Esther Heideman developed her gorgeous soprano voice serenading the cows on her family’s Wisconsin dairy farm. Today, the winner of the 2000 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Licia Albanese Competition spends much of her busy international career performing in the Washington area.

Now a resident of Georgetown, where nature paths remind her of home, she solos Saturday with the National Philharmonic Chorale in Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” While many presentations are limited to the smaller version, Stanley Engebretson will conduct the complete oratorio.