Texas Tech Alumna Amanda Key Demonstrates Why Determination, Perseverance and Hope
Will Always Matter
She can see clearly now that most of the pain is gone. At least some of the obstacles
are no longer in her way.
The days are brighter, maybe even bordering on sunshiny from time to time, but it
has not been easy for Amanda Key-Braster to see the light – even as someone who possesses
a singing voice so beautiful it can cause songbirds to doubt their vocation.
For a dozen years, Amanda’s vocal talent mesmerized crowds and pleased opera enthusiasts
across Europe as the coloratura soprano performed not only in numerous productions
but also in several hundred cathedrals across Belgium and the Netherlands.
Until she didn’t.
And in what may have been the cruelest of twists, she never saw it coming.
“It’s kind of a tragic story,” she reflects in a melancholy way, memory carrying her
back to the moment when her life was cleaved into before and after.
Overture
[ oh-ver-cher, -choor ] noun. Music. An orchestral composition forming the prelude
or introduction to an opera, oratorio, etc.
When performing on stage and in cathedrals around the world, she is billed as Amanda
Key. The rest of the time and especially now, as wife and mother, she is known as
Amanda Key-Braster.
Amanda’s love affair with music is so deeply ingrained within her it might as well
be part of her origin story.
“My mother used to say I came out singing,” she jokes. “She said I could sing before
I could talk, and I was a very musical baby.”
It wouldn’t take great detective work to discern that she was incredibly gifted musically.
As a child, she was introverted and preferred singing to talking. Her first solo performance
came as a sixth grader in school, singing “America the Beautiful.” She took to instruments
with a similar zeal, beginning with piano before moving to flute and eventually settling
on percussion instruments.
“All through junior high and high school, I was in choir and band,” she said. “In
high school, I also joined orchestra and musical theater. By the time I made it to
Texas Tech, it was already clear that my passion was music and I wanted to perform.”
That desire came even more clearly into view when Amanda began attending Coronado
High School in Lubbock.
“Amanda was in choir during what I consider to be some of our most successful and
productive times at Coronado,” said Brett Farr, the former longtime director of choir
at the school. “Amanda was one of those students who was always engaged and was intentional
about her participation in choir. She was sincere and an incredibly hard worker.
“Interestingly, she did not try to be a star. She was content to be one of the group,
but there was no way to really hide her wonderful talent.”
After graduating from Coronado in 1998, she decided to focus on voice while playing
percussion on the side. She knew she wanted to sing, but opera? That wasn’t even on
Amanda’s performing radar.
That decision ultimately would be made at Texas Tech University‘s School of Music.
“It was a clear choice that I wanted to go to Texas Tech because I grew up in Lubbock
and I love Texas Tech,” she said.
“I was focused on voice, and my first-year voice teacher, Professor Kathy McNeil,
asked me about opera. I didn’t know anything about it, but she told me, ‘Well, your
voice would be perfect for opera.’”
Amanda started asking more questions about opera. Certainly, she could see herself
singing in Broadway musicals such as “Cats” and “Les Misérables,” but opera was, in
her mind, something else altogether. She decided to follow her curiosity and took
the plunge.
It was a choice she would never regret.
“My voice teacher talked me into trying out for the opera, and I made it,” Amanda
said. “So, the first opera I ever saw, I was in. And it happened to be with professor
Gerald Dolter, who directed the opera program at Texas Tech. His very first opera at Texas Tech,
‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,’ was my very first opera.”
Arriving on campus, she studied voice and was involved in the steel drum band and
percussion ensemble. This was also where her life initially intersected with Dolter’s.
He became a mentor and helped her decide which path to follow.
“We met when she was a member of my introduction to opera theater class,” recalled
Dolter, who has trained generations of singers through almost 30 years at Texas Tech
and more than 40 in higher education. “There were a lot of good people in that class,
and Amanda was one of the best. She asked a lot of good questions, and she excelled
in the class.”
That excellence wasn’t simply because of the superior quality of Amanda’s voice, although
that certainly helped distinguish her from the crowd. Dolter classified her vocally
as a soubrette soprano – light with a bright, sweet timbre – during this phase of
her life, but her voice would continue to mature with time and experience.
“I actually didn’t grow into my voice until I finished my master’s degree in Amsterdam
and found a new voice teacher,” she said. “I worked with Raymond Modesti, who is the
artistic director of the Belcanto Academy, and he was the one who transitioned the
way my voice was classified into a lyric coloratura soprano.”
Right away, Modesti could tell Amanda had the skill and talent to grow vocally, and
he helped further sharpen her marvelous gift.
“Amanda is a very bright and receptive student and soon enough she saw that the bel
canto method of singing helped get the voice connected and filled out,” Modesti said.
“The voice developed from a light soubrette-ish-like soprano to a full lyric coloratura.
Amanda is a very receptive student. Her sense of musicality and humor made our lessons
a sheer joy.”
Aria
[ ahr-ee-uh, air-ee-uh ] noun. Elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment, as in
an opera or oratorio.
“What separates the operatic sound from all the rest is the overtone series in the
voice,” Dolter said. “I listen for that as a voice teacher, the overtones, the timbre.
It is unmistakable. Amanda has the overtone capable of carrying over an orchestra
without amplification.”
That would become important because opera singers traditionally do not use microphones
when they perform. Dolter noticed other memorable characteristics about Amanda as
well.
“Amanda has something else that makes her a success: She doesn’t take no for an answer,”
he said. “I remember I spent one class talking about my personal performing journey
with the Bremen Opera in Germany. That piqued her interest. She asked important questions
about how to do this.”
Among Dolter’s impressive bona fides are appearances with eight German opera companies
and serving as Bremen’s leading baritone from 1985-91. Those professional adventures
resonated with Amanda, who saw Dolter’s somewhat nontraditional route as a realistic
pathway to realizing her own opera dreams.
“He was the one who inspired me to go to Europe and sing opera,” Amanda said.
However, it takes more than quality of voice to reach such accomplished heights. Equally
important is strength of character and depth of determination.
“You can have all the voice in the world, but if you don’t have the drive and you
say no too easily to hardship when life gets in the way and takes you a certain direction,
you will not get there,” Dolter said. “She never gave up on the dream or the drive
to get there. Every singer who’s made it that I’ve taught over almost 40 years of
doing this, it was not accidental.
“When the door opened, they were willing to walk through it. They didn’t know all
the answers. They just knew they had this goal in mind and would do whatever it takes
to accomplish it. Amanda walked through that door.”
And she was taking that stunning voice with her. As a coloratura soprano, Amanda was
perfectly suited for a career in opera. As Dolter described, “They have stratospheric
high notes and a good lower range.”
While there are outstanding opera teachers throughout America, and obtaining training
of the highest caliber is achievable, finding a place in an opera company isn’t easy.
The opportunities are limited, and the competition is ferocious.
In Europe, though, it’s a slightly different story. Most communities of any size have
their own opera company and stage spirited and robust productions throughout the year.
To kickstart her career, Amanda decided her best option was across the Atlantic.
“I was here in Lubbock and Gerald Dolter told me that he sang all over the place in
Germany,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I want to do that.’ I told my friends and family
that I was going to go sing opera in Germany … and they thought I was crazy.”
Crazy, like the professional poker player who can survey the competition around the
table and instantly sense favorable odds. Amanda knew great talent harnessed to that
same relentless work ethic that helped her earn a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance
would be a tough combination to beat.
“Many students come and go over the years, but a few stand out because of their extraordinary
behavior,” recalled Farr, who taught her in high school. “What I remember about Amanda
was she had a beautiful voice, was extremely dependable, and every time I looked her
way, she zeroed in on what was being asked of her. She had great maturity and determination
for her age.”
Amanda is also a student of her art, and the more she learned about opera, the more
she wanted to learn. As her knowledge grew, so did her appreciation.
“I fell in love with it,” she said. “I’m also kind of a history geek, and I thought
it was very cool that we would perform operas from the 1800s and bring them on stage.
So, when I started, I fell in love with the acting, costumes, history and the technique.
In my eyes, it was superior to simply singing in musicals.”
As Dolter had done a couple of decades earlier, she set her sights on Germany, but
that isn’t where she started.
“My boyfriend at the time, who is Dutch, said, ‘What about the Netherlands?’” she
said, referring to Berry, now her husband of 10 years. “We moved to the Netherlands,
got married and were about a two-hour drive from Germany. Our daughter was born in
Amsterdam, and we lived there for 12 years.”
German operas are performed in German, which means it became incumbent upon Amanda
to master the language.
“I took Latin in high school and two years of German at Texas Tech,” she said. “When
I moved to Europe I did three full weeks of intensive courses in Cologne, Germany,
so that I could be completely immersed in the language. I also became fluent in Dutch,
took one year of Italian and a few French classes. As an opera singer, you need all
of these languages.”
As an American, it would be a challenge breaking through and landing roles in European
productions, and it would be impossible without overcoming the language barrier.
“It’s difficult to make it into the system as a foreigner,” Dolter said. “Part of
it is the language. You have to be fluent to make it. Is it a challenge? I would say
yes, but in the same breath I would say the cream rises to the top.”
It was, to paraphrase a song from another genre, close enough to perfect for her.
Amanda completed her master’s degree at the Conservatory in Amsterdam and then co-founded
a Dutch opera company called B.O.O.M! (Bold Opera on the Move), of which she was also
named artistic director.
“I had this huge vision of bringing opera to the people, especially people throughout
the Netherlands,” she said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of opera besides in Amsterdam
and a few traveling operas. They tend to perform a lot more oratorios in Latin there.”
These were some of the most precious and memorable days of an ascendant career. Amanda
sang in 11 countries, performing some of the world’s best-known operas in historic
venues across Spain, Greece, Italy and Germany. Some of her highlights include main
roles such as Susanna in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Gilda in Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”
Everything was coming together.
“It starts with the voice, but you have to have the language and the drive,” Dolter
said. “You have to be able to successfully assimilate into a different society. You
have to have your stagecraft ready to go, and you have to be willing to continually
learn.”
And you’d better be willing to pay the price day after day after day for years at
a time.
“Students like Amanda who have gone on to great success share attributes of self-confidence,
dedication, commitment, self-awareness, stick-with-it-ness and a unique ability to
rebound when things are difficult,” Farr said.
Amanda had prepared all her life to meet these moments.
“Determination and grit are what I needed,” she said. “I always had to work a little
harder because singing opera didn’t come quite naturally to me. But I am also the
type of person who if you tell me that something is not possible, then I’ll work even
harder to prove you wrong.
“The first time I auditioned for a German agent, they told me no. They said I had
great potential and to come back next year, so I worked very hard with my opera coach,
Ira Siff, who is the Met Live commentator for the New York Metropolitan Opera. The
next year I came back and auditioned for them again, and they took me on, and I was
represented in Berlin and Hamburg.”
Siff said Amanda’s attention was completely riveted on further developing her already
considerable talent.
“Amanda worked very, very hard, focusing on aspects of her presentation that needed
improvement,” he said. “She was never defensive, always willing to take technical
and interpretive suggestions, knowing that they came from a place of being on her
side, wanting the best for her.”
That determination was an attribute that one day would serve her well in ways she
never knew she would need.
Libretto
[ li-bret-oh ] noun. The text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition.
First, though, there was evangelizing that needed to take place as Amanda worked to
share the gift of opera with as many people as possible in her new country.
“I was traveling to Germany to do operas,” she said. “But I wanted to spread the good
news of opera in the Netherlands. My idea was to bring it to the people, and with
B.O.O.M! that is what we did.”
The production company would take a three-hour opera and reduce it by half to introduce
the uninitiated to the art form without overwhelming them or being too demanding of
their time.
“Maybe they had never seen an opera before,” she said. “We wanted to help people learn
about it and become more accustomed to it, so we would stage festivals in parks, theaters
and schools – places where people were going to be anyway.”
The work was demanding, but the travel was fantastic. Amanda saw some of the world’s
most beautiful cities and worked with a variety of artistic temperaments.
“Let’s just say that some of the singers and directors are not always the easiest
people to work with,” she laughed. “But I really enjoyed my time in Europe. For 12
years, it was a lot of fun.”
Opera was only part of the appeal. She also performed oratorio and church music as
a soloist in several hundred cathedrals across Belgium and the Netherlands.
“The acoustics are amazing, and the organs are very majestic and beautiful,” she recalled.
“Part of the beauty and admiration comes from the architecture. Some of those cathedrals
were built between 1200 and 1500.”
In those sacred and awe-inspiring spaces, she has performed selections ranging from
Handel’s “Messiah” to Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion.” She says Smetana Hall at the Prague
Municipal House in the Czech Republic remains the most beautiful place in which she
sang.
The contrails of a stunningly successful career were now plainly visible, outlined
against a skyline of achievement. She refused to be denied. It’s easy to see Amanda
now filled with Oz-like wonder looking back at this amazingly gratifying stretch in
her life and thinking: “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Lubbock anymore.”
And then everything changed.
It has been six years, but the memory remains seared into her soul. The place is Amsterdam
during a rehearsal of “The Magic Flute.” Amanda is playing the Queen of the Night
character, and one of the props on stage is a sousaphone, a large, brass tuba-like
instrument.
She has performed in “The Magic Flute” numerous times. The two-act production is one
of the world’s most famous and beloved operas, originally premiering more than two
centuries ago. It tells the story of Prince Tamino and his quest to rescue the enslaved
princess Pamina. He is given a magic flute for protection and sets out on a treacherous
journey in the company of a reluctant accomplice.
Like any timeless story, it is a battle of good versus evil in which the Queen of
the Night the principal villain, is not at all what she seems. It is a demanding role
that includes two memorable arias, and her costume, in this version, required an unmistakably
lavish hat.
“The director thought it was a good idea to signify my death by taking the hat off
me and putting it into the bell of the sousaphone while I was lying on the floor playing
dead,” she says, flashing back and grimacing while remembering the day. “So, my eyes
were closed when they accidentally dropped the sousaphone on my head.”
Sousaphones can weigh up to 50 pounds. Even the lightest, dropped on an unsuspecting
party from any height, would connect with devastating impact.
“It caused a mild traumatic brain injury, and my concussion continued to cause symptoms
of what is called post-concussion syndrome,” she said. “It pretty much ended my career.”
Just like that.
“It was kind of like the frog-in-boiling-water thing,” recalled her husband, Berry
Braster, who has been by her side throughout this ordeal. “In the beginning, when
it happens, you’re bad off and either don’t know it or don’t want to know it. You
are in hot water. You just don’t feel it.”
But it was not the end. Turns out, it was only a lane change. One day, slowly and
years later, the curtain would rise again on Amanda.
Interlude
[ in-ter-lood ] Noun. An intervening episode, period, space, etc.
It has been years since the accident changed virtually everything about her life.
“I didn’t even lose consciousness,” she remembers, “and I did not know at the time
how serious of an injury I had just sustained. I only quietly whispered, ‘ouch.’”
After the accident, her first inclination was to return to opera and do what had given
her and many others so much joy, but while the artistic spirit was willing, the wounded
body couldn’t cooperate. Three months after the accident, she tried to work again.
It was a cycle that repeated several times until February 2020, when she decided to
put her health first.
“I totally underestimated how difficult it was going to be for me to try to perform
opera again,” she said. “With my light and sound sensitivities, daily headaches, fatigue,
brain fog and difficulties with most cognitive tasks, singing in another language
while acting on stage would prove harder than I imagined.
“Something that used to come naturally was suddenly unattainable. But since I’m very
headstrong, I tried anyway. I tried to make the audience and my colleagues not notice
this invisible illness while I struggled to finish the performance. Afterward, I was
bedridden for a week or two, not able to do the thing I could previously do. I decided
it wasn’t worth it anymore, so I stopped singing opera.”
Amanda visited approximately 20 European doctors to treat the mélange of symptoms
she was experiencing, but their consensus was she shouldn’t expect her condition to
improve much. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, so she returned to the U.S. and
soon found a Florida facility that specializes in concussion treatment.
“They made me better, like 50% better, in one week,” she said. “I hadn’t been able
to drive for three years, but I started driving again after that one week. I don’t
accept no for an answer for my health. That’s the kind of determination I had during
my career in Europe as well.”
It was a challenging time for both Berry and Amanda as every aspect of their lives
had been disrupted. Even in the gloom, though, there was light. Their daughter, Arianna,
was born four years ago and has regularly brought new dimensions of joy to their lives.
The first part of her name, “aria,” is a nod to her mother’s opera background.
Amanda’s dramatic improvement convinced the couple to move back to the U.S. for good
so she could continue connecting with the best concussion specialists in the world
and be near her family for support. She has been back for two years, and she continues
to make steady, measurable progress.
“I am starting to sing again and I’m teaching,” she said. “It was a good decision
for my health, but if the concussion didn’t happen, I would still be in Europe singing.”
While there have been obvious signs of physical healing, there is still work to be
done on the emotional and spiritual fronts.
“When you go through something like a mild traumatic brain injury, you have loss of
identity,” she said. “You have this career as an opera singer, and now, all of a sudden,
you can’t really do anything. You are in survival mode, and you have to go through
that. I just started realizing that my profession is not me.
“I am a singer, but that’s not all I am. God made me to do more.”
Amanda has made several striking realizations during these past couple of emotionally
draining years. The first is this: There is no way to the other side of the pain except
traveling straight through it. The second is equally important: There is no way her
gift can ever be truly silenced. As she is discovering, human resiliency knows no
bounds, and pain can often be channeled in powerful ways that touches others.
“In a funny way, it’s been a blessing in disguise because I’ve been filling my heart,”
she said. “I feel called by God to bring spirituals to people in a different way.”
In response to that call, Amanda combines spiritual songs such as “Give Me Jesus”
and “Were You There?” with an operatic emphasis, singing timeless lyrics in a new
way to connect people with one thing everyone needs: hope.
In 2022, she was invited to perform the soprano solo during Brahms’ “Requiem” with
the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra at Lubbock’s First United Methodist Church, where she
also sang “O Holy Night” at a Christmas Eve service.
“It was my first concert with orchestra in three years,” she said of the soprano solo.
“It was a big deal for me because I used to sing with an orchestra all the time, and
it would have been just like singing in one of those 200 cathedrals, something I had
done so often.
She also reached out to Dolter after returning and is slowly rebuilding her performer’s
life.
“She emailed me after the accident,” he said. “That was a horrible thing that happened,
but I heard her sing a couple of months ago, and her voice was more beautiful than
it has ever been with more power and more persuasion than it’s ever had.”
Make no mistake, it was not easy, and despite the hardship and heartbreak, she has
never regretted that original decision to pursue her opera dreams with passion.
In this slowly unfolding second act, Amanda started by humming and then moved to singing.
Then it was singing with a piano and then singing with an orchestra. She still suffers
migraine headaches as a result of light and sound sensitivity, so the steps remain
small, but every one taken is huge.
“Each week, I go to a chiropractor who adjusts my neck and then I do physical therapy,
and I’m working with a functional neurologist for people with post-concussion syndrome,”
she said. “I’m still dealing with things, but I’m slowly getting better. And that’s
OK.”
Likewise, her faith is slowly coming along as one might expect from someone who had
so much taken away in such a short time.
“The first few months, I was angry with God,” she said. “I was in denial, telling
my opera company I probably just needed two more weeks and I’d be back and to just
get another soprano to fill in for my concerts. All of a sudden, she had 20 concerts
to do for me.”
Eventually, denial gave way to pragmatism.
“I decided to just sit with this and grabbed my Bible,” she said. “I couldn’t read
for about eight months, so I just sat with it and prayed about it and slowly and surely,
I started coming closer to God. It’s like being down in the dumps really, really low,
and he’s there with you. He will start bringing you up out of that hole you’re in.
“God really worked on me during that time to mold me into a better person, the person
he wants me to be, and he’s not done with me yet.”
Recitative
[rec·i·ta·tive] noun. A rhythmically free vocal style that imitates the natural
inflections of speech and that is used for dialogue and narrative in operas and oratorios.
The next big milestone on Amanda’s calendar of progress came in early June when she
joined the teaching faculty at the Matador Opera Workshop on the Texas Tech campus. As it could only fittingly be scripted, Dolter also worked
the camp.
“I think it’s so cool that Dolter’s first opera was my first opera, and then we taught
together at Texas Tech for his last opera,” she said.
Dolter also recognizes the significance of the moment.
“It’s hard not to get emotional about this,” he says, struggling a few moments for
composure before continuing. “One of the things that makes me emotional is seeing
my students doing well. To work with Amanda at the camp was very special. She is one
of the best students I’ve ever taught. There is a great deal to appreciate about Amanda.
I really, really love her and I am so glad that God brought us together.”
For Amanda, it’s meant the chance to share her gifts and talents with a new crowd
of singers, offering practical insights and wisdom for those pursuing the dream she
chased almost 20 years ago.
“They came in from all over, and I coached some wonderful young singers on, weirdly
enough, Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute,’” she said. “I also trained them about marketing themselves
and the business skills they need. You can’t just bring your voice; you need your
entire skill set.
“That’s one of the reasons why I’m doing this – to get the chance to extend some hope
to other people and encourage them that they can do this, too. If you have a dream,
chase it. Even if you’re a little girl from Lubbock, Texas, and you want to go to
Europe and sing in Germany, chase that dream because you can make it happen.”
Her husband has been amazed every step of the way.
“The thing with her is she just keeps on climbing, keeps on going,” Berry said. “You
shouldn’t always look back, but you should look back once in a while to realize what
your initial goals were and that you surpassed them. She is such an accomplisher that
she sometimes doesn’t see all of those things.
“You can’t know where you’re going unless you look at where you’ve been and appreciate
the here and now. I’m very proud of her, not just about this recovery process, but
everything.”
Amanda is working to enlarge the visibility of her spirituals project to share her
voice in new ways with new audiences.
“Singing those old hymns in ways they’ve never been heard before gives me so much
hope,” she said. “And that’s what I want to bring to people now.”
She also is busy advocating for greater visibility of opera in Lubbock, especially
since the addition of the majestic Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences
as a performing venue. She has also built a relationship with the local symphony and
is exploring possibilities.
“Amarillo has an opera. Midland has an opera. Lubbock needs an opera,” she said. “I
am on a mission to bring more opera to Lubbock, especially when we can do collaborations
with the amazingly talented Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Maestro David Cho and Ballet
Lubbock.”
Love and enthusiasm for her craft continue to percolate within the daily rhythms of
her life. More emphasis and intentionality are placed on the after than the before
as far as the accident is concerned.
As Amanda reflects on these past few years, the sudden jostling and unexpected adversity
that have been her regular and unwelcome companions, she has come to realize God also
has been near all along.
“I always tell my friends and family the best gift I can give them is the gift of
my voice,” she said. “God gave me this gift so I can be a blessing to others. Music
can be very healing spiritually and emotionally, especially in times of need.”
And who would know that better than she? After all, she’s seeing a little more clearly
now – where she’s been, where she is and where she’s going.
“It’s been such a journey,” she said. “I was in survival mode, but I know this: Hope
and determination and grit, they make a big difference.”
Brava
[ brah-vah, brah-vah ] Interjection. Used in praising a female performer.
