Opening Night Thoughts

June is a month of premiers for me! I’ve got two of them within the space of just a month, and a generally busy month of performing. I will not complain about this!

Tonight is the opening of the stage premier of The Copper Queen, and honestly, I’m over the moon to be a part of this show. This is a tough show - musically, emotionally, vocally - and the cast and production team has handled every twist and unexpected turn with all the care and grace I could possibly hope for.

I’ll admit, the role of Addison Moore took me a while to really enjoy singing. Not because of the vocal difficulties (and it is a tough role in that respect - Addison is a study in vocal pacing), but because her personality is so opposite from my own. I got started with staging rehearsals and realized I was going to have to squash all of my own instinctive body language. Addison is neither confident nor bold, and I’ve never had play a character who has made herself so intentionally small. Small is not a word I would use to describe myself, and I think most people who have spent time around me would agree with this. It was difficult to find empathy for Addison. THIS has been my biggest challenge with this role, and I’m really grateful to our stage director (who also happens to be the librettist) John De Los Santos for his guidance and behind-the-scenes insight into Addison.

It’s also been really interesting to see my cast mates grow into their roles. Many of these characters are difficult to sympathize with, and everyone has done the hard work it takes to play these characters in the most impactful ways. I am truly fortunate to sing with each of them!

I’ll head back to Nashville on Sunday, just in time to sing the final Beethoven 9 concert with the Nashville Symphony chorus. After seven years, I’m leaving my position as chorus librarian, and singing this piece about brotherly love seemed the only appropriate way to say farewell to that wonderful group of singers.

THEN, straight into rehearsals for my concert with Jeffrey Wood on June 11! We will be premiering his new setting of Psalm 130. In Hebrew. Pray for me ya’ll.

I'll say, this one feels very timely. Pianist/composer Jeffrey Wood and I have put together a concert that examines what happens to our faith (and I don’t just mean religious faith) in the face of human suffering. Night: Psalms and Canticles examines these challenges - progressing from a place of easy faith, through the silence and supposed indifference of God, to a more complex understanding of what it means to have faith.

Heavy, I know, but it feels especially important right now.

If you’d like to join us for this, in-person tickets can be found here. If June 11 is busy, or if you’re not near Nashville, you’ll be able to stream it June 22-July 3. I hope you’ll be able to join us!

Last week’s to-do’s are all done! My new Verdi aria is memorized, and I even sang it on a surprise audition this week! I’ll get another go at this on a short concert on June 12, and then I’ll sing it for another audition on June 17.

This week, I’m in performance mode, and then I’ll be switching gears to rehearsals and performance for the concert on June 11. Cheers!