The Unexpected

If you had told me a few years ago that I’d hard launch back into the industry with Turandot, I would have laughed in your face.

Not because 25 year old me didn’t dream of something like this, because she did.

She did everything she was told to do — she checked all the boxes, or at least the ones she had control over. She landed a few YAPs, including a year long residency with a Tier 2 company. She performed as much as she could with indie companies and covered roles at larger ones. She did the MONCA back when it was the MONCA and although it took her a few tries, she tied for first place in her last year of eligibility with a big girl Verdi aria.

If you knew me as a kid, it’s likely none of this comes as a surprise. The daughter of a beloved St. Louis soprano and master voice teacher finding herself, years later, singing the most challenging repertoire ever written for the human voice. That story writes itself and perhaps has been on the wall for a good long while.

But me? Yeah, this wasn’t in my 10 year plan.

And yet, if I hadn’t stepped away from opera completely in 2017, I wouldn’t sing like I do today. It may be a taboo subject to talk about, but I don’t care — more folks should speak about their journeys, especially if they take the road less traveled. So many of us do take an unconventional path, and if you have a cannon of a voice, that path becomes even more twisty and… nebulous.

It’s all well and good to step away from the thing you’ve devoted your life to in order to come back rejuvenated, refreshed, refocused, and better than ever.

It’s all well and good if you don’t come back to it, too. There are no rules. We’re on this big rock, hurling its’ way through space. This is our one shot at life.

That’s probably why I came back.

One day I asked myself “If I live to be an old, not-so-wrinkly woman (shout out to my nurse injector), will I regret walking away from opera completely?”

The answer turned out to be yes.

A Big. Fat. Yes.

So I grabbed onto that “yes” with both hands and somehow found myself here.

Back in the thick of things with Turandot. Then Salome. And in just a few months, I wrestle with the dramatic soprano role of roles, the one kinda sorta crazy anti-/heroine to rule them all — Elektra.

Wooooo, I’m having the time of my life, y’all. Truly. Singing these roles is euphoric.

So if you’re here and totally on board for the ride, welcome.

Welcome.

Happy to have you in my corner.

Let’s grab The Unexpected by the horns and see what shakes up.

—K