Flanigan credits much of her early experience to the singular interest of Dr. Robert Larsen of the Des Moines Metro Opera where in 1985 she was cast as Clorinda in Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola and as Curley's Wife in Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men.
In 1990 Flanigan sang the role of Christine in Richard Strauss' Intermezzo with the Glimmerglass Opera,[REF] returning there two years later to portray the Governess in The Turn of the Screw [REF].