Performer | Voice Educator | Music Director | Stage Director
Lara Semetko-Brooks is a soprano who is known for her unforgettable quality on the stage, no matter what the venue or style of the performance. Comfortable in both opera & musical theatre, she has performed in a variety of roles, such as Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Poppea in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld, Lilli Vanessi / Kate in Kiss Me, Kate, Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, & Clara Johnson in The Light in the Piazza, to name a few, and has been the soprano soloist for Bach's Cantata 147, Vivaldi's Gloria and Faure's Requiem.
As an avid recitalist, Dr. Semetko-Brooks has performed in multiple venues, both home and abroad. With her husband, saxophonist Dr. Robert Brooks, they will be presenting a recital of American Musical Theatre and Jazz at The Mozarthaus in Vienna, Austria this August. She has been the featured soloist for Central Michigan University's Women’s Chorus, which toured Europe, the University of Windsor, Canada; Edge Productions’ Not Quite But Almost Winter concert, The William Penn's 125th National Convention in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and multiple engagements with Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery, Opera Kansas, Carpe Diem String Quartet, Southern Great Lakes Symphony, Greensboro Light Opera, The Forum Theatre Wichita, and various concerts throughout the United States.
Dr. Semetko-Brooks received her Doctor of Musical Arts with a concentration in Jazz Studies and a cognate in Lyric Theatre Pedagogy, her Masters of Music in Classical Vocal Performance & Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied under Nathan Gunn, Julie Gunn, Sarah Wigley, Yvonne Gonzales-Redman, Dawn Harris, & Charles "Chip" McNeill. She has her Bachelor of Music Education & Bachelor of Music from Central Michigan University, cum laude. She received 1st place in the Central Regional NATS Adult Musical Theatre competition, Fall 2017, was selected as the Young Artist/Performer from Downriver Council for the Arts, Wayne County Young Artist, Detroit Hungarian Fine Arts Scholarship recipient, won the Young Artist Competition from Delta Omicron, CMU, a Semi-Finalist in the New York Lyric Opera Theatre Vocal Competition, and received the IOTE Encouragement Award in Opera.
Lara Semetko-Brooks is a member of National Association of Teachers of Singing, Sigma Alpha Iota, Pi Kappa Lambda, Jazz Education Network, Kansas Music Educators Associations, Nafme, and the National Opera Association.