OCTOBER NEWSLETTER
I send you greetings from Rome, where we are in the midst of preparations for the opening of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma next week. It’s a joy to reunite with my Grammy-winning colleagues from San Francisco and to have another chance at this extraordinary opera we all worked so hard to learn a few years ago in the Bay. The sweltering summer temperatures lingered on here through most of September, but the heat has finally broken, and all of us are breathing a collective sigh of relief as we trade sweat-soaked rehearsal t-shirts for the fall layers we optimistically packed in our suitcases.
A shot from our rehearsal space at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma with Peter Sellars and Fleur Barron
While I have performed many operas in concert settings and semi-staged productions with orchestras in recent years, this Adriana Mater marks my first time working in an opera house in a decade — since my last appearance at Houston Grand Opera in 2015. My formative years as a young professional were spent moving through the ranks of young artist programs at HGO, Glimmerglass, and Wolf Trap, followed by a whirlwind of productions across opera houses in the U.S. and Europe. Over time, my artistic life has gradually shifted toward concerts and recitals — a focus I find deeply fulfilling — but stepping back into the opera house for this project feels like a homecoming to roots that remain central to my identity as a singer. Opera demands an intense focus sustained over time — whether as an audience member or a performer preparing for a run of shows. As they say: life is short, opera is long! This process here in Rome is a reminder of just how deeply one can dig as an artist, especially with a director like Peter Sellars at the helm and a cast of inspirational, committed colleagues like these.
Performing the regional premiere of Viet Cuong’s Second Shore with directors of Eighth Blackbird, Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall at the 2025 Collaborative Works Festival
My season began on a deeply inspiring note just before arriving here in Rome, with Art Song Chicago’s annual Collaborative Works Festival. It felt both grounding and celebratory to launch Art Song Chicago’s 15th season — its first under our new name — by doing what we do best: using song as a lens to meditate on the themes of our time. This year’s festival, Songs of War & Peace, was a moving few days immersed in that magical space where music and poetry converge. I am profoundly grateful to the 14 extraordinary artists who gave life to the wide array of songs that filled the weekend.
Read on for more about Art Song Chicago’s Festival highlights, as well as exciting news on the epic Rebecca Clarke project that is finally coming to fruition this month and next.
As always, I hope to cross paths with you soon — whether at a performance or somewhere online. In the meantime, I wish you a joyful start to October.