Senior Ian Hiester has always been involved in singing with choir and at his church. Only after he began receiving voice lessons during freshman year did he became interested in a certain art form with vocal work: opera.

Hiester’s instructor, whom he took voice lessons from, acquainted him with the idea.

“After some time, he (the voice instructor), introduced me to opera, and I fell in love with it. He invited me to do a solo in an opera performance, and that was the final nail in the coffin for me,” Hiester said.

At the time he only wanted to develop his voice for the sake of improvement, but fate had other ideas in mind. His teacher was formerly involved with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Under his guidance, Hiester decided to take up singing opera over other musical genres.

Hiester’s favorite types of operas are those from the nineteenth and early twentieth century—the “classic” kind that comes to the minds of most people when they hear about opera. They have, as he puts it, “blood and stabbing and beautiful music”, the essential elements to an exciting opera.

His least favorite opera forms are those from the early Boroque period, as they focus significantly less on the story and put a lot more emphasis on the music. According to Hiester, operas are most enjoyable when there’s a good combination of the two.

Throughout high school, he has stuck with opera as a hobby while continuing to participate in other singing activities, such as the school’s musicals and men’s choir. However, he aspires to one day sing opera professionally. This winter Hiester plans to attend the Opera Theatre of the Rockies in order to further his goal.