I’ll be the host and MC for this annual event, which will feature:
Sarah Barrett-Ives, soprano
Catie Shelley, soprano
Nina Scott-Stoddart, mezzo
Jonathan MacArthur, tenor
Andrew Pelrine, tenor
Joshua Whelan, baritone
Robert Milne, bass
Last weekend I sang in MCO’s Evening with Richard Rodgers as part of the Third Annual Opera Festival — it all went swimmingly. Thanks to my coperformers Vanessa Buhr-Rountree, Ross Thompson and the classy and talented Kate Carver!
I just got home from the most beautiful memorial service I’ve ever attended. My friend and colleague Barbara Thompson Wilson died earlier this week, and her service (meticulously planned by her) was a tour de force of music, liturgy, poetry, prayer and celebration of a life well-lived. She did me the honour of asking me to sing a few weeks ago, when she knew that her time was running out — Dido’s Lament, no less. She was a great lady, a wonderful artist, and a gracious and loving friend. Hope you enjoyed the service, Barbara — we miss you!
I’m getting ready for my third Opera Valentine in a row. It should be fun this year: we have me, Andrea Jeffrey, Ross Thompson, Leete Stetson and Justin Simard singing. It’s all Italian repertoire, as usual, but it’s the first time we’ll be presenting the evening at the Maritime Conservatory.
and now I have to really get cracking on the Vivaldi and Handel I’m singing next month. But before I do, I just want to share my favourite photo from Saturday night’s performance … thanks to Doug Cooke for taking the photo!
Me (La Zia Principessa), Meghan Walsh (La Badessa) and Mehgan Atchison (Suor Angelica)
Suor Angelica opened at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool, NS on Wednesday night, and it went really well. Mehgan Atchison (who’s singing Angelica) got a huge standing ovation, and rightly so. The Astor is a great venue to sing in, with a warm, voice-friendly acoustic — and I really enjoyed doing La Principessa there.
I also got to try out my new recorder: the Edirol R-09 by Roland. Man, this is one sweet little gizmo! I recorded the entire opera in CD quality onto one 1 gig Smart Disk from the built in mics, and it sounds amazing.
Here’s a little sample — you’ll hear me then Mehgan Atchison.
I’m in the midst of preparing for a few gigs that are coming up. First up is Puccini’s Suor Angelica, for MCO. I’m singing La Zia Principessa, which is my favourite Puccini mezzo role. Who wouldn’t love it? I get to be mean to the poor little soprano! Then I have the solos in the Vivaldi Magnificat, which I’ve never done before. They are quite bravura, and I’m looking forward to them — I’m singing them in Toronto with Ensemble Tryptych. And it wouldn’t be Christmas without a Messiah or two, would it? My first is with the Cantabile Singers of Truro, directed by Ross Thompson.
Here’s why I love the role of La Zia Principessa so much — this is her “aria”. (No, that’s not me, silly, it’s Christa Ludwig, whose oro-pharynx I am not worthy to lick …) Click the pink “play” button …
… while I’m redesigning my performance website to use WordPress. I’m on a real WordPress kick right now — once you’ve set up one site using WP, the next ones just get easier and easier … I’ve been putting together websites for years, and, finally, it all seems to be coming together.
FYI, some of the plug-ins I’m using on this site are:
The theme (at the moment) is a reworked version of Misty Look, one of my favourite WordPress themes. It was even more beautiful, of course, before I started mucking around with it
