When she was 12 and growing up in Mt. Airy, Leah Hawkins began taking voice lessons from a longtime Chestnut Hill opera singer and teacher who would change the trajectory of her life.

Teacher Leigh Munro, who formerly worked for opera titan Beveral Sills, shared her knowledge and insight including tidbits about the life and career of her former boss and friend, The Metropolitan Opera powerhouse.

“At the time I knew nothing about opera,” Hawkins told us last week, “Leigh led me to my eventual destiny.” 

Earlier this year, Hawkins won The Beverly Sills Artist Award given annually since 2006 by The Metropolitan Opera, One of the most coveted awards in the opera world, Hawkins’ prize included a $50,000 grant. According to the Met, the award, which was endowed by a gift from Met managing director Agnes Varis and her husband, Karl Leichtman, is the largest for a young singer in the U.S.

Hawkins’ honor brought on “full circle” moments of reflection to her former teacher. “This little girl I taught so many years ago is now receiving an award named for my boss and friend of so many years ago,” Munro told us last week.

That little girl’s affinity for music emerged early on. “There are home videos of me singing gibberish at 2 years old,” Hawkins told us in an earlier interview, “and by five,  I knew that I wanted to sing for a living. I was convinced I’d be the next Whitney Houston. But opera found me when I was in 6th grade … I asked my parents for voice lessons, and they happily obliged. We found Leigh Munro’s card on the business card wall at the Trolley Car Diner, and that was the start.” 

Hawkins, 33, attended Houston Elementary School and the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. When she was in high school, she would sit at the computer for hours watching YouTube videos of Met performances, and she would tell friends that someday she would be singing at the Met. 

Hawkins studied voice with Munro from 2003 to 2008 and attributes much of her success to her former teacher. “Leigh is pretty much the reason I pursued opera,” said Hawkins, who received her Master of Music in Voice from Yale University and Bachelor of Arts in Music from Morgan State University.

In 2015, Hawkins was offered a spot in the Young Artist Program, a two to three-year paid residency/training initiative for young, developing singers at Washington National Opera. The director of the program was so impressed by Hawkins that when he was offered a similar position with the Metropolitan Opera, he brought her along. When the Met decision-makers heard Hawkins' voice, it made a spectacular impression, and she was hired. In November of 2018, she made her Met debut as the alms collector in “Suor Angelica” and the high priestess in “Aida.” 

“When I was new at the Met,” Hawkins said, “I must admit that part of me wanted something like this (Beverly Sills Award) very much. When I got the call about the award from Michael Heaston, the head of casting at the Met who has been a big supporter of mine, I screamed and cried. He cried, too.

“I am in awe of the legacy of Ms. Sills, whose vocal, artistic and social prowess continue to inspire us all,” Hawkins continued. “I hope that my passion for people and my love for singing reflect the brilliance she inspired not only in my own life but in those she touched on stage and off … My heart is bursting with gratitude!”

Sills, who died in 2007, was one of the most renowned coloratura sopranos in Metropolitan Opera history. A Brooklyn native, she served as chairperson of the Met from 2002 until 2005, when she resigned because of an injury. Years later, Hawkins is making her mark with the same opera company that Sills led. 

Typical of the ecstatic reviews Hawkins has received over the years is this one in the Opera News of Hawkins’ performance in “Proving Up” at the Washington National Opera: “Leah Hawkins brought dignity and pathos to the role of the worried, increasingly pessimistic mother. The soprano used her sumptuous voice vividly, nowhere more so than in the opera's bleakest line, 'God, you are a rumor; God, you are smoke,' rising to a long-held C-sharp of shattering impact.”

When not performing herself, Hawkins listens to a lot of opera but also enjoys Neo-soul, R&B, jazz, West African world music and South African house club music. “In my spare time I like to sleep longer than I should,” said Hawkins, who now lives in Harlem. “I travel a lot for work, of course, but I also travel for leisure. I love Ghana, have been there twice. And I love to come back home and visit my family. And I like any place with a beach.”

For more information, visit leahhawkinssoprano.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com