In honor of tonight’s opening of The Touchstone, I offer this interview with our lead Rossini tenor, who is quite a thoughtful guy. Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and learn a little more about his journey to becoming a professional opera singer! Which experience(s) most influenced your decision to become a professional singer? What’s the earliest
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Usher Gallery
Excitement was in the air last night at Union Market, as our UNTRAPPED partnership with Halcyon Stage took vivid form in The Fall of the House of Usher. Followers of WTO, Halcyon Stage and CityDance merged with Philip Glass fans and D.C. cultural mavens in a beautifully diverse audience that treated the performers to a rousing
Read MoreWTO & NSO
WTO fans who are in DC this weekend should be sure to catch Trapper J’Nai Bridges (WTO ’15,’16) in the National Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – a celebration of the NSO’s outgoing Music Director Christoph Eschenbach. This July, we’re thrilled that Gianandrea Noseda’s first concert as incoming Music Director will featured three other
Read MoreRossini Recipe
These amazing people + vocal fireworks + shenanigans = La pietra del paragone. Don’t miss it. Back tomorrow with some more serious content :)
Read MoreGetting Ready for Rossini
Forget miles per hour. Notes per second is usually a good way to think about our friend Rossini. What’s it like to prepare a role in which the vocal fireworks alone are a force to be reckoned with? Well, if you’re a thoughtful musician like Alasdair Kent, you somehow find yourself more absorbed by the
Read MoreThe Virtues of Virtuosity
This rare comic opera by the young (20-year-old!) Rossini has really captivated us, and we can’t wait to put it on the stage. Today, I refer you to the digital version of a piece written by Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Roger Pines. Roger introduced me to La pietra del paragone over 20 years ago, and he’s kind
Read MoreOpera is Popping Up Everywhere…
Got some free time tomorrow? Come on over to Union Market in northeast D.C. for some crazy good opera fun as we team up with Halcyon Stage. Puccini in the gelato shop, Carmen in the market, Mozart on the astroturf and Tosca on the roof! :8-O 12noon to about 2pm.
Read MoreBaritone Ben Edquist in the Spotlight
As Ben prepares to sing William in Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher, he talks about hip hop, All State Choir, and the golden age of musical theatre. What’s your dream role and why? I would love to play Emile de Becque in South Pacific. It’s one of the most beautiful stories in
Read MoreGearing up for Glass
William Blake saw a world in a grain of sand. As soprano Madison Leonard prepares for the role of Madeline in Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher, she sketches an entire character in a single vowel. I’ve been learning more about Philip Glass while learning my roles for Fall of the House of Usher
Read MoreUNTRAPPED at The Clarice
A guest post by Lee Anne Myslewski I’m sitting in the beautiful Dekelboum concert hall at the Clarice, on the University of Maryland Campus, listening to an 85-piece orchestra play the overture to Verdi’s Nabucco. (It’s a wonderful way to wake up, for the record!) We’re in rehearsal for a new collaboration with the National
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