Aspiring opera singer, Libby teen to perform on famous Australian stage

Mikalyn Zeiler, a Libby High School soon-to-be-senior with dreams of singing in operas, will perform July 21 at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, alongside dozens of aspiring young vocalists and musicians from across the globe.

“I can’t put into words how excited I am,” said Zeiler, who will sing alto 1.

Choir Director Lorraine Braun nominated Zeiler for the six-day Honors Performance Series high school program, in which students rehearse and perform under a master conductor.

“I am very excited for her to attend the Sydney opera camp,” Braun said by email. “I predict that she will be overwhelmed with experiences not only musically but connecting with cultures of the other singers who will be attending from numerous countries around the world.”

Zeiler applied to attend both series programs — Carnegie Hall is the other — and was accepted into both.

Getting into either program is competitive. More than 18,000 students applied for about 250 openings in Sydney, while more than 13,000 applied for about 230 openings at Carnegie Hall.

Zeiler decided to focus on Sydney. It would have been too expensive to attend both, she said, and she’s been obsessed with the Sydney Opera House — “one of the most beautiful buildings in the world” — since learning about it in fifth grade.

“It’s almost insane I’m going to be singing on that stage,” she said.

Zeiler has aspired to be an opera singer since she was little. In third grade, her father gave her a tiny pink MP3 player loaded with famous opera songs. Soon she was cranking opera through her earbuds while classmates bopped to rap and pop.

“There’s something about opera,” Zeiler said. “It’s so expressive, almost like you’re singing emotion.”

Zeiler said her “whole family would sing randomly” when she was growing up. Her mother, in particular, would sing “Amazing Grace” to her.

“I think mom is where I got my voice,” she said. “She played several wind instruments, (which is) probably where she got her pipes.”

Though she started “messing around on the piano” when she was three and took up the trombone in sixth grade, it was when she sang her first solo on stage, in eighth grade, that she realized the instrument she wanted to concentrate on was her voice.

“I feel like it’s a calling to sing,” she said.

In addition to singing in the Libby High School choir, Zeiler performs in the Old Town Opera House Theatre group and often sings the national anthem at local events.

According to her father, Rodd Zeiler, Mikalyn has earned a superior rating in every solo and ensemble she performed in during her freshman, sophomore and junior years.

Part of what Zeiler loves about singing is seeing peoples’ reactions, she said.

How Zeiler herself reacts to what she is singing is as enjoyable to watch as it is to hear her voice.

“She is a singer that I call singing from the inside out,” Braun wrote. “She sings physically, mentally and emotionally, with all three elements producing a beautiful musical experience not only for her, but for the listener. “

Being accepted into the Honors Performance Series came at a cost: $13,000, including travel expenses for her and her parents.

Zeiler’s voice got her into the program, and she decided to use it to pay her way there, too. She sang for shoppers at Rosauers, who donated up to $100 a day, and she gave a CD of her singing Christmas songs to anyone who donated $10 or more to her cause. She ran a GoFundMe campaign online and held a spaghetti dinner and silent auction at Libby High School.

She has since been able to pay off the fee and raise enough money for travel.

In May, Zeiler received the eight songs she must memorize before heading to Sydney. She said they’re in a range of languages, including English, Italian, Indian and an African folk language.

Becoming a famous opera singer is not among Zeiler’s goals. She’d be happy just to perform, she said, and anticipates the need to “always have a side job.”

“Performing arts is a scary thing to go into,” she said.

A “nut for Animal Planet” who loves animals, insects and biology and “the mystery of what’s under” water and rocks, Zeiler said she’s thinking about studying some aspect of marine science in college.

Unless, that is, she gets into Julliard. She’s crossing her fingers for a scholarship there, she said.