"Sleep Chorus" & mask-making keep Minnesota Opera visible during pandemic

Interview

The company launched the "Sleep Chorus" to promote a special fund raising drive to compensate artists on and off stage during the pandemic shutdown while the protective masks went to organizations without access to traditional health care resources including assisted-living homes, veterinarians, blood services, shelters, and more

Talking with singers: Helen Charlston

Interview

"'Good singing' is getting the very best out of your voice; a partnership between a solid technique and a need to let your voice be heard. We all only have our own sound, and there is nothing more thrilling than listening to singers who let their voice flood out direct to our hearts."

Magic everywhere in SDO's Aging Magician

Interview

"After years of creating work after work, it becomes your life," he says about why he is an artist. "Initially, I was drawn to things just because I was fascinated by ideas. The traditional world was not where I belonged. I knew I wanted to be in the arts and I had an impulse to perform."

Spotlight on: Eszter Balogh

Interview

When I tell them I am a classical singer they generally know what it is. Sometimes they stare at me and say, "Wow, that’s crazy, you mean like Paul Potts?" And I'll say, “Yeah, something like that."

Talking with singers: Blythe Gaissert

Interview

"I feel like my voice has grown a lot in the last five years or so. Wagner is becoming more comfortable and I’m looking at some Verdi roles. I try to always learn and grow to just see what happens. Even if it's not something that becomes my wheelhouse, it's something that informs my other repertoire."

Talking with singers: Marnie Breckenridge

Interview

"Not only do I hope more people will know a bit more about Jacqueline and honor her memory, I hope they will take away a sense of immediacy. A reminder that we each have a finite amount of time on this planet, so why not burn our creative flames of talent, love, and kindness as brightly as possible while we inhabit the bodies we've been given!"

"Disturbingly relevant": BERLIN: The Last Cabaret

Interview

"We chose July 13, 1934 for our piece, the day Hitler made a speech claiming responsibility for the "Night of the Long Knives," where two weeks prior, he ordered the S.A. division of the Nazi Party, including Röhm who uneasily protected Queer artists, massacred due to a purported threat of mutiny."

Talking with singers: Rachel Willis-Sørensen

Interview

"I used to think that you can be exactly yourself, but what I have learned is that not everyone deserves to see you that way. Your family and close friends and some trusted colleagues can see you how you are, but it is ok to present more a guarded version of yourself until you find who is trustworthy."

Check out: New Opera West

Interview

"The strength of any given piece is usually revealed fairly early in the process. Even a first run-through can indicate whether something is going to work or not."

Talking with singers: Erin Wall

Interview

"It's fairly extreme in its demands, and Massenet saved some of the hardest writing for the very end - the duet which closes the opera builds to two high Ds! It requires the singer to finesse a pianissimo one minute, and then have a huge fortissimo outburst over full orchestra the next!"