Copyright campbellrivermirror
Whether featured in Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle or Mozart’s The Magic Flute, opera families notoriously exceed the bounds of dysfunction. So, it’s a testament to their hard work, creativity and patience that real-life opera husband-and-wife team Anne Grimm and Benjamin Butterfield have proven family life off stage can be every bit as exciting without the additional drama. The Oak Bay couple met mid-career, studying at a summer singing program near Chicago (Anne being from the Netherlands and Benjamin from Victoria). They later raised two daughters, now in their early twenties — a dancer and a rower, but both good singers, too. Between being away from one another for long periods of time, conflicting work schedules and mood swings, wavering from the excitement of a good show to the misery of a bad one, the couple knows all about taking on tough roles. It’s a shared passion for music, they say, that’s helped strengthen their healthy and ever-evolving relationship. “Although being in the same business has its challenges, Anne and I have remained enthusiastic and philosophical about our lives as musicians and more so as singers, because it continues to be a life full of discovery and change,” Benjamin says. “We have always been supportive of each other through the ups and downs of this career and life. There is never a dull moment.” In addition to their singing careers, Benjamin and Anne have been teaching a new generation of aspiring singers at the University of Victoria for nearly 20 years. Taking on the role of head of voice at the School of Music, they moved back to Benjamin’s hometown in 2006. Anne joined the voice department in 2009 but now teaches at the Victoria Conservatory of Music as well. “It was the right time for me — and us — to create more stability in our lives moving on a bit from being solely freelance performers,” Anne says. Settling down with a family and full-time teaching positions has given both Benjamin and Anne another perspective on their craft. “Teaching voice in my view is a journey of exploring and searching together where and how effortless singing can be found,” Anne says. “The human voice is something so personal and unique; there are, of course, lots of technical tools, but the magic of it all is something else and never stops to fascinate me. Teaching requires flexibility and adaptability, and I learn with every lesson that I teach.” She also encourages her students, and all aspiring singers, to stay curious and enjoy the journey rather than getting caught up in the results. “If your heart is truly in it, good things will happen.” Perhaps, unsurprisingly, Anne and Benjamin’s like-minded principles have helped them both rise to be internationally-recognized singers, albeit coming from two different continents. Benjamin, whose Victoria debut dates back to 1990 when he took on the role of Triquet in Eugene Onegin, has since made appearances with the likes of the Houston, Montreal and Vancouver symphonies as well as at Carnegie Hall, the BBC Proms in London and the National Concert Hall in Taipei. Anne started being recognized around the same time, touring and recording with the Amsterdam Bach Soloists under renowned early music specialist, Ton Koopman, with consequent contracts at the Salzburg Festival, Ambronay, Potsdam San Souci in Berlin, as well as a recent tour to Australia playing Marilyn Monroe in Gavin Bryar’s chamber opera, Marilyn Forever. Each had performed regularly with the Victoria Symphony and Victoria Philharmonic Choir. Pacific Opera Victoria fans may recall seeing Benjamin in February’s run of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. “My teacher in Victoria, Selena James, always reminded me that singing is a reflex. If you want something to happen, it does,” he says. “I was always reminded that the body is very smart and the head is very foolish. ‘How do you sing a beautiful tone?’, I would ask. ‘You think it, dear. You have to have the heart of a poet. You must feel the music with your whole being, dear.’ “Singing is physiological, but it is not a condition that one must try to overcome through heady techniques that can complicate the phenomena that is the human body and mind itself. Learning to sing, in my view, is learning to find the middle of everything so that you can present the totality of anything.” Being a singer supersedes everything and can take priority over some of a family’s most precious moments. Holiday occasions, or anything dependent on a fixed schedule and predictability, are often sacrificed in a singer’s busy and erratic schedule. Benjamin describes the process as a recurring loop of studying, auditioning, practicing, eating, travelling, performing and sleeping. One can stop and enjoy the view as well, they say, but given the rigours of an opera singer’s life, it’s incredible that Anne and Benjamin have found time to work on projects together along the way. The past few summers, they sang together at the Sicily Music Festival and Competition in Noto, Italy, where they also both teach. They also sang together locally for the 30th anniversary of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra and the 90th anniversary of the Victoria Choral Society. But, Benjamin says the most all-time memorable was the Butchart Gardens 100th Anniversary concert with the Victoria Symphony. “Anne was seven months pregnant with our second daughter, and our first ran down the lawn with abandon to the edge of the stage, enthusiastically wanting to join us. What a glorious day.” When they’re not on stage or in the classroom, the couple loves to take an evening walk along the esplanade at Willows Beach or Ogden Point. They enjoy walks on Mt. Tolmie to get to and from UVic each day, and try to keep their garden in shape. “We like to go to the grocery store together to get away from it all for a moment,” Benjamin says. “We also just marvel in general at how lucky we are to live in Oak Bay and to have been able to raise a family here in the first place.” Anne and Benjamin are currently at work on a faculty concert for this coming fall, as well as an upcoming 2026 tour called Opera? Are You Kidding Me? that’s already booked for eight performances across B.C. There’s a strong possibility the finale will be in Victoria, so Vancouver Island opera lovers can look forward to a local homecoming.
