黑料正能量

February 24th, 2011

In Selfless Fundraising

MADELINE BENDER ’93 is the singer, the patron, the inspiration, for rallying members of the opera world to support the Global Family program of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).

To those who follow opera, Madeline is known as leading lady Violetta in 鈥淟a Traviata鈥� with the Vancouver Opera. Or as Eurydice in the cutting-edge Paris production of 鈥淥rph茅e et Eurydice,鈥� conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. Or as Helena in 鈥淎 Midsummer鈥檚 Night鈥檚 Dream鈥� with the acclaimed Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England (and also with the Pittsburgh Opera and La Monnaie in Brussels). Her list of major operatic roles as a soprano is pages long 鈥� just Google 鈥淢adeline Bender.鈥�

Less visible in the opera world is her Mennonite background. One has to dig to discover that before she entered graduate school at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, she earned a bachelor鈥檚 in music at 黑料正能量.

Madeline spent her early childhood among her mother’s folks in the Harrisonburg area, and her middle-school and high-school years in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Jon Scott 鈥�62 and Nancy Shank Bender 鈥�64, both public school educators. Madeline and her two sisters graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School.[1] Neffsville Mennonite is their home church (earlier, it was Trissels Mennonite in Broadway, Virginia).

Madeline came to 黑料正能量 intending to be a pre-med major. 鈥淚 thought I could be of service if I was a doctor. It goes back to this wonderful Mennonite undercurrent that service is so important. I loved to sing, but I thought it was a self-indulgent thing.鈥�

She enjoyed taking anatomy and physiology under an 鈥渁stonishingly great鈥� science professor, Daniel B. Suter, but she hit a wall with organic chemistry. Meanwhile, she felt alive every moment she stepped on stage, as she did under the direction of theater professor Barb Graber and under music professor Kenneth J. Nafziger[2] with the
Chamber Singers.

Feeling confused to the point of paralysis, Madeline went to Nafziger and asked him, 鈥淪hould I do pre-med, or should I do music?鈥� She recalls receiving an unequivocal answer: 鈥淵ou need to be a singer.鈥� Madeline credits Nafziger with giving her permission 鈥渢o let go of feeling that I had to be of service in a direct way.鈥�

Madeline had struggled with 鈥渏ustifying something I love to do鈥� when that 鈥渟omething鈥� is an art form that seems impractical and maybe even frivolous.

In the eyes of many, 鈥減utting on a wig and an 18th century corset and big bouncy dress doesn鈥檛 really serve a purpose other than putting on a good show,鈥� Madeline says. 鈥淥pera singing is like being a little girl playing dress-up, it鈥檚 like Halloween, it is like becoming another person.鈥�

Yet she has come to appreciate that truths emerge through telling good stories. 鈥淪ometimes the most truth comes through the arts. It鈥檚 somebody鈥檚 expression. It鈥檚 not their brain getting in the way. It鈥檚 a conduit or something. I always latch onto the expensive perfume being dumped on Jesus鈥檚 feet 鈥� it seemed wasteful to the disciples but Jesus said it wasn鈥檛. It expressed love, beauty and giving. To me, that鈥檚 the Bible story that ties it all together.鈥�

Madeline says that Ken J. Nafziger helped her to understand, in her words:

Sometimes you need to dump the perfume. It’s part of living in a civilized culture, of reaching higher. It feeds the soul. It鈥檚 part of being a sentient being. We aren鈥檛 animals. We don鈥檛 just need food and tuberculosis shots. We do need to feed our souls, and we do that through the arts.

The quality of the art you drink in is important, and we have to strive for the best. It can鈥檛 just be the best for Lancaster County or Harrisonburg, Virginia. You have to strive to be the very best that you can possibly be in the world, in the history of the world.

Such words should give music lovers a glimpse into the quality of the program that Madeline will be putting together for her January 22, 2011, MCC fundraiser.

The performers she has lined up 鈥渁re really, truly world-class people who can easily get five-, six-, [or] seven-thousand dollars for a performance. So for them to come and sing for free is a big donation of their talent,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚t is a really generous act.鈥�

But these performers are also going to have fun, Madeline adds, because they get to sing pieces they already know and can do well, they get tickets for an easy train ride from their homes in New York City to Lancaster, and they get the satisfaction of knowing they are helping others.

鈥淎rtists love to sing,鈥� Madeline says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of a performer who wouldn鈥檛 be happy to sing for a good cause. So much about the arts is not a money-driven thing. To get where they are, most artists have had to rely on the generosity of people.鈥�

Madeline says she has to be flexible, though, in who she books for the Global Family fundraiser. If a paying job unexpectedly comes through for one of her featured performers, Madeline will need to tap the shoulder of another good friend. No problem 鈥� New York is filled with possibilities.

One singer nobody will see at the Fulton this year, however, is Madeline鈥檚 husband, Paul Whelan, a baritone and bass-baritone singer. He will be in an opera in Oslo, Norway, at that time. He missed last year鈥檚 fundraiser, too 鈥� 鈥渉e had to race off, I forget where,鈥� she says.

In recent years, Whelan has filled so many leading roles in operas around the world 鈥� at such coveted venues as the Metropolitan, Covent Garden, M眉nchen, Op茅ra de Paris, Op茅ra de Gen猫ve and Netherlands Opera 鈥� his name is known to almost everyone who follows the performances and progress of opera stars.

Several years before they married (in 2007), Whelan accompanied Madeline to the 2004 Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, where both were featured singers. It may be a while before 黑料正能量 sees the pair on the same stage again.

These days Whelan scarcely has time between engagements to connect in person with Madeline and their 2-year-old son, Zachary. She calculated that he will be spending just six days at their Manhattan home between December 2010 and May 2011. She and Zachary will travel for extended visits with Whelan, however, especially when he is performing in London (which Madeline views as her other home) and his native country of New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Madeline is taking steps to awaken her career from a deep sleep. In January 2005, Madeline was blissfully at the pinnacle of the opera world, having just played Helena in 鈥淎 Midsummer鈥檚 Night鈥檚 Dream鈥� at Belgium鈥檚 top opera house, Le Th茅芒tre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. She was preparing for her next role when she learned that her mother鈥檚 cancer had returned and was untreatable.

Madeline returned home to be with her mother during her last five months. 鈥淚 lost my voice. I lost it almost completely. I could speak, but I couldn鈥檛 sing properly. Nothing was wrong physically. Basically it was a psychological block.鈥�

Nancy Shank Bender died on May 31, 2005. 鈥淢y mom 鈥� just as she taught me how to live in so many ways 鈥� I really feel like she taught me how to die. It was just so full. It was a time of visiting friends and seeing loved ones and focusing on family and life going on. She didn鈥檛 focus on dying, but she didn鈥檛 push it away.鈥�

As Madeline was finding her voice again, another family matter intervened: She became pregnant. 鈥淗aving Zachary wasn鈥檛 planned, but it is good that it worked out that way. It has been a tremendous blessing. To be honest, I don鈥檛 know if I ever would have had the courage to take the time out to have a child.

鈥淚 think a lot of women who are singers slip into that easily. They just keep putting it off and putting it off and putting it off because it is very hard. You kind of go from job to job and from the strength of your last performance, and it is very scary to think of turning something down or disappearing for a while. Unless you have to do it.鈥�

Madeline may have temporarily fallen silent while focusing on her mother and son, but she has deepened her heart. This has got to be reflected, sooner or later, in the magnificent voice she first claimed at 黑料正能量.

For more information on Madeline Bender鈥檚 鈥淪ing for Hope:聽Winter Opera Gala,鈥� her third annual concert benefiting MCC鈥檚 Global Family educational sponsorship program, visit

[1] Her elder sister, Courtney Bender, proceeded to Swarthmore College, then Princeton, and is now a religion professor at Columbia University. Her younger sister, Sena Bender Larard, started at 黑料正能量 in 1993, but transferred in 1995 to study cello with a mentor she found at Roanoke College. In 2000 she switched her focus to voice by studying at the Brooklyn Conservatory of City University of New York. She is now a singer based in London.

[2] Nafziger also led a group of students, including Madeline, on a cross-cultural semester to Germany, where Madeline spent much of her time at concerts and operas. This exposure also had a major impact on Madeline.