Apologies

Hello all,
I must confess, I have been a bad tenor lately. The whole point of having a blog and a website is so people can stay updated as to what and where I am singing. Alas, I have not updated this all in a while. The good news is that it is because I have been so busy performing and learning new music, it has left me little time for much else. I did finally put up some photos from the Pearl Fishers and a short video clip from act 1. I will also apologize for the new video. It seems the audio and video are not synched completely. I will fix this soon.

As far as the Pearl Fishers goes, I think the show went really well. Thanks to everyone for making it out to the show. My next big project (which snuck up quickly), is my further transition into singing bigger repertoire. As part of Howard Haskin's plan for me, I am diving into Das Rheingold, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Peter Grimes. As it stands, I have to present these roles in Munich, Paris, and London this summer (July into August) as he helps me gear into a full transition into the European opera circuit. At that point, it is a matter of adding maybe Magic Flute (which I already know) and Carmen (which I am also fairly solid on already) which will become my staple performing operas in Europe over the next few years while I start things off. His assignment for me after all of this (and trust me...it is a TON of work) is Lohengrin. I am really excited about that. I will not get to the opera until probably early 2011, but that is ok. There will always be time for Wagner (and I will certainly make the time)!

In addition to the photos and video I have uploaded, an artist from Pennsylvania has taken an interest in my singing and wants to do some digital portraits of me (she saw the Pearl Fishers). It is computerized artwork and I look forward to being able to use some of the artwork on my website.

As far as preparation goes for this summer, Das Rheingold (the character is Loge) is my first foray into singing Wagner. I am discovering how magical it can be and also how incredibly deep the levels of the characters. I am incredibly fortunate to have taken a Wagner Ring cycle class at the Peabody Conservatory with professor Wayne Conner. In his class I learned the value of learning all Wagner's motives and how my singing and acting can (and should) at times show 2 different sides to the story (this occurs most often when a character is lying with his words, and the music tells the audience this point). In addition to this class, I have been consulting with a retired German professor from Johns Hopkins University (who happens to be a Wagnerite) who has been helping me with the word for word and poetic translations of the German text.

With Peter Grimes, I am taking a slower approach. For right now, I am merely focusing on learning correct notes and rhythms and once I have conquered that, I will go work with a Britten specialist to really focus my style. The Lucia is by far the easiest (and that is quite funny to say considering how difficult this opera is for the tenor). For this opera, I am allowing the great tenors of the 20th century to guide me in their approach to style, breathing, and acting. Having performed other Italian operas in this style, I find the transition to not be overly difficult.

Finally, I am back at the language game again. I just started diving back into my German. I realize that to truely gain the respect of the German audience and directors, I must truly capture this language. At one point 5 years ago, I was quite proficient with German, but being married to a Francophile, and singing mostly in Italian, has rendered my German to this point, moot. However, with this shift in fach, I now need to re-emphasize my German.

Best to all!