They say some of the best things in life are free. So in the expense-heavy life of a performing artist, a bit of free, helpful advice is generally welcome. In this blog post, I’d like to offer a few different outlooks to help your confidence as a performer, reach that next level, and achieve a … More 4 Ways to Skyrocket Your Confidence as a Performer
Who would have ever guessed that I’d be writing a blog post about this? Years ago, no one had a big enough crystal ball to foresee our current state of world health, yet here we are in a seemingly never-ending pandemic. One of the main ways opera companies are surviving is by implementing measures to … More The Masked Opera Singer: How to Navigate Singing in a Mask Without Ruining Your Technique
Let me begin by sharing my reasons for opening up about one of the riskiest decisions of my life. It’s not something I’m proud of and I feel quite a bit of shame admitting my truth. The lesson behind the story is what’s most important and I hope it will inspire others to not put … More My Secret Plastic Surgery and How I Risked Losing My Voice
When I think of pinnacle lyric baritone roles, Billy Budd, Pelléas, Don Giovanni, Athanaël, Wolfram, and Zurga all come to mind. But a standout amongst all these is Eugene Onegin. It requires a long night of well-paced singing with a dramatic arc for the character that is so difficult to develop and sustain as a … More How I Role: Tchaikovsky’s Jaded Aristocrat Eugene Onegin
I love classical music. I love it so much that when there’s a longstanding systemic problem within it, I get gravely disappointed because I know this art form can be more. It has the potential to create, share, heal, and change humanity and when that potential is blunted, it’s beyond disheartening. One of the many … More Time for Action: The Birth of Perfect Day Music Foundation
I’ve had my share of emotional adjustments to life in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The beauty of this situation is that I’m not alone, and I’m betting there are others out there who are also experiencing what I’m going through. Scrolling through social media, I don’t see the mental state of individual artists … More Man to Man: Mental Health During COVID
***In light of the current climate in America—and the long overdue, but necessary, conversations of understanding racism in the United States and the role played by non-Black people—instead of writing a post this week, I’ve offered my platform to my friend and colleague, operatic baritone Will Liverman.*** I was born and raised in Virginia Beach, … More GUEST POST: “Understanding Racism Growing Up” by Baritone Will Liverman
One of my biggest regrets in my career was my experience with my first Verdi role. I was vocally ready to sing Germont from La Traviata but there was something else that I wasn’t fully prepared for and the worst thing was… I didn’t even know that I wasn’t prepared. I was never taught this … More The Secret to Singing Bel Canto
There’s a saying in the opera world that baritones are lazy tenors. If they simply approach their high notes differently by working their technique in a more efficient way, modify their vowels, perhaps sing more “in the mask” or some other miraculous cure-all mantra, they could be tenors. All they need is the right teacher … More Baritones are Not Lazy Tenors. Here’s Why.
For the first time in my life, I find myself a homebody for the immediate future. This is the quarantine life, my friends, and we’re practicing health, safety, and responsibility by staying inside and preventing COVID-19 from spreading. So, with our civic duty behind us, what do we do as opera singers to benefit from … More 10 Things To Do During a Quarantine as an Opera Singer
