Photo by Jason Redmond/VC Star

Christin Wismann was 9 years old when she took her first voice lesson. The Westlake Village woman, now 22, has won 30 jazz competition awards as well as eight awards from opera and classical competitions.

“For me, there has never been any question about what I wanted to do,” Wismann said. “I always knew I wanted to sing. I consider myself very luck in that respect.”

Wismann is the daughter of William and Gaye Wismann of Camarillo. She won the National Opera Association’s vocal competition in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Discovery Artist competition sponsored by the New West Symphony, earning a contract to sing as a soloist next season. The symphony serves Ventura County with performances in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks.

She has the potential to be a major star in the opera world, said Kathleen Roland-Silverstein, adjunct lecturer at Pepperdine University’s Seaver College, Fine Arts, who met Wismann at the school three years ago. The beauty and timbre of Wismann’s voice make her shine, Roland-Silverstein said, as well as her physical beauty and strength as an athlete. She earned a black belt in karate at age 12.

“Hard work is 80 percent of the battle. The talent, beauty and likeable personality are the other very essential 20 percent,” Roland-Silverstein said. “People often say this, but in Christin’s case, it is absolutely true.”

While Wismann believes that natural ability is important for every performer, what sets them apart is hard work and dedication to the art.

“I never take what I have for granted and always seek the best out of myself,” said the 5-foot, 10-inch blonde, who also enjoys snowboarding, backpacking, scuba diving and trail running. “I work very hard at what I do, and that makes it even greater when I am recognized for it.”

Henry Price is Blanche E. Seaver professor of music and director of the Flora Thorton Opera Program. He met Wismann when she auditioned for acceptance into the music program four years ago at Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus. Her talent is unique because of her exciting top voice and appealing appearance, he said.

“But what really makes any artist special – when you get past the raw vocal material and the technical prowess with which to deliver it – is the personal communicative power of the singer, ” he said. “Christin has a commitment level for each performance that enables her to harness who she is and to bring it to her interpretations.”

Price added that Wismann’s extraordinary work ethic that earned her a black belt is the same ethic she carries into each performance. “She has tenacity that belies a vulnerable exterior, yet she retains her vulnerability,” Price said. “She is self-effacing to a fault. This combination of strength and vulnerability is hard for an audience to resist.”

Classical singing is full of challenges, which is why Wismann said she enjoys it. She considers the craft one of the most difficult forms of music to master: “The classical singer has to not only be educated on the different styles and interpretations of standard repertoire but also must have a firm knowledge of all the major languages, including French, German, Italian and English.”

Wismann said music has always been a part of her life. One early memory is the first time she sang in front of an audience, trying out for a fourth-grade talent show at Los Primeros School in Camarillo.

“I remember taking my little Playskool tape player to my teacher… and singing, ‘A Part of Your World’ from ‘The Little Mermaid,’” Wismann recalled.

“The teacher was so impressed she took me to the principal and had me sing for him. He liked it so much he took me from class to class so that the whole school could see me sing.”

At that point, Wismann was new to singing and had no idea what a nervousness was. “So when somebody asked me to sing, I was just like ‘Uh, OK.’ It hadn’t hit me yet that not everyone did that.”

Everyone definitely didn’t do that, recalled Bruce Colell, who first met Wismann when she auditioned for the elite Jazz Girls vocal jazz ensemble at Camarillo High School. “I usually don’t take freshmen because they aren’t up to standard, but she definitely was,” Colell said. Not only did she have a great voice, but she had a wonderful musical ear and tonal memory, he said.

With the Jazz Girls, Wismann competed and traveled around the world, including to France, Italy, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, New York and Mexico.

In high school, Colell said, Wismann sang only jazz, but after graduation, she started singing country soul. At Ventura College, she began studying opera.

He follows her concerts and plans to be on hand Saturday, along with Wismann’s family and other fans, for her senior recital at Pepperdine.

One of Wismann’s greatest influences and supporters is Becky Wismann, 25, who started singing before her. A senior when Wismann was a freshman in high school, Becky “really guided me into choir and the world of performing. I looked up to her so much and always strove to do everything that she did.”

Wismann also credits many teachers for making her the performer she is today.

“There are so many people that have helped me along the way I could never name them all,” Wismann said. Still, the most influential figure in her life “is the lord God,” she said. “Without God, none of this would have been possible.”

Alicia Doyle
Ventura County Star