During the 2015 season, the blog will feature interviews with our Filene Young Artists. Today, we hear from baritone Morgan Pearse, Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles. 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? My mother
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Day 39: “People will never forget how you made them feel”
Tonight, the season’s first Vocal Colors concert comes to The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this guest post by soprano Alexandra Loutsion, one of the three artists featured in tonight’s performance! As excited as I am to bring Cio-Cio San to Wolf Trap Opera audiences this summer, there has been a little gem
Read MoreDay 38: Know Before You Go #2 – Figaro & Friends
The second in a series of short posts that will get you ready for The Ghosts of Versailles, a few easily digestible paragraphs at a time. Yesterday, I discussed the titular Ghosts and mentioned that one of them – Beaumarchais – wants to change the course of history and save Marie Antoinette from the guillotine. The tools he uses
Read MoreDay 37: Know Before You Go #1 – Who Are These Ghosts?
Today, the first in a series of short posts that will get you ready for The Ghosts of Versailles, a few easily digestible paragraphs at a time. The “Ghosts” of the title include Marie Antoinette, her husband King Louis XVI of France, and several of their aristocratic friends. The writer/musician Beaumarchais* – another ghost – is in love with Marie Antoinette,
Read MoreDay 36: Baritone Will Liverman in the Artist Spotlight
During the 2015 season, the blog will feature interviews with our Filene Young Artists. Today, we hear from baritone Will Liverman, Beaumarchais in The Ghosts of Versailles. 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? The moment
Read MoreDay 35: Bouncing, Throwing, and Running*
The Master Class phenomenon is a “thing” in the classical music world. In its best incarnation, an experienced and acclaimed artist works publicly with a young musician, and the assembled audience gets to peek behind the curtain and learn something about how a successful performance is constructed. And when handled with respect for both the
Read MoreDay 34: Ciao, Figaro
Two unrelated slightly fatigue-laced observations on this closing night of a production that encompassed lots of personal bests and 4 enthusiastic sold-out houses. First, a nomenclature dilemma. There has been a refreshing sense of immediacy and connection with the stage throughout this whole run, and it’s another reminder of how opera in a human-sized space is
Read MoreDay 33: Master Class on Sunday!
Tonight, I write to encourage you to check out Michelle DeYoung’s master class this Sunday afternoon. As much as we all love listening to the finished product in operas and concerts, having a chance to peek behind the curtain and see how singers really put together and polish their performances always gives music lovers a
Read MoreDay 32: Doodlissimo
It’s my day off (hallelujah!), so today’s post is of a suitably recreational nature. :) We’ve recently learned that Coloring Isn’t Just for Kids. It can help adults combat stress. Who knew? And since the process of being a young professional opera singer in a young artist program can be stressful, we decided to strew our artists’ waiting/studying areas
Read MoreDay 31: The Centennial Comes Early
There are many reasons that WTO is a well-oiled machine, not the least of which is that my colleague Lee Anne and I share a birthday. (Well, the date, not the year…) June 21. First day of summer. Longest day of the year. Almost always overrun with opera. Since June 21 is a double birthday – and
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