On ABC 2 Baltimore!

Hello everyone,
It has been an exciting month since I have been back in the US. First, and most important, I was featured in a segment on ABC's show, 'Good Morning Maryland'. In this segment, I was interviewed by Jamie Costello and then performed the aria, 'Nessun Dorma' with pianist Michael Sheppard. It was a thrill to be on live television, to be interviewed by Jamie Costello, and of course to be able to work with Michael Sheppard. When we are are performing, we often forget how much easier our jobs can be when we have a pianist who can take care of everything imaginable. Michael Sheppard is one of those pianists and he makes my life incredibly easier as a singer. I look forward to our next spot on this TV show sometime after the holidays. Stay tuned to this website and I will keep everyone posted. For those that missed it, here is the link to my interview:

http://www.abc2news.com/content/gmm/story/Meet-a-Baltimore-Born-Opera-Star/CWwUykeLU0iYiQR57-SWFQ.cspx


The night after performing on the news, I had the priviledge of seeing Renee Fleming live at the Lyric. It was a quite a show. She really knows how to play to an audience and yet also keep it very classy. I happen to be a fan of how she introduced each piece. I know many people find performers speaking to the audience a bit crass, but I find it educational. Especially when the singer/performer might have insight into something that the audience might find interesting. On a personal note, I also like the connection it forms with the audience and you get to know the performer a bit better. This is always a tactic I take when giving recitals (if given the opportunity). This (in my opinion) is sometimes the only way to explain and bring the audience into the piece, and by doing so, we can bring more people to the 'fine arts'.

On a final performing note, I am in the process of learning Nadir from the 'Pearl Fishers' with Center Stage Opera. I look forward to working with the company again and all the great staff that are involved in these productions. The big conundrum that all tenors face is how to attack the big aria in act one. After much debate, I have decided to go the artistic route and sing all the top notes pianissimo. This is up to much debate, but because the music calls for a soft approach and I am supposed to be in a dream state, it just makes the most sense (even if it is horribly difficult to do well). Luckily, I have 3 more months to get ready for this and prepare myself.

Happy Holidays!

Back in the US

Well, I have been back in the US for a few weeks now and the question I seem to get more often than not is, 'Are you glad to be back?' Simply stated and in one word...No. To say some people are best suited for certain cities versus other cities has always been something I have debated. I often thought most cities were about the same and you can find something charming about every city where you live. While I still believe this is true, I now believe that for each person, there are cities that better fit that person's personality. Paris definitely fits mine. I happen to be someone who loves: great music, great food, loud and lively people, great museums, great history, and great civic pride. These attributes perfectly describe Paris (as I see it). I will admit, I can't wait to be able to move back to Paris and once again breathe in the smell of such excitement in a city like Paris.

On vocal notes...I have mentioned how I have been going through some vocal changes under the direction of dramatic tenor, Howard Haskin. All the feelings I mentioned before are still ringing true on a daily basis and the best way I can describe my feelings with singing is this...I feel like someone who has been blind his whole life and all of a sudden can see. In that case, the person realizes the new sensations and the new gift, but doesn't know what to do with it. There is a lot of bumping into things and not quite judging distances correctly. However, every day there is improvement and you don't know how you ever could have lived as you did before. I can't imagine singing as I ever did before I changed technique recently and I can also say I catch myself saying, 'Wow' more often than I ever did in the past. I definitely thank Howard for that.

Before I left Paris, I did a concert of 'The Rake's Progress' and was glad it came off well. It was difficult to learn the music so quickly, but it was well worth it and I look forward to further developing that role in time. I also recorded the Liebeslieder Waltzes a week ago in DC. This was also a quick study for me. Luckily, I have sung these before. Next up is 'Les Pecheurs de Perles', with Center Stage Opera in March. I have started looking at some of this and am already thinking I am going to need every moment I have to really get this role perfect.

I would like to give a strong and hearty congrats to singers at Indiana University for their production of 'Die Zauberflöte'. Their was some great singing, great acting, and amazing playing in the pit. Also, congrats to my former schoolmate, Hirotaka Kato for his peformance in this production. Another congrats to another schoolmate of mine, Paul Corujo, in Center Stage Opera's production of, 'Madama Butterfly'. It was a real pleasure to see this company continue to develop. The sets are really starting grow in complexity and it really makes for a great show.

Lots to report

Hello all,
Well, there is a lot to report for the last few weeks. First, in my previous blog, I mentioned the competition in Torino. That competition was a roaring success for me as I won the Nemorino role competition. In addition, I was awarded a secondary award as the 'most promising young bel canto singer'. As part of this award, I am given an opportunity next August to come back to Italy to study and take auditions in front of many Italian houses on an all expenses paid trip. Not a bad deal for me! The role competition awards me the opportunity to make my Italian debut as Nemorino in Elisir d'amore this coming spring in Torino. Also, a great opportunity.

As far as my experiences in the competition...It was a grueling couple days. There were many rounds in each day and often we started a round at 10am and didn't finish the last round until close to 11 at night. Each round consisted of different excerpts from the opera (i.e. duets, trios, solo arias, etc). Another interesting thing is that we were often asked to sing the same excerpt several times is a row as they mixed up the different singers to try and get the best combinations. Needless to say, it was quite tiring. Not to mention having 8 judges grueling you with different demands after each selection was tough as well. Oh, and did I mention, no one spoke English??

Yeah...No one spoke English. It was a great chance for me to use my Italian (thank you Professor Amodeo at the University of Maryland for scaring it into me). I haven't spoken Italian in 5 years, but it came back to me very quickly. It was a bit shocking being in Italy and realizing that no one spoke English. In France, more often than not, if I am stuck, someone can slip an English word or two in there for me to help me out. That is definitely not the case in Italy (and especially not in this competition). I must admit, I was almost happy to return to the cosmopolitan city of Paris...

That would be except for the food and hospitality in Italy. The people (even if they didn't speak a word of English) were some of the most warm people I have ever met. One example of this was on the first day of the competition. It was between rounds and I was quite tired (knowing we were going to be there until late in the night). Many of the competitors were staying in the same hotel (I was staying with a friend in a nearby town) and they proceeded to ask the hotel if it would be OK for me to have a room just to rest in for a few hours until the next round of the competition (and not pay for this). In the US, they would laughed and told you to get out of the hotel. In Italy, they said that it would be no problem and even proceeded to ask me if I needed and drinks or food. Unbelievable!

Continuing with the food, I was floored at the level of the food. I have never had food like this in any country I have visited. The tastes were almost like American food on flavor steroids and yet they were the most natural foods I have ever enjoyed. For all who plan to visit Italy...Please learn the language, but realize that even if you struggle, the food alone is worth the struggle. Trust me!

After arriving home (Paris) from Torino, I was shortly on the road again to another international competition in Marseille, France. This one did not turn out as fortunate as the last competition. Being that I am in a transitory stage in my voice, certain arias work better than others, and it turns out that when I listed the aria I wanted to sing for this competition 2 months ago, it was before I realized I was changing technique. This left me in a precarious situation with the aria I was to sing (because changes are not allowed). I sang as best as I could manage, but realized that my best with this aria would not be good enough to win on that given day. I also realized that while the competition was good, I was better, and had I been given the chance to change to something better reflecting my current singing style, I should have been able to win, almost convincingly. Another factor against me was that my rehearsal with my pianist was at 10am the morning of the competition and I did not take the stage until 11pm that night. Quite a long day and I will admit that I was having a hard time even staying awake minutes before walking on stage in front of 2000 people in the audience and the main judge, Rolando Villazon!!

All that being said, it bring me to a critical realization about my career. That realization is that regardless of whatever circumstances throw themselves in front of me, I need to be ready to sing at a high level. There is never an excuse as to why one can have a 'blah' performance. The audience paid good money to see me sing and I need to deliver even if it is 11pm at night and had been on my feet since early in the morning. This is the same as a pitcher who happens to be a closer in baseball and waits around all game until the 9th inning to make his appearance. He can't complain that it is past his bedtime; he needs to muster up the strength and will power to give a commanding performance to win the game for his team. I need to follow suit and force myself to stay focused and not meander through a performance. As a singer, I love to give excuses as to why something wasn't perfect, however to be truly great, I can no longer allow myself to make these excuses.

My wife has a habit of telling me that when I am competing at these international competitions and on an international level at European opera houses, that it is not just about singing the right notes, remembering the words, or even hitting the high notes. Instead, it is about absolute artistic perfection. If you want to win and be recognized, there can be no excuses, only results. As much as I love my ability to say that there will always be a next time, there comes a time when that next time is right now. There also comes a time when time does run out and if we are not making it as a singer, we need to consider other things. While I am not there yet, I realize that I need to really start deliberately seizing every opportunity in front of me and not just allowing myself to be slightly above average. If you want to be a truly great singer, then there is only one way to get there and that is to be tireless and unrelenting while in the practice room and on the stage. This is not a field for mediocrity, this is a field only for greatness.

Off to sing Nemorino

As I pack to prepare to head to Torino, Italy to compete for the role of Nemorino, I have been walking around our apartment in Paris constantly humming every person's lines except my own. Those are the easy ones to remember. While working with one of my Parisian coaches this week, I stumbled repeatedly on my entrances when there was nothing more than the simple piano accompaniment. What I realized is that I know every single one of my lines, I often take my word and entrance cues off listening to the other characters...Not a good idea when the audition is just me and a pianist singing through the entire role (including ensembles) and there is no one else on stage with me. This has caused me to go back and really focus in on every character besides myself (hard for a tenor to do).

Amidst preparing for this trip to Italy, I have decided to change techniques mid-stream. Not exactly an easy thing to do (nor recommended). In any event, my whole thinking was, there is no time like the present. Regardless how Italy goes, the most important thing is to move forward in some aspect of my voice every day (be it language practice, technique work, etc). I know there is a limited amount of time we all have to get our careers off the ground before it becomes such an economic albatross that we have no choice, but to find some other kind of employment and way of life. I have felt this albatross growing stronger on my back this last year and have decided I need to make things happen (even if drastic). I am going for broke (literally and figuratively) and that means evaluating every aspect of how I work as a musician. I have gotten certain criticisms over the years that are now becoming pretty much a pattern and because of this I have been seeking advice from professionals all across the voice field to solve them. I did not have much success in the US finding help to solve these problems (the help I received in the US was more fixing the symptoms, but not really solving the root problems). Luckily, I stumbled into some people here in France that have really been able to help me. My new voice teacher and I have been working 5-6 days a week for 2-3 hours at a time for the past couple weeks just to get me a head start on this new technique as I head to Torino. His approach is to not treat the symptoms, but instead to fix the actual problems. This is certainly not an entirely novel approach to many things, but to my voice, it has been a huge help.

For you singers out there, let me suffice to say that Europe has an opinion on American singers and it is definitely a fair one. My voice embodies many of the problems we have as American English speakers singing in Italian, French, or German. It is sometimes too bright and shrill and at other times unfocused and lacking strength (without pushing) on the bottom. This is the general opinion of American singers. People here have told me it is because we form our mouths wrong when forming words. Europeans will form words at the very front of the mouth and lips and as Americans we form it in the back of our throats. This presents many interesting problems. Next, because we form everything in the backs of our mouths, we tend to also try and find all our resonance places there and in our heads (read...NOSE). This creates that midwest twang or southern drawl or many other accents we have in the USA. In any event, this whole process of speaking (or in this case singing and creating sound) needs to be re-learned to get the color that European singers are so famous for having. I won't get into the details, but needless to say, it has been a VERY tough road for me (however invigorating at the same time). There are times I sound like a child learning to speak for the first time, but at other moments, there is a greatness that sounds that I was never capable of before.

On other fronts, I am preparing to also sing in Marseille in front of the great tenor Rolando Villazon in 2 weeks and after that I am singing in a concertized version of The Rake's Progress in Paris on October 22nd (did I mention I still need to start learning that role!!). Somewhere in this I also have several local (ie local to Paris) auditions coming. They will be blogged about when I take them.

One more note to all the Americans out there. Paris, France and the rest of Europe are a wonderful way to vacation, visit, or live. The idea that either we (Americans) will be met with hostility, rudeness, or disdain could never be more far from the truth. Wherever I go, regardless of how well I speak a language, I always find people willing to do whatever they can to lend a hand or offer directions (even if often people know less about the city roads than you do as a traveler). In the US, there is almost an aversion to making an effort to meet people halfway with languages when communicating, but here, if you don't speak French, they will try English, and then if you don't speak that, they will try meeting you halfway with a little German, Spanish, Italian, or whatever to make the conversation happen. It is truly amazing to watch and of to be a part. There is a certain INclusion that exists here that seems to really be lacking in many parts of the US (where the term EXclusion really has a strong meaning).

au revoir!

An American in Paris...

After having a great coaching in Paris yesterday, I decided to go for a run around Paris. I thought I was headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Seine (which are just a few blocks from our apartment in le Marais, but somehow I ended up running the opposite direction (le Marais is horribly confusing with all these small narrow streets that change names on every block) and ended up at Paris Opera (the Bastille). Regardless, not a long jog. Being so close to Paris Opera reminds me of what used to be told to the Julliard kids as they prepared for careers at the Met...

'Although you may be in the building just across the street from the Met Opera and the Lincoln Center, that street you have to cross is the longest street you will ever have to walk in your life'.

It reminds me of where I am and how I feel about Paris Opera. I am minutes away from this beautiful opera house (and trust me, this edifice is magnificent), but I am also almost impenetrably far at the same time to taking the stage.

In my coaching yesterday, we focused on what I am lacking in my singing at this point...That certain something that allows the singer to relate to the audience and allow them to laugh and cry with us as we perform. It has nothing to do with technique, but everything to do with technique. As it was explained poetically to me yesterday, technique is the thing that allows us to sing unencumbered. So, while we often think we are building this huge constructure that allows us to sing, we are actually in fact tearing down that same constructure and eliminating the critical and emotional distance between the singer and the audience. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish, but at the same time, it is absolutely necessary to making great art. It is only then that our art can appear honest and then can really reach someone's heart strings.

So, to sum up: keep music as simple as possible and allow the music to just be itself. This also speaks to the state of Americans singing French music. It is normal for us to stress certain words, i.e. the noun or the adjective, or whatever. This is fact a great fallacy in french singing. We think often as Americans that we are showing the audience that we know the text and what it means by stressing the words. Wrong. In fact, we are destroying the line completely. The only way to express french text is to let it flow naturally. The french do not have the extreme ups and downs in their sentence flow like we do. This was the other big lesson yesterday. As I was singing stuff by Gounod, it was shown to me how the music itself in the rhythm gave as much emphasis as necessary and that anything more that what he wrote is just exaggeration to the french language. Oh, the things you can only learn about a language while in that country.

In audition news, I am still preparing for some small auditions here and also for some larger competitions in the next month.

I promise to take some pictures of our place soon and place them on my website. I will even include some shots of the homeless guy across the street who brings his mattress out every night and rests on it with his bottle of wine and harrasses all passers by for money to help support his drinking habit. That and the constant smell of cigarette smoke even at 3am. Oh and let me not forget that when you go to the local Target/Walmart (called BHV), it is IMPOSSIBLE to actually find anything in any logical manner. That includes finding throw rugs or alarm clocks. Would you believe we had to go to a specialty store to get an alarm clock? Or that I had to do quite a bit of searching to find protein powder for my workouts (called a Tonicizer here...I can't figure out if that is the French mocking us Americans for using all these food supplements).

Only in Paris, France folks...Only in Paris, France.

Off and traveling

As I prepare for my next audition tour in Europe, I have decided to try and maximize my exposure to as many people as possible by including European vocal competitions in this tour as well. So far, I have nabbed spots in the: Concours International d'opera de Marseille (in Marseille, France), L'Opera Rinata Concorso Internazionale di Canto Lirico e da Camera e Barocco (in Torino, Italy), and the Premio Vittoria Caffa Righetti (in Cortemilia, Italy). In addition, my former advisor at the Peabody Institute, soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson, did me the pleasure of giving me a list of her contacts in Europe such that I could contact them to help set up more opportunities. As it stands...2 months in Europe is not much time when you start to meet people and realize there are a lot of people to sing for in this world.

Again, as with my last tour, my wife's apartment in Paris (right in the Marais for all you French fans out there) will serve as my home base. In addition, my friend Alex has offered my wife and I a place to stay in Asti, Italy while I do some singing in Italy. Another friend has put me in contact with several people in the Netherlands, and the list just goes on and on. I feel lucky to have such a supportive group of people around me as I embark on my career, but it reminds me of some of the people I have lost along the way.

Whilst in the gym this morning, the song, 'Shooting Star' by Bad Company came on the radio. There were a set of lyrics which grabbed my attention and they were as follows:

"Johnny told his mama, hey, Mama, I'm goin' away. I'm gonna hit the big time, gonna be a big star someday. Mama came to the door with a teardrop in her eye. Johnny said, Don't cry, mama, smile and wave good-bye"

This reminded me of how my Mother always had the habit of getting emotional every time I went off to go travel or sing somewhere and how she always worried that something might just happen where I might get into trouble. At the time it annoyed me (as it does most young men like myself), but looking back now, it has been almost a year since my Mother passed away to colon cancer, and these are the kinds of things that I miss most with not having my Mother around to watch me succeed as an opera singer. It is not often I deviate from singing in my discussions, but with the anniversary of her death approaching, I find it important to remind everyone to please go to the doctor at the first sign of any health problems. My Mother waited too long to get her colonoscopy and by the time she got checked, it was already a real problem. Getting a normal physical is a quick and easy thing (just like an oil change for a car) and can really help catch many diseases in their earliest itterations.

Also, it has been a month since I lost my 96 year old Grandmother to complications from heart disease at her nursing home. In this case, I plead with people to please check up on the staff at these nursing homes and hospitals, because as great as our medicine is, often things can slip through the cracks. I felt the care provided for both my Mother and Grandmother was insufficient and there were times where if my family had not pointed things out to the staff, certain mistakes would surely have been made (in addition to the sometimes egregious ones they made anyway).

That is all for my rant and on to more happy things...How about the opening of NFL training camps? Hope springs eternal for us Washington Redskin fans...Oh...and only 4 weeks until I leave for Paris!

Chris

Triumphant return from Chicago

Hello all,
After returning from Chicago, I can truthfully say it was a magnificent and triumphant trip. My wife and I loved the city of Chicago, the Chicagoans, and of course, the people at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

We flew into Chicago Friday morning and touched down at 7am Chicago time (this meant a 6am flight EST). We were exhausted after taking this early flight and made sure to get some rest for my pending audition. We were able to get some breakfast and head off to the Art Institute of Chicago. It was quite impressive. The collection of artwork rivals anything I have seen in any gallery around the world. After seeing the museum, we got some rest and then had some dinner...Deep dish Chicago style pizza is amazing. I can see why it is so popular; we definitely don't have anything like this on the East Coast. After dinner, we strolled around a part of the city of the North Side called, 'The Loop' and walked thru some gorgeous parks and saw Lakeshore Drive before turning in for the evening.

Saturday was a day of rest mostly until my audition at the Lyric. We had some breakfast, walked on Lakeshore Drive and while my wife went off to shop, I prepared for my audition. I can honestly say that this audition was a blast. The panel (Gianna Rolandi and Dan Novak) made me feel like they had been waiting all day to hear me and that we had been friends for many years. I really appreciated this because quite often (and understandably so) audition panels can appear disinterested because of the gross number of people they are hearing. At this audition, I really felt they were glued to my singing.

For the audition, I opened with, 'Ah! mes amis' and that went really well. I applied what I learned from the people in Paris: used the whole stage, tried to be as outwardly expressive as possible (even when it feels like it is too much), and above all, tried to entertain the panel. After this first aria, they proceeded to ask for, 'Ah! je vais l'aimer' from Beatrice and Benedict. I must admit I was completely shocked they would ask for 2 French pieces (and also happy they would ask for a 2nd aria). I had expected them to hear something different than French, but happy regardless since French is a language best suited to my voice. This aria went well as well and after finishing this aria, the pianist stopped me and made a few suggestions for next time.

His suggestions were quite informative. Often as singers, we try and find the most authoritative scores from which to work and make the most educated artistice decisions. I chose to use the Barenreiter edition for Beatrice and Benedict, however what I did not take into account was the difficulty in this edition. Although this edition is noted for being a critical edition, the piano reduction contains practically every note in the orchestra and makes it nearly impossible to play (something I had not considered). He suggested next time I use the Kalmus edition for this opera as it is paired down much more simply for the pianist. Suggestion noted and now I will certainly go through my audition notebook and try and weed out the editions that are too notey.

After my audition, we headed off to dinner at 'Dick's Last Resort' on the water. I certainly recommend this place as they had great food and drinks. I had some ribs that melted right off the bone. Finally, we walked to see the Sear's Tower and then finally turned in an early evening since yet again we had an early morning flight.

In all, I was really pleased with this trip and I know this is the direction I want to head in future auditions. Hopefully, I will be called back for the finals in September, but if nothing else, this trip was a blast.

Decisions...

After much debate, I have decided to open my audition with the Chicago Lyric by singing, 'Ah! mes amis...' from 'la fille du régiment' by Donizetti. Each auditionee is only guaranteed 1 aria and if they are anything like the people from Paris Opera, they may decide to cut you off rather quickly if you aren't 'wow-ing' them. This aria (for those that don't know it) is full of vocal fireworks and the second half of the aria is known for its 9 high C's (that pretty much shatter glass). One thing I learned in Europe is that there is nothing more deadly than being boring and only thru taking risks. I am a firm believer of the ideology, 'no risk, no reward', after being told that although my technique as a singer is nearly flawless, I also lack anything distinguishable about me as a performer on stage. This aria is not particularly tough for me to sing, and as a matter of fact, it feels so comfortable that I can often feel myself 'phoning it on' on the facial expressions and my body language. Where I am energized and excited on the inside, it shows as though I am bored on the outside. So, I am going to go on that stage (however big it is) and I am going to make myself and my personality fit that big stage. I will smile so wide that the audition panel will be able to see every tooth in my mouth. My plan is to at least not bore the panel...

Speaking of taking risks...I was told many years ago by a voice teacher (Gran Wilson) upon embarking on his international career that he had spent every penny in his bank account, maxed out every credit card, and had his landlord banging down his door to collect the rent check. It was only then that he got his first big 'break', and started to really have success. His moral was that it was at this point of desperation that he was truly able to let go in these auditions and just sing from his heart, where before, maybe he was a bit on the reserved side.

I can understand the whole not having any money in the bank and also the feeling of pushing those credit cards further than I should. At the same time, though I worry about the lack of incoming money, I am further resolved by my own talent and abilities. I can't understand at times why I have so much faith in myself, but for whatever reason, it's there. There is some part of me that believes that whatever the task...I am up for it...and as far as opera singing goes: I may not win the battle of a certain audition, but I know I will win the war of attrition with having a successful career.

Auditions, Performances, and Glamour

Within the past few days I was told I won an audition for the Atlantic Coast Opera Festival and that they are interested in hiring me to cover Rodolfo in their production of La Boheme for this July in Philadelphia. I am excited and honored by this opportunity, but it presents some interesting problems. First, I will soon be starting some part-time employment in the Philadelphia region to earn extra money for my next trip to Europe this fall (I leave September 3rd and am there until almost November).

As part of this next trip, I will be visiting the U.K., Switzerland, and spending a great deal of time in France for yet another round of auditions. While this trip will likely turn up some new job opportunities for me long term in the future, it also means in the short term, I am stuck laying out the cash for this trip and most of the traveling expenses. Not a cheap endeavor. Luckily, my wife will be doing research in Paris for the whole fall and I will be able to use her apartment as a home base.

The next problem this Festival in Philadelphia presents is that I just found out today the Chicago Lyric has invited me to audition for their Young Artist program on July 11th in Chicago. Many amazing singers have come out of this program and to even be extended an invitation is truly an honor. As it stands, I plan on offering selections from: The Turn of the Screw (Britten), La fille du regiment (Donizetti), Beatrice et Benedict (Berlioz), the Magic Flute (Mozart), and L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti).

I am hoping to sing much better for them than the last time I sang. Last time, I was woefully inexperienced, much younger, and should not have even attempted to sing for them. Alas, it was a great learning to see how far I really needed to go. I can truthfully state, that I feel I am ready for anything they could possibly ask me to do.

I believe that regardless of whatever happens on the stage, I can now adjust to make anything work. I also feel that performing for me is no longer about 'singing' and being a 'singer', but about intent, intention, and artistry. I believe this is what separates greatness from everyone else. This separation is my defining goal for every practice session I have and also each performance. I think the only way for me to truly sell the audience on my performance is by treating each character I sing as a part of me and striving towards reaching my own feelings and intentions for each thing I sing. In this honesty of my own feelings, there and only there can I be truthful, and thus convincing to the audience as an actor and artist.

Speaking of acting, I had a photo shoot today with my great photographer, Alessandro Valente. He shot close to 500 shots of me in varied locations and these will be used for my new headshots. We are also planning a city scene shot at dusk with traffic passing behind me in slow motion as a sort of alternative head shot. He is a brilliant photographer and I look forward to seeing the proofs. I will put up several of these shots on this website, once he tweeks them a bit to bring out my more positive aspects as a person photographed. I thank the heavens every day for photographers being able to touch up images, because it is not every day that it is possible to not have some small thing wrong (even if it is just some dark spots under the eyes or something). I highly recommend him to anyone in the Baltimore/DC area, as I have never been disappointed.

Chris

Welcome to christophermanna.com!

Hello to everyone and welcome to the blog part of my website! From here I will announce any new news or interesting things going on in my life as an opera singer. The site is still under construction, so please check back with frequency! I look forward to hearing from everyone!