Amelia Wilber's 'so-called opera life'... on HER terms.

If you’ve sung in the Philadelphia area, odds are you’ve worked with Amelia Wilber. She’s a soprano and she’s sung with many of the Philly area companies and choruses: The Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, OperaDelaware, The Princeton Singers, Delaware Valley Opera Company, to name a few.

Amelia is also a kind, insightful, thoughtful person and being around her warm personality feels like being hugged (never mind how awesome her hugs actually are), which is why we’re featuring her for our very first Artist Profile!

We spoke with her over the summer and we were inspired by her commitment to come to an opera career on her own terms. With every decision she makes, Amelia wants to be sure that it serves her and her happiness, and not because she feels any kind of pressure to “succeed.”

Here are a few of the amazing things she had to say:

On self-kindness:

“You have to remember that you have to focus on yourself and [on] making the progress that you need to make.”

Why she loves opera:

“You get to tell people exactly who you are and it is so personal and so intimate, but so honest.”

On creating an audience:

“So basically, I’m just good with people 😂 … but there’s no reason for me to not be nice to you… being nice and interacting with people on a basic human level shouldn’t be difficult. You end up making these little connections with people…then you start talking to them more and they’re like, “Oh, well the next time you’re giving a recital just let me know.”

On self-promotion and fundraising:

“[Having] the sheer will to ask, getting over that initial step, is I think the hardest one… people find [your art] fascinating, and that, in and of itself, is sometimes enough for people to want to support you. It helps them feel like they’re contributing to it. But if you don’t ask, you can’t know.”

On making smart decisions:

“I have a tendency to overdo things. If I make a decision, or I make a discovery, it will happen, and it will happen because I’ll make it happen. And what was very important to me was that I not rush [a move to Germany]. If I’ve truly found my new home, it’s going to feel the same whether I get my visa in a year, or if I get it now. So I wanted to make sure that I did it on my own terms and I didn’t sort of force it and end up making myself hate this place that I really enjoy.”

“I don’t want to go somewhere to get a visa and get whatever job I need to get over there. If you also end up waiting tables in a foreign country are you just going to regret it the same?”