By day Rachel McCall is Senior Project Officer with Preventive Health, looking at ways to provide better health outcomes for populations that experience disadvantage.

By night she’s an opera singer, breathing life into myth and mystery and using her singing talents to tell stories as old as time.

On paper it might look like a dichotomy – data vs art, office vs opera house – but it works well for the mezzo-soprano who grew up in a family where music was always central.

"So I’m in a team that’s essentially working to achieve better health outcomes for some populations that experience disadvantage," Rachel says.

"There are a some targeted communities that we're looking at and planning initiatives to address health inequity for those populations.

"We’re in the early stages of working out what's possible, looking at what the data is saying, what will be effective and engaging with NGOs, stakeholders and across government to see where partnerships can be made.”

So that’s three days a week. The other two weekdays are taken up with Rachel’s second job – putting her latest university degree in psychotherapy into use as a counsellor.

But it’s the third hat – or helmet, or wig, depending on the role – Rachel wears that garners the most attention.

The Elder Conservatorium graduate loves nothing more than using the power of voice to move and entertain audiences, performing in several key roles with State Opera of South Australia across the past two decades.

In addition to working in the chorus for over 50 productions, Rachel played the mezzo roles in State Opera’s 2022 Australian tour of Love Burns and featured in the musical gala Bright Lights and Big Dreams, played the role of Kate in Pirates of Penzance in 2023 as well as performing in the 2022 workshop of the opera adaptation of When the Rain Stops Falling.

She also toured Australia in 2013 and 2015 playing the role of Jessie in the musical Mother, Wife and the Complicated Life by Amity Dry, and in 2014 performed the show at the United Nations and Studio 54 in New York.

Barrie Kosky’s Saul and Verdi’s Requiem for the Adelaide Festival, and Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires for the Brisbane Festival with Leigh Warren Dancers are also part of Rachel’s impressive resume.

Rachel admits that opera is an art form that many people assume to be somewhat inaccessible, particularly given that the singing is often in Italian, but she said that once people dipped their toe into the water, they were generally pleasantly surprised.

"I think that people's perception of it, if they haven't experienced it, is probably not reflective of how enjoyable it could be," she says.

"I think people mistakenly assume that opera is not going to be relevant, whereas actually they are just stories of the human condition, exploring the experience of emotions as old as time. And there are surtitles so that you can understand the words.

"They're singing this extraordinary music throughout all of that, and I think unless you've gone and witnessed the unamplified human voice against the backdrop of an orchestra then it's probably something that I think people may not even recognise that they might enjoy or resonate with in some way.

"It's unlike going to music theatre because it's not amplified in the same way – it’s a raw kind of experience that is unique."

Rachel says music played a big role in her upbringing, with all of her siblings being involved with music or performance on some level, so going on to study at "the Con" and working professionally as a singer was a natural progression.

And while it is, technically, a job, Rachel says singing is so much more.

"There's a fair bit of research that's been done about how people who sing together en masse can actually end up with synchronised heart rates," she says.

"And even if you're doing solo work there is a method of mindfulness that you need.

"You have to be completely immersed in it and find a way of moving beyond your technique and ask yourself ‘what story am I telling with my voice’?"

And while singing might be cathartic and therapeutic, Rachel says there have been plenty of times when it hasn’t been easy.

"One of the reasons I went into counselling and psychotherapy is because I've had lots of periods in my life where I've struggled with performance anxiety," she says.

"So when you're in that kind of mindset it can be hard to separate the experience of performing from your own identity.

"And I think sometimes finding a way to still love the art of singing, to find the meaning in it and find the joy in it when you're experiencing anxiety associated with it is quite an interesting experience."