The Prodigal Soprano

“When interviewing most singers, you first inquire about their roles, their interpretations, their inspiring teachers. Maybe, if you’re nervy enough, you query them about their love life. When talking with soprano Andrea Gruber, however, you first ask to see the tattoos… Gruber’s candor extends a lot further than a modest display of flesh or an admitted fondness for hip-hop.” She speaks openly of her struggles with drugs and her humiliating ouster from the Metropolitan Opera, and cites ’60s rocker Janis Joplin as one of her vocal influences. And she talks about what it took for her to leave her troubled past behind and rebuild all the bridges she had burned early in her career.