Get to know Austin

What are you doing in school?
"I graduated from Gettysburg College's Sunderman Conservatory of Music in 2020."
How long have you been singing in choirs?
"I started at age 5 singing with the Children’s Chorus of Maryland and taking musicianship classes."
What is your favorite musical memory?
“During the summer of 2020, I was invited to sing for some services at my church in Gettysburg. After being isolated in my house for so long, and having not performed since early March, it was such a blessing to sing for people again!"
Do you have any special talents or interests outside of music?
“I ride horses!”
Who is your favorite composer?
"I love Thomas Newman."
Who's your favorite non-classical musical artist?
"Florence and the Machine."
What song have you not been able to stop listening to?
"mama's boy by LANY. Just the whole album"
​What's the most interesting fact about you?
“I’m a vegan, and have been for four years!"
Breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?
"Always breakfast for dinner. Breakfast for every meal."
What's your favorite holiday and why?
"I have always loved Easter, when my dad and I go to a sunrise service before any of our family is awake."
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
"A morning person--I love to be up with the sun."
What's your favorite thing about singing in Lux?
"Everyone who sings with Lux is not only very talented but also so excited and passionate about what the group does, and it’s fun to be surrounded by that."
What's your favorite song you've sung with Lux?
"Awaken by Adrian Sims was the first piece of new music I've really connected with recently. I still find myself humming themes every once in a while."

Austin Nikirk is looking forward to her seventh season with Lux. She is a recent graduate of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, and studied Vocal Performance. At the conservatory, Austin was a member of the College Choir and Audeamus treble voice ensemble, and studied in the studios of Dr. Susan Hochmiller and Mr. Jeffery Fahnestock. In the Fall of 2018, Austin studied abroad in Paris, France, at the École Normale de Musique, in the studio of Madame Sylvie Valayre. Austin has sung in choirs since she was 5 years old, starting with the Children’s Chorus of Maryland under Betty Berteaux, and, upon graduation, the American Kodály Children’s Chorus. As a soloist, she has sung in eleven operas, and had roles in five: Cis in Albert Herring, the First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Mrs. Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Thief, and the title role of Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon. Austin recently moved to Amiens, France, and feels fortunate to continue singing with Lux in a virtual capacity!

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