Cyndia Sieden returns to Carmel – and visits Salinas – decades after awakening her talent at Hidden Valley.

Do anything for three decades, and a general malaise often sets in. Not the case for coloratura soprano Cyndia Sieden, whose 30 years on concert stages now has her motivated like never before.

“I’m doing more teaching now, so I have a more settled life than back then,” Sieden says. “I enjoy my concerts more now because there aren’t as many of them and I’m not so frazzled and dealing with 10 things all at once like before.”

Raised in Los Angeles, Sieden became a local story first in 1982 while participating in a master class at Carmel Valley’s Hidden Valley Music Seminars, given by revered voice instructor Elisabeth Schwartzkopf. Wowing teachers, concertgoers and judges, she won the intense post-class contest, ushering in a time of growth.

“Everything took off and it’s been going ever since,” Sieden says. “You don’t know at the time just how much your life is going to change.”

Following the victory, Schwartzkopf invited Sieden to come to Salzburg, Austria for additional instruction.

“I didn’t know what to think when she invited me,” Sieden says. “I never thought I would ever go to Europe!” Her career soon took her to storied opera houses – and back to Hidden Valley in 2011.

“It was so moving to me to return and sing in the same hall it all began in,” the vocalist says. “It brings me to tears when I remember it because it was such a life-changing time for me. It was a great moment.”

Peter Meckel, founder and general director of Hidden Valley, remembers Sieden well. “Cyndia is an extraordinary musician,” Meckel says. “She’s a vocalist who has also learned musicianship itself. She has an impeccable sense of intonation, and she’s a very intelligent singer.” Despite her diminutive stature, he adds, “she has a very powerful voice and tremendous stage presence.”

This weekend Sieden fronts the Monterey Symphony for a program boasting Verdi’s beloved Desdemona singing “The Willow Song” and “Ave Maria,” along with a movement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, about which she waxes cosmic.

“I have to say it feels like a healing balm to me to get to spend time with this music,” she says. “It’s glorious writing. [Mahler] creates this magical world with this child singing about heaven and food and how great it is with all the saints. And [“Ave Maria”] is really like a prayer for everyone who’s ever felt danger.

“This is a very poignant program.”

MONTEREY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WITH CYNDIA SIEDEN 7:30pm Friday, April 21. $25. Sherwood Hall, 460 North Main St., Salinas. 8pm Saturday and 3pm Sunday, April 22-23. $28-$77. Sunset Center, San Carlos at Ninth, Carmel. 646-8511, montereysymphony.org