{"id":51,"date":"2020-04-28T19:50:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T19:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2020\/?p=13"},"modified":"2020-05-11T23:52:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T23:52:11","slug":"im-on-my-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-2020\/im-on-my-way\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m on My Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Lindsay ’02 is on<\/strong> stage at the Metropolitan Opera House, lowkey eating Swedish Fish.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did this happen?\u201d she asks herself. \u201cHow did I get here?\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, how she got there is pretty unorthodox\u2014but we\u2019ll circle back to that. What about the gelatinous candy she\u2019s sneaking into her mouth mid-performance of the Gershwins\u2019 Porgy and Bess? How did that happen?<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lindsay in her Porgy and Bess costume<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA bunch of women in the first act are supposed to be snapping freshly picked string beans, and they had the bright idea of adding green jelly beans to the mix so they could eat during the scene without breaking character,\u201d Lindsay explains, chuckling. \u201cMy part of the stage is the \u2019fish shop,\u2019 and we fish shop workers wanted scene-appropriate candy, too, so we got ourselves a bag of Swedish Fish. So, at the top of the opera, right there in the middle of the Metropolitan Opera stage, they\u2019re eating jelly beans and, we\u2019re eating Swedish Fish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so crazy because in one minute you\u2019re thinking, \u2019Oh my god, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m at the Met!\u2019 And the next you\u2019re thinking, \u2019Do I have time to eat another Swedish Fish before my next cue,\u2019\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cIn one sense, it becomes very normalized\u2014just another day of work\u2014but in another sense, it\u2019s absolutely mindblowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s right\u2014it is pretty incredible. After all, if you make it to this stage, you have arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest, most prestigious opera house in the world,\u201d says Lindsay, a senior developer for Diamond Web Services in Los Angeles whose encore singing career landed her a role as a second soprano in the 68-person chorus for the Met\u2019s production of Porgy and Bess, which ran from November 2019 to February 2020 and even broke box office records, prompting the unheard-of addition of three extra shows. \u201cThe Met is huge, and this is one of its bigger shows. There are 90 cast members and a couple dozen stagehands and stage directors in the wings, and it\u2019s an incredibly complex show. I\u2019m just one tiny piece of the whole puzzle, but I\u2019m very glad to contribute to this humongous spectacle, even though the magnitude of it can be overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

For opera singers, of course, the Met is the destination\u2014the stage everyone strives to get to, though very few make it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are artists who go their entire careers and never get to sing on the Met\u2019s stage,\u201d says Lindsay, who got to this stage not with a music degree or a network of connections in the world of opera, but with degrees in mathematics, computer science and operations research, and a good job in the world of software development. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to break into the opera business without conservatory or music school credentials and all the connections that come along with those. So, it\u2019s all the more exciting for me to have managed to get to the Met without taking the extra step of going back and getting my music degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An
In the Met’s production of Porgy and Bess, the people of Catfish Row listen to Crown (Alfred Walker) as he mocks the group and God\u2019s power.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She may not have taken that extra step, but her talent gave her pretty solid footing. She\u2019d begun playing Suzuki violin around age 3, which gave her a head start. And when she first sang along to the Magic Flute\u2019s \u201cQueen of the Night\u201d aria at age 8, her parents realized this was the direction she should go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have a private musical education growing up, and I have a very well-trained ear because of that,\u201d says Lindsay, a founding member of the Disney Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra by the time she was 11, a guest soprano soloist for the Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition by 14 and a second-place winner in the Opera Pacific singing competition for high schoolers. \u201cJust through my musical upbringing and the opportunities I pursued as a kid, I learned all the sort of things that you\u2019re taught in a conservatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Lindsay received much of her education in informal, nontraditional settings. She was homeschooled high school, which she skipped, opting to go straight into junior college instead.<\/p>\n

By then, Lindsay knew she wanted to study \u201csomething STEM-related\u201d in college, and when she stumbled onto the Harvey Mudd campus, she knew it was exactly where she wanted to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking, \u2019OK, this is the small, close-knit environment I\u2019m looking for, where I will be taught by actual professors, not grad student TAs, and I can receive the attention and assistance I need to succeed,\u2019\u201d she says, adding that the fact that Harvey Mudd students could pursue musical opportunities at Pomona and Scripps made the decision even easier.<\/p>\n

What did eventually get lost, though, was her interest in music. She continued taking private lessons from the late Gwendolyn Lytle, who directed Pomona College\u2019s voice department at the time and, by the time she graduated, was first violin chair and concertmaster of the Pomona College Orchestra and recipient of several music awards, including a Renaissance Award from the National Alliance for Excellence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it had become sort of a burden by that point,\u201d Lindsay admits. \u201cAfter I graduated, I quit. Period. I was like, \u2019I just don\u2019t want to do this music thing anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And so she dove into her STEM career, earning a master\u2019s in operations research from Columbia University and a master\u2019s in computer science from Johns Hopkins University, eventually landing a job as a programmer and analyst for the Department of Defense and, later, for a defense contractor in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent my 20s just basically plowing ahead in my career in math and computer science and really neglecting my musical talents except on rare occasion,\u201d she says. \u201cThey lay dormant until about six years ago when I was laid off in the recession. That\u2019s when I started wondering if I\u2019d gone in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Lindsay\u2019s career in software development had side-tracked her from pursuing music, the part she landed in a community production of Verdi\u2019s Macbeth got her back on course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to dress up as a witch and act very bizarrely and eccentrically while singing this fantastic music, and I absolutely loved it.\u201d she says. \u201cFor the first time, I got to create a character and interact with other characters and be part of an overarching narrative, instead of simply singing an aria or two out of context. I thought, \u2019Well, now I actually want to be an opera singer!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t quit your day job,\u201d her mom said when she announced her newfound passion.<\/p>\n

She needn\u2019t worry. Lindsay loves her day job. It gives her a sense of balance and grounds her. Even during the run of Porgy and Bess, Lindsay continued to work her remote job full-time from a sublet studio apartment in Washington Heights, flexing her hours around scheduled rehearsals and performances. \u201cI\u2019m lucky to be working for a company that places a high priority on work\/life balance,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"Cast
Porgy and Bess cast during a rehearsal at the MET<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also a rather extreme introvert as far as performing artists go. I actually enjoy being alone in a room, designing and implementing features, debugging code and collaborating remotely,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a part of me that really needs that sort of work in my life. But there\u2019s a part of me that also wants to get up onstage and sing my heart out. I don\u2019t want to be a full-time professional musician, but I also don\u2019t want to give up singing professionally, so I guess I\u2019m just blazing my own path.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she started down this path six years ago her technique was rusty, but after six months of voice lessons, she was cast as an understudy for a small production of Cos\u00ed fan tutte<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019ve been bootstrapping my way through the opera world ever since,\u201d she says, admitting that\u2014while she has done many productions since then\u2014she\u2019s seen a lot of rejection, too. \u201cPursuing this career path has made me very resilient, and I\u2019ve developed a really strong failure tolerance. I\u2019m generally much more resilient now, which has carried over to my tech job, too, making me stronger there.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are, she insists, quite a few similarities between her work onstage and her work behind the keyboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both draw on a similar set of skills, and there are lots of parallels, especially when it comes to problem solving,\u201d she says. \u201cOf course everyone knows there\u2019s problem solving in math and computer science, but getting through a performance also requires problem solving, because in live theater nothing happens the same way twice. Maybe I have a cold, and my neck is sore, and someone unexpectedly improvised part of their staging, and there\u2019s a set piece that\u2019s not quite in the right place, and the conductor is taking a slower tempo than usual. I can\u2019t break character or miss a cue or flub a line while I\u2019m dealing with all this. The part of me that likes coding and debugging absolutely loves these kinds of challenges onstage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cast
Cast of Porgy and Bess, Metropolitan Opera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, she says, the stage always presents a challenge, regardless of how long you\u2019ve been in the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery rehearsal and every moment onstage is a learning experience,\u201d says the winner of the National Opera Association\u2019s 2016 Vocal Competition, who also worked as a resident artist in Opera Naples in Florida after debuting with the Los Angeles Philharmonic\u2019s Green Umbrella recital series in 2015. I especially relish learning by observing artists who are better than me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safe to say: Lindsay\u2019s learning a lot at the Met.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t felt this average since I was a student at Harvey Mudd,\u201d she remarks, laughing. \u201cI have absolutely become a better singer simply by sharing the stage with these extraordinary performers. They challenge me to become a better artist, and that\u2019s the experience I really enjoy. It\u2019s the primary reason I want to keep doing this: to sing alongside the best voices in the business. You can\u2019t help but improve when you\u2019re part of a cast of people who are all at the top of their game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to be at the Met because of what the Met represents, of course, but for me it\u2019s more than just a grand, famous opera house,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt is an operatic nexus where the best of the best congregate, and I am absolutely privileged to share the stage with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And sometimes even some Swedish Fish.<\/p>\n

\n

UPDATE | April 1, 2020<\/h2>\n

\u201cI was looking forward to making my role debut as Despina in Mozart\u2019s Cos\u00ec fan tutte with Pacific Opera Project based in Los Angeles, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, that production was cancelled on the second day of rehearsals. In the meantime, I\u2019ve been staying quite busy as a developer; I was already working from home so not much has changed there. It has been very sobering to see months\u2019 worth of contracts vanish almost overnight for my colleagues who are full-time opera singers, and it has given me a deeper appreciation for the flexibility that I have with my dual careers in programming and music.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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