Jennie Litster recently sang a “pure-toned High Priestess” with the San Francisco Lyric Opera’s production of Aida. She also received high praise for her roles as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Litster most recently performed in Cinnabar Opera Theater’s production of Conrad Susa’s Transformations as Princess No. 1 and will be featured as Despina in Opera San José’s Così fan tutte (February 2009). On the concert stage, Litster was a featured soloist in the 27th Annual Sing-It-Yourself Messiah at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco.
In 2008, Houston Grand Opera Studio selected Litster to compete in the semi-final round of the company’s Concert of Arias. While attending AIMS in Graz, Austria, Litster performed with the AIMS orchestra as a finalist in the Meistersinger Competition. In 2005, she was named a finalist in Utah’s division of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Litster earned her bachelor of music from Brigham Young University and her master of music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. You can find her online at jennielitster.com.
How do you balance career and family?
I’m pretty much like a super hero. I lead two separate lives that cross paths on occasion at performances when everyone comes to support me, which works out well enough and balances my Gemini attributes.
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
There was always music in our home. My siblings and I were frequent performers in church and we all had to take piano lessons. In middle school I decided I wanted to try the violin, which opened the door to a magnet performing arts high school. It was there that I started singing with the choirs. I remember our annual Messiah concerts, my junior and senior years I stood to sing my solos and then had to sit back down to play in the orchestra. When I began nursing a desire to act as well, my love for classical music led me to opera—the ultimate combination of all elements of the theater.
What is your favorite part about being an opera singer?
I love that I get to do what I love and get paid for it. Also, I love the costumes. I love getting to dress up and try out clothing from different time periods—Fledermaus may be the perfect opera: big ball gowns and waltzing—really getting to slip into the skin of someone else to portray another person’s hopes, and dreams, and loves, and passions, and quirks.
How do you manage the business side of your career?
I am learning more and more as I go along, but I’m trying to do my best to keep things separate. Just like I have a singing life and a “normal” life, I try to have the art-singing side and the business side—and ne’er the two shall meet! I think it’s important to have business savvy and to take time out to sit down and work the business aspects.
Do you find a lot of opportunities to sing where you live or do you travel a lot?
The San Francisco Bay Area is a fabulous place to be for a young singer who is looking for opportunities to perform—there are so many smaller companies out here. But I think it is also important to get out of whatever circle you’re in to take a look at the world and stretch your wings a little. I’m still finding the balance of being attached to the West Coast, but taking advantage of the opportunities of the East Coast.
Do you have any strategies, techniques, or rituals to help prepare for an audition or competition?
My non-singing friends always ask if I get nervous for auditions or performances. The answer is yes and no. Yes, there is always a nervous energy—but channeled and focused, it is very thrilling. Ultimately though, I live by the words, “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.”
What do you feel creates the best audition outfit?
Classy, classy, classy. You don’t need to be a standout—you just need to look good. Last year my roommate and I went out shopping and she threw maybe 20 dresses at me in 10 different styles until we found the perfect shape for me. Then, add comfortable shoes, a great color, and fabulous yet subtle accessories. It was worth it. People judge you from the moment you walk in the door, but in the end it’s all about the singing. Don’t take focus away from that.
Soprano Elizabeth Beers Kataria is the 2008 winner of 1er Prix Femme in the 20ème Concours International de Chant de Marmande Lot-et-Garonne et de la Région Aquitaine held in Marmande, France. While in France, she also appeared with Les Azuriales Opera Festival.
Kataria is the recipient of a study grant from the Wagner Society of New York and was selected to compete in the most recent Seattle Opera International Wagner Competition. In the fall of 2007 she was invited to Priego de Córdoba, Spain to participate in the V Concurso Internacional de Canto “Pedro Lavirgen.” A finalist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago LOCAA Ensemble, Kataria also appeared as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis under the baton of the late Robert Shaw.
Recent engagements include her debut as Leonore in a concert performance of Fidelio with Empire Opera, her reprisal of the title role in Suor Angelica, and two productions of Die Zauberflöte as Erste Dame. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Kataria currently resides with her husband just outside New York City.
How do you balance career and family?
My husband is extremely supportive and understanding. It’s very valuable to have a non-musician around to help me assess things from a non-emotional place. I tend to over-romanticize every opportunity and he often brings it back to reality by asking questions that don’t occur to me. Not to say that I always take his advice, but when I don’t, I often wish I had.
How do you feel your university experience helped you? Hindered you?
My time at conservatory was valuable, but youth, as they say, is wasted on the young, and I was no exception. I really wish that I had been more serious and in particular paid more attention to mastering my languages.
Have you participated in any summer program or Young Artist Program that you found helpful? Harmful?
I’ve been lucky and all of my program experiences have been good. I went to Brevard several years ago, and Joan Dornemann’s IVAI programs are great—the faculty is truly spectacular and I learned a tremendous amount. I was a resident artist at Pine Mountain Music Festival in 2006 and just loved it. They were very positive and supportive people, and I grew a lot that summer. I would highly recommend it as a great program for any singer. This past August I participated in Les Azuriales Opera Festival Young Artist Program in the south of France. It was a great experience in a spectacular location and the performing venues were just unbelievably gorgeous.
Do you feel you need to live in New York City to make the most of your career?
I live just outside the city and it would be difficult for me to be anywhere else right now. That said, I’ve been here since I left school, and I don’t think that I really needed to be here in the interim years. YAPs audition in so many locations—if that’s what you’re auditioning for, you can easily live someplace other than New York.
Do you have any strategies, techniques, or rituals to help prepare for an audition or competition?
I always try to take a moment to remember that I am going in there to share something that I love to do. This helps calm my nerves—usually. It helps that you’re not going to audition with something you haven’t coached to death . . . so I try to find my peace in knowing that I’ve done this all a million times and it’s time to have fun with it. If it’s a callback or special request for which I wish I were better prepared, I remember that if I’m there, it means that they already like me and want me to do well. Usually, once I’ve had this little conversation with myself, I’m ready to go.
What do you feel creates the best audition outfit?
Anything that fits you very well. You also need to road test your audition clothes, too. I speak from an unfortunate experience with a very pretty dress that looked fabulous at home but had a tendency to migrate upwards as I walked, showing a whole lot more than I intended. Of course I didn’t realize this until I was already well on my way to the audition. Had I been auditioning for Gypsy, it probably would have been a great idea. As it was, not
so much.
