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“It’s so funny to be called a trailblazer because it’s not how I see what I do,” muses Patricia Yates about the uniqueness of her artistry, “but I understand that for other people, my experience and my existence in this industry and in this world is something that’s really new.”
The “newness” of Yates’ artistry is the fact that she is a trans-femme tenor – a rare confluence in the world of opera. While female-presenting, Yates – a native of Yorkshire in England who now calls Montreal home and is performing this month at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity – performs the usually-male tenor heroes of the operatic canon alongside being asked to sing roles written for female-presenting voices.
Performing in both gender-defined spaces that the operatic canon provides is two sides of the same coin for Yates. “I think in opera – especially in classic opera where you’ve got these kinds of stereotypical male characters who were exhibit certain kinds of masculinity – I'm able to offer a perspective of, ‘What if it actually wasn’t like this back in the day? What if this wasn’t the way that actually it was intended [sic]?’”
Yats finds herself far more aligned with her soprano and mezzo-soprano counterparts when it comes to preparing a role for a woman. “Society views me the same way as a lot of cis women and treats me the same way as a lot of cis women,” she says.
Of those views that society holds, Yates enjoys being the person that can start the conversation around gender portrayal in opera. “It can sometimes be quite jarring for the audience members in a way that’s quite funny,” she laughs, noting instances where audience members have remarked about the unique nature of her voice in her studies at McGill University.
“They just see me. At the end of the day, my voice is just an extension of that,” Yates continues. “And it doesn’t matter if I’m trans or if I’m cis. It doesn’t actually matter. What they’re seeing and what they’re experiencing is what I’m experiencing. And that is so delicious to me. There’s nothing like that because suddenly, the playing field is level and I’m not like covered with this label that everybody has all their pre-judgements and prejudices.”
Ultimately, being able to perform such a diverse array of characters is rooted in Yates’ assuredness in her identity. “I can go off the stage at the end of the day and I can take off the costume and I can be myself,” she says, “whereas before, I was putting on a costume on top of a costume. Now, I’m putting on a costume on top of me. And that’s the most liberating thing about it.”
“There are now times when people are beginning to see me – as the artist and as the human being – as an opportunity and to do something new and to perhaps take a risk if it’s something they’ve not done before. But, hopefully, my M.O. is to be the risk that pays off.”