Lyons takes first in National Association of Teachers of Singing Artists Awards

By Claire Regenstreif
Staff Writer

From belting out notes in the shower to competing and performing on stage for an audience, Costa senior Phoebe Lyons loves to sing for fun as well as competition. Lyons took first place in the annual National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards competition on Jan. 18.

The judges awarded Lyons with the winning prize after two rounds of competition in the High School Women’s Classical Division of the NATS Western region.

“I was completely surprised when they told me I was in the finals and even more surprised when I found out that I had won,” Lyons said.

In the finals, Lyons competed against other high school students from California and Nevada. They were all judged by a panel of singing teachers. For her performance, Lyons chose the song “El Majo Discreto” by Enrique Granados to perform in the final round of the competition, a song that she had been practicing for a year.

“I feel really comfortable with the song I chose,” Lyons said. “I’ve had a lot of time with it to put emotion and connection into it, so it is the most confident performance I could give.”

Lyons has competed by singing classical music since her freshman year when she entered a competition held by Classical Music Magazine. Some of the songs she sings come from operas, while others are art songs, which are songs where the singer pairs up with a pianist.

“I participate in the competitions as a way to get performance experience,” Lyons said. “I don’t go into the competitions wanting to win, I go because I love to sing.”

Lyons has been singing since she was a child, but she only started to seriously study music in 7th grade when she started to do so with her current vocal teacher, Barbara Dyer, who currently works at Loyola Marymount University as a private voice and vocal pedagogy instructor.

Lyons has also been in the Advanced Women’s Chorale at Costa since her freshman year. She typically has a lesson once a week, but leading up to a competition she will practice everyday.

“When I perform, time kind of freezes, and it is like I am in my own world where all that matters to me is the song and the music,” Lyons said. “Everything else seems to fall away, and I can truly focus on my performance.”

Lyons does not plan to pursue music as a serious career in the future but hopes to keep it as a hobby throughout life. She plans to minor in music in college next year to continue taking singing lessons and, hopefully, participate in a choir.

“Singing has really taught me the value of hard work,” Lyons said. “It’s prepared me to do things on my own and work toward my goals.”