I now serve on the faculty of Allegro Music House of Lakewood, and am thrilled to be teaching voice students of all ages and skill levels, as well as beginning piano students. For more information, please visit http://www.allegromusichouseoflakewood.com/
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I've published a few blog posts in my journal dedicated to my life and work in the Episcopal Church. Take a look:
https://choralvicar.livejournal.com/
I've created a SoundCloud account, on which I hope to post both informal and formal recordings of solos, excerpts, and live performances. My first post is a casual recording of a Lenten verse anthem by Thomas Morley, a Shakespeare-era composer, recorded live via iPhone during Mass at Saint John's Cathedral, Denver, with the Cathedral Choir conducted by Stephen Tappe, and with Lyn Loewi on portative organ. (The image on the sound file is a photograph I took of the Cathedral yard!)
On Saturday, January 14th, I opened an exhibit of my illuminated manuscript reproductions at the Metropolis Coffeehouse in Denver's South Broadway Shopping District, at Ellsworth Street and Broadway. The exhibit features some of my favorite details from the Book of Kells, a richly ornamented illuminated medieval manuscript of the Four Gospels of the New Testament. To create artwork from these designs, I draw them freehand on primed black canvases, then fill them in with the details and designs from the source manuscript, adding my own embellishments here and there. Below are three images showing the process, from a snapshot of the medieval (ca. 800 C.E.) manuscript, to the "rough draft", and finally, the finished product: From my artist's statement, posted at the exhibit: Medieval European attitudes towards authorship and individual intellectual property were very different from those prevailing today. Artists, poets, scribes, and musicians often thought of themselves as the curators of inspiration rather than the authors. 12th-century poet Marie de France prefaced almost all of her own writing by calling herself merely the translator or the transcriber of narratives, stopping short of naming herself as author or creator. The exhibit will be on display until February 10th, and many items are still for sale. I've enjoyed preparing this exhibit so much that I'm considering expanding it to other local shops and galleries!
Earlier this summer I was invited to perform a program of early music at the Sounds of Lyons Music Festival in Lyons, Colorado. The director of the festival was interested in adding early music to the existing classical music offerings, so I was given a bit of a blank canvas to choose whatever I wanted to perform. My colleague from the Denver Early Music Consort, Peter Schimpf, and I will be previewing some of the songs from our upcoming concert of John Dowland's First Book of Lute Songs, and we'll be performing some small arias and concert works by Henry Purcell and Heinrich Schuetz, among others.
I am particularly grateful to be participating in this festival because I know that the Lyons community has endured a great deal of hardship in the aftermath of the devastating September 2013 flooding. I was living in Baltimore when those storms hit, and I felt helpless as I watched my fellow Coloradans suffer the devastation. In this small way, I feel that I can contribute to the growth and recovery of the community, and can uplift and encourage my neighbors as they move forward into their future. I am emboldened by initiatives like the Sounds of Lyons Music Festival. While it is a blessing to have the Aspens and Vails of festival renown here in Colorado (and I have had the honor of performing in both!), the festivals of Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, and Lyons are what create a thriving, robust artistic ecosystem in our state. We become a destination for the arts when there is room enough, and work enough, not only for the Robert Spanos and Joshua Bells of the world, but for the hardworking freelancers, the young up-and-comers, and the passionate amateurs. All of these "species" make Colorado an oasis for the arts in the Rocky Mountain West. I am very happy to have the chance to offer my own work in the care and feeding of our artistic Eden. Click on the picture below to read the full announcement of my appointment to the Artistic Director position from Director Emeritus Marjorie Bunday:
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of performing the United States National Anthem for a double-header bout hosted by the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls Roller Derby League! I sang, then stayed to watch the bout; what fun! I made sure to wear my custom-made Colorado Symphony Cheerleader jersey, since the CSO is one of RMRG's sponsors. Thank you to RMRG for having me!
Though my official job title at Saint John's Cathedral is "staff singer", I've also begun working with the Cathedral's communications director to assist in the organization's marketing efforts. It's work that I love doing, and it's helping me to build a body of material for my marketing portfolio. Here is a poster I designed for an upcoming choral concert at the Cathedral:
The Denver Post published my editorial about Boettcher Concert Hall, the home of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra! Click on the photo below to read it:
In honor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's upcoming performance this weekend of one of my favorite Classical works, I'm posting some of my own research and analysis on the Mozart Requiem. This was a Powerpoint presentation given to my colleagues for a theory course at the Peabody Conservatory. I think it provides a helpful overview of the Confutatis and Lacrimosa, the very final movements that Mozart penned before his death. (Click on the title page to view slides from the beginning.)
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December 2017
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