SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT WILL HIGHLIGHT A SINGER-ARTIST IN THE STUDIO EACH WEEK. SOME OF THESE SINGER-ARTISTS MIGHT BE FAMILIAR TO YOU, AND SOME MAY NOT. NO MATTER WHAT, EACH SINGER-ARTIST IS SOMEONE THAT YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW!

It is an honor and a privilege for me to work with each of these singer-artists and introduce them to you!

This week’s spotlight reveals operatic soprano, Katy Lindhart.

Katy is uniquely Katy. She is shadow and light with a wicked sense of humor and contagious laugh. She is a unicorn, but this unicorn is equal amounts Wednesday Addams and operatic biker chick. We laugh, we weep & we reveal what it means to be a human being in artistic form. And then we laugh some more!

Katy feels, she lives, she creates: Her life, her family, her friends, her music, her art. She lives the breaths she takes. Her musicality & artistry truly changes the molecules wherever she is.

Katy’s uniqueness leads with her honesty. That honesty is truly breathtaking.

Get to know her. She’s very special, and you won’t forget her.

KATY LINDHART

I’ve wanted to be a singer since roughly 1989, when I first saw The Little Mermaid. I had a lazy eye growing up, and I’m first grade I had to wear an eye patch under my bifocals to correct it. It wasn’t a good look, but I made friends anyway. How? By imitating Ariel.

Becoming an artist just to get positive attention isn’t the best origin story, but let’s face it: who goes into the arts because they’re well-adjusted?

My mom was a singer and a Professor of Voice at Drake University, so I was lucky to be around music for most of my life. She was a recitalist and a concert singer, and she ended every recital with Rusalka’s Song To The Moon (in English, because she didn’t have time for Czech).

Now I sing Rusalka (in Czech), and since it’s essentially a goth version of The Little Mermaid, I get to honor both Ariel and my mom when I sing it.

It took me a while to find my place and to find my true voice, but with Susan’s help, I’m almost there. Full lyric (with some dramatic coloratura in there) is my home. It can be challenging for me, because I many of these roles in opera are traditionally played as very delicate… and that ain’t me. Honestly, I don’t think that’s many women, no matter the time period. After all, Micaela travels alone through the mountains to rescue Don Jose from a den of thieves, so how delicate is that? Donna Anna was raped and saw her father murdered and is literally chasing down her victimizer when most of us would be on the floor in the fetal position, so what gives, opera?

My goal as an artist is to bring strength and depth to every woman I play. It’s what they deserve. It’s what audiences deserve. It’s what the music gives us.

Some strong women I’m singing this year: Lucy in Sweeney Todd (because she deserves a name) and the shy girl with a soul of fire, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin.

When I’m not singing, I knit, watch horror movies, read scary books, do needlepoint, take absurdly long walks, and take naps with my cat.

Website: https://www.katylindhart.com/