She once received a standing ovation from actor Martin Short and glowing praise from Canadian operatic diva Measha Brueggergosman.
Now Red Deer singer Olivia Smith is using her considerable talent to make grown men (and women) cry.
It happened again a week ago. When the 14-year-old finished singing the duet All I Ask of You (with Konstantin Vorosmarty) from the musical Phantom of the Opera, the red-eyed MC at the Nickle Studio had to pause, momentarily, to collect himself.
And he wasn’t the only one struggling last Friday with his emotions.
By the time Olivia finished singing Mio Babbino Caro from the Puccini opera Gianni Schicchi, she got the biggest applause of the evening — even though she was only entertaining between acts at Central Alberta Theatre’s one-act play festival.
Male and female listeners were visibly moved, not just by her spectacular singing, but also by her subtle, emotive performance. But that’s nothing new for Olivia. She admitted she often sees glistening eyes when she looks out at an audience.
“I think it’s good, because it means, for me, that I’m interpreting the song well,” said the St. Patrick’s Community School student, who came to national attention during the 2011-12 season of the TV show Canada’s Got Talent.
Television viewers across the country got their first look at the then 12-year-old standing on stage in an enormous pink gown. No one knew what to expect from the diminutive contestant until she began singing fluidly in operatic Italian — and her rich, resonant vocals filled the concert hall.
At that moment, Olivia looked as if she would be Canada’s unlikely discovery — comparable to the U.S.’s Jackie Evancho or Britain’s Susan Boyle.
The show’s judges, including Short and Brueggergosman, appeared overwhelmed by her performance. Short leapt up and applauded her. Brueggergosman likened Olivia to a younger version of herself.
In the end, of course, it all came to naught — a dog act made the top 30 finalists, but not Olivia.
After getting heaped with so much praise, “I was confused,” she admitted.
“Her feelings were hurt,” added her mom, Julianne Smith. “They told us, all along, that she would be going through, then a week before the live show was to start, it was ‘OK, you’re not going to make it.’”
It was a harsh lesson to learn about what supposedly makes for good television. But Olivia didn’t wallow for too long in disappointment.
She’s kept busy for the last year and a half with performances at church, school and at The Hub in downtown Red Deer.
Olivia sang the national anthem at a Canada Day celebration and at various sporting championships. She regularly busks on Saturday mornings at the Red Deer Public Market, and has continued her music education, while maintaining honours status at school and working toward her black belt in Tae Kwon Do. (She also takes evening singing, music theory, as well as guitar and piano classes.)
Red Deer voice instructor Cheryl Valentine has given Olivia lessons since the precocious, would-be country singer started coming to her at the age of seven. While the teacher has had many gifted students over the years, she considers Olivia “exceptional” for her vocal abilities and work ethic.
The teenager attained the top mark in Canada for Grade 6 vocals at the Canada Conservatory of Music exams in London, Ont., last fall. And this spring she scored “an almost unheard of” 92 per cent at the Royal Conservatory Grade 7 voice exams in Toronto.
“She has a phenomenal voice and exceptional talent, and she works very, very hard,” said Valentine, who herself sang opera in the U.S. after getting a scholarship to study in Texas.
It’s telling that Olivia labours over music theory as much as her singing — and clearly, she is “very, very interested in singing,” whether pop, country or opera, added Valentine.
But the student long ago abandoned her ambition to become the next Martina McBride, and began focusing on a classical repertoire.
While she can sing in French and German, she particularly loves Italian opera, for the romance of the language, as well as the stories behind the music.
In Giacomo Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi, for example, a daughter begs her father to let her marry the man she loves, even though he is the son of his enemy.
Olivia said this heartbreaking scenario played out in her mind as she sang the gorgeous Mio Babbino Caro, which reduced so many of her listeners to tears last week.
“We cry too when we hear her sing,” admitted Julianne. “We wonder where is this (talent) coming from?”
Julianne, a fitness instructor, and her husband, Myles Smith, a driller in the oilfield, like music well enough, but their tastes have historically veered more towards Bon Jovi and Aerosmith than Puccini.
Their oldest daughter’s musical appreciation (Olivia has a supportive older brother and younger sister) encompasses Adele, Hedley and Celine Dion, as well as Justin Bieber — who she believes is “very talented.”
When she tries to envision her own future after high school, Olivia sees herself singing on stage somewhere, amid sets and props and footlights.
“I do want to make a career out of music ... opera for sure, or maybe musical theatre.”
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com