Hitting The High Notes

For two seasons, Sarah Mesko went to every rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera.

"My job was to write down everything that was going on and be prepared to go on at a moment's notice," the mezzo-soprano says. But the moment never came -- until now.

On Dec. 20, Mesko, raised in Little Rock and Hot Springs and educated at the University of Arkansas, will debut at the Met in the role of Second Lady in Mozart's "The Magic Flute."

"It's extra-special because 'The Magic Flute' was the very first opera I performed in in the summer of 2003," she says. "I was Third Lady back when we weren't quite sure what I should be singing! I've always been a mezzo and always sung mezzo roles, but it was a big mystery whether I should be a lower mezzo or a high lyric mezzo. As it turns out, I'm about the most mezzo-y mezzo there is."

That, she says, is "fantastic" for her career.

"There are a lot of high lyric mezzos who kind of straddle the line with soprano repertoire," she explains. "There are fewer mezzos of my type, firmly in the middle. Contraltos are the true buried gold in the universe. But I'm very happy to kind of carve out my niche."

So far, Mesko has been nothing but successful. She was a Bodenhamer Fellow in the UA Honors College and earned a bachelor of music degree, summa cum laude, in vocal and flute performance; went on to Rice University for her master's; and travels the world, performing with opera companies and orchestras, including the Met's Rising Stars U.S. tour and a stint with the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, where she performed in "Madama Butterfly," conducted by Plácido Domingo -- a role for which The Washington Post remembered her as "the best part of the Young Artist Program performance of 'Madama Butterfly' last year."

On Thursday, however, Mesko comes home. She will perform as part of the Honors College House Concerts series, launched when internationally acclaimed concert pianist Jura Margulis first encountered the Honors Student Lounge in Gearhart Hall and predicted that the acoustics would be terrific, according to UA spokeswoman Kendall Curlee.

"In addition to hosting Margulis we have featured Schola Cantorum, the Boston Mountain Brassworks and the Rhizome String Quartet. Sarah will make her Metropolitan Opera debut later this fall, so it will be a real treat to see and hear her perform in our intimate venue."

Mesko's program is titled "Natural States: Songs on Nature and the Seasons" and includes pieces by Hundley, Berlioz, Debussy, Poulenc, Ravel and Saint-Saens.

NAN What's Up on 09/30/2016