Birmingham-based vocalist Kathleen Farrar Buccleugh has performed classical music on stages across the country and around the world. The soprano has wowed audiences across Alabama, New York, and Vermont. She’s performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Alliance Theatre and with the Bassi Brugnatelli Chamber Orchestra in Italy, and in summer 2017, she was in residence with the Utah Festival Opera. But when she takes the stage at the Dorothy Jemison Day Theater in early April, she’ll be doing something she’s never done before—a solo opera.

Opera Birmingham is set to present The Diary of Anne Frank, starring Buccleugh, on April 5th and 6th. This one-act, one-woman show is based on the posthumously published journals of Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl who lived in hiding in Amsterdam with her family during World War II.

When asked what it meant to be tapped to lead the show, Buccleugh shared, “I was so thrilled, but it’s terrifying at the same time.”

In addition to the challenge of portraying a young girl, a solo show means all eyes are on Buccleugh.

“It makes you more exposed,” she said. “They’re focusing on you the whole time. So I need to be in the character 100% of the time. Kathleen should not be on that stage. It is just Anne.”

Keith A. Wolfe-Hughes, former General Director of Opera Birmingham, selected Buccleugh for the role, confident she was up to the task.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Kathleen on a number of projects, and I’ve always been impressed by her as a singing actress. And that is exactly what The Diary of Anne Frank needs—someone who not only sings well, but who also has the skills to command the stage as Anne,” Wolfe-Hughes said.

“Since this opera is a one-woman show, she carries all of the weight of storytelling and needs to be able to easily move from comedic moments and being a teenage girl to portraying the fear and horror of what was happening around her. Kathleen is equally comfortable in drama and comedy roles, and I knew she would be able to sensitively embody Anne Frank in the production.”

The Pull Toward Music

An Auburn, Alabama native, Buccleugh grew up listening to classical music. Her father often played records of symphonies and other instrumental music. She still has fond memories of listening to Handel’s Messiah every Christmas and Easter.

“That’s not to say we didn’t also listen to The Beatles,” she said. “But I was used to hearing classical music. And then, as a lot of singers do, I got my start in church, singing with the choir and having some solos.”

Eventually, Buccleugh started taking voice lessons. That’s when she had the opportunity to perform an aria for the first time. Though she briefly considered studying chemical engineering when she went to the University of Alabama for college, she opted for vocal performance instead.

“I just kept feeling the pull toward music,” she said. A multi-faceted creative, Buccleugh has also worked in journalism and content marketing and taught voice classes at Samford University. Today, she works full-time in marketing, juggling that role with her life as a performer.

“I’m more driven now to make the most of my time because I have less of a luxury of time,” she said. “I try to be diligent about how I set aside time to practice.”

All Stories Need to Be Told

When she was offered the opportunity to headline The Diary of Anne Frank, Buccleugh was reluctant to accept the role—not because she was worried about time management and not because of the challenge of leading a solo show.

“When it was offered to me, my first thought was, ‘How am I able to tell the story of a Jewish person?’” Buccleugh said. “It didn’t seem right to me at the time. I questioned whether I was worthy of telling it. But I knew this was still an important story to be told, and I was asked to do it, so I needed to rise to the challenge and figure out how I can feel comfortable doing it, feel like I do deserve to tell this story.”

And Buccleugh believes stories like Anne Frank’s need to be told more than ever right now in the face of the polarizing political climate, not only in America but globally.

“There’s so much pain on every side of what’s happening right now, and all stories need to be told,” Buccleugh said. “It’s important that as people watch the opera they should recognize that this happened to a specific group of people at a specific time, but it’s also a reminder of the persecution that can happen to any culture, any group of people.”

She went on to add that, unfortunately, history does often repeat itself, yet she is hopeful that through the arts, important stories will be told and will push us to stop the persecution of the past from happening again.

Lynne Hutton, Managing Director of Opera Birmingham, shared, “Anne’s voice remains a beacon of resilience, and through the universal language of music, we hope to provide a meaningful experience that encourages reflection and dialogue.”

Opera for All

For folks who are new to classical music, Buccleugh believes The Diary of Anne Frank is the perfect introduction to opera, despite its heavy subject matter. The show is in English and has a runtime of only 55 minutes.

“That is a really great entry point for people who don’t want to sit there for an hour and a half to find out if they like it,” she said. The production also includes supertitles.

Last year, Opera Birmingham presented Touch, a new opera about the life of Helen Keller, celebrated 20th century deaf and blind author and activist, and Anne Sullivan Macy, her confidant and friend.

“People I know that didn’t really know if opera would be for them, went to see it because they knew the Helen Keller story and they loved it,” Buccleugh said. “My hope is that people have the same sort of experience with this because it’s a familiar story.”

Lauded longtime conductor Lester Seigel will serve as musical director for the show, conducting an ensemble of nine players from the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and other groups.

“It’s going to be a way of being treated to some of Birmingham’s finest musicians,” Buccleugh said.

Buccleugh believes that opera is for all.

“There have been so many efforts over the years to make opera sexier,” Buccleugh says, pointing to updated productions of shows and the infusion of pop into some performances.

“I think that all ways of telling the story should be embraced,” she said. “We should experiment. We should play.”

She believes there should be opera for people who love traditional productions as well as those who want flashy costumes and neon lights.

“Allow people to feel the way they feel about an opera, allow them to interpret it the way they want to, and allow them to wear what they want to the opera,” she said. “Come as you are.”

Opera Birmingham presents The Diary of Anne Frank, starring Kathleen Farrar Buccleugh, on April 5^th and April 6^th at the Dorothy Jemison Day Theater. Tickets are available now.