In one of Kimberly Leamon’s middle school classes, the teacher asked the students to write a journal entry about the profession they wanted to pursue, but the teacher instructed them not to write about a career in sports or music because those paths were not realistic. Undaunted, the strong-willed Kimberly Leamon ’18 wrote about her dream of becoming a singer.
Right before her junior year of high school, Leamon began classical voice training. “We worked on sacred music and Italian art songs for the first few months,” Leamon says. “Then I was handed my first aria, ‘Voi che sapete’ from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart. I instantly fell in love with the drama of the music and the story line.”
Leamon performed in her school’s musicals, but while she excelled at singing and dancing, she didn’t quite have the chops for acting. “Yet, when I began to act through singing,” she says, “I felt liberated. It comes more naturally for me to have a musical attachment to emotions and actions.”
Audio by Christopher Aguayo
Leamon chose to study voice at Moravian College for the talented faculty, the warm community, and the many opportunities available (“For a while, I was in eight ensembles!” she says). As a freshman, she discovered "Glitter and Be Gay" from Bernstein's Candide, and it sealed her devotion to opera. “My four years at Moravian came full circle when I performed ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ for the first time as a senior at the spring choir concert.”
Paula Zerkle and artist-in-residence Suzanne Kompass helped to shape Leamon’s powerful voice, rich sound, and engaging expression, but Leamon also earned entry to two prestigious summer programs for art song and opera: the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College and the Milnes VOICES Studio, part of the Savannah VOICExperience. “Those programs not only helped me grow immensely as a performer but also further solidified my drive for this career,” Leamon says.
A 2018 Moravian College graduate, Leamon will be making her way this August to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she will be pursuing a master’s degree in vocal performance. Realistically, she has a magnificent singing career ahead of her.
