Thank you, Knoxville!

This is a sleepy, poorly edited post. Please excuse.

Thanks to the people of Knoxville for a great stay. You've got a lovely city with genuine and friendly people. A special thanks to the folks at the Hampton Inn.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the audience of Friday night's performance. That was the wildest opera audience I have ever experienced. Our comedy (masterminded by James Marvel) was over the top, but carefully timed and expertly executed. I asked James about turning up the wacky to 11 in an opera such as this. He lived here for a number of years and knows the audience. We wouldn't have used so many contemporary references or slapstick moments in New York or...Pesaro, but this audience, many of them first time opera goers showed their appreciation in a way I've never seen. All of the "opera virgins" I talked to said they are definitely coming back next season. So, is it a bad thing to turn up the comedy to a level that offends seasoned opera audiences - while preserving the voices and the music and the storyline - if you are bringing in new audiences in the long term?

I'm off to New York in the morning for NYFOS. There may not be any postings, but please, if you are in Manhattan, come to see this very special program May 4 and 6 in Merkin Hall.

best,

Andy

Frank & Fred on the Road. Cruisin' New York in Fiat 500 (Trailer)

Craigslistlieder

In my newsletter I emphatically and sincerely stated that I am more excited about the next NYFOS program than I have been about any song program. Let me share with you a sneak preview of one of the song cycles. Let me point out that NYFOS rarely programs entire cycles, but here is the best case for an exception: Craigslistlieder. You can listen to it streaming on the bottom right of the composers' (Gabriel Kahane's) page or download it for free as a zip file by following the 'Discography' link on the left.

I am not going to attempt to describe in words how great these songs and their creator are (the composer sings and plays on this recording.) Besides, Steven Blier's program notes will be available soon. Just listen for yourself and feel free to comment on how they've changed your life.

Spring 2010 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Happy Spring! In the Northeast we were treated to floods, a few unseasonably warm days, then floods, then unseasonably cold days but now – I think – we have Spring.

I’ve just recently picked up a few engagements that I’m very excited about and that’s part of the reason I am a little delayed in getting out this season’s newsletter. Going in reverse chronological order:

May 2015 I will sing a role I’ve wanted to do for a long time (and may have to wait a bit longer) Harlekin in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. This will be at Seattle Opera, the place where I did my apprenticeship. Also in Seattle February – March 2013 I will revisit my long-time friend Schaunard.

Going back a bit, in April of next year I will return to the Boston Lyric Opera to sing the role of Starveling in their premiere production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One of my favorite composers in my favorite town. This will be my fourth consecutive season with BLO and my 5th production. I'm always grateful to be making good music so close to home.

March 13, 2011 Donna and I will bring a new twist to our American Portraits recital: 20^th and 21^st century American composers. We have waived the exclusion of dead American composers to include classics by Barber and Copland. The Montreal audience at the Andre-Turp Musical Society will have a chance to hear the Copland Old American songs and Steven Mark Kohn Folk Song Settings in the same evening. We will proudly reprise Tom Cipullo’s America 1968 as well. A live DVD recording of American Portraits is now available. Let me know if you'd like one.

January marks my Arizona Opera Debut. I’ll sing my first Ping (I tried to make that not rhyme – couldn’t do it.) I’m very happy to see Scott Altman taking the helm of that company. It will be nice to bring the family back to Arizona as we have some long-lost friends there and enjoyed our visits on past engagements with the Tucson Symphony.

November 19 and 21 of this year I will sing Don Giovanni with the Commonwealth Opera. Based in a town I know well and remember fondly from my undergraduate days, Northampton, MA.

October 2,5,8 and 10 I will make my Atlanta Opera debut as Schaunard. I’m very excited about working again with the director, David Gately, the cast and the company.

September 11, 2010 Donna and I will give a special recital celebrating America at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, PA. The program will include America 1968, Steven Mark Kohn Folk Song settings and a number of American classics from the 20^th century, including Copland, Barber, Bowles, Niles, Rorem and others. The hour-long version of American Portraits is available on DVD.

August 6 and 7 I will have the chance to ride the Pan Mass Challenge to benefit the Jimmy Fund. This year’s ride will be 150 miles. If you’d like to contribute to this year’s ride, you’ll be hearing from me soon.

July is an exciting time: my Opera New Jersey debut and my first Don Giovanni. I’ll be joined by a great cast including Matt Bohler, Laquita Mitchell and Peter Volpe with John Hoomes, director and under the baton of Joel Revzen. Performances July 11, 24 and August 1. While I’m in Princeton I’ll also sing Carmina Burana and be giving masterclasses to the Young Artists.

For the folks at home, you can hear me in the Duxbury Music Festival.

I’m getting to know another wonderful chorus in town: Chorus Pro Musica. I will be joining them for Carmina Burana, 3PM in Jordan Hall.

May 4 and 6. I haven’t been this excited about a concert program in a long time. “The Newest Deal” with New York Festival of Song is a an experience of 21^st century American songs including Craigslistlieder by Gabriel Kahane. Go listen to it now. I have the honor of joining the team of Anne-Carolyn Bird, Paul Appleby, Steven Blier and Michael Barrett in this unbelievably forward-looking yet universally accessible program. A very special thanks to my New York hosts Nell and Estela.

That leads us to now. I am currently in Knoxville rehearsing Il Barbiere di Siviglia, performances April 23 and 25. I’ve enjoyed immensely working with the cast and being on the radio and next week TV. The performance weekend includes an Italian Street Fair called the Rossini Festival, which takes up over 5 city blocks and hosts 70,000 people and about as many different kinds of meat on a stick.

April 11 I had a wonderful time meeting the executive board of SOTA, the Student Opera Theater Association at SUNY Fredonia. They hosted me and Donna for classes and a performance of American Portraits. Did I mention the DVD?

April 5 was my birthday. (I’m 33 if you’re asking.) Thanks to the so many of you who sent birthday greetings. I spent the day travelling. Thanks also to Michael Torano for the birthday beverages. Thanks also to James Marvel for the further birthday beverages.

April 2 was the benefit concert to start the Mary Casey Stohn Piano Scholarship for the South Shore Conservatory. I was joined by Bonnie Pomfret and Hui-Min Wang to perform Lary Smith’s Millenium Requiem. We’re planning on performing that work again on campus – stay tuned. Beth MacLeod gave a beautiful rendition of that jolly old soul’s “Ave Maria.”

I had waited 12 years to sing a particular work by Vaughan Williams and on March 27 I finally got that opportunity with the Plymouth Philharmonic , the wildly enthusiastic yet highly disciplined High School Choral Consortium and always lovely soprano Meredith Hanson, all led by a great friend and maestro Steven Karidoyanes. (He insists you not call him maestro; nevertheless he is.)

March 21 was a very special afternoon: Andrew Garland and Friends took place. Somehow a number of opera, folk, celtic, choral, swing and rock acts came to First Parish in Kingston, I sang with all of them and we raised almost $2,000 for Partners in Health for immediate medical aid in Haiti. Thank you to all of the artists. And to all of my friends who are event planners, producers, stage managers and others who make these sorts of experiences happen: wow! I have a deep respect and appreciation for what you do.

And after travelling for 2 years, there marked 3 performances in Kingston, Duxbury and Plymouth in the space of 2 weeks. It's great to be home. I'll be home again on May 7.

Thanks to Judy for my new, highly improved website.

Welcome to the new blog

Today, April 14, 2010, 11:50 PM in a lonely (but very nice) hotel room in downtown Knoxville, TN with the Florida Suite on the radio, the echoes of a day of radio promotions, research and daily practice, I inaugurate this blog. Long resisting becoming a blogger, I am creating this place to inform any interested parties of my behind-the-scenes work as singer, discuss issues that are vital to me and my community and keep in touch with friends in a new but hopefully engaging way.