Rising star, Lauren Decker, possesses a booming contralto with “amber low notes” that is in a league of its own. She is lauded for “pouring out a dark, chocolatey sound with a plushness of tone and amplitude of voice rarely heard in a young singer”.
Ms. Decker most recently covered the role of Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung, and performed Schwertleite in Die Walküre as a part of David Pountney’s “brilliantly imaginative”, new Ring Cycle at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Lauren made her Lyric Opera debut as Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte and went on to perform as Jade Boucher in Dead Man Walking, First Maid in Elektra, Inez in Il trovatore, Enrichetta di Francia in I puritani, and Annina in La traviata. While there, she also covered the roles of Madame de la Haltière in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Hécuba/Anna in Les Troyens, and Marthe Schwertlein in Faust. Outside of the mainstage, Lauren was seen as Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief at the Grant Park Music Festival.
In summer 2019, Ms. Decker made a triumphant debut with the San Francisco Symphony in Elgar’s Sea Pictures, a signature work for her. She has also performed in concert with the South Dakota Symphony in Mahler 8, the Apollo Chorus/Elmhurst Symphony in the Verdi Requiem, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe.
Additional roles in her repertoire include Ulrica from Un ballo in maschera, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Azucena in Il trovatore, and Dame Quickly in Falstaff.
Lauren was a quarterfinalist in the 2019 Operalia competition in Prague. She is a recent recipient of the Richard F. Gold career grant and was a national semifinalist in the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, having previously been a two-time recipient of an Encouragement Award at their Upper Midwest Region. Winner of the 2019 Edith Newfield Scholarship from the Musician’s Club of Women of Chicago and 2018 Lola Fletcher scholarship in voice with the American Opera Society of Chicago, Decker has been featured in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Christine Goerke and Eric Owens and, later, Michael Fabiano and Zachary Nelson.
In addition to her four year tenure at the Ryan Opera Center, Decker has participated in the Britten-Pears Program at Snape Maltings, United Kingdom, Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the American Wagner Project (Washington, D.C.) and the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto (Italy). The Wisconsin native holds a B.F.A. in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She currently resides in Milwaukee.
Robin Wiper is a local private vocal instructor with a checkered past.. She has her Masters Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has had the blessing to learn from many famous Master Clinicians, Teachers and Coaches during her 25 -plus years of study, performance and teaching. She has studied acting, directing, pedagogy, movement and dance, and has twice been a Certified Actor Combatant in six weapons as a stage combat artist with the Society of American Fight Directors. Her students have gained entrance to fine schools and conservatories around the country. Currently residing as a stay-at-home, home schooling mother of four, she coaches and teaches voice lessons out of her home in Wheaton. She is also wife to Steve Wiper, who knows about her former secret life as an opera singer, among other things. Continue reading if interested.
Third-year Ryan Opera Center tenor Martin Luther Clark holds a master’s degree in opera from the Curtis Institute of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas.
Among his roles at Curtis were the First Sailor/Dido and Aeneas, Tobias Ragg/Sweeney Todd, and Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni. Also on the East Coast, he sang Vaudemont/Iolanta and King Charles/The Maid of Orleans with the Russian Opera Workshop (2019 summer season). The previous year, he was heard as a Central City Opera Apprentice Artist and as tenor soloist at the Library of Congress, where he sang both published and unpublished works of Leonard Bernstein for the centennial celebration of the composer’s birth. Other appearances have included Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Resident Artist), University of North Texas Opera (numerous roles and galas), The Dallas Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Opera in Concert, Opera North, and Wolf Trap Opera. Originally from Marshall, Texas, Clark has received an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2018), First Place in the Bill and Margot Winspear Opera Scholarship Competition (2014), and First Place in the NATS Vocal Competition, Division VI (2013).
American Bass Wm. Clay Thompson has been praised for his “mahogany-timbred” voice and “imposing presence” (Opera News) and is gaining recognition in major festivals, opera houses, and competitions, both nationally and internationally. He is an alum of the prestigious Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago (2022-2024) and the highly esteemed Resident Artist Program with Minnesota Opera(2017-2019). Thompson is also a proud recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation.