Opera diva enjoys success from the comfort of home

Katie Wieand is a member of the Strasburg Women's Club.

She helps supervise the soup contest at the West Lampeter Fair every year.

And she loves cooking for her family.

This might seem at odds with Wieand's professional job: Opera diva.

Not diva as in demanding, but diva as in a celebrated opera singer of outstanding talent.

Anyone who's seen "Phantom" at the Fulton knows how talented Wieand is.

She plays Christine, the beautiful, young and talented opera singer who captures the heart of the mysterious and tragic Phantom, hidden away in the catacombs of the Paris Opera House.

Like last year's "Les Miserables," in which Wieand, 33, played Cosette, the incredibly lavish production is causing a buzz in the Lancaster theater community.

"Some people tell me they're surprised she comes from Lancaster County," said Aaron Young, the managing director of the Fulton. "Why wouldn't we have talent in our own community? It's a great message to cast someone from Lancaster who is so great in the role."

"There are so many elements to this production, it's really been a challenge," Wieand said. "But I love challenges."

Wieand's career could easily have taken her far from Lancaster, to opera stages around the world, and for a time it did.

But the Bainbridge native and 1995 Elizabethtown Area High School graduate chose to stay close to home.

It meant giving up some glamorous roles in glamorous cities, but Wieand is able to work steadily in the area, teaching and performing, while enjoying a more traditional Lancaster County life.

"Family has always been super important to me," Wieand said recently before a matinee performance at the Fulton.

When she met her husband, Matt, on a blind date, Wieand, then Katie Zeager, knew pretty quickly he was the one.

Just a few weeks after that first date, she was offered the role of Musette in a production of "La Boheme."

In Spain.

For three months.

"I really had to pray about it," Wieand said. "Maybe if we'd been going out for a while, I would have, but it was the beginning of the relationship, and I decided not to go. And you know, the moment I chose Matt, I was at peace."

Wieand had always known growing up that she wanted to sing.

But it took her awhile to discover opera.

"I wanted to be the next Sandi Patty, singing contemporary Christian music," she said.

She went to Belmont College, in Nashville, and got work singing back up with some well-known Christian singers, including Steve Chapman, Martina McBride and Amy Grant.

But it was a wise music professor who knew her potential for opera.

"He told me he had tickets for 'La Boheme' that he couldn't use, and he gave them to me," remembered Wieand, who had never been to a full-blown opera production before that. "As soon as Mimi started to sing, I thought, this is what I want to do.

"I loved the beauty of the expression through classical music, but it still had a musical theater basis of telling a story," she said.

She began studying opera. Her friends thought she was crazy to leave what was turning into a promising career in Christian music, but Wieand knew what she wanted.

She got her masters at the Boston Conservatory and began working steadily in the Boston area.

She also worked in Europe and did five Spanish operas in Napa, Calif.

Wieand almost always wins the roles she auditions for. Her strength, she said, is in knowing what roles she is suited for.

And she knows the importance of acting.

"I wanted to break the stereotype of Park and Bark, where you just stand and sing the role," she said.

There's no parking and barking in "Phantom," what with the crashing chandelier, the multilevel set and the numerous costume changes.

With eight shows in a six-day week, Wieand said she does get tired.

"Come Sunday, you're really ready for your day and a half off," she said.

She and Matt, who is a science teacher at Lampeter-Strasburg Middle School, have a daughter, Audrey, who will turn 3 in July.

And they are expecting their second child in about six months.

Wieand battled morning sickness during rehearsals, but that passed just in time for the performances, which began about 10 days ago.

Staying healthy and well-rested is job one these days.

"You've got to make sure you're healthy," Wieand said. "This is not the kind of role you can sing with a cold."

jholahan@lnpnews.com