Blythe Condon: A Locally Grown Delightful Diva

Blythe Condon: A Locally Grown Delightful Diva

By Pat Reilly

Blythe Condon

Some who remember Blythe Condon as the adorable soprano who played Dorothy in the Middleburg Players’ “Wizard of Oz” won’t be surprised to learn she’s come a long way down the yellow brick road, with coaching from some amazing teachers and a sense of purpose that would make any diva proud.

Now 21 and a vocal performance senior at Liberty University, she’s already performed at Carnegie Hall (twice), played in an Italian opera in Lucca, Italy, and has the lead in “The Old Maid and the Thief” this spring in the Young Artist program at the Roanoke Opera.

“I’ve only been singing opera for four years,” she said, “and I’ve made a tremendous improvement from where I started.”

An Upperville native, both of her parents have businesses in Middleburg. But Blythe said she’s the only musical one in her family.

Blythe Condon, left, performing the final scene of Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea” with another young artist in one of the oldest churches in Lucca, Italy.

She fell in love with singing at Hill School, where music teacher Karen Chase saw her potential in second grade and encouraged her parents to get her voice lessons.

“She grew my love and passion for music,” Blythe said. In eighth grade, she played Tzeitel, the oldest daughter, in Hill’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

She was hooked.

She went on to Middleburg Academy, but the school did not have a music program, so she went public. She got a big break with the Middleburg Players as an adolescent Brigitte in “The Sound of Music,” in 2015, then played Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” She also performed with the Loudoun Centre Theater in “Hairspray” and the Fauquier Community Theater in “Legally Blonde.”

Based on those roles, she was accepted to the Women’s Choir of the “Honors Performance Series” at Carnegie Hall in New York, first in 2015 and again in 2017. She remembers looking across the footlights of that historic theater and seeing red velvet and gold trim and thinking, “it’s absolutely a dream to be on a stage so big. It was weird to be so young and be on a stage so giant.”

Blythe was drawn to Liberty in Lynchburg by its music program. She started in musical theater, but something was not quite right.

“I had a different timbre of voice than everybody else,” she said, adding that another perceptive teacher, Dr. Samantha Miller, persuaded her as a freshman to change to a “vocal performance” major. “That was one of the best decisions of my life. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Everything just clicked into place; I had a straight path I could see. I was very fortunate to do what I wanted from the start.”

As a junior, she auditioned to be a young artist with Opera Lucca, a summer festival for singers, pianists, and composers in the historic walled city in Tuscany that is the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, the great opera composer. Blythe took a crash course in Italian language and culture while also participating in a full opera and many “scenes,” which allow students to play out major acts from classical operas.

She’s also with Opera Roanoke, taking Master classes with performers from the Metropolitan Opera. In April, she’ll perform the lead role of Laetitia in “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, her first contemporary piece.

Meanwhile, she’s auditioning, interviewing and sending out videos for graduate school, which could very well be at a European conservatory.

“I love Italy and would like to take my career into Europe,” she said. “I think that’s where I’m meant to be.”