Miranda Kettlewell joins Steve Staruch as the guest co-host of this week's Project DJ on Classical MPR.
Miranda grew up with two musician parents and was always encouraged in her musical pursuits, but she found her own way to singing as a career when she participated in Minnesota Opera's Project Opera program in high school. During her junior year, she had her first opportunity to sing a leading role in Mozart's opera The Clemency of Titus.
From there, she dreamed of having a career in singing. As a recent graduate of the music school at the University of Wisconsin, she works in the marketing and development department at the Schubert Club. She continues to take lessons as she works toward auditioning for grad schools and looks forward to practicing her art in a post-COVID world.
How important was the Minnesota Opera's Project Opera in determining your career path?
"I started Project Opera in eighth grade mostly because my best friend was part of the program, but also because I loved singing opera. At that point, I had only really sung choral music and felt that I wanted to develop my own voice outside of a choral setting. In the program I was able to build confidence and develop the skills I needed for auditions.
"When COVID hit, I was months away from graduating. My senior recital was weeks away when we went into lockdown, and soon after I had to cancel it. It was such a let-down to work so hard for four years and then not be able to celebrate all the progress I had made. COVID did teach me that I was trying to do too much and that it wasn't going to be sustainable for me to keep going down that path. Being a recent college graduate is usually a time of uncertainty, but not being able to make music regularly with other people has been difficult and made the transition much harder. Like many of us, I've gotten creative about what I do with my time. Currently, I am working as a nanny, church musician and staff member at the Schubert Club."
Do you want to appear on Project DJ with Steve Staruch? If you're 14 to 24, apply now!
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