Episode 8 - Leia Lensing

Episode 8 - Leia Lensing

Explicit
Talking With Yale Cohn by Yale Cohn
S1 · E8
Jun 18, 2025
01:11:06

Episode notes

What’s the old joke?

“Do you know how to get to Carnagie Hall?”

“Practice!”

Well, in a similar vein, I wondered “How does a young woman from tiny little Solon, Iowa, become a sought-after opera singer who’s performed all across Europe and the United States, and just came back to Iowa after three months in New York City working with the Metropolitan Opera?”

And the answer to that question, and the journey she took to get there, was really kind of fascinating to me.

We also talked about what it’s like traveling the world and singing (and living) in places where you don’t speak the language, what opera singers have to do to stay in “opera shape” in between gigs and so much more on this week’s episode with Mezzo-Soprano Leia Lensing.

Keywords

Iowa City
Yale Cohn
Iowa Music
Fame
Leia Lensing
Opera
Metropolitan Opera
Solon
University of Northern Iowa
Wagner
Phillip Glass