World Singing Day 2021: Here Comes The Sun
From “Va, pensiero” to “You Raise Me Up,” music is our universal language that forges wonderful human connections. As venues reopen for the 2021–22 season, we again witness the unity and consolation brought by performances such as Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11 at the Metropolitan Opera. Therefore, we can’t help but dream about one day, when millions of people around the world in every country would gather to sing together, celebrating our shared humanity.
That’s the aim of World Singing Day (WSD), a global sing-along held on the third Saturday in October each year. Founded in 2012, WSD is for everyone — people of all backgrounds, races, ages, and singing abilities.
As hosts in 14 countries were busy organizing sing-alongs in schools, parks, markets, and pedestrian malls, we at 360° of Opera® invited 20 vocalists, instrumentalists, directors, and administrators to share their favorite art song or lieder, and a story behind the song, Now, we ask you to join us as we celebrate our global family through these beautiful videos, quotes, and reflections.
Alison Bolshoi
“The power of classical music is its ability to transcend the listener’s circumstances and transport them somewhere else. This piece is particularly powerful in this respect as you feel yourself floating with someone you love, as you watch the waves of the ocean. It is a piece profoundly about love, hope and positivity, all things we need very much today.”
Alison Bolshoi, American contralto, fulfills Wagner and Verdi repertoire with a vocal radiance and lyricism seldom heard in dramatic voices. She debuted at Carnegie Hall (2018) and returned in (2019) with Mid America Productions. Upcoming engagements include Giovanni in Rigoletto at Dallas Opera (2022) and her debut as Fricka in Die Walküre at Opera Naçionale, Chile in 2023. Highlights of her career include contracts with: The Liceu; Barcelona; NJ State Opera; The San Francisco Opera; and Prague’s Cesky-Krumlov Festival, Czech Republic. Ms. Bolshoi won the Liederkranz Competition, Wagner Section, The Gerda Lissner Foundation Award, and she has been honored by sponsorship from The American Wagner Association, NY, The Wagner Society of New York, and The Wagner Association of America, Chicago.
Reflections: “Morgen!” by Richard Strauss. It is an ethereal art song that seems to start in the middle of a conversation between two people in love, and it trails off the same way, with no real ending. I sang it most recently when I was asked by the town of Franklin Lakes, NJ to sing their 9/11 ceremony. I find that those who were most closely affected by 9/11 are having trouble moving forward, even twenty years later. I suggested to the audience that while they listened to it, they could imagine meeting the person they lost again, either in a dream or when they too one day leave this place.
I have also sung this at a luncheon for mothers whose sons were leaving for college, at an all boys high school. I asked the moms to imagine what it was like to hold their baby boy and look into his eyes while listening. The song is so ethereal that any love relationship can be imagined in it, not just lovers.
The words translated into English are:
And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the path that I shall take,
It will unite us, happy ones, again,
Amid this same sun-breathing earth ...
And to the shore, broad, blue-waved,
We shall quietly and slowly descend,
Speechless we shall gaze into each other’s eyes,
And the speechless silence of bliss shall fall on us …
Heleen Bongenaar
“For me the power of singing lies within the text. As singers we have a chance to tell a story through music.”
Heleen Bongenaar (June 26th, 1995), Soprano, started her musical education at choir school Senta, led by Sylvia van der Vinne. Her love for music grew and she started her bachelor’s in Classical Singing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Recently she obtained her master’s degree in Early Music Voice with a 9 plus distinction for artistry, also in The Hague. She studied with Noa Frenkel, Maria Acda, Peter Kooij, Pascal Bertin, Robin Blaze, Jill Feldman, Dorothee Mields and Francesca Aspromonte. In her young career she already worked as a choir singer with several great conductors like Philippe Herreweghe, Harry Christophers and Daniel Reuss. As a broadly trained singer Heleen feels at home in early, classical, romantic and contemporary repertoire. She sings regularly as a soloist in oratorio works and baroque operas. Heleen enjoys working with viola da gamba consorts, performing early German and English baroque repertoire. A group that is still in the starting phase but that Heleen is proudly part of, is Ensemble Salve Eva. They perform mostly 17th century repertoire and include female composers like Isabella Leonarda.
Danilo Bonina & Lei Xu
English Translation: Folle e ben
Danilo Bonina earned his Bachelor in violin from the F. Torrefranca Conservatory in Vibo Valentia (Italy). Winner of the “Venetico”, “Pedara”, and “Pizzo Calabro” International Competitions, he made his solo debut in 1996. He received his Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York where he studied with Nina Beilina. He later obtained his Graduate Performance Diploma in Historical Performance from the Longy School of Music under the guidance of Dana Maiben. He is the founder of the Ars Vetus and Corelli Collective historical ensembles. He has performed in Master Classes given by Jamie Laredo, Rachel Podger, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Phoebe Carrai, Aisslinn Nosky, and others. Active on both baroque and modern violin, he has toured Europe, USA, and Asia with orchestras such as Bachanalia Festival Orchestra, Ars Lyrica Houston, Ensemble du Monde, Eudaimonia, Oriana Consort, Corelli Collective, Shanghai Camerata, and many others. He has worked with conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Masaaki Suzuki, Otto Werner Mueller, Joann Falletta, Nicholas McGegan, Peter Maag, Paul Nadler, Andrew Megill, Murray Forbes Somerville, and others. In high demand as a pedagogue, he is currently a member of the faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Lei Xu graduated from Shanghai Conservatory with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and opera. Afterwards, she received a full scholarship to study at the Juilliard School, earning a master’s degree as well as an artist diploma. Around the same time, she was selected to enroll in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program, making her the first Chinese soprano to join these two prestigious institutions. Ms. Xu was also the first Chinese soprano at the Ravinia Festival and the Marlboro Festival, where she worked with masters such as Malcolm Martineau, Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode. During her time at the Metropolitan Opera, she has performed with venerable singers such as Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann and Joyce DiDonato, among others. In Europe, Ms. Xu has sung the role of Pamina in the legendary stage director Peter Brook’s award winning production of Une Flûte Enchantée in Paris at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (2011 Molière Award for Best Musical). At NCPA in Beijing, she has been casted in the leading roles of Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Pasquale. Ms. Xu has performed the leading female roles in award winning composer Tan Dun’s concert opera Buddha Passion and joined his world tour since 2017 until present. From the year 2017 to 2019, Ms. Xu is the co-director of China’s first early music ensemble, Shanghai Camerata. Ms. Xu is currently a voice faculty at Shanghai Conservatory.
Reflections (Danilo): My concert tours with the Shanghai Camerata are among the very highlights of the recent years of my life. It was always a fantastic experience, not only from the musical standpoint, but the cultural as well. While visiting the great city of Shanghai to work with the Camerata, I couldn’t help feeling divided between two roles, the artist, and the tourist. Walking endlessly through the city, trying numerous delicious restaurants, seeing many different neighborhoods, including some historic districts, admiring the old and the new of this immense and multi-faceted city was an important and enriching experience for me. It was also hard work! Living the “behind the scenes” with the Camerata produced memories that I will cherish forever. Our goal as artists is always to prepare every piece as well as we can. Our preparation for the concerts is intense, it requires many hours of rehearsals and personal practice every day, besides discussions on stylistic choices for every piece we have to perform. That is the part that the concert audiences typically don’t see, and they shouldn’t! A well-executed concert has to flow naturally, seamlessly, the music has to touch our listeners deeply, but in a natural way, almost as though it is easy for us musicians. But it isn’t easy! What people hear from the Shanghai Camerata is the result of hard work and dedication. And it is never a burden, we are very passionate about preparing this music, and we really love the programs we present. We love them so much that we often continue to think about them and make stylistic decisions during leisure time.
This was the case for the featured piece, a beautiful strophic song by Tarquinio Merula, a jewel in the repertoire of early Italian baroque monodies. “Folle è ben che si crede” is a song about the intensity of a burning heart, jealousy, and the pain of love. It orbits around a gorgeous melodic idea for the voice over the equally touching harmonies in the basso continuo. When I think of our preparation for this song, I realize that many decisions were made outside of our rehearsals! I remember walking for hours next to the great soprano Lei Xu discussing the arrangement to present in concert for the song, when and where the melody was going to be presented by the baroque violin and the viola da gamba, besides the standard vocal stanzas. We were walking for miles, back and forth on The Bund of Shanghai, and that is when we discussed our ideas to convey the rhetorical power of the song, the ornamentation of the melody, and how we could change our ornaments at each strophe. We were really in love with this little piece of music (we still are), we would even start singing our new ideas in the middle of the street or in the subway trains of Shanghai. Some people around us may have thought there was something wrong with us, but this is the life of musicians, the deep thinking about our interpretations, the passion that makes us live the music any time of the day and anywhere we are, and that makes us forget about everything else.
My experience preparing “Folle è ben” with the Shanghai Camerata was yet another proof of what music really is and why I devote my life to it. Unlike all other art forms, music is abstract, we can’t touch it, its notes come to existence and then vanish. We marvel at its power to strike the imagination, affect the mind, and command the passions. Whether I am in a foreign country, or next to a person with a profoundly different cultural background from mine, I know I will always be understood through music, as it transcends language and culture with its universal ability to express sentiments that are common to every human being. I often try to find the words to explain what music does to us and how, but most times I fail. Because the meaning it projects reaches beyond what words can say. We can all understand music, and we can certainly describe it, but we can’t explain it.
Adrienne Boris
“Singing is healing and community building for everyone, not just professionals! Never be afraid to share your voice.”
Adrienne Boris is Chief Strategic Officer & Resident Stage Director of Helios Opera, Executive Producer & Stage Director at Lowell House Opera at Harvard University, and Booking Manager at ADA Artist Management. Upcoming projects include Service Provider with Helios Opera, coming November 5 (https://heliosopera.com/projects/service-provider/) La voix humaine (Helios Opera/Modular Opera Project) La scuola degli amanti ossia: Così fan tutt(i), a feminist re-imagining of Mozart’s battle of the sexes opera (Lowell House Opera); the world premiere of DIVAS: A New Play with Opera Music (OperaHub), La bohème (Long Island Lyric Opera and NEMPAC Opera Project); several world premiere ten-minute operas with Boston Opera Collaborative’s annual Opera Bites; and Or, by Liz Duffy Adams (Maiden Phoenix), which was nominated for the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Fringe Production by the Boston Theatre Critics’ Association. She has been Young Artist Stage Director at Opera North, Artistic Associate at OperaHub, and National New Play Network Producer-in-Residence at New Repertory Theatre. A formerly professional but still serious singer, she received her MFA in Directing from Boston University.
Alexandria Crichlow
“Music is one of the most profound art forms, which require participants to exhibit vulnerability regularly. Pursuing this exciting craft has allowed me to use that vulnerability to impact my community, create, and express myself.”
Bajan - African American Soprano Alexandria Crichlow is known for her captivating stage presence and smooth timbre. Alexandria received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Morgan State University and a Master of Music in Opera Performance from Mannes School of Music, where she studied with Margaret Lattimore. In 2019 Alexandria’s portrayal of Maria in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra production of Porgy & Bess (Baltimore, Maryland) under the direction of Marin Alsop paved the way for her return to the role in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2020 live CD Recording of Porgy & Bess Highlights at the world-renown Kimmel Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). She looks forward to making her Czech Republic debut with OpernFest Prague and Berlin, Germany debut playing Suor Genovieffa and Lauretta in Berlin Opera Academy’s OpernFest 2021 - 2022 Season productions of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi . As an artist and entrepreneur, Alexandria looks forward to future musical endeavors to cultivate, create, and aid the world.
Theodora Cottarel
“Singing has the power to shift perspectives and to put people in touch with their better selves. It also addresses very fundamental aspects of human nature that connect each and every one of us.”
French-American soprano, Théodora Cottarel has been recognized for her captivating dramatic performances and beauty of tone. Of her “electrifying performance” as Elle in La voix humaine, Schmopera recently wrote, “the way she maintained a beauty of tone [...] while also finding great ways to color the characters’ neuroses was masterful.”
She has sung internationally in France, Italy, Belgium, and the United States working with with companies like the Rome Philharmonic, Odyssey Opera and has performed at the Festival des Présences Féminines and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées among others. She has worked with composers Isabelle Aboulker, Graciane Finzi, Tiziana de Carolis, and Gabrielle Goliath among others. Roles include: Madame Goldentrill (The Impresario), Cendrillon (Cendrillon), Micaëla (Carmen), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Elvira (Don Giovanni), Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito), Arminda (La Finta Giardinera), and Despina (Così fan tutte).
Jenny Cresswell
”When we sing, we have the ability to communicate our joys, needs and desires in ways that hopefully make us more understood. Singing gives us the ability to communicate; to uncover a secret language within each of us that lets the world know who we are.”
Dr. Jennifer Cresswell is a dynamic performer, speaker and writer on all things singing. This season, she appears as Cherubino in Michigan Opera Theatre’s production of BLISS, and as Olivia in the filmed version of INTERSTATE, an opera for which she also served as co-librettist, produced by Minnesota Opera. Jennifer is known for her dramatic portrayals and her passion for singing in American English. She loves creating theater out of themed recitals and will never say no to crooning old standards of the 1930s and 40s. Her published dissertation, “Murder She Sang: A Progression on Sopranos and Death,” has been called “groundbreaking” and “an important voice in the field.” She is also a co-founder of GDQ Arts, a non-profit arts organization centered on lifting the voices of women and the stories they have to tell.
Kinneret Ely
“Singing is incredible, for its unique ability to connect people across language and culture barriers.”
Soprano Kinneret Ely is a freelance opera singer based in New York City and Tel Aviv. She has been a young artist with Teatro Grattacielo’s Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy since March 2021. As part of it, she will make her role debut as Ilia in IDOMENEO in November 2021, under the baton of Maestro Myron Michailidis. With the Academy, she also sang Ilia at the Rhodes International Festival in September 2021. She covered the roles of Anna in Catalani’s LORELEY and the Fata Azzurra in Respighi’s LA BELLA DORMENTE NEL BOSCO in Teatro Grattacielo’s 25th Anniversary Concert in September 2019. She sang Violetta in LA TRAVIATA in July 2018 at the Jerusalem International Opera Masterclass (JIOM).
Danika Fernandez
“Music has the ability to heal and tell stories which shape communities. In my personal work rediscovering my history and heritage, I find singing the songs of my people binds the intersectionality. I find singing shares the heart of who I am to others and I owe it to my ancestors to continue telling my history through song.”
Filipino-American soprano Danika Fernandez has performed mainstage opera roles on both coasts and has debuted as a soloist. As an aspiring arts administrator, Danika is passionate about Southeast Asian performance art and Filipino art song. She is the creator of the non-profit organization, The Creative Filipino, which showcases the works of Filipino musicians all over the world. She is a Board member for FANHS-MNY, a member of the Off Broadway League and is currently the Arts Management and Fundraising Fellow for Off Broadway non-profit Ars Nova.
Danika recently finished her Master’s of Music in Voice with a minor in Creative Community Development at The New School. She is a recipient of an Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the President's Scholarship.
Imani Mchunu Grosvenor
“The least we can do is sing in the shower.”
Imani Mchunu Grosvenor (Soprano), is a graduate student at the University of Michigan studying with Dr. Louise Toppin. Competitions include: MuTeOr National Association of Negro Musicians (1st place, NANM, 2019), UofM Friends of Opera (runner up, 2020), and Regional NATS regional (1st place, 2021) . Notable performances include Amore (Orfeo ed Euridice), Emmie (Albert Herring), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Laetitia (The Old Maid & the Thief), Patience (Patience), Amore/ Pallade (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Sarah (Ragtime), Angelina (Trial by Jury), and Rapunzel (Into the Woods).
Carami Hilaire
“There are things that are too tender and too vulnerable to say. Great composers and the poets they collaborate with, bring us closer to those tender and intangible truths. A singer creates a safe space for the catharsis which is the result of coming so close to the objective truths of our existence. A great poem, a great melody, a great voice in perfect collaboration brings us closer to eternity.”
Carami Hilaire is a soulful soprano from Brooklyn, New York who is a graduate of the Professional Studies program at Mannes. Carami has also received awards from both the Wagner Society of New York and the Premiere Opera competition. She has sung with the Internationale Opernwerkstatt based in Switzerland. She has performed the role of Tosca with both Regina Opera and New Jersey Verismo Opera to rave reviews as well as the roles of Aida in Aida and Musetta in La Boheme. In fall 2020 she sung the role of Alice in Alice in the Pandemic with White Snake Opera projects and in 2022, she will sing the role of Lady Macbeth with Knoxville Opera as well as return to White Snake Opera Projects to sing the role of Tiamat in Cosmic Cowboy.
Reflections: My favorite art song is “Befreit” by Richard Strauss with the poem written by Richard Dehmel. In only five minutes, the composer captures with such depth, the nuances of saying goodbye to the person you have lived an entire life with. He captures the sentiment of staying strong for the loved one who is passing away, while being completely crushed by their leaving. The result is a piece that is ethereal, heartbreaking yet full of strength and pride.
J. Raphael G.M. Hudson
“Singing, when done well, harnesses the complex and perfectly tuned harmonic resonance of the body to communicate directly to the soul. It is an innate language that all humans understand without explanation.”
Raphael studied as a baritone with James Christiansen OAM, Max Speed, Megan Evans OAM, and John Bolton Wood AM. He performed many principal baritone roles in Sydney including the title role in Rossini’s - Don Parmenione - l'occasione fa il ladro, Toreador (Carmen), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Blansac (La scala di seta), Louis (The Wandering Scholar) and Lord Mount Ararat (Iolanthe). Raphael won scholarships to study dramatic and Heldentenor repertoire at the Mediterranean Opera Studio in New York and Sicily where he studied with renowned tenors Gioacchino Li Vigni, Nicola Martinucci and Salvatore Fisichella. Since 2017, Raphael has followed “Baritenor” luminaries, such as Keenlyside and Hampson, by performing both Baritone and Heldentenor arias in prestigious venues in Australia and internationally. In 2019, Raphael was invited to Northern China where he performed Chinese baritone solos accompanied by the international Yellow River Choir in nationally broadcast performances. Due to Sydney’s Covid-19 lockdown Raphael is presently studying remotely with Michael Trimble of the Trimble Vocal Institute in Washington.
Heday Inoue
Piece: Akatombo (Red Dragon fly)
Lyrics: Fofuu Miki
Music: Kousaku Yamada
Red dragonfly in the red sunset sky, in the orange sunset sky
Being carried on her back, I saw it at one time
In the mountain’s fields, we picked mulberry fruits
And put them in a small basket, is that a mirage?
At fifteen, the young girl married
And letters too ceased to come
Red dragonfly in the red sunset sky, in the orange sunset sky
It’s stopped on the tip of my fishing pole
My name is Heday (Hidenori Inoue) from Japan. I moved from Japan to the US in 2012 and then started singing. It has been quite a journey to experience different cultures, languages, and people through my previous business work and singing opera world! I must say it is such a joy to be involved in the world of art and to be able to share my original culture through music. And also, (very fortunately), I have been able to sing opera nationally and internationally. The more I sing, the more I believe that music is one of the strongest tools to connect our world without war. As a singer, I believe the voice is the instrument which is closest to our soul, and we are so privileged to be able to use it!
Reflections: This is one of the most famous and popular songs in Japan. Everyone in Japan knows this song from their childhood. I associate this song with my grandmother who took care of me a lot since both my parents were working from early mornings to late nights.
My grandmother was holding my hand while walking from the station where my mother took a train back to her work for next morning, and the Sun was setting in the beautiful fall sky. With a gentle autumn breeze comforting me, I was hearing the sound of my grandmother singing this song quietly. I am still not sure if it actually happened or if it was just my dream.
This song always reminds me of the beautiful days of my childhood that will never come back.
Felix Jarrar
“Music, and art song in particular, have been my saving grace. As a composer, I get to process how I feel, respond, and react to the world around me. As a collaborative pianist with a singer, we get to work together to bring the poetry and music to life in a visceral and unique interpretation that is created in that moment of time.”
With music described as “dreamlike” by the Boston Globe, composer/pianist Felix Jarrar has a list of accomplishments that includes performances at diverse venues such as Symphony Space, (le) poisson rouge, Feinstein's/54 below, the BAM! Fisher Hillman Studio, Roulette Intermedium, and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Amongst his approximately 190 works, he has written over 192 art songs, 12 operas, 2 string quartets, 2 cantatas, and an oratorio. Jarrar frequently works with Whitney George’s The Curiosity Cabinet. He is a vocal coach at Mannes College and serves as the assistant music director for BARN OPERA in Brandon, Vermont. He completed his Bachelor of Arts from Marlboro College with Highest Honors in Music Composition and Piano Performance. He received his Master of Music degree from Brooklyn College in Music Composition.
Markus Kaitila
“Supporting the Arts is supporting your soul. Music moves me and I want to share its power.”
Markus Kaitila (b. Helsinki, 1992) has appeared as soloist with Wratislavia, Queens College, and Jackson Heights chamber orchestras and One World and New Amsterdam Symphony orchestras, under conductors such as Tong Chen and Charles Neidich. He won Bronze Prize in the 2nd WPTA Finland International Piano Competition 2020 and First Prize at the Köhler-Osbahr piano competition (Duisburg) in 2013. Additionally, he has won First and Second Prizes in national chamber music competitions (Juvenalia, E. Melartin).
Markus has performed at Wiener Saal (Salzburg), Musica Mundi Festival (Belgium), Theater Duisburg and Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Muziekcentrum Enschede, Helsingborg Piano Festival, Mannes, Merkin and Carnegie Halls in New York and Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Institution, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Pianofest in the Hamptons.
Markus studied at Sibelius Academy Junior Academy with Dr. Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna and Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, with Till Engel. He has a bachelor of music in piano performance from Aaron Copland School of Music, CUNY Queens College, with Nina Lelchuk, and master of music and advanced certificate in piano performance and pedagogy from NYU Steinhardt, 2020, with Eteri Andjaparidze. He continues as adjunct professor in the NYU Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions.
Reflections: Hello, My name is Markus Kaitila. I’m from Helsinki, Finland, and my favorite Finnish art song is Var det en dröm? (Was it a dream?) Op. 37 No. 4 by Josef Julius Wecksell (1839-1907), set to music by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) and published as part of Fem sånger (Five songs, 1902). This song appeals to me as a pianist because of its rich texture and passionate movement. It reminds me of my favorite composer Johannes Brahms’ (1833-97) lied Meine Liebe ist grün (My love is green, 1873) Op. 63 No. 5. I find Sibelius’ character more melancholy and dark, influenced by Slavic culture.
Stefanos Koroneos
“Singing has helped me to see the world in new ways. Music helps us understand where we have been and immagine where we might go from here.”
Stefanos Koroneos is the General and Artistic Director of Teatro Grattacielo and Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy in NYC. As a performer continues to build a reputation as a world-class performer. Recent performances have included Captain Michael (baritone solo) with the Berlin Philharmonic, The Godson with Greek National Opera, La Cenerentola (Dandini and Don Magnifico) with New York City Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia ( Don Bartolo) with New York City Opera in the Park Series , Fledermaus and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Boheme Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia ( Don Bartolo) with Opera New Hampshire and Opera in the Williamsburg, Tosca ( Il Sagristano) with Palm Beach Opera, Loft Opera, Opera New Hampshire and Connecticut Opera, El Gato con Botas (the King) with Gotham Chamber Opera, Sacco e Vanzetti with Opera Tampa and Cassandra with Teatro Grattacielo, Gluck’s Orfee (title role) with National Municipal Theater Patras in Greece and Leporello with Opera Williamsburg.
Gilad Paz
“As a performer, mixing different musical genres and singing styles is one of the ways I can truly be the most ME in my life!”
Gilad Paz is a rock singer, classical tenor, and crossover performer with extensive experience that ranges from the clubs of NYC’s Lower East Side to Carnegie Hall to America’s Got Talent!
Marketability as a performer has always been part of Gilad’s career philosophy, and he always looks for ways to combine different genres and create shows that are tailored to their target audience. He has produced multiple shows, including OPROCK and VOCE NOVA, and has been a band leader for performances throughout North America.
He is also a certified life and success coach, and is the founder and CEO of The Marketable Musician, where he helps musicians and other artists create passion projects, financial stability, and dream lives!
Juliet Petrus
“I have seen first hand the power of music to bring people of different cultures together, which is why I think it's one of the most important ways that we can communicate with one another.”
American and Italian coloratura soprano, Juliet Petrus, recent performances: Aricie in HIPPOLYTE ET ARICIE (London Grimeborn Festival), Blonde in DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL (Stadttheater Baden, Austria), Queen of the Night in MAGIC FLUTE (Hamburger Kammeroper, Germany); CARMINA BURANA with the St. Louis, Alabama and Colorado Symphony Orchestras; with Bach Society of St. Louis, Kalamazoo Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Union Music of the Baroque.
As the leading Western interpreter of Chinese art song, she has toured across China in recital, appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Center, National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Symphony and Chinese television; held masterclasses conservatories of music across China. She published Singing in Mandarin: A Guide to Chinese Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire (Rowman and Littlefield) with Katherine Chu in 2020.
William Guanbo Su
“The power of singing comes from your endless preparation, and the unbearable dedication to music and text.”
Heralded by the New York Times for “musical taste, honest execution of Handelian ornaments and bel canto filigree, and a solid voice,” William Guanbo Su is a 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals winner.
He is currently in his second year as a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. Mr. Su made his mainstage debut as the Usher in Rigoletto last season before his performances of Sparafucile in outdoor performances of Rigoletto, Second Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte were cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, as were this season’s engagements of Zuniga in Carmen, Second Knight in Parsifal, and the Sadistic Sailor in Breaking the Waves. In the 2020-21 season, he sings excerpts of Enrico in Anna Bolena and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni in the Studio Showcase and later presents Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39; both programs are presented on HGO Live/Marquee TV. He will return for a third season at Houston Grand Opera for a number of roles on the company’s mainstage after making his debut with Austin Opera as Angelotti in Tosca and returning to the Aspen Music Festival as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Garibaldo in Rodelinda, all role debuts. Next season also includes his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Jailer in Tosca.
Previously at the Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Su sang his first performances of Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. As an ambassador for Opera for Peace, he sang Verdi’s “O tu Palermo” from I vespri siciliani for that organization’s digital concert celebrating World Opera Day 2020. He is a former Gerdine Young Artist of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, at which he sang Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and covered Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro. He joined Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited for its production of Perla’s An American Dream. While at The Juilliard School, he sang the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Pluton in Hippolyte et Aricie.
His performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and Beethoven’s Mass in C in the 2019-20 season were also cancelled due to the pandemic. He made his recent Carnegie Hall debut with the Cecilia Chorus of New York singing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and returned to the famed stage a year later for Handel’s Messiah with the same organization.
In addition to winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals in 2019, Mr. Su won second prize in the Eleanor McCollum Competition at Houston Grand Opera. He won first prize in the Liederkranz Foundation’s Song/Lieder Competition in 2017 and, in 2018, received third prize in the Gerda Lissner Opera Competition.
William Guanbo Su received his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. He completed further studies at the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria.
Watching all these videos and reading through the reflections took me on a journey around the world. Our artists, with heritage as diverse as American, Australian, Bajan, Black, Cherokee Indian, Chinese, Czech, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Israeli, Italian, Japanese, Palestinian, and Netherlandish, were encouraged to share a song from their own racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds. Their songs vary in style and subject matter, yet they all convey our finest human qualities and sentiments.
If you would also like to take part in this joyous communion, please visit www.WorldSingingDay.org for more information. For 2021, the Song of the Year is “Here Comes The Sun,” a hopeful message during these trying times. We may not be entirely sure about where we’re headed, but it’s comforting to know that the future we’re stepping into is not without music and solidarity.
“Sing together. Unite the world.”
- Written by Yutong Yang