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Times of Inequal Temperament; Did Nero Tune to A440 while Rome Burnt?

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 Times of Inequal Temperment; Did Nero Tune to A440 while Rome Burnt? Photo by Emily Ding And I am back! I have been a bit busy the last couple of months, and if you follow my socials, that will be of no surprise. Between performing and getting married, it has been a high unlike anything I have ever experienced. This wild ride started back in May when I produced a show ( Hello/Goodbye , May 17), then had a week between two productions. I jumped in to sing Donna Anna for BOP’s Don Giovanni (May 22), and sang a very satisfying Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (May 23) with Opera by Request. It was a week and a half of eight-hour days of not shutting up...and I loved it. I have never been happier. From BOP's Don Giovanni. Photo by Noah Waters After that, I had some miscellaneous gigs until my wedding. Four days after getting married, I left to sing Nedda in I Pagliacci with Nebula Performances. My husband(!) joined me for the last performance, and then we did a mini-moon of Va...
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How that String Quartet Kept Up the Entrepreneurial Spirit While the Titanic Sank.

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How that String Quartet Kept Up the Entrepreneurial Spirit While the Titanic Sank. Negativity is a drug, my friends.        It’s so easy to slip into a Grinch-like miserableness when you start dwelling on everything that’s wrong with the world. BUT—this post is about finding a way to channel whatever those string players on the Titanic found deep within themselves the night the ship went down. Sure, maybe they were devout believers in “thou must play the whole set,” but I like to think they chose to focus on their truest love: music. I once found my mom’s Grade 6 Essex yearbook from the late ’60s or early ’70s. It was filled with poetry, short stories, and opinion pieces… wild to think kids that age were submitting personal essays when kids these days can barely hold a pen, let alone write! Now that I’ve completed the obligatory “crotchety old man complains about the youths” portion of this post… back to the yearbook. One student wrote an opinion piece about the...
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The Island of Lost Choristers: It's a Chor'Us' not a Chor'Me!

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The Island of Lost Choristers: It's a Chor'Us' not a Chor'Me!  I am indeed in this picture!  I have been thinking about this topic for a long while. Choir has played a major role in my life. My love for music started organically, and by that I mean I was captivated by the music of Disney at a very young age. I would sing along to the opening of The Circle of Life , and of course I couldn’t resist the vocalises of Ariel and Aurora. Then my parents discovered a community choir (led by Ann Cooper-Gay) that was an accessible and affordable — at the time — after-school activity for their four children. My older siblings were in the “Big Kids” choir and my other sister was in the children’s choir. At this point I was too young to join. You had to be eight. So my mom or dad would come to rehearsal with all four kids, and while my siblings were rehearsing, I would sit, squirm, and watch. Eventually I learned all the songs — well, all the melodies at least — and really enjoyed m...
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On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! How to Mark in Rehearsal (and When Not To)

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On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! How to Mark in Rehearsal (and When Not To)           Anyone who has worked with me knows I am guilty . I have a really hard time marking in rehearsal, and I almost always end up singing full voice all the way through the process. Some of that is enthusiasm, some of it is adrenaline, and a lot of it is simply loving the music. Still, it’s a habit I’m actively trying to get better at. For readers who may not know what marking is, it’s one of the most essential tools a singer has for surviving long rehearsal periods. It’s how we save our voices through many, many hours of singing. Why would a singer need to do that? Isn’t it our job to be able to sing for hours on end? Yes—but it’s also our job to maintain a healthy voice, and a voice that doesn’t sound tired. Right now, I’m firmly in gigland . I’m rehearsing Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera York (opening February 27), and I’m also heading to Owen Sound this week to rehearse and pe...
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Disposable by Design: When Quitting Is Framed as Growing Up.

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  Disposable by Design:   When Quitting Is Framed as Growing Up. Myself and Michael Newnham with Orchestra Toronto(April 16th 2024) The season of cheer is on its way out — and what a season it was. This year, I’m grateful to have spent Christmas with my family and friends. Last year was different. I was in a holiday production that, while musically enjoyable, triggered intense illness anxiety. Life is short, and you only get so many opportunities to be with the people you love during this earthly existence. I’ll give up other holidays for music, but Christmas is a hard one to surrender. This season, I spent much of my time singing in long-term care homes, which I find deeply fulfilling. My final caroling gig of the year was on December 23rd with my regular choir. Somewhere between homes, during a break, I was asked a series of questions by a fellow chorus member — questions I haven’t stopped thinking about. That's What She Said.. People often ask me what it’s like to make a...
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Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
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The Show Must Go On...And Then What?

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The Show Must Go On...And Then What?     Lucia's hard day at work.  D ecember is my favourite month of the year. My heart practically glows when I hear Christmas carols (or songs that are suspiciously similar but not enough to trigger copyright lawsuits). And the lights on people’s houses? Immediate serotonin. Plus, in Canadian work culture, once we hit December 20th, everyone who isn’t an essential worker collectively agrees to do the bare minimum necessary to avoid being fired. If anyone complains, the official response is: “Cheer up, fool — it’s Christmas.” And then, of course, it’s my birthday month . Every couple of years I end up performing on my actual birthday, and I almost always get a wonderfully chaotic “Happy Birthday” from my colleagues — sometimes even the audience joins in. The most memorable? Counterpoint Orchestra’s Don We Now Our Gay Apparel concert in 2015. Yes. Ten years ago.       Cantabile Chamber Singers.  That concert was t...
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Begging Wednesday & Festivus for the rest of us!

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Begging Wednesday and Festivus for the rest of us!  Babushka Mode activated.  So much to do and so little time! I, like 90% of musicians, have once again found myself in the chaotic wonderland that is holiday gig season. It looks different every year, and luckily for me this time around I’ve got a nice mix of concerts and a bit of time to actually see my family. This year, I’m taking it easier. I’ve decided that singing outside is officially for the young and ambitious. I have paid enough dues, thank you very much. I sang outdoors for a Remembrance Day Ceremony and then spent the entire rest of the week trying to warm up. I even pulled out the winter gear early, all proud of myself—and yet the cold still got me. So here I am with some caroling, four concert gigs (Burlington, Hamilton, and Cambridge), and—of course—a partridge in a pear tree. My most loathsome carol. My personal purgatory is never actually arriving at “Five Golden Rings.” Caroling: The Good, the Bad and t...
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Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
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