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 [...]

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 am starting to see the finish line.
The past 2 months have been the most intense and grueling season of performing I have ever experienced.  It started right after the New Year with a week of rehearsals and performances with Cappella Romana.
Then I began full-time rehearsals for “The Elixir of Love” while simultaneously commencing work [...]

“Out of Eden” has been going beautifully with Opera Theater Oregon. There still 3 performances left if you haven’t seen it yet.
For me, this is one of my favorite shows I’ve ever done, and also one of the best roles I’ve had the chance to play.  It has been an awesome journey uncovering Werther and [...]

Portland Opera To Go just returned from a week of touring along the North Oregon Coast.  It was a beautiful week, and in between shows we had some time to visit the beach and other great attractions along the coast.  Abby was even able to join me on tour for a couple days.  We were [...]

Many of the performances that I do with Portland Opera To Go are private performances in schools and other community venues.  However, for this tour we also have a large number of public performances, and I’m so excited to invite you all to attend!
Most of the performances you see below are part of a MeMenamin’s [...]

:: This was originally written for the Portland Opera blog ::

Rehearsals have begun for “The Elixir of Love” with Portland Opera To Go, and we are so excited for our first performances next week!  There’s lot of things to look forward to with this show for me, like a great opera, a creative adaptation, generous [...]

I’ve recently come to realize just how alive and well the art of singing really is.  There are times (although they seem to be less often these days) when I wonder if what I do really matters.  It feels like there are so many serious problems in the world, and so many basic needs that [...]

Barn Dance film shoot, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.
I am so excited to be moving forward with my first collaboration with Opera Theater Oregon. In February, we will be performing “Out of Eden,” an adaptation of Massenet’s “Werther.” It will be set in the 1950’s and the live performance will include extensive [...]

Wow, the past several months have been so full and rich I don’t even know where to begin. In no particular order, here’s some of the things going on:

After living in Portland since April, Abby and I have finally decided to paint our apartment.  If you know Abby, the process of creating a living space [...]