Opera Star Laquita Mitchell Shares Knowledge With DSU Choir

International opera singer Laquita Mitchell paid the DSU Concert Choir a visit Oct. 31 and gave them a masterclass experience through her constructive critiques of the singing of several individual members.

Mitchell worked with students on their individual sounds and how they could enhance their skills to get to the next level as professionals. She even addressed the issue of their performing posture.

“You have to make sure your center of gravity is right,” Ms. Mitchell told Chelsea Taylor, a Concert Choir soprano who performed “Volta la retreat” by Giuseppe Verdi for the opera and concert artist.

Ms. Mitchell's vocal prowess has received high praises for her arias at opera house and concert hall venues throughout North America and Europe. She made her debut as Bess in Porgy and Bess, and prompting the Opera News to acclaim that “Soprano Laquita Mitchell, in her first outing as Bess, dazzled the San Francisco Opera audience with her purity of tone and vivid theatrical presence.”

She has gone on in her career to perform in other singing roles in some of the finest operas such as La Traviata, Carmen, La bohème, Don Giovanni and many others.

In her masterclass at DSU, Ms. Mitchell emphasized the esoteric vocal meaning of the music notations the singers were navigating. She communicated to the audience of choir members that whatever the language the song was in, the pronunciation must be clear and sung with precision.