I do not (yet) have a lengthy press package, I will drop the act and let you know that I, me, Jeffrey Lou Kerst, am writing this long bio. So, for example, instead of “He appeared”, it will be “I was cast”. Cheryl Lynn said it first- I got to be real.

I am originally from Conway, Arkansas, where I was enrolled at a small Baptist school. My earliest memories are musical. I remember sitting at my mom’s piano, pressing the sustain pedal, and listening to the sound of random combinations of white keys. My mom also enjoyed playing the relax channel on our TV’s Music Choice station. I remember flipping through the stations from 400-450 and quickly skipping past the adult contemporary channel because I thought I wasn’t old enough to listen to it yet. My earliest music education happened in the passenger seat of my dad’s truck on the way to Greers Ferry, AR. This hour-long drive was the appreciation class for music like Journey, Tears for Fears, Def Leppard, Frank Sinatra, The O’Jays, Foster the People, Jerry Reed, and the Little River Band. My dad has a way of making drum sticks with his index and middle fingers, and playing the steering wheel like his toms and rack of cymbals. At stop lights he’d even feature the kick drum played on the brake pedal. It was this instrument I was playing on my desk in second grade when Mrs. Donor came over to me and said, “Lou, one day you should be a musician, but just not in my class.”

I wanted to join choir in the fifth grade, but ended up talking myself out of it because I thought it was “too girly” and my friends would treat me differently if I sang. Well, after a year of missing out and wishing I was in choir, I joined in the sixth grade. That year, I made my first ever debut as the Mayor of our Christmas town musical. Singing soon became my motivating force, and took me to every all-region and all-state honor choir.

In my final semester of high school, a month before the pandemic, on the heels of black history month in 2020, I had a radical and life-altering concert experience. Singers from around Central Arkansas were invited to be a part of a concert that was being held at Little Rock Central Highschool. We rehearsed in the AME church down the street and performed spirituals and other black music. After our first-half appearance, Dr. Jeffrey Murdock and the University of Arkansas’ Inspirational Chorale came on stage. With the aid of professional actors, and among the squeaks of the Nationally Registered auditorium and the hallway-echoes of “The Little Rock Nine”, they accompanied and featured in the drama of a young and innocent black man being shot by police, and the mother’s despair and hopelessness that she has to live without her son. Parents from my private Christian school walked out in the middle of their singing and forced our choir director to apologize that we had to witness it. 

Later that summer, I was asked to join the Dr. Murdock’s Inspirational Chorale- a choral experience that has shaped my artistry to this day.

As I entered college in the fall of 2020, I would struggle to find my footing socially, musically, academically, and emotionally. The following year, I suffered a depressive episode- one that I wouldn’t recover from for two and a half years. During this time there were two things that got me out of bed and excited: singing gospel and black sacred music with the Inspirational Chorale, and opera. 

Opera came into my life in the fall of 2021 when Dr. Jonathan Stinson was hired not only as my new voice teacher, but our new opera theatre director. Building this program from scratch, each show was a one act- single-cast with only the handful of singers that were available. Either we could pull it together, or the show didn’t go on. In fall 2022, I sang my first opera role- Leon in Thomas Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso. The next semester, I was Gerardo in Gianni Schicchi. (I found the Italian choruses much harder.) In May 2023, the Inspirational Chorale went on a tour of Italy, performing concerts in Genoa (collaborating with Coro Terzo Tempo), Florence, and Venice. 

One of my favorite musical memories was made after our Genoa concert when the conductor of Terzo Tempo invited us back to his house for wine and focaccia. On the walk between the church and his home, I tried to speak with a lovely nonna about the only Italian thing I knew- Donizetti’s “Una furtiva lagrima”. Later in the evening, after a few glasses of wine, Dr. Murdock played piano as I sang the aria to a living room full of Italian people (including the lovely nonna).

That fall I gave my first recital titled to this point. This was an ambitious recital program, not for any degree requirement, compiled from music I had learned up “to this point.” It also featured original art song compositions and poetry I had written. In December we put on Amahl and the Night Visitors, where, as Kaspar, I sang of the wonderful jewels, beads, and licorice in my precious box.

In March 2024 the Inspirational Chorale sang at Carnegie Hall both in a chamber set and as a part of a mass choir performing Mozart’s Requiem with orchestra, conducted by Jeffrey Murdock. I flew from New York City to Honduras for a week, and the day I got back was the start of tech week for my role as Jesus in The Passion According to Inspire. After a tour stop in Indianapolis, I returned to Fayetteville for a production of Dido and Aeneas where I played a gender-bent version of the Sorceress in full drag.

In early 2024 I saw an Opera in the Ozarks poster pinned outside of my teacher’s door. I thought, how’ve I not heard of this? Knowing very little about auditioning, I saw that they were in a couple of months. A few months later, I had two named roles and one principal role in The Crucible and La Traviata. I gave myself what I thought was enough time to prepare- two and a half weeks. After some tough coachings, the summer turned out to be deeply transformative. I performed The Crucible, conducted by Kristin Roach, seven times- 4 as Rev. Parris and 3 as Giles Corey. For La Traviata, conducted by Thomas Cockrell,- 4 as Gastone and 3 as chorus. That summer I sang with an orchestra, made friendships with other young ambitious singers, studied with Emily and Raymond Ulibarri for a featured partnership dance, did my own makeup, and performed under stage lights all for the first time. I entered this summer with the question, “Do I even want to do opera?” As I entered the fall 2024 semester, the answer seemed to be a passionate yes.

That semester I studied closely with my musicology professor, Dr. Sophie Brady. Outside of two lectures, I met with her almost weekly to discuss all things opera and 20th century art music. In these conversations was the origin of my love of contemporary American and modernist music. This was all while I was performing Baby Bear (with large diaper) in Johnathan Stinson’s children’s opera The Three Bears. We did 12! performances at six elementary schools in one week.

The fall 2024 semester was also when I sang my degree-required senior recital called Certain Subtle Magic. This recital was a lot of fun. I tried on some heavier repertoire, and experimented with lighting and theatrical design with the church sanctuary. I encourage you to watch it on my photo/video page.

In spring 2025, I stage managed and prompted Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio. I was not intending to conduct it, but as we reached tech week, I was asked to be in front and help keep the recitatives in order and the choruses in time.

Opera in the Ozarks 2025 was totally next level.

With a grant from the Walton Foundation, a brand new opera house was built into the side of a mountain. Performing in this theater was the first time I ever performed with an orchestra pit, stage wings, full lighting, and moving set pieces. Singing with an orchestra pit changes the acoustic for sure, but also makes it to where the conductor is staring at you while you’re singing (and making rhythmic mistakes…). I continued my dance study with the Ulibarri’s, and enjoyed a lesson and masterclass with tenor Bille Bruley.

I sang in all three shows. I was:

Jack in Into the Woods,

Le Remendado / Chorus in Carmen, and

Viscount Cascada / Chorus in The Merry Widow.

This is certainly the most music I have ever memorized so far, and an incredibly successful and meaning-filled summer.

When I got back to school for the fall 2025 semester, I had two weeks before I sang Bastien in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne. This production was set completely in the world of Minecraft. I was costumed as Steve and carried a diamond sword. We moved through a set that included a Nether portal and was made of 70+ cardboard blocks.

In December 2025, I was invited back to OIO for the company’s first ever professional production. Along with other 2025 company singers, we performed Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena by Evan Mack. I played the role of Nobody, a quirky but well meaning angel who helped the child Lucinda along her way.

As I am writing this, I have just finished my student teaching internship and graduated from the University of Arkansas. This summer will be another big one as I am travelling to Rochester, NY to perform as a studio artist with Finger Lakes Opera. I am very excited to be performing a popular contemporary American work, Glory Denied by Tom Cipullo, conducted by Brock Tjosvold. This opera, performed with a chamber orchestra, is a musical drama detailing the harrowing story of Jim Thompson- the longest serving prisoner of war in American history. It is also the story of how his nine-year captivity effected the life of his wife, Alyce Thompson, and their four young children. The opera contains two characters sung by four parts- an older and younger Jim, as well as an older and younger Alyce. I will also be performing my first full Mozart opera as Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Austin Turner. Singing Basilio will be the largest orchestra I have ever sung with to this point, and I am looking forward to a grand experience.

In September I will start my studies at Rutgers university, pursuing a Masters of Music in Opera Performance. Being from rural Arkansas, New Brunswick, NJ seems like the perfect blend of experiencing the hustle and culture of NYC, combined with the forest, natural wildlife, and disc golf courses that make me feel at home.