Still only 25-years-old, the budding chanteuse Bernadeta Astari has achieved much and is ready to scale up in the musical world.

Last year was an important year for Deta ' as she is more affectionately known ' as the soprano made her mark in the classical music landscape.

The songstress won the Dutch Classical Talent Competition at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam last year. She was also named winner of the Province of North Brabant Prize at the 49th International Vocal Competition held in the Netherlands ' one of the most renowned music competitions in the world.

In the same year, Deta graduated cum laude in her master's degree in classical singing at Utrecht Conservatory.

'I'm on my way to fulfill my dreams. I think I've taken the right path to it, but I'm keeping my eyes open to every possibility,' Deta told The Jakarta Post last week.

Deta was in Jakarta for a six-week holiday between April and May. The holiday was a busy one, filled with performances and workshops, including a showcase with Aning Katamsi ' one of Indonesia's foremost operatic sopranos ' at Bentara Budaya Jakarta on May 8.

She faces busy months ahead after sealing a two-year contract with De Nationale Reisopera ' a Dutch opera company that takes between four and six opera productions to 15 large theaters across the country each year, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Deta was introduced to music early in her life. At the age of three, her parents sent her to piano lessons. When she was four, she joined a talent group, where she participated in various activities including singing, ballet and traditional dance.

'I remember I enjoyed singing a lot. My mother, who is a very active church choir singer, also took me to church to sing,' she said.

She continued taking singing lessons and later enrolled at Yayasan Musik Jakarta (The Jakarta Music Foundation) and was taken under the wing of a mentor who directed her to classical singing.

'When I was 11, I joined the Indonesian Children's Choir and toured in Germany and Poland,' Deta said. Her parents supported her all the way, especially because she managed to attain good grades despite failing to attend school for weeks.

She said her time with the children's choir strengthened her will to take on singing as a career path.

'In my last year of elementary school, a teacher asked the class about our dreams. I drew her a poster for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, featuring soloist Bernadeta Astari. That's when I knew for sure I wanted to pursue singing,' she said.

Around the end of her junior high school years, she put herself under the mentoring of Aning Katamsi and Avip Priatna ' one of the most acclaimed Indonesian music conductors.

Deta later joined the Batavia Madrigal Singers choir founded by Avip.

After finishing high school, she decided to study classical singing in Europe.

'I initially wanted to go to Germany, but because I didn't want to spend too much time on studying a new language, I decided to go to the Netherlands instead,' she said. 'My older brother studied guitar at Utrecht Conservatory and from his network I managed to contact Henny Diemer, who is a great mentor, and later studied under him at the conservatory.'

Throughout her studies, she applied for and received numerous scholarships and grants, including the Huygens Scholarship from the Dutch government and Vriendenkrans Concours of the Royal Concertgebouw.

For the time being, although she is going to be busy preparing and performing productions with the current opera company, Deta said she was going to audition for other opera companies in Europe.

'I'm setting my eyes on auditioning for the Bayerische Staatsoper [The Bavarian State Opera] among other companies in Germany. A while ago, I had tried to audition for the company and got through to the final 30, but did not make it in,' she said.

She is also planning to enter singing competitions. 'It's the most effective way of getting yourself heard and seen in the opera world. You don't have to make to the finals, even in the preliminaries there will be talent scouts,' she said.

After being in the classical singing business since she was 18 and gaining professional experience in the past few years, Deta said she needed to toughen up in the future.

'The opera world is a tough world. It's basically an entertainment industry and demands you to work hard. Sometimes singing skills alone are not enough, because physical appearance and performance also matters during auditions,' she said.

'Opera singers work with stage directors, conductors, make-up artists and many others. We have to be able to keep up,' she said.

In attempt to strengthen her performances, Deta has joined a body movement class five years ago, where she learn miming and acting.

Modern day opera was also asking more and more from its actors, she said.

'I saw one opera where the soprano dived into an onstage giant aquarium and boomed out her voice as she surfaced, then another where the singers were hung upside down on a sling. There are huge expectations to meet,' she said.

Deta, however, felt that all the challenges should be answered because her ultimate dream was to have superior singing and vast knowledge of the opera world and its networks.

'I want to be able to come back to Indonesia and share my knowledge with the younger generation and give them guidance if they want to enter the opera world,' she said. 'My ultimate dream is to establish an opera studio in Indonesia. I'll work my way there.'

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