Chorus Cabaret

This past weekend, our chorus presented a concert featuring opera and musical theatre choruses, ensembles and solos. It was a spirited evening, complete with some fun reminiscences from some of our veterans. The event raised over $4000 which was great for this economy.

Father Grumble, folk song

Down the right side of this blog site, I am gradually posting pdfs of concert arrangements of folk songs, spirituals and some original songs. The latest is father grumble, which has an interesting feminist twist:

"There was an old man who lived in the woods
As you could plainly see,
Who thought he could do more work in a day
Than his wife could do in three..."

She turns out to set him straight.

Opera Memphis' Songwriting Music Videos

I encourage you to go over to the Opera Memphis website and check out the music videos of some of the songs created over the past few years by Opera Memphis' Songwriting/Music Video program. Most songs are created by Memphis City School students with our two clinicians, Chuck Parr and Shelby Johnson. These two guys are incredibly nuanced and able to listen to the students and draw their ideas out. The program is supported by ArtsMemphis.

Exploring the countertenor 2

Continuing the interview with countertenor Nicholas Tamagna, I asked him what the audience reaction has been to him--normal looking guy with a powerful and very high voice.

Exploring the countertenor 1

Countertenor, Nicholas Tamagna, is making his debut at Opera Memphis as Orfeo in our January 2010 production of ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. (I'm not incredibly happy about the audio quality recorded over the phone, so I' ve got some short clips.) One of the questions I asked him is "What is the difference between falsetto and head voice?"



Tamagna has a powerful sound--not a wimpy one. I felt this was important for the Memphis audience's first experience with a countertenor. It turns out that Tamagna trained as a high baritone and he thinks that helped fill out his sound.

Opera Memphis house concerts

We are having a series of "house concerts" this year to promote interest in the opera. It's a non-threatening way to expose folks to operatic singing. Last night's program was at the historic home owned by Jim Carson. This program was sung for us by two very promising singers, Natalie Bergeron, soprano, and Galina Ivannikova, mezzo soprano.