Columbus native and vocalist Erin Erickson is appearing this month in the annual production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final opera, “The Magic Flute”, at the prestigious Lyric Opera Studio in Weimar, Germany.
Provided photo
As Columbus native Erin Erickson is showcasing her soaring vocal talents at the prestigious Lyric Opera Studio in Weimar, Germany, those close to her fondly recall some of her prior big debuts closer to home.
Like when she was 4 and got her first solo — quite by accident, her parents Susan and John Erickson remembered. Erin was to be one of a trio of children singing in a Christmas-themed program at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Columbus, but because of a snowstorm, her father said Erin was the only child of the three who made it to the church.
“We were concerned what was going to happen,” John said, “and she walked right out to the mic and belted out the song.”
There was another reason her family might have been concerned 20-some years ago as little Erin stood alone on stage: She had been born with a hearing impairment called a Mondini malformation. She can hear only in her left ear.
“She’s really had to learn technique and be aware of how she sings,” Susan said. “You can tell she feels the music and that comes across … she’s performing with every fiber of her being when she’s up there.”
Erickson’s loyal fans also include Dr. Richard Miyamoto, an ear, nose and throat specialist who worked with with Erin at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis from the time she was an infant until he retired when she was 15.
Susan recalls that the from the time Erin was 2, she looked forward to her visits and often asked her parents when she would next get to see Dr. Miyamoto. Even after he retired, the Ericksons say Miyamoto continued to come to shows to watch his former patient perform.
“He’s just so excited to see how far she’s come,” Susan said.
Since she stole the Christmas show at St. Peter’s, Erickson polished her vocal ability at Columbus East High School, where she was a Brown Music Competition underclassman honoree in 2017 before graduating in 2018.
She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in fine arts in music performance at Indiana University’s distinguished Jacobs School of Music. Now, Erickson is immersed in a world-renowned study and performance studio, appearing on her biggest stage to date.
A lyric soprano, Erickson got her first taste of opera at 15 when she earned a part in a local production. “She really fell in love with it,” her mother said.
About that time, Erickson also connected with longtime Columbus vocal instructor Sarah Kittle, who now resides in her hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina, and who holds the same degrees from IU as Erickson. She is unsurprised by her former student’s success.
“I’m thrilled for her,” Kittle said. “… She loves it.”
Recalling her introduction to Erickson roughly a decade ago, Kittle said, “She opened her mouth and out came this beautiful, rich, unusually mature voice for someone her age. … I just don’t think she had any idea she had this voice.”
Kittle also recognized at that first meeting, though, that something was missing.
“After I had vocalized her and just knew immediately the gifting was there, I walked back and said to her, ‘You have got to learn to stand up straight or we can’t do this,’” Kittle recalled. The proper posture and alignment of breath, she explained, is essential to support the energy a singer must sustain for operatic vocals.
Erickson Kittle said, adhered to her instruction and kept improving.
“She was just an amazing student. She was very efficient, and she was extremely cooperative,” Kittle said. “She was like a sponge.” In more than 62 years of teaching vocal students, she said, “Erin’s right there. She’s at the top of the crop.”
Kevin Welsh, East’s auditorium director, recalls casting Erickson as Mrs. Potts in the school’s 2018 production of “Beauty and the Beast”.
“She was fabulous!” Welsh wrote in an email. He volunteered that a few people had been disappointed that Erickson wasn’t cast in the featured role of Belle. “However, I pointed out that even though we had some really good singers that year, I needed Erin’s voice to sing the iconic song for the show, ‘Tale as Old as Time,’” he said of the song from the Disney film, popularized by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson.
“Once everyone heard Erin singing it, they knew …” he said. “Erin had a little bit of a motherly quality to her was part of it, but just the purity and the depth of her voice … and her demeanor just really made it come alive,” Welsh recalled.
Erickson’s parents said she’ll have two vocal roles this month in the Lyric Opera’s annual production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final opera, “The Magic Flute.” Her performance will come after four weeks of intensive rehearsals.
The studio bills itself as “a comprehensive opera training program … designed for emerging professional singers.” Its sold-out annual run of shows by young performers offers them an opportunity to learn, network and put their talents to the test in a showcase watched by some of Germany and Europe’s leading opera producers, talent representatives and others. Erickson’s performances and work at the studio may lead to further opportunities to audition for opera roles.
But the studio also presents opportunities for gifted performers to continue to learn — something Erickson, now 25, has never stopped doing. She has learned to sing opera in five languages — English, French, German, Italian and Russian — and she’s also fluent in Spanish.
At IU, she also took part in Reimagining Opera for Kids, a community engagement initiative of the Jacobs School. The initiative introduces children in rural Indiana elementary and middle schools to live performances of English-language operas tailored for younger audiences.
Erickson also has worked with children as a part-time library assistant at the Bartholomew County Public Library.
“Teachers and mentors have been telling us for years that Erin has a great deal of talent. She’s matched it with her drive,” her dad said.
“She’s been incrementally working for years toward her successful launch as a professional. We’re very proud of all that Erin has accomplished and is working toward.”
