has violence, it has sexy scenes, and not-so-sexy scenes, and then hits galore. This is all taking place as we weave into and out of the tables. So there’s no wall, and people come away just feeling like they’ve been through something. It’s an extraordinary experience, and it’s hard to articulate it, because again, it’s just one of those things that’s magic. What do you do when a singer is pressed up against you, as you’re trying to eat your nachos, you know, and singing this high note over your head? People walk out transformed and so it’s “Carmen On Tap,”  So if you need a “Carmen On Tap” in your city, all I need is a restaurant and a piano.

What’s one of the best pieces of advice that you’ve been given?

Be prepared and be nice. I know that’s old -fashioned, but nowadays, everything moves so quickly and professionalism has to come in when you’re not happy with the situation. That’s when you have to be professional. I think people think I’m being professional. Yes when things are good, but I think, you know things go wrong, it’s life. Every now and then, you get a curveball at work, at the symphony, or wherever, but that’s where professionalism kicks in. Remember that professionalism has to be deployed when things are good, but especially when things are going bad. So be prepared, be nice.

Humble Beginnings

What was the moment that you realized that you had a talent, a voice?

I just always knew. I remember knowing that I was a performer before I even went to school.

I remember watching a show on TV, maybe it was the Oscars, or some big American fancy show, where people were dancing and singing and I just knew. I was one of those. I remember that feeling.

And when I got into public school, we had a really solid, robust music program. I’m still in touch with my music teacher from public school. I stayed with my voice teacher that I had in Ottawa from the time I was 12 years old until the day she died. Mrs. Darwood saw I had a strong voice. She put me in the alto section because I could carry harmonies, very difficult ones.

Who were your biggest role models growing up?

My mom for sure, both my parents. When I went into this career, they never said “we don’t think you should, we think you should do something else.” When things got tough, nobody ever said “maybe you shouldn’t,” it was just support, support, support. So my mom, my dad, and then musically, Maria Callas and Pavarotti. And I try to listen to the really excellent singers that I respect with those hardcore voices. (Franco) Corelli, a couple of other Italian mezzos. I learned from these people but also learned from all people I work with, the younger set especially, when you know the newbies that are coming up, the emerging artists, I learn a lot from them too. But really it’s my mom, Callas, Pav, Corelli, and a couple of conductors that were really, really essential.

What is your best broadcasting memory?

One of my most memorable radio experiences was one time I was doing Carmen On Tap in Niagara-On-The-Lake, and a man approached me and he said (he was) a pediatric surgeon. He said every morning at 9 a.m., when (he has) a very small patient on the table, (he says) to (his) fellow staff and doctors and nurses, “is it nine o ‘clock? Is Julie with us? Then we begin.” So this doctor told me that he doesn’t start his operating duties in the morning until 9 a .m. so that when he’s operating on these small precious children, he can listen to Tempo at the same time. And I looked at him, and just my eyes filled with tears, and he said, “No, no, don’t start!”

I told my mom that story and her eyes filled with tears, and then we’re both crying in the kitchen at one point, but when you can’t see people in front of you (on the radio), it’s not that you forget, you don’t forget the impact, but you just need to be reminded of how humane and how connecting radio is.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Responses have been edited for clarity.