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Iowa Soprano's Voice and Career Soar with the NYC Metropolitan Opera

Florida Grand Opera
Faselt on stage at the Florida Grand Opera

Growing up outside of Kalona, Jessica Faselt didn't come from a particularly musical family. She sang in choir when she was a child, but didn’t realize the power of her voice until a concert in high school where she sang "O Holy Night" and brought the crowd to tears. 

After this experience, Faselt went on to study vocal performance at the University of Iowa. It was there that she discovered her passion for opera.

"To me, opera brings together so many art forms," Faselt says. "It's the human voice talking about the human experience through song and music."

Early in college, when she watched a documentary about the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions, Faselt was inspired to audition herself. She competed for five consecutive years, rising higher in the ranks each time.

This year, after years of hard work and dedication, Jessica Faselt won the grand finals of the prestigious National Council Auditions and was crowned a rising star in the opera world. On this edition of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with Faselt about her introduction to opera, winning the competition, and what's next in her opera career.

Big things are already happening for Faselt since winning the competition. In August, she'll be moving to New York for a role at a company that has not yet been announced. As she moves forward in her opera career, she hopes to have opportunities to perform around the world.