Hah! No one ever, I mean ever, reads this section! So I never bother with it. But here’s an entry just so my fans know I’m out there. All is well with me… it’s Valentine’s Day here in New York City, and tonight is dinner a fancy French restaurant with my beautiful girlfriend Katie Berkshire.
Nearly another year has passed since I last updated the “News” section—since no one reads this part much I’ve been lazy about it! It was a quiet summer for me in New York, with only a couple Carmina concerts in New Jersey in July. But I joined a gym and have been working out steadily. My once slender frame is now really slender and a bit ripped! Audition season is starting up again, applications are due, and another cold winter is inevitable. My next big trip is to Houston next month, for a Kaiser, again with James Conlon conducting. Since it’s coproduced by Houston Grand Opera, technically I can tell people that I’m going to Houston to sing with HGO, even though it’s not on their mainstage. An orchestra concert in Switzerland this February will likely put me in Europe for a couple weeks, as my manager is trying to set up auditions for me while I’m there.
Well, it may be another many months before I update this section, but if you email me requests I may update it more often. Many thanks to all my fans out there. Keep in touch.
Okay, it’s been nine months since I’ve updated this News section… I apologize to all my fans who have been checking in day after day!
I’m currently in Omaha, Nebraska, doing Paul Bunyan, and it’s been a great gig. Very relaxing city, not too demanding a role, good money, and a cast full of old friends.
This summer I was at San Francisco Opera’s Merola Center, doing Basilio in Mozart’s Figaro. It was a long summer, full of emotional turmoil. But it’s all worked out fine in the end.
I’m very excited about my big debut with Chicago Opera Theater in February! It’ll be my fourth production with stage director Lillian Groag.
Great news! I’ve advanced to the semifinal round of the Houston Grand Opera Competition! So February 6th and 7th I’ll be auditioning my guts out in Houston, in the hopes that I advance to the finals. It will be my first time in Texas (aside from a couple layovers).
Also, yesterday I performed the title role in the Debussy opera (oratorio?) L’Enfant Prodigue at the Juilliard Theater. Thank you to Lennie for showing up! This Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday I’ll be singing the Little Old Man in L’Enfant et les sortileges, also at the Juilliard Theater.
All kidding aside, I just want to take a moment to thank my friends and family for their support of me. There have largely been great turnouts for my performances, and the encouragement has not gone unnoticed.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I’ve had four much needed days of rest, and got to see my family. Monday was the big day—my much anticipated Carnegie Hall debut. It went very well, and a big thank you to all my family, friends, and fans who turned out to see it. Hopefully Opera Orchestra will ask me back next season. Now I have tech week for the upcoming Debussy/Ravel double bill with the Juilliard Opera Center. It’s a tedious process, tech week that is, but necessary if we want to open in ten days!
In other news, I’ve accepted a contract with the Merola Opera Center of the San Francisco Opera for summer 2005! I’ll be performing the role of Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, and participating in their training program.
You may have seen me perform last Wednesday night at New York’s illustrious Union Club on Park Avenue. Organized by Opera Orchestra of New York, the event honored Licia Albanese. I sang a cool aria from “Le Comte Ory” of Rossini that features four high Cs and a D! It went very well, and afterwards Ms. Albanese said, “You sound like Schipa! Don’t lose the mezza voce”
Otherwise, my schedule is insane—working on three shows at the same time! In the mornings I rehearse with Opera Orchestra for Monday night’s performance of La Fanciulla del West, in the afternoon I rehearse L’Enfant Prodigue at Juilliard, and in the evenings until 10:30pm I work on L’Enfant et les Sortileges also at Juilliard. So my butt is getting kicked! Ultimately I love what I do, and without the stress I’d be bored.
The last ten days have been huge!—two major projects. On October 12th I presented a recital at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. Though it was a Tuesday matinee, about two hundred people showed up. Many thanks to my family and friends for supporting me, and a special word of gratitude to my fans that I have yet to meet! The program featured the Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, selections from Schubert’s Die Schoene Muellerin, and sets by Rachmaninoff, Poulenc, and Ives. Look for me on the recital stage of New York’s 92nd Street Y in mid-January, as I compete in the semi-final round of the Young Concert Artists International Competition. Last year I made it all the way to the finals, and this time we’re hoping for First Place!
Three days after my Merkin recital I flew to Los Angeles for my debut with the LA Philharmonic. We presented the Viktor Ullmann opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis on Tuesday, October 19th, for an audience of nearly a thousand. As part of his concert series, Reviving a Musical Heritage, Maetro James Conlon has also brought this production and cast to New York’s Central Synagogue and the Spoleto Festival, Italy. Just after Christmas this year we go to Miami to present the show with the New World Symphony.
