Opera singer Lauren Decker has graced stages across the globe, but her most impactful performances may be the ones she puts on in her hometown of Montello, Wisconsin.

Decker spent four years as a member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and is slated to perform in the Ring Cycle in Berlin, Germany next season. But right now, she lives with her wife in Montello, where she prioritizes bringing “higher art” to small communities and new settings.

Art for Everyone 

With a love for grassroots art, she brings opera everywhere, from a neighbor’s background to local bars. “It’s been really fun to do that in an area that my whole family is from,” Decker tells Our Lives. “It feels like paying homage to them and to all the parts of Wisconsin—or America—that feels that higher art isn’t for them.”

Decker has been drawn to music her whole life, first falling in love with singing as a teenager participating in musical theater.

A Part of Something Bigger 

“I feel really understood as a singer. I feel very capable of emoting and expressing things in this manner, and I have stayed very passionate and interested in opera and in classical music and performing because of how collaborative it is,” she said. As a singer, you’re rarely completely by yourself. “It’s such a privilege to be able to play a part in something bigger than I could ever do myself, and that is even just with one other person or hundreds of other people.”

This continual community surrounding Decker has always influenced her path. She initially thought she would go into music education, but a college friend encouraged her to pursue a performance career. That same friend is now Decker’s manager at IMG. “It feels really special that the person that really saw something in me in that way, is now really representing me in the world,” Decker tells Our Lives.

Finding her Voice 

She sang soprano through college, which was not the right fit for her and led her to take a year-long gap from music. When she came back to opera through a young artist program, her peers once again encouraged her to pursue a career. With a one-of-a-kind voice, those around her weren’t afraid to tell her “opera needs you.” They recognized there was no one in the industry singing the way Decker can.

After the encouragement she needed to persist on an unconventional path, Decker started training seriously while working a part-time job. One of her favorite opera singers, Dolara Zajick, mentored her for several years until 2016, when Decker moved to Chicago and began her training at the Ryan Opera Center.

Lyric Opera 

Despite performing on a stage being one of “highest privileges” of her life, while she was at the Lyric Opera House, Decker realized that she “cares about something more than just performing on a stage.” It was the community created by her craft that truly inspired her.

“Before I realized I wanted to be an opera singer, I knew I wanted to be an artist,” she says. “And I wanted to be an artist because I wanted to connect with people.”

Pandemic Recitals 

After the pandemic hit, Decker saw firsthand how in a snap everything can change. “If art mattered enough to me, I needed to find a way to make it happen outside of that world [of professional stage performance].” Her love for opera, and for the people around her, led her back to Wisconsin, where she first started putting on shows for her community. She started with small recitals through windows at senior homes, where her wife worked. The concerts, Decker says, were a way for both her and her wife to pour into their passions. The “driving force” for her art is human connection. “I want to explore those relationships and those experiences in our life that are sometimes incredibly isolating, but are actually incredibly universal.”

Community Art 

Now, as a board member of a local nonprofit, Princeton Art Collective (PARC), she works with other Wisconsinites to help share art with her community. Through the nonprofit, Decker is able to share opera with those that may otherwise find it inaccessible. “It has been such a joy to show them that a lot of these things are incredibly human and can really touch you,” she tells Our Lives. “It’s not just what you picture an opera singer being.”

She grew up visiting Montello, as the house she lives in now is her family’s lake house. When COVID hit, she and her wife lived there “out of necessity.” The pair moved around in Wisconsin, but ended up quickly returning to Montello. “We felt really called back to being at the house,” she says.

The house itself wasn’t Decker’s only destiny in Montello. “Since we’ve been here, I’ve been so surprised, because I’ve always viewed this area as a place that I wouldn’t find any community, much less a very queer community and a very artistic community,” she says. “Now I really can’t imagine being anywhere else…my heart is just called to this space and these people whenever I’m not here.”

Queer Opera Community 

The queer community in Montello—and in the opera world—welcomed Decker. Before starting at Lyric Opera, she wasn’t sure what the experience would be like as a queer woman. Turns out, “just about everyone at Lyric was gay,” which she calls a “privilege” to see.

“From running the companies to directing, to being on stage, to being backstage, being stagehands, being orchestra. There are so many queer people,” she says. “And I think most people would agree: queer people in general keep a lot of these arts relevant and vibrant and important.”

Decker often brings her queerness to her performances, where she plays queer roles. Whether characters who were queer in real life, or characters made to be queer women for the first time. Last year, she played a “pants role” for the first time, and sang as a man on stage. “Being able to be comfortable in my queerness, and then having an opportunity to explore that in a more characterized way has been very interesting.”

Every time she is on stage, whether in a neighbor’s backyard or in a prestigious show, Decker uses her talent—and her queerness—to connect with others. “Being queer in general has made me more cognizant of how many different experiences that there are in life…. A huge part of being an artist and connecting with the public through your art is to be able to acknowledge the many different experiences possible,” she says. “I think being queer allows me a different perspective in order to do that.”