Meet the Student: Q&A with Mezzo-Soprano Lucy Baker

Mezzo-soprano Lucy Baker, from Wilmington, N.C., stars as Ariodante in Curtis Opera Theatre’s fashion-forward production of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021 and studies in the opera program with adjunct faculty member Julia Faulkner. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Baker is the Gene and Jean Stark Fellow.

What have you enjoyed the most about stepping into the title role of Handel’s Ariodante?

The role of Ariodante is the hardest role I’ve ever learned, with seven arias full of some crazy coloratura, but it has been such a fulfilling experience getting to work on this opera with early music specialists like Maestro Stern and Leon Schelhase. As I’ve dug deeper into the specifics of singing this music stylistically, I’ve found a new appreciation for baroque music. Specifically, ornamentation is a new skill I’ve had to work hard on. Not only do we have to learn the music on the page, but we also get to compose our own embellishments for the da capo of our arias. It starts with researching performances from other singers and eventually learning to trust myself with my own ideas.

Musically, this role has been challenging but so fun; similarly, the character itself has presented new challenges. I’ve only ever performed comedic roles; every trouser role I’ve done has been a child or young teenager. Getting to play a serious adult character has been so much fun as I learn new ways to approach scenes both dramatically and musically. Hopefully, this role will be one I continue to perform throughout my career, and it has been such a wonderful experience to start my journey with this character here at Curtis!

Since you entered Curtis in 2021 and began your studies with Julia Faulkner, what have been some of your most memorable experiences at the school?

I’ve had so many special performance experiences since coming to Curtis, but my favorite was being a part of Curtis on Tour in the fall. Getting to perfect a program over months of performances and traveling around the East Coast was just so much fun. While on tour, I grew closer with my colleagues and faculty, and that has made the remainder of my time at Curtis even more special. Sarah Fleiss and Joseph Tancredi joined me on tour, and now we are in the same cast in Ariodante. It has been a wonderful way to start and end the year with them!

As you think back about your journey to Curtis and your plans for the future, what was that moment you knew you must pursue a singing career and what roles do you hope to perform in the years to come?

The moment I decided to pursue a singing career is so cheesy, but it is a very clear memory for me. The summer before my senior year of high school, I was on vacation with family in Rome. I was asked to give an impromptu performance at a dinner party of friends of my aunt, and after begrudgingly singing for them, one of them said they had someone I needed to meet. So I was given the opportunity to have a lesson with Delia Surratt, who taught at the Loyola Rome campus. She told me that I was “born to do this,” and hearing it from someone other than my parents and voice teacher, who I had been with for ten years, was all I needed.

I never thought I was good enough to make a career out of singing, and up until that point, I had decided to go to school for speech therapy. However, after that lesson, I decided to give it a shot and looked into music schools when I got home from Italy. These days, I have a few roles under my belt and hope to learn lots more in the future.

At this time, roles by Mozart, Rossini, and Handel fit best for me; hopefully, getting to sing Rosina or get Cherubino up and running again soon. It’s always wonderful to discover new roles in operas I’ve never heard of, and I love to tackle contemporary shows. It would be wonderful to try out some bigger rep like Octavian in the future, but who knows where the future takes me!

Visit Lucy Baker’s official website HERE.

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: ARIODANTE

Music: George Frideric Handel
Libretto: unknown, anonymously adapted from Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra principessa di Scozia, based upon Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Featuring members of Tempesta di Mare, orchestra

Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street

Click HERE for more information.

Single tickets: $19–55, sold by the Kimmel Cultural Campus Box Office at KimmelCulturalCampus.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

Photos of Lucy Baker by Nichole MCH Photography and headshot courtesy of artist’s official website. Photo of Ms. Baker, Eric Owens, Miloš Repický, Joseph Tancredi, Sarah Fleiss, and Ting Ting Wong by Micah Gleason. Photo of Ms. Baker in Curtis Opera Theatre’s Così fan tutte by David DeBalko.