Lydia Bechtel, soprano, has a diverse performance career of operatic, song recital, and concert repertoire. Ms. Bechtel made her European opera debut in Varna, Bulgaria as Lisette in La Rondine. In March 2020, she returned to her alma mater, Oklahoma State University, as the soprano soloist in Beethoven's Mass in C at the newly completed McKnight Center for the Performing Arts. She recently sang Fanny in La cambiale di matrimonio, Serpetta in La finta giardiniera, Le feu in L'enfant et les sortilèges, and Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring (cancelled due to Covid-19) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. While at UMKC she was also the soprano soloist in Bach's Coffee Cantata and his cantata "Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem." In the summer of 2019 she traveled to Graz, Austria to study at the American Institute of Musical Studies where she was a semi-finalist in the Meistersinger Competition and studied with Dr. Linda Di Fiore.

 

In 2017 she was seen as Rainbow Crow/Hunter/Human in The Firebringers, a new children's opera by composer Chappell Kingsland, with Boulder Opera. Ms. Bechtel was also featured in Boulder Opera’s Evening of Zarzuela. In February she was part of Opera on Tap Colorado's Mini Festival of Mini Operas, singing new works by several local composers. That June she traveled to Los Angeles to perform as a Young Artist at SongFest. At SongFest Ms. Bechtel was featured in several concerts, as well as masterclasses with Libby Larsen and Jake Heggie.

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In 2016 she made her debut with with Wichita Grand Opera as Mabel in their production of The Pirates of Penzance. She returned as a Young Artist to understudy the roles of Gilda: Rigoletto and Musetta: La bohème. In July 2015 Ms. Bechtel traveled to Romania to study at the ICon Arts Academy. Here she had the pleasure of working with the Contempo String Quartet in a concert featuring works of the Composers in Residence, as well as three other concerts. In 2014 she had the privilege of being a Young Artist with Wichita Grand Opera. At WGO she covered the role of Rosina: The Barber of Seville, performed in masterclasses, and sang on Kansas Public Television as part of a Christmas special. That summer she also spent three weeks at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival where she was featured in a pastiche of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury. In 2011 and 2012 she performed at Opera in the Ozarks where she was a Studio and Apprentice Artist. At OiO she performed Papagena: Die Zauberflöte, Fredrika: A Little Night Music, and Mabel: The Pirates of Penzance. Ms. Bechtel has had the opportunity to work in masterclasses with Jake Heggie, Jeannine Altmeyer, Katherine Ciesinski, Chuck Hudson, Nayden Todorov, and many other outstanding musicians.

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Her collegiate roles have included Ilia: Idomeneo, La Ciesca: Gianni Schicchi, Gretel: Hänsel und Gretel, Susanna: Le nozze di Figaro, Adina: L’elisir d’amore, Adele: Die Fledermaus, and the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah.

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An avid scholar, Bechtel also dedicates her time to research and promotion of lesser performed works and composers. In 2019 she received the prestigious P.E.O. Scholar Award to complete research on Pauline Viardot, which she has since presented at the College Music Society and National Opera Association's National Conferences.

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Dr. Bechtel recently graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she served as a graduate teaching assistant in voice while earning her DMA in Vocal Performance and MM in Musicology. Ms. Bechtel graduated in 2016 from Colorado State University with a Master’s of Music in Vocal Performance. During her time at CSU she also taught Music Theory Fundamentals and Non-major voice lessons. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree summa cum laude from Oklahoma State University. She currently resides in Kansas City where she divides her time between Northwest Missouri State University, teaching Applied Voice, and Pittsburg State University where she teaches Music History.