Sprechstimme
Sprechstimme: One Artist's Story of Resistance and Acceptance to Aging
What does it mean to age well? For soprano Lucy Shelton, the answer may lie in music itself. At 82, Shelton recently made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera — performing in the world premiere of Innocence, a Finnish opera about a school shooting, sung in nine languages. On this episode of The Age of Aging, Dr. Jason Karlawish sits down with Shelton to explore her remarkable career, the relationship between music and the aging mind, and what it means to keep creating — and performing — well into the eighth decade of life.
Inside this episode:
0:00 – Shepherd on the Rock: Dr. Karlawish introduces Lucy Shelton with her recording of "Shepherd on the Rock" by Franz Schubert and shares why he wanted to interview her.
4:17 – Met Opera Debut at 82: Shelton and Dr. Karlawish discuss her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Innocence, a Finnish opera performed in nine languages.
9:08 – A Musical Life: Shelton reflects on growing up in a musical family, discovering her voice, and building a career as a singer — not an opera singer.
15:23 – Singer vs. Opera Singer: Shelton explains what sets her apart from traditional opera singers, including the vocal techniques that have allowed her to keep performing into her eighties.
20:56 – Art Meets Life in Lucidity: Shelton describes performing Lucidity, a chamber opera written for her about a singer living with dementia — and what it meant to hold her score on stage, not just as a prop, but out of personal necessity.
26:34 – Bringing Lucidity to Philadelphia: Dr. Karlawish and Shelton discuss the possibility of bringing the opera to Philadelphia.
27:26– Music, Memory, and the Mind: Dr. Karlawish and Terrence Casey explore the connection between music and the aging brain, including PMC's partnership in the Community Voices Choir — a collaboration welcoming adults of all levels of cognition through music.
Resources available on the episode webpage linked below
Review of “Innocence,” in The Wall Street Journal
The New York Times Review of “Innocence.”
More information on “Innocence.” (The New York Times)
Visit Lucy Shelton’s website
Learn more about Shelton’s previous opera, “Lucidity.” (NPR)
Learn more about sprechstimme (Britannica)
More information on the Community Voices Choir
What Is the Association Between Music-Related Leisure Activities and Dementia Risk? A Cohort Study (International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry)
Longitudinal effects of choir singing on aging cognition and wellbeing: a two-year follow-up study (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Special thanks this episode to Jason Karlawish, MD, and Lucy Shelton.
The Age of Aging is a Penn Memory Center production hosted by Editorial Director Terrence Casey and Producer Jake Johnson, in partnership with the Penn FTD Center, the Penn Institute on Aging, and Penn’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Contributors include Dalia Elsaid, Jason Karlawish, Emily Largent, and Alison Lynn.
The Age of Aging is made possible by generous support from the Michael Naidoff Communications Hub fund.
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