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Curtain Call: Lindsay Kuzmutiz is a fan of choral music and German headbangers By Jim Flint Oct 14, 2022 02:00 AM A A Soprano Lindsay Kuzmitz, center, performs with Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, whose season opens Oct. 29. Cornelius Matteo photo Soprano Lindsay Kuzmitz sings under the baton of conductor Paul French during a rehearsal of Southern Oregon Repertory Singers. Cornelius Matteo photo You really can’t put Lindsay Kuzmitz in a box. Not a woman who, on the one hand, receives rave reviews for her “brilliant and memorable soprano solo” in a performance of Baroque composer Henry Purcell’s “Jubilate,” and who, on the other hand, is “really into” Rammstein, a German crossover band influenced by alternative and groove metal combined with elements from electro-industrial and techno. A core singer for Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, the 34-year-old Kuzmitz loves classical music, but enjoys many other genres of music. “My husband and I recently flew to Los Angeles for one of Rammstein’s shows and they were unbelievable,” she said. How heavy and how industrial are they? Suffice it to say the band’s name translates into English as “Ramming Stone.” By day, she is the kitchenware buyer and manager for Paddington Station in Ashland. And in her spare time, she and her husband operate a six-acre farm. “We’re mainly focused on keeping livestock,” she said. “Sheep to maintain the property, llamas to protect the sheep, and chickens for their wonderful eggs.” It keeps her very busy, but she loves the balancing aspect of it all. “Cooking and food are other passions of mine, so my retail job is really fun for me. And it allows me the financial flexibility to work on whichever music projects I choose.” Her next “project” is the season-opening concert of Rep Singers, “Light out of Shadow,” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29, and 3 p.m. Oct. 30, in the SOU Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave., Ashland. “After COVID hit in 2020, I couldn’t sing with the Repertory Singers for 17 months,” she said. “I have a new-found appreciation for every concert we’re fortunate enough to do.” Kuzmitz was born and raised in Walnut Creek, California, where music was part of family life. There was an upright piano in the house her mom had played as a child, and Kuzmitz took piano lessons from an early age through high school. Her dad, while not a maker of music, was a fan of classical music. In high school, she sang in multiple choirs, an extracurricular women’s octet, vocal jazz ensembles, and for school musicals. Kuzmitz remembers one day hearing some very different choral music that made a big impression on her. “My high school choir director played the Barber ‘Agnus Dei’ in class, and I was completely floored,” she said. American composer Samuel Barber was a neo-Romantic and composed through a modernist lens. “I was used to mostly Beethoven- and Handel-style choral music growing up,” she said, “and this was a choral sound unlike any I had heard. It was deeply moving.” She was planning to attend Chapman University in Orange County, but a trip to the Rogue Valley during a high school summer break changed her mind. “My dad and I visited Ashland and SOU, just to check it out,” she said. They had no appointments, but found a man in the music building who was happy to talk with them about the department. “Speaking with him that day totally changed where I would attend college,” she said. “I decided pretty much right then and there that SOU was where I wanted to be. The impromptu meeting with him that day changed my life.” That man was Paul French, who recently retired from SOU after teaching there for 34 years. He is the music director and conductor of the Rep Singers. Kuzmitz earned a bachelor’s degree in music at SOU with an emphasis on performance and music education. Part of her university experience was a year studying abroad in Vienna. “I was fully submerged in the world of classical music. It was an incredible time in my life,” she said. Highlights include visiting the Volksoper (people’s opera) and the Stadtsoper (city opera) as often as she liked, weekly studies with her vocal coach, Maria Droulou, and trips by train to Salzburg for lessons with Barbara Bonney, considered one of the world’s most accomplished lyric sopranos. While she was at SOU, Kuzmitz sang with the concert choir under the direction of Fredna Grimland and the chamber choir under French. She also was a member of the student-led madrigal group, “Raiders of the Lost Art,” and performed in a number of operas with the Rogue Valley Opera Company. She joined Rep Singers in 2008 when she was still a student. One of her most memorable SOU experiences was her senior recital, focused mainly around German songs featuring the texts of Johann Goethe and Hugo Wolf, and the music of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. “The recital was a wonderful moment for me. To work so long and hard on the music, then perform it in front of a supportive community of friends and family, was really special.” She can still play the piano a little, but vocal performing is her primary interest. “The thing I love most about singing is there is no other instrument quite like the human voice,” she said “Each voice is so different, expressing a variety of emotions, styles and colors to best serve the music.” Rep Singers’ repertoire appeals to her. “I’m inspired when I hear a text or a melody so beautiful it stops me in my tracks,” she said. “That is often accomplished by the music of Repertory Singers’ incredible composer in residence, Jodi French.” Although Kuzmitz mainly studied opera in college, her passion has always been choral music. “There is jaw-droppingly gorgeous choral music being written today,” she said. “I also love music of the Baroque and Renaissance periods. Vocally, opera is very challenging for me. Stylistically, Baroque can be very challenging. There’s so much detail and nuance.” Is there any music or roles still on her bucket list? “I would love to tackle Mahler’s ‘Rückert-Lieder,’ a song cycle for mezzosoprano.” She says it really doesn’t suit the range and color of her voice, “but it’s so beautiful, I don’t care!” She has many other interests in addition to her job, the farm and music. “I enjoy gardening, cooking, canning, camping, and spending time with our two dogs, Lucy and Nala.” All the while, one could imagine, she might be humming along — perhaps an aria from a favorite opera, or a ditty by some German headbangers. For more information about Rep Singers and to purchase tickets to concerts, go to repsingers.org. Reach writer Jim Flint at [email protected].