Md Rokanuzzaman for The New Nation
She is a famous opera singer in the USA. She has performed in many of the world’s finest operas. The New York Times called her “especially winning”. Many other American newspapers applauded her achievements and performance as a Western Classical Singer. She is a Bangladeshi by birth. She is Monica Yunus, daughter of Mohammad Yunus the Noble laureate. Monica was born to Mohammad Yunus and Vera Forostenko in Chittagong in 1979. Mohammad Yunus met Vera Forostenko, a daughter of Russian parents and student of Russian literature in Vanderbilt University while doing his PhD in Economics in the same university. They got married and came to Bangladesh. Their marriage ended after the birth of Monica Yunus. Vera Forostenko left Bangladesh to rear the child Monica since she found Bangladesh “not suitable for raising a child”. Monica grew up in USA in the influence of her Russian grandparents. Monica was encouraged and supported by her grandmother for becoming an opera singer. While living in New Jersey, USA in her childhood, she was taken by her grandmother to sing in the choir at Russian Orthodox Church. During her participation in the choir she fell in love with classical music and gradually dedicated herself to that. At the age of eleven, Monica’s mother helped her to study voice formally through lessons. In two years time Monica was accepted to the prestigious Tanglewood Music Centre in Massachusetts, and this is where she first became interested in becoming a professional opera singer. She performed in many world-class opera events round the world. Performing in Metropolitan Opera is prestigious for any classical singer and Monica is the only singer born in Bangladesh to have sung there. Monica’s dedication to classical music went a step ahead when she got married to another opera singer, tenor Brandon McReynolds. Monica got reconnected with her father Mohammed Yunus in 2005. She along with her father took a trip to Bangladesh, the country that she left in the age of four months. During the visit she spent a short span of happy time here with Yunus family, which she looked excited about. On December 11, 2006, Monica performed at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert honouring her father when he received Nobel Prize jointly with Grameen Bank. The Nobel Prize Ceremony was hosted among others by Sharon Stone and Angelica Huston and featured performances by Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), Lionel Richie, John Legend, Rihanna, Paulina Rubio, Wynonna, Simply Red, Hakim, Renee Fleming, and Morten Abel. Monica’s mother left Bangladesh along with Monica seeing a cynical view of life in this country. She did not see the other side of the coin. But that is now compensated to some extent. She built up one Bangladeshi as a distinguished western classical singer, which is one of our reasons to be proud of.
(Writer is a freelance contributor)
Courtesy of The New Nation
