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Tuesday, February 10… …. Act 1 Scene 3 of An Inspector from Rome, where we get to know the Mayor’s wife (“Shoes… Hats… Gowns!”) and daughter. … Day 6 of the Inspector from Rome workshop where your friendly blogger is hit with some mild variety of flu virus. Arms and neck aching badly during rehearsal

Act I Scene 2 of the Inspector from Rome workshop this weekend. Liam (he said I could use his real name:)) and Dominic (he didn’t say, but I’m sure he won’t mind) are in town, playing Tancredi (the guy who is mistaken for the government inspector) and his sidekick Ossipo. (I always thought that Ossipo

I’m in my happy place (literally), at the piano. Playing An Inspector from Rome. We are workshopping Act One of this brand-new-only-partially-born opera by John Musto and Mark Campbell. If you were lucky enough to catch their Volpone in 2004 or 2007, you’ll not want to miss Inspector in 2010. An Inspector from Rome is

I try hard to get out of the opera rut. (Here’s a true confession: I am fascinated with opera, I adore the people who make it, but I often don’t understand the people who love it.) Going to the opera has its rewards, but it’s usually a complicated busman’s holiday. So when I spend a

Kind of like a snow day, but not as long. And not as much fun… The office opened late yesterday, and I took advantage of the reprieve to dig into the score of the new opera for which I’m playing a workshop next week. (Gulp.) But there was this irritating squeak between the C# and

On Friday, January 16, I have the pleasure of performing at The Barns with two of the WTOC’s marvelous alumni. Keith Phares and Patricia Risley weren’t here at Wolf Trap at the same time, but they subsequently met at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and today they are the proud and exhausted parents of 5-month-old

I’ve fallen off the blogging train in a big way, and the thought of returning has begun to intimidate me. Yet here I am. Just don’t expect too much too soon. I took some real time off at the end of December. Relatively unplugged, and – more importantly – gloriously unhurried. Lately it seems that

We are struggling with summer repertoire and calendars that refuse to bend to our will. This is business as usual for anyone who’s insane enough to choose singers simultaneously with repertoire. But it’s worsened by the severe limitations of our two venues – one that’s so small and specific that you have to be very

The fall 2008 version of the List is here. Please forgive any typos/inconsistencies. I’m a little distracted by trying to put together next summer’s rep while in a general state of post-audition-tour frazzledness. (OK, I made that up, but it’s a good word to have. Frazzlidity? Frazzlation?) The Framework 315 singers were scheduled for an