CityView Magazine

42 | April 2015 study in college. Giving her a piece of advice that has stuck with her since she was a teenager, her father always told her to "put music first and the rest will fall into place." Lusk ex- plained, "My dad was not Mr. Stage Dad, he was supportive and helped me develop a thick skin, which I definitely needed since I was constantly working with adults." Shortly aer her performance in Baltimore, producers in Boston invited Lusk to sing at the New Years Eve Gala with the Boston Pops in 2003, making her the youngest artist ever to perform. "ese two or three dominos falling led to eve- rything exploding aerwards," said Lusk. "It's not just about connection or talent, it's a little of both. You need someone to show you the door that opens up to the room of opportunity. But you, as an artist, need to prove that you deserve to be in that room. en you need to discover a way to find someone to open up the next door." e development of Lusk's career is truly remarkable. Going on Tour "I don't only do opera and I don't specifically do jazz - I do it all. You need all the background and the classical training to get experimental with yourself," explained the multi-tal- ented Lusk. With an over three octave voice, in the industry Lusk is known as a soprano, but be careful before you title her as a contemporary vocalist because she can do just about anything - including pop and classical. is diverse range helped seal her spot as the leading vocalists in the Lord of the Rings Symphony. e professionals behind the Lord of the Rings Symphony couldn't find someone who could sing it all due to the musical variety of opera and range. Golden Globe, Grammy and Academy Award winning composer and film scorer Howard Shore discovered Lusk when she was 15. Her first performance was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "It was a huge deal to me at the time. I was already a fan of e Lord of the Rings!" exclaimed Lusk. Painting the picture of what it's like to attend a Lord of the Rings Symphony concert, Lusk explained, "e way the live projection works is that they take out all of the film's mu- sic, orchestra and battle noises and we do them all live. e conductor has a program in sync with the film to make sure everyone is on queue. As a soloist I come in and I come out. My lyrics are actually in Elvish – I've met hundreds of fans that speak Elvish and Orc as depicted from the J.R.R. Tolkien books. e final song is always in English, that's where I get my big spotlight. I've learned translations from Elvish, be- cause I want to know what I'm singing about so I can translate that through my voice. It's a lot of love stories. e experience is supposed to be very fluid so when the booming orchestra stops on one beat, I have to be hitting that note at the perfect time and perfect pitch." Ten years later the show is still selling out across the world. Lusk explains her tenure as the front woman of the Lord of the Rings Symphony, "It's been very rewarding. I've been able to travel all over the world on tour. I feel blessed to say I've done all these things, to know all the people I've met and ex- The Lord of the Rings Symphony Your Unique & Elegant Event Florist 910.484.4161 | 3306 Raeford Road | Fayetteville, NC 28303 | Facebook.com/OwensFlorist Owen' s & Bordeaux Florist Event Flowers Nationwide Delivery Weddings 10% OFF All Event Flowers

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