The austere-looking Sergei Rachmaninoff

Today I finished a 3-performance run of Rachmaninoff’s “All-Night Vigil” with Cappella Romana in Portland and Seattle.  What an adventure!  It was my first time to perform the entire work, and also my first time to perform the beautiful (and deathly challenging) tenor solos.  As I sit at home and recover, I [...]

Soiree Recital, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.
I’m enjoying spending this week and weekend in Walla Walla, Washington performing with the Walla Walla Symphony. I’m performing with frequent collaborator conductor Yaakov Bergman and great soloists and new friends Beth Madsen Bradford, Charles Robert Stephens, and Sarah Parnicky. We performed a recital of opera [...]

I’m really excited to participate as a musician and actor with this upcoming show from “Dreams Landing.”  The show is a collaboration with Playback Theater.  It is a mixture of theater, dance, music, and spoken word drawn from collected dreams that were submitted.
More info on my performances page.

I was SO happy to discover this newly-posted TED talk today from Scottish conductor Charles Hazlewood.  So many wonderful ideas, beautiful ways of describing the music-making process, and the power that music has in our lives.  A couple thoughts that come to mind for me:
*Having been to South Africa, I can relate so much to [...]

I wanted to post just two more things about my trip to Greece with Cappella Romana earlier this month.
First, I made a video with some of the highlights of our trip. Included in the video are clips of the scenery, our concerts, recordings, and also some Greek folk dancing. Enjoy!

Secondly, our group was [...]

I’m so excited about my trip with Cappella Romana to Greece in just over a month! We are trying to raise addition support to be able to make a recording of Byzantine music in an authentic, 6th-century Byzantine church on the Greek Island of Paros.

I’ve got a few “Craig-isms’ to share from rehearsals this week with Craig Hella Johnson and the Victoria Bach Festival musicians. I love the way these great images come up in rehearsal.
“Burn all of your undergarments and just let it soar.”
“Just dots on a chalkboard.”
“Just like popcorn.”
“Get it out of your system, all that [...]

Special thanks to Marie for bringing this article to my attention.  It’s not a big surprise, but doctors are continuing to discover the myriad health benefits of singing.
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You Docs: Singing the praises of the curative powers of song
Published: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 9:28 AM     Updated: Friday, April 22, 2011, 6:58 AM
By [...]

I’m back home from spending an amazing week in Finland.  My friend and colleague, Markus Yli-Jokipii, with whom I worked at the Oregon Bach Festival, was so kind to invite me to perform the Bach St. John Passion.  The performance was with his ensemble in Turku, Finland called Kuninkaantien muusikot (Musicians of the King’s Road).
Below [...]

Now that I’m all done with Portland Opera To Go, I’m sinking my teeth into some new projects.  I’m back teaching my many wonderful voice students.  And I’m doing a couple projects with Cappella Romana for the next two weeks.
Tomorrow, a small group of singers (12) will catch a plane to San Francisco.  We’ll get [...]