Anna Christy was enthralled when she first heard opera. The voices of great opera singers Placido Domingo and Thomas Hampson captivated her.
“When I was 10, this was the coolest thing I’d ever seen,” Christy said.
It was then that she knew she wanted to be involved in opera.
Christy is a distinguished soprano opera singer who plays Lucia in the timeless classic Lucia di Lammermoor, an Italian opera by Gaetano Donizetti centered around a family's attempt to force their daughter into marriage for monetary gains.
Lucia is the ill-fated girl who is forced to kill in the most important event of a young woman’s life: her wedding night.
The character of Lucia in the romantic classic is the litmus test as to what constitutes a great soprano. And Christy is the right fit for the job.
Born in Chicago but raised in Pasadena, California, Christy got her beginnings as a founding member of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus. According to her family, she showed from early age passion and a disposition for the performing arts.
During her high school years, Christy experimented with singing, dancing and acting. For her university studies, Christy considered between musical theater and opera. Ultimately, opera’s overall sense of contemporary emotion continued to surprise Christy, so she decided to major in voice. She is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
As a soprano opera singer, Christy has to be careful with her voice.
She avoids loud places, where she has to overpower the noise to speak, as it can strain her vocal chords. She takes care of herself and tries to have a proper sleeping schedule. Christy explained that sopranos do not often do back-to-back performances, as the recovery period of the vocal chords can take several days. “It’s kind of like a [starting] pitcher in baseball,” said Christy about the rest time between continuous opera performances “Our voices are a muscle and, in a performance, they get worked.”
This is the sixth time that Christy will play Lucia. "With every time, I discover three or four nuggets about her [Lucia] that I didn't know before, which makes it even more interesting for me," she said.
To audiences that have not seen Lucia di Lammermoor, Christy said: "You are going to be hooked. There’s no other way around it."
If you go:
Lucia di Lammermoor
Location: Broward Center For The Performing Arts
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Link: http://tickets.fgo.org/Tickets/EventDetails.aspx?id=1592
Correction: The initial version of this story indicated that the show started at 8 p.m. The actual time of the performance is 7:30 p.m.