OPERA: Singers Battle Bugs in Hopes of Protecting Their Voices : Opera Stars Scale the Heights to Battle Bugs

Marilyn Horne travels with a complete medicine chest. Simon Estes gulps vitamins daily--at least 3,000 units of Vitamin C. Sherrill Milnes wears a scarf and rarely talks in the cold outdoors. Leigh Munro washes her hands often. Benjamin Luxon doesn’t worry about his health and even spends time cutting wood on his farm.

Opera singers sometimes take extraordinary precautions to avoid catching a cold or the flu. After all, that first sneeze can lead to a temporary loss of livelihood. Worse, there could be harmful long-term effects on the voice.

“For most of us in the industry, a cold can mean loss of money,” Milnes says. “You learn with time what your voice can take and how bad a cold you can have and still sing.”

Because theirs is such a public vocation, and because opera singers so often greet fans and friends with kisses and hugs, the performers are very vulnerable to cold and flu bugs, says Dr. Hans von Leden, a Los Angeles throat specialist who confines his practice to voice problems.

He adds: “Trouble is, when opera singers get the flu, they feel the show must go on and they must honor their contracts and show up at rehearsal and performance. Of course, then they infect the rest of the company.”

Joan Dornemann, vocal coach at the Metropolitan Opera, says her students try all sorts of ways to stay well: She knows two who pray a lot; another consumes tons of garlic (he’s rarely sick). Others steam with vaporizers, menthol or hot showers. Then there’s the Italian chorister who swears the cure lies in a glass of cognac, hot milk, honey and two aspirins.

Milnes says it’s vital for performers visiting strange cities to know and have ready access to a member of the elite medical fraternity of American voice specialists, numbering about 10. “It’s so important to know who these laryngologists are,” he said. “It’s hard to convince doctors not familiar with singers that you are famous and need to be seen right away.”

Dr. Wilbur Gould, ear, nose and throat-voice doctor to the stars--there have been reported sightings of Horne, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Martina Arroyo, Kiri Te Kanawa and others in his Manhattan waiting rooms--recommends that his patients rest, take moderate amounts of Vitamin C, lots of fluids and stay away from alcohol, cigarette smoke and sick people.

Above all, he urges singers not to perform if “there is the slightest hint of hoarseness.” Nose congestion is fine, but if a performer has laryngitis, “it’s essential they not try to sing out.”

Frederica von Stade, who has the flu this week and has cancelled all engagements, says she’s reached the point where she will not perform if her voice doesn’t feel right: “If I am sick, I am sick. Sure, you can make it through one performance, but then be out four to five days after. It’s too dangerous. Nothing is worth hurting your instrument. It is such a fragile instrument and is so much a part of the psyche. What you feel about yourself comes out in your voice.”

Here are some noteworthy ways von Stade and other opera personalities battle the bug:

* Von Stade, mezzo: “Aspirins are about all I will take for a cold. I stay away from cortisone, it’s too dangerous. I believe very strongly in steam; moisture is good for the vocal cords. In hotels where the air is usually so dry, I try to get them to open the window, and on flights, I carry my Evian bottle with me. I usually have about eight glasses of water a day, anyway. . . . Positive thinking (also) is so important. I . . . write notes to myself saying, ‘I’m terrific, I’m terrific.’ It’s amazing what miracles happen if you teach yourself to expect triumph and success.”

* Milnes, baritone: “I keep in good physical shape, not with body building but cardiovascular exercise. I take between 500 (and) 1,000 units of Vitamin C. If you have a heavy workload, then watch that you don’t do too much partying where you have to talk over smoke and noise. It’s a terrible strain on the voice. Try to keep your hotel room or apartment humid, because sore throats come from dryness. If you feel something coming on, cut your social calendar. In the early stages, staying away from others can often level off some respiratory problem.”

* Dornemann, Metropolitan Opera coach: “In my studio, I use Listerine on the phones, give water only in plastic cups and scrub with surgical soap. I never go into the theater if I am ill. I would just as soon give a singer leprosy than a cold.”

* Luxon, baritone portraying Falstaff in the Music Center Opera production opening Feb. 16: “I go out of my way to lead a normal and active life. We live on 56 acres in Kent, England, and I spend a lot of time outdoors. If I worried about my health, I would quickly become neurotic and and would not be able to exist--let alone perform.”

* Horne, mezzo: “I have a humidifier going 24 hours in my New York apartment. I avoid drafts and will move six times in a restaurant to avoid the air-conditioner. I stay out of public transportation and go sparingly to the theater or movies. When I travel I have a complete medicine chest, and in a plane ask to be moved from someone who has a blooming cold. I believe strongly in vitamins and take about 3,000 (units) of C. About 18 months ago I started a physical fitness program and have a personal trainer. This has made such a difference.”

* Estes, bass-baritone: “I believe in preventive rather than prescriptive medicine. In hotels, I fill up the tub or leave the shower on and open the door so steam can come into the room. But I go out when the forced-air heating is on because that spews so much bacteria into the room. But above all, I am a deeply religious person. There have been lots of complications in my career brought on by discrimination because of my skin color, and praying every day keeps me very peaceful. Religion plays a vital part in my career and my health.”

* Dr. Robert Feder, laryngologist, consultant to the Music Center Opera since 1986 and a center board member: “No throat clearing, gargling or whispering. If you must fly, no talking. Suck candy and don’t chew gum; it hurts the jaw. Drink 10 glasses of water every day but no ice--too cold for the throat. Steam five minutes, four times a day. Only steam with hot water, not cold. Take hot showers. No mint or menthol drops, they hurt the throat. . . . And stop blowing your nose: It’s bad for you.”

* Samuel Ramey, bass-baritone: “I make sure I am well-rested and don’t get run down. Often I give my finest performance when I’m sick. My best performance at La Scala was in ‘Marriage of Figaro’ when I had a terrible cold. It makes you concentrate and work harder.”

* Leigh Munro, formerly of the New York City Opera, now in “Phantom of the Opera” at the Ahmanson: “I exercise with weights and a Lifecycle, and drink two quarts of water and five cups of herb tea each night. I take a lot of vitamins. I have a lot resting on my health. It’s important for artists to learn how to handle the bombardment of stress.”