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Getting 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

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The 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

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Opera 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.

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Baritone 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

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Gearing 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

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UNTRAPPED 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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Soprano Madison Leonard in the Spotlight

Madison Leonard

She’s a poet, a jazz aficionado, and a fan of many Steves!  Madison makes her Wolf Trap debut this weekend in Four of a Kind. Which experience(s) most influenced your decision to become a professional singer? What’s the earliest point in your life that you can identify in pointing you in this direction? When I was

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Putting Rossini to the Test

Director E. Loren Meeker is working her magic with our Touchstone production, and there is some serious singing and laughter coming from that rehearsal room. A few months ago she wrote a short article for our season book, and I’ve linked to a digital version here for your enjoyment! Putting Rossini to the Test

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Love is Sweeping the Country

Steve Blier’s blog post (link below) about the song that ends this weekend’s Four of a Kind concert puts Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing into stunning contemporary context: I remember hearing Lin-Manuel Miranda at last year’s Tony Award ceremony when he read his acceptance in the form of a poem—“ And love is love is love is love is love

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