By David Fleet

Editor

Genavieve Linkowski has never had a voice lesson.

But if all goes well on Sept. 19, the 17-year-old Atlas Township resident will receive musical instruction from a few of the best in the entertainment business.

In August, NBC announced that fans of the reality competition “The Voice” series could audition for the show via a new Snapchat series. It features user-submitted performance videos which are then reviewed by “The Voice” coaches for the chance to appear during the new season’s broadcast premiere. The four coaches for the 2016 season are Blake Sheldon, Adam Levine, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys. Each music professional selects one Snapchat performer who entered from a worldwide base.

Linkowski jumped on the opportunity and it paid off. She was selected as a finalist on “The Voice on Snapchat.”

“I grew up playing the piano and violin,”said Linkowski, the oldest of nine children. “I later picked up the harp. My life was based around classical music and I even did opera at one point.”

At 14-years-old she went to the Disney movie “Frozen” with her grandfather.

“I fell in love with the song “Let it Go” from “Frozen” like so many other kids did,” she said. “So one day I put on the karaoke machine and sung it just like Idina Menzel did. I was so happy from that moment on I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

For the next few years she practiced, knowing she was not ready to move forward with her musical career.

After a few years of practice, this spring Linkowski emailed video clips to“The Voice” of herself singing “Listen” by Beyonce and “All I Ask” by Adele.

The effort was not successful.

In August, Linkowski tried again, this time via “The Voice on Snapchat” with the song “Stone Cold,” by Demi Lovato. According to NBC, “The Voice on Snapchat,” opened the call for videos on Aug. 8 and received more than 20,000 submissions in less than 48 hours. The 30-second audition videos were evaluated by “The Voice” producers and coaches.

Linkowski said only about 10 seconds of music makes it to the coach, with the other 20 seconds spent on introductions. On Aug. 25 a representative of “The Voice” contacted her mother, Tamara Linkowski.

“They asked me not to tell Genavieve, but Miley (Cyrus) selected her Snapchat audition,” said Tamara. “They also said that when Genavieve watches the Sept. 5 episode of ‘The Voice’ and Miley announces her name, get a video of her reaction they told me.”

Genavieve was shocked.

“I could not believe Miley picked me,” she said. “It did not seem real.”

It all will come down to the Sept. 19 episode of “The Voice,” which will be on Snapchat in the morning where fans will have a chance to vote for one of four artists selected by “The Voice” coaches. The winner will be announced on “The Voice,” Monday night at 8 p.m.

“Win or lose on Monday I’m going to audition for ‘The Voice,’”’ she said. “I really want to make that show.”

Genavieve is the daughter of Tamara and Craig Linkowski.

Watch Miley Cyrus on “The Voice.” Snapchat name: genlink16, Instagram name:singer4jesus.