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The American coloratura soprano, Arietha Lockhart, obtained her EDS degree in Music Education from the University of Georgia (2004-2007). She studied for a long period Voice, Oratorio/Opera/ArtSong with Elizabeth Colson (1986-2017). She has been awarded many prizes and honors, including: a fellowship to perform the role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Aspen Music Festival Opera Theatre under the direction of Julius Rudel, 2nd place in the first Classical Singer Competition sponsored by Classical Singer Magazine. The National Opera Association Competition’s Legacy Award in the professional division, 2nd place in The Center for Contemporary Opera International Competition (prize, a New York debut recital at Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall), the Friedrich Shorr Memorial Prize in Voice, Super Finalist in American Opera Idol Competition and 3rd place in the Oratorio Society of New York competition. During studies at the American Institute for Musical Studies, she won the 1st place vote of the jury in the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, Austria, and received the gold medallion as the audience’s 1st place choice. She was 3rd place winner in the professional opera division of The American Prize in Voice - Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Award competition, 2013. Ms. Lockhart was finalist in the 2014 Peachtree Road Race National Anthem Competition and Intuit’s Small Business Big Game.
Though she has appeared as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus in Carnegie Hall, the “Christmas with Robert Shaw” concerts of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers and Festival singers, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Bach Choir, the Augusta Choral Society, the American Institute of Musical Studies Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and the Aspen Opera Theatre, as well as performing in recital at Spivey Hall, various churches and civic organizations throughout the southeast, Arietha Lockhart’s largest audience never saw her, for it was she who provided the haunting ethereal voice of the battered white butterfly in the worldwide broadcast of the 1996 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
As an active recitalist and concert singer, Arietha Lockhart frequently performs Oratorio masterworks and new works by contemporary American Composers and has premiered Michael Kurth’s From Isaiah 40, Mary Boyle’s Little Lamb, James Cockerham’s Hold On, and sang the New York and World premieres of pieces by Mary Badarak, Sharon Willis, Mary Boyle, Adrienne Albert, Lera Auerbach, and Carol Worthey. Recently, she sang solo roles in George Frideric Handel’s Israel in Egypt, J.S. Bach’s B minor Mass (BWV 232), Cantate BWV 51: Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen, Magnificat in D (BWV 243), L.v. Beethoven’s Mass in C op. 86, W.A. Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, Requiem and Coronation Mass, Queen of the Night in Opera Panama’s Magic Flute by W.A. Mozart, and the role of Mama King in the new contemporary rhythm and blues opera I Dream based on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by composer Douglas Tappin. She appeared in the New York premiere of the song cycle The Laughing Monkeys of Gravity by Curtis Bryant and poet Stephen Bluestone at the Cornelia Café, 2013.
Arietha Lockhsang the solo in the final movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem during the Robert Shaw Memorial Concert. Robert Shaw said of her,” Arietha Lockhart is a young artist of taste and intelligence with a very beautiful high soprano voice. Her debut recital in Brewton will be one in which residents of her hometown will find pleasure and pride.”
Arietha Lockhart is a member of the Georgia Council for the Arts Touring Roster. Her long-time vocal instructor is Classical Singer Magazine's 2005 Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Elizabeth N. Colson. When she is not singing, she volunteers with the Robert Shaw Film and Legacy Projects. She teaches vocal students, and is a training instructor with the Atlanta Young Singers. |
