I am so honored to be one of the five winners of the S&R Foundation 2016 Washington Award, which recognizes talented emerging artists in all disciplines. Last weekend I traveled to Washington DC to meet the other amazing winners for a beautiful dinner and to perform at the award Gala. It was amazing to spend the week in the company of incredible and inspiring artists. Huge thanks to President Dr. Sachiko Kuno, Dr. Ryuji Ueno, Molly Turner and Danielle Reed.
Last weekend I had the privilege of making my solo debut with the City Choir of Washington in Handel's Solomon. I was kept very busy, singing roles in all three acts- Solomon's Queen in Act 1, Woman 1 in Act 2 and the Queen of Sheba in Act 3. I was joined by three fabulous soloists, soprano Katelyn Aungst, tenor Patrick Kilbride and counter tenor Charlie Humphries with Maestro Bob Shafer leading us from the podium. The choir, 120 strong, was quite a force and together with a full orchestra, the event was a true thrill. Stay tuned for recordings from the performance!
The four soloists!
While in DC, I visited the East Wing Gallery of the National Gallery of Art, where (among many other amazing things) I saw a rooster with my haircut.
The Calder exhibit at the East Gallery
Rothko!
This weekend I was fortunate to be included in a new production of Schumann's Dichterliebe and Britten's Les Illuminations at the Mile Square Theater in collaboration with Premiere Productions at Zen Space Studios. While Brian Holman, pianist and I performed Les Illuminations, artist Rufino Jimenez improvised a large charcoal drawing on stage left. Then Byron Singleton sang Dichterliebe and was joined on stage by several incredible dancers, including choreographer/ director Kristen Mangione. I'm thrilled to say that we will be taking this production to other venues in the future!
Dichterliebe: Photo Credit @eric_bandiero
Les Illuminations Photo Credit @eric_bandiero
Brian Holman, Byron Singleton and artist Rufino Jimenez with the piece he created during Les Illuminations.
Rufuno Jimenez's artwork
This week I'm in DC making my debut with the New Dominion Chorale and Maestro Tom Beveridge! This program, "Opera and Operetta Favorites," features singers from the 2016 Washington International Competition for Voice, presented by the Friday Morning Music Club. I'm so excited to be singing some really fun repertoire including Poor Wand'ring One from Pirates of Penzance, My Dear Marquis from Die Fledermaus, the Fire Aria from Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges and the Italian Street Song from Naughty Marietta.
Here is a [BEHIND THE SCENES] clip of me singing the chorus of Italian Street Song from our rehearsal yesterday. I tried out a fun new ending, and I think I'll stick with it!
All the soloists are amazing and a joy to work with, but I'm especially stoked to be singing with my dear friend and fabulous Mezzo-Soprano Madelyn Wanner. She and I were in the same Graduate class at Peabody Conservatory and sang together in an outreach production of Hansel and Gretel!
I had such a blast singing with these phenomenal ladies!
Adele and Rosalinda are ready for Act 2!
I'm thrilled to announce that I have joined the roster of Alpha Artists Management! Huge thanks to everyone who has encouraged me on this wonderful path. Special shout outs to Nick Netos, Neal Goren and Jenni Bank!
Here's to a hugely successful recital last night at Taylor House Bed & Breakfast in Boston! Hugs shout out to Diane Heffner, clarinetist, who played Shepherd on the Rock beautifully and of course to James Busby, pianist, coach and friend extraordinaire :)
And of course, thank you to Daryl and Dave at Taylor House for welcoming me back for a second concert. It is a pure joy to perform at Taylor House!
Pianist James Busby and Clarinetist Diane Heffner
Sienna the Bernese Mountain Dog was one of our most attentive audience members :)
This weekend was filled with great music and old friends! I made my annual trip down to Baltimore to sing at Paul Cassedy's house. As always, I performed with my great friend and incomparable pianist, Michael Sheppard. This year was a little different, because we were able to schedule two recitals- one on Saturday evening in Washington DC at the home of Sasha and Thais Mark, and one on Sunday evening at Paul's in Baltimore. It was a real treat to perform these programs back to back, and we're hoping to coordinate performances again for next year's recital tour. If you missed us, I'll be back in the DC area later this month singing with the New Dominion Chorale!
It's almost six months later and I'm still getting gifts from my time working on Odysseus' Women/Anais Nin with the Center for Contemporary Opera! This fabulous video just came out with Jordinde Keesmaat and Jim Schaeffer talking about what it was like to produce this Andriessen production at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. I'm so honored to have been a part of this truly life changing production.
