Meet a DragonDiva - Lisa-Dawn Kilthau

Miss Todd Lisa-Dawn Kilthau

Name: Lisa-Dawn Nelsina Kilthau

Voice Type (if a singer): Mezzo Soprano

Role: Miss Todd

Hometown: Langley

Is this your first time performing with DragonDiva?

No - I first had the pleasure of performing with DragonDiva in 2010, joining them for the title role in their production of Massenet’s Cendrillon. That was a treat!

Favourite thing about the role you are playing in Old Maid and the Thief?

I love how wide-ranging the role is. Miss Todd incorporates a little bit of everything, her emotions running from self-conscious girlishness to outrage. I’ve enjoyed feeling her character transform over the past few weeks as we’ve staged the opera scene by scene.

Where did you find inspiration for your role?

I love watching old British murder mysteries. I think Miss Todd is a combination of the colourful characters drawn from some of my favorites, informed of course by Menotti’s very descriptive music. 

Favourite part of Old Maid and the Thief?

Musically I love the duet between Miss Pinkerton and Miss Todd in the opening scene, as well as Bob and Laeticia’s respective arias. But I think the real attraction of this piece lies in the realism of the day-to-day interactions, the masterful way Menotti portrays the relationships between the ladies in the snippets of dialogue and perfectly placed awkward silences.
 
What attracted you to the operatic stage?

I went on a fieldtrip to see Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro when I was about 14, and was entranced by the entire production. That was my only experience with opera, until I started a certificate program in music after I finished high school. At that point I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do with music, but when I went to the opera again at that stage, I was hooked. I love live theater, especially in the sense of physically linking the performers to each other and the audience, and the addition of music using the human body as an instrument just adds to this connection. 

How would you describe opera to someone who has never seen one?

A complete aural, visual, physical, and cognitive artistic experience; it creates an entire world on a stage, and then draws you into it.

A lot of singers and actors have day jobs…do you?

I’m halfway through my Library Technicians diploma, and currently work as a shelver at Vancouver Public Library. People sometimes find it a bit of an odd combination, but I like the quiet downtime the library provides to balance out the craziness of performing.

Do you have a secret talent other than singing?

I love dancing; I do a lot of swing dance, and enjoy a wide variety of other partner dances as well.  I think it is just another form of simultaneously connecting to people and music. And when I can make the time, any form of art; jewelry making, drawing, painting etc.

Favorite non-classical music?

Anything I can dance to! I’m a big fan of all the local swing jazz bands…

Any upcoming performances you want to share?

I regularly sing at the Pan Pacific’s Café Pacifica as part of Burnaby Lyric Opera’s Opera dinner theater nights, and will be returning to join the Vancouver Opera Chorus for this season’s production of La Boheme.