Tenor

 

I seem to answer some of the same questions a few times after every show, so I figured I ought to address them here.

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Q. Are you a man/male?

A. This comes up surprisingly often. Yes, I'm male. It seems not enough people are familiar with tenors.

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Q: Are you a countertenor?!

A: Nope. I'm just a very high tenor. Countertenors use their falsetto to produce the same notes, but with a different, often more resonant or bell-like, timbre. It's the difference between playing the actual higher string on the harp or using the octave lower string for harmonics. It's quite a discussion if you really want to have it, but the short answer is I am just a tenor.

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Q: How long have you been growing your hair?

A: Since 2007 or 2008.

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Q: Why did you grow it at all?

A: It was for Monteverdi's L'Orfeo for the 400 year anniversary. After that it seemed that each show either liked it long or didn't care, and it's much easier to cut it for a show than to grow it out. It's been so long now, I admit I'd be sad if I had to cut it for a big part.

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Q: How long have you been singing?

A: I have been singing forever it seems. There are videos of me singing "Baby Beluga" around the house at like 5.

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Q: But how did you get into opera?

A: I sort of stumbled into it. I had joined choirs in school, and then in 8th grade the drama teacher was out on maternity leave so the choir got tapped to do the musical. I got to do Tevye  in Fiddler on the Roof and got hooked. So I did musicals and got a music scholarship to college (PLU), but part of that scholarship was voice lessons. PLU focused on classical lessons, and it was suggested I try the Opera Workshop and I've been doing that ever since.

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Q: Do you do singing birthday telegrams?

A: I do indeed! This has become such a demand I might need to get new business cards just for that. It's quite possibly my favorite type of gig because it always makes someone's day.

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Q: Do you compose music?

A: This is newer to me, but I have been having some of my work performed in the last few years, and it has made we want to write much more. I welcome vocal composition requests, but am not yet up to writing accompaniment parts. 

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I'm open to any other questions you might have as well. Feel free to reach out to me.