Staging a return

ALICIA PETSKA / News Virginian
Published: July 1, 2007

From those very first opening strains of "Carmen," the operatic tale of love and betrayal, Penny Shumate was a goner.

"I couldn't believe the sounds these people could make, without a microphone or anything," recalled the Valley native, describing her thunderstruck reaction to this first glimpse into the world of opera.

"I'd never seen such a thing before. It was amazing," she said. "… That was it for me. After that it was, 'I am going to be an opera singer.' "

Growing up in Augusta County, just outside the borders of Waynesboro, Shumate's musical grounding came, not from the grandeur and drama of opera, but from the big band tunes her mother loved to play and the hymns she sang as part of her church choir.

Pursuing a career in music was something she'd never even considered until that introduction to "Carmen" years later, part of a lesson during a voice class she took during college, when her ambition was actually to break into broadcast journalism.

"I totally wanted to be Maria Shriver," she laughed of those long-ago news dreams. "I had no intention then of [singing] professionally in any way, shape or form."

When she did set her sights on the stage, though, she pursued her newfound goal with a single-minded determination evidenced in her character at childhood - at age 5, she had resolved to memorize all the books of the Bible, recalled her mother, Becky Shumate, a task the kindergartner then steadfastly accomplished.

Later, as an aspiring diva dreaming of performing sweeping arias before crowded theaters, she would work three jobs to put herself through music school. She'd move on her own to Philadelphia, her first foray into the big city, an intimidating change that left the small-town girl crying into her pillow for a week straight.

And finally, she'd take herself to audition after audition, fighting for each job against hundreds of other girls - and, over time, landing an increasingly steady number of them.

Today, Shumate's résumé lists appearances made with opera companies around the country, including debuts at the famed Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. This coming Sunday, her schedule offers a chance for Valley residents to see her in action firsthand, with the soprano planning to deliver a program of her own selection in Lynchburg as part of the Opera on the James summer concert series.

"I love going home, breathing the fresh air," she reflected nostalgically this week, speaking by phone from her Philadelphia home. She laughed and added, "The air's not very fresh up here."

Entitled "Love is Where You Find It," the Lynchburg show will feature 45 minutes of songs from Shumate, with selections ranging from opera to musical theater to the big band bouncers of her childhood.

This engagement, which will offer free admission, has very limited capacity and, as such, reserved seating is being offered. Those who can't secure a spot, though, needn't fret - Shumate will be returning in both the fall and spring to perform with the Opera on the James company again.

Faced with the possibility of performing in front of people who haven't seen her since her teenage days as a cheerleader at Stuarts Draft High School, Shumate didn't sound at all unnerved.

"I think they'll be pleasantly surprised," she said.

They might perhaps feel much like her mother did when sitting in the audience at Carnegie Hall four years ago, watching as her daughter's soaring voice brought the crowd to its feet in a standing ovation.

"I didn't know what I thought [at the time]," recalled Becky Shumate, who still lives in the area. "I couldn't put my mind around it somehow."

"Later someone asked me, 'Was it thrilling-' And I said, yes, that's the word for it. It was thrilling."

IF YOU GO …

What: See Penny Shumate perform in "Love is Where You Find It," an installment of the Opera on the James summer concert series

When: Sunday, July 8, at 3 p.m.

Where: The historic Old City Cemetery, downtown Lynchburg

Cost: Free

To reserve seats: Call the Cemetery Center at 434-847-1465 (office staffed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

Contact Alicia Petska at .