The TRANSformation of Mime a Zoom talk with Holden Madagame

Holden Madagame recently performed the role of Mime in Das Rheingold and Siegfried with Regents Opera (London, UK) where his performance so impressed Wagner Society President, Andy Rombakis, that he decided to invite Holden to share his experience with us. Holden is an American tenor and University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance alumni. He studied with bass-baritone Stephen West as a mezzo soprano, and currently lives in Germany. They are Odawa and a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Peshawbetown, Michigan.

Holden is a passionate trans activist forging the way for trans-identified artists to work openly in opera and classical music. He has built a robust resume in traditional operatic repertoire while also being driven to create and perform new works. One such project was the collaboration with Kerstin Steeb at Kampnagel in Hamburg for IT’S A MASS in 2023. Holden’s goal is to disrupt the opera industry not only through his identity as a queer, transgender, Indigenous artist but also through the innovative content of his performances. Holden’s artistic accomplishments include performing in the workshop premiere of Good Country in Austin, Texas, where he sang one of the first operatic roles written specifically for a transgender voice, marking a deeply fulfilling artistic milestone.

His artistic persona is deeply tied to movement and the pursuit of optimum performance, as is often talked about in sports psychology. Holden seeks to connect this experience of optimum performance with the healing and somatic experience of an ‘embodied voice’. A recent project representing this is Ninishkaadiz: I am angry, a project presented as part of Hogfish’s artistic residency in Portland, Maine centered around his research on rage and the embodied voice.

His more traditional achievements include winning the Kammeroper Rheinsberg Competition in both 2021 and 2022, where he performed the roles of Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel and Zirkusdirektor in Die verkaufte Braut as well as the aforementioned Ring Cycle in London.