Born, like Baker, in St. Louis, Ms. Bullock grew up dancing as much as singing. “People always told me,” she said, “that I had a great voice — and a wonderful presence.”

When it came time for her to choose a conservatory, another talented young woman from the area was going to the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, so Ms. Bullock decided that was where you went when you sang well. The faculty there reacted warmly to her audition, and she felt supported.

She also struggled in college, going to rehab at 20 to address several addictions . And in the years after that, when she was completely sober, she became, she recalled, perhaps unhealthily dependent on singing, treating it as if it were the only thing that could save her. Her master’s program at Bard College — overseen by Dawn Upshaw, herself a soprano who charted a maverick course in contemporary music — was more grounded, guiding Ms. Bullock toward the in-depth study of poetic song texts.

But then came the career-obsessed hothouse of the Juilliard School, where she quickly became a much-hyped star in the pre-professional artist diploma program. Appearing in the title role of Massenet’s Cinderella opera, “Cendrillon,” in 2014, she found herself overwhelmed by the character, who loses a parent — Ms. Bullock’s father died when she was 9 — and is subjected to ridicule and abuse.