Old Church Recital~tomorrow at noon

Hello all,

Sorry for such late notice...I am giving a recital tomorrow, Wednesday, November 10th at noon. It is at the Old Church (1422 Southwest 11th Avenue
Portland, OR 97201-3304) and it is free. I would love to see you there. Bring friends and even lunch if you want. It will only be about an hour of beautiful music by some of my favorite composers~Debussy, Duparc, R. Strauss, Schubert and Puccini.

I am fortunate to have Richard Bower joining me as my piano player again and my sister Chelsea Howell has flown up from California with her clarinet to join me on a Schubert piece called "Shepherd on the Rock" I would love to share this time with you!! See you tomorrow.

Benefit for the Haitian People

Hello All,

I know it's last minute but I will be performing the Recordare duet from Verdi's Requiem tonight at Mc Menamins's Kennedy School. The proceeds will go to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Please come out for this very worthy event. The performance is at 7PM. I will be singing with mezzo soprano Beth Madsen Bradford and a string quartet from Classical Revolution PDX.
There will be a silent auction with over $3,000 worth of items to bid on.

See you there!!

Otello this weekend

I am performing with the Portland Columbia Symphony this weekend!! I'm really looking forward to it and hope that many of you will come out to cheer me on. The concert is called Brush up your Shakespeare and it will emphasize Shakespeare's sizable influence on many composers through the years. The music of Weber, Vaughn Williams, Verdi and Elgar will be performed throughout the evening with some fun Shakespeare dramatic selections from different Shakespeare plays sprinkled here and there.

The first performance is on Friday night at 7:30 at First United Methodist Church in Downtown Portland ~1838 SW Jefferson St.

The second performance will be in Gresham at 3:00 at the Mt. Hood Community College Theater~26000 SE Stark St.

If you would like ticket information you may call: 503-234-4077 or you may email: cso@pacifier.com

I will see you there!!

Looking forward to Otello

Hello all,

I haven't communicated in awhile. Sorry about that. Busy summer filled with fun and singing. So since I've last communicated, I had the opportunity to sing for a fine group of people known as the Portland Bologna Sister City Association. Who knew that Portland had such a fine sister city. I showed up at a wonderful restaurant in the Pearl District called Piazza Italia. They closed the place to the public and this very warm, opera appreciating, loving, fun bunch of people took over the place. There was much fine wine and Italian exchanged that night. Mr. Angelo Carella was kind enough to invite me up to sing a few arias later in the evening along with dessert. I don't think I've ever had to sing in front of huge TV screens playing world cup soccer during my performances of Puccini arias. It was surreal and delightful all at once.

On November 20 & 22, I will be performing with the Portland Columbia Symphony. I will be singing two arias from Act IV of Verdi's Otello. "Brush up your Shakespeare" is the title of the series and the concerts will touch on the influence Shakespeare had on many musical creations. Other artists and composers will be featured as well. Please go to: www.ColumbiaSymphony.org to get more information about tickets, locations, and times. I would love to see you there.

One Down One to Go

The Spring Fling at Moe's Sherman & Clay Recital Hall was a success.  I debuted Strauss's Last Four Songs and it went very well.  Deac Guidi and Leah Yorkston sang beautifully and with much passion.  We had tons of fun presenting some highlights from The Marriage of Figaro.  Performing bits and pieces from this comic opera left the audience wishing that we had put on the entire production.  Such is the magic of a well crafted opera.  Who knows...  there might be a time in the near future when we actually do put on this opera in its entirety.  We just need a few more characters, some funding, and a great venue.  Stay tuned for more information.

In the mean time, please join us in Astoria, Oregon  tomorrow for another Spring Fling opportunity. We will be at the Performing Arts Center on the corner of 16th and Franklin near Clatsop Community College at 3:00pm.   I know the weather will be nice but don't let that deter you from enjoying a superb afternoon of music.  Bring your friends!!

A Spring Fling

I hope that I will see you all at my recital set for Friday, April 3rd at 7:30 at Sherman Clay in the Pearl District and/or Sunday, April 5th at 3:00 at the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center.  We have been working hard to create an experience where recital goers can forget about the cares of the world for awhile.  Deac Guidi and Leah Yorkston are still set to present this wonderful event with me as well as Richard Bower at the piano.  There will be a $10 admission at the door.  Deac will be singing some Vaughn Williams and Donaudy and Leah will sing some lovely Purcell songs.  I am still planning on singing Richard Strauss's Last Four Songs.  It's the hardest repertoire I've ever learned and I'm excited to finally be able to present it to you.

I'll see you there!

New Recital Dates: April 3rd and April 5th

New Information!!!!

  I wanted to let you all know a couple of dates that I would like you to keep open in April.  I will be giving a recital with two other wonderful singers Leah Yorkston and Deac Guidi.  We will be singing some selections from The Marriage of Figaro.  I will also be performing Strauss's Last Four Songs and Deac and Leah will be singing some art song repertoire as well (TBA).  Richard Bower will be our accompanist for this event.  We will be giving two performances~one on Friday, April 3rd at 7:30pm at Moe's Sherman Clay in Downtown Portland.  The other performance will be in Astoria on Sunday, April 5th, at 3:00pm at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) of Clatsop Community College.  I had posted a different blog a few weeks back with dates for March but please disregard those dates.