I can hardly remember a time in my life that didn't involve singing. I blame my first high school musical, Bye Bye Birdie. I was hooked from day one. I loved performing and was blessed to be born with a natural talent for singing. How did I become a professional singer? My path evolved naturally with positive validation, incredible support from family and mentors and lots and lots of luck. Not to mention a discipline and devotion to my instrument: voice lessons, competitions, a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Voice Performance, auditions, rehearsals, hundreds of performances in Musicals and eventually exclusively Opera, making it all the way to the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall without ever dreaming of performing on those stages. I'm so very grateful for the many opportunities I had during my career as a Soprano. For nearly 20 years I traveled throughout the United States singing on every possible stage: grand opera houses, intimate recital halls, barns, homes, football fields, churches (so many churches) and one time in the food court at a mall.
I'm glad I didn't peak too soon!
Here's a list of some of my favorite Opera Roles that I performed:
Zerlina in Don Giovanni
Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro
Papagena in The Magic Flute
Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte
Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio
Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi
The Fairy Godmother in Cendrillon
Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera
Adina and Giannetta in The Elixir of Love
Gilda in Rigoletto
The Shepherd in Tosca
Elvira in L'IIaliana in Algeri
Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia
Adele in Die Fledermaus
Yum Yum in The Mikado
Josephine in HMS Pinafore
Valencienne in The Merry Widow
Juliette in Romeo and Juliette
Fido in Paul Bunyan
Miss Titmouse in Too Many Sopranos
Musetta in La Boheme
Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld
I was even in a few Wagner Operas (Tannhauser and Parsifal), Strauss Operas (Salome and Daphne) and Berg's Lulu singing the 15 Year Old Girl at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera (my debut in 2010).
The opera role that I performed the most was Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. I was in 4 productions: New Orleans, Dallas and Lyric Opera of Chicago (2x). In total I probably sang Barbarina at least 25 times!