Night at the opera: Kayla Schmitz discovered love of music in Alta Schools; now pursuing her own music career

Kayla Schmitz in one of the roles she played in a Buena Vista Community Theatre production. This scene is from "Carousel" which was presented in 2007. Kayla is with Alta's Randy Ericksen. /Photo by Lori Glawe

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When she was a student at Alta Schools, she was a part of the choir and she shared her distinctive singing voice during the fall musicals and as a member of the choir.

Now a senior at Wartburg College, Kayla, the daughter of David and Julie Schmitz, has continued to go on stage and sing.

She is currently preparing for the production of "Albert Herring," a comic opera by Benjamin Britten.

Opera? How does one even learn to sing opera?

"My voice teacher (at college) drew me towards it," Kayla said. "It's an interesting genre," she said of opera, an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score and incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance.

This particular opera, she said, is performed in English rather than the preconceived Italian. "Operas are meant to be sung in common languages" and the more modern operas are written in English, she said.

There are operas in many languages including French and German. The reason people think of most operas as being Italian is simply because opera originated in Italy.

"Opera appeals to different kinds of people. If you understand it, you like it. Training to sing opera isn't bad. You have to learn to control your voice. If you are not a controlled singer, you are more likely to blow out your voice."

She is glad to be a part of the opera; it is her second at Wartburg.

She said if she was offered the opportunity to perform an opera in a foreign language, she would enjoy the challenge.

"It would take a lot of work to translate but I would like to try it."

Kayla is a senior at Wartburg pursuing a double major in music education K-12 instrumental and vocal performance.

She was greatly influenced, she said, by music teachers she had the opportunity to work with at the school.

She thanks Barb Wells (now an instrumental music teacher at Storm Lake Middle School) who was her music teacher at Alta during her pre-high school years.

"If I had not had her, I don't think I would have stuck with music. And without music, I don't know where I'd be at. She pushed me to keep practicing."

She took part in band, and was very good at that, too, all her middle school and high school years.

And she also thanks vocal teacher Kaaren Rogers, whom she still keeps in touch with and gets advice from on music and theatre.

"I feel very fortunate. I want to be that kind of teacher; comfortable to be around and having the chance to show kids what music can do for them. Music is something that they can enjoy their entire life."

When in high school. Kayla had singing parts in the fall musicals all four years, was a part of speech (one of the musical theatre piece she was involved in was selected for the All-State festival which she is proud of) and she auditioned for and was given parts in three Buena Vista Community Theatre performances.

Kayla also participated in Siouxland Idol (a local version of American Idol) twice and was a supporter for a friend who auditioned for American Idol in Kansas City. She hasn't ruled out the possibility of someday auditioning for the show again.

As for her teaching career - she would very much like to remain in Iowa. "The education system in Iowa is too good to pass up," she said, adding she would like to teach middle school/high school choral music.

If you have the opportunity, make a trip to Waverly and watch Kayla on stage. She will be playing Florence Pike. "Albert Herring" will be presented tonight, Thursday, at 7:30 and Friday at 7:30 p.m., in McCaskey Lyceum in Saemann Student Center.