Career Summary

^SUMMARY

^{Ed Kruczynski is an experienced actor and singer who has been performing in New England since the late 1970s. From his early work as a tenor in the choir of his hometown church (1977-83) and lead singer in a barbershop quartet called the Six-Foor Four (1980), Kruczynski has progressed to character roles in Italian opera and solos in oratorio.}

^{A collector of early recordings since his high school years, Kruczynski has learned much about how to sing through listening to great singers of the past, including John McCormack, Enrico Caruso, Reinald Werrenrath, Sir Harry Lauder, and Richard Crooks. Mario Lanza (1921-1959) has had a great influence on Kruczynski's singing technique during the past few years, and Kruczynski often chooses songs that Lanza recorded--"Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" and "One Alone" among others--as his audition numbers. He recalls receiving a standing ovation from a community theatre casting committee when he sang, "It's the Loveliest Night of the Year."}

^{Kruczynski's favorite solo roles include Arturo Bucklaw in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (in Italian), Archibald Grosvenor in Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience, and First Officer William Murdoch in Titanic: The Musical. His favorite ensemble performances include Brahms' Ein Deusches Requiem (in German), Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (in Italian), Bizet's Carmen (in French), and thirteen Holiday Pops Concerts with the Boston Pops Holiday Chorus.}

^{Though most of his acting performances have taken place after 1995, Kruczynski first acted in community theatre in 1983 with four small roles in the Gateway Players production of Annie in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Several dinner theatre productions followed, and then he acted in a comedy (The Art of Dining) while a student at Worcester State College (1985-87). Though sometimes cast in acting roles because the music director wants his voice for a certain solo, Kruczynski also has been cast in roles specifically because of his acting ability. One such role--that of the laid-back, whiny deputy sheriff Tom Winston--provided some welcomed comic relief to the tension-filled psychological thriller, The Desperate Hours. And when cast in The Sound of Music as Admiral Von Streibel--the Nazi officer who gave Captain Von Trapp his orders to report to military duty--Kruczynski was told that he would not be singing at all in the production because he would be too recognizable as the admiral. Another acting challenge came with Inherit the Windm, which brought Kruczynski two non-speaking roles--a reporter and a scientist--which meant that he had to alternate between the two characters scene-by-scene while reacting in character to whatever was being said by the major characters.}

^{All along Kruczynski has been singing the songs of the American Songbook for his own enjoyment. But until now his performances of those songs were primarily restricted to late-evening open sets at John Henry's Hammer Coffeehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts; his radio show "The Acoustical Era" (1979-84) on WCUW-FM in Worcester; and during variety shows with the Epsom (NH) Players (1990s) and Friends of the Concord (NH) City Auditorium (2005).}

^{THE EARLY YEARS}

^{I was born in Clinton, Massachusetts on August 4, 1957 to Stanley (1914-1996) and Ruth (1930-2004) Kruczynski. Although I was not born into a show business family, there was--and is--much creative talent on both sides of my family. My maternal grandfather, Pasquale Iacovelli (1890-1970) spent many years working as a stone mason and designed and built the house in which I grew up(my mother still lives there), as well as the beautiful fieldstone house next door. My dad used to enter and win photo contests, executed landscape paintings, and worked as a commercial artist for many years (1936-1982) at Woodbury & Company, a stationery design and production business located in Worcester, Massachusetts. And my mom has done numerous craft projects over the years. My cousin, Victor Kruczynski, is also an actor, though the two cousins have never performed on stage together. And my cousin on my mothers side of the family, Pat Apt, has been painting for years and currently sells prints of her work on her own website.}

^{But except for Victor, I know of no other performers in my family of origin. And I never acted or sang in grade school, high school, or even college. My one childhood foray into singing came at age 8, when my mom enrolled him in the Junior Choir of The First Church in Sterling, which is located in my hometown of Sterling, Massachusetts. But this did not interest me enough for me to continue beyond the first season. However, when I began to play trumpet in school, I stuck with it for ten years.}

^{MY YEARS AS A TRUMPET PLAYER}

^{I performed in school bands from ages 10-17 and then took a year off before fellow tennis player and trumpet player Laura MacDonald encouraged me to join the Quabbin Community Band of Barre, Massachusetts. I stayed with that organization for two seasons, marching with them in parades and playing with them during their weekly outdoor, summertime, Sunday evening band concerts on the picturesque town common while attendees sat listening in their lawn chairs and children danced and played on the wide expanse of beautiful green lawn. I credit my concert band years for both my correct manner of breathing and my music reading expertise. In fact, while a senior in high school, I received an A+ on the final exam in concert band class, which involved many music-reading questions.}

^{WHY I DECIDED TO BECOME A SINGER}

^{But it wasnt until the age of 19, when the sister of a longtime friend of mine appeared as a guest on the long-running local TV talent show that I took an interest in performing for audiences. A collector of 78 RPM records for several years at that point in my life, I also had bought a number of old-time song books, and having learned the melodies from listening to the old 78s, I began singing such songs as "Killarney," which had been recorded in 1908 by the legendary Irish tenor John McCormack (1884-1945).}

^{The following year, I decided to join the Senior Choir of my boyhood church. The director, Florence Wilder (1899-2000), was 78 years old at the time and directed the choir until her retirement at age 84. So my earliest singing experience was in this old-time New England choir. My first solo work came as a result of this being a very small choir, and the lead tenor, George Reed, to whom I had listened from the congregation as a small child, was often away on business. So when the tenor section sang, sometimes it was only I who was singing. But even when George was present, at times he relied quite heavily on my abilities as he could not read music. I had just assumed that someone with such a beautiful, polished voice could read music and was somewhat disillusioned when I learned that this was not the case.}

^{In 1978 I enrolled at former The School of the Worcester Art Museum, the same school from which my father had graduated 42 years earlier. The dean of the school was Sante Graziani, a kindly man and renowned artist who had recently been in the news as the designer of a large outdoor mural that was one of Worcesters contributions to the 1976 American Bicentennial celebration. Coincidentally, Graziani had been one of my fellow trumpeters in the Quabbin Community Band, and my mom had mentioned to Graziani during one evening rehearsals that I was planning on applying to the school.}

^{BARBERSHOP CHORUS and QUARTET WORK}

^{So there was an overlap of my interest in visual art and my growing interest in music. While a student at the School of the Worcester Art Museum, I once entertained my fellow students by bringing in a portable, wind-up record player and singing along with some of the 1920s records. Afterwards my classmate Marilyn Ruseckis mentioned that her dad Val was a member of a singing group called The Worcester Men of Song, a local chapter of the international Society for the Presentation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. Ironically, Geoffrey OHara, an old-time recording artists represented in my collection, was a longtime supporter and arranger for this organization. During my one year with this group, I spent some time as the lead singer (second tenor, as it is known musically) with a newly-formed barbershop quartet called The Six-Foot Four. I had suggested this name because all four of us were tall men. But when the other members decided that they wanted their voice coach to replace me as the lead singer, I resigned from the chorus as well.}

^{MY COFFEEHOUSE PERFORMANCES}

^{Another more important musical highlight of my two years as an art museum school student came in 1979 when my close friend, classmate, and talented poetess Stephenie Ares suggested that I meet her at a place called John Henrys Hammer Coffeehouse, which at that time met every Saturday night in the basement of a Unitarian church in Worcester. These weekly concerts featued traditional and contemporary "folk" music performers (local and later nationally-known), and once per month these concerts featured an open set.  The night I first attended this coffeehouse, Stephenie read some of her poetry for the audience. With her encouragement, I began singing solos occasionally at these open sets, singing songs from the 1910s and 20s. Then one night I decided to change my style, and sang three songs of my own composition--"Listenin to Dixie" (a senitmental ballad set in the southern US), "Sugar" (a whimsical nutritional chastisement), and "The Girl I Adore" (a humorous tale of a man who loves a woman despite her homely features)--accompanying myself on his autoharp. But although I was quite encouraged by the enthusiastic audience response, I rarely performed own songs after that night.  One notable exception was my 1989 compostion of "One Sacrifice for All," which I sang without accompaniment at the Easter morning service at Liberty Assembly of God in Concord, NH that year.}

^{PRISCILLA HERDMANS INFLUENCE}

^{Another important influence on my singing career was the conversations I enjoyed with fellow folk music performers, who tour nationally and even internationally. One such performer is Priscilla Herdman (). I first attended a concert of hers in Harvard, Massachusetts in 1982, and since then I have attended about a dozen of her concerts over a period of 20 years, making a point of chatting with her either between sets or after these concerts. I credit my expressive singing style in part to Priscilla's influence.}

^{MY FIRST ROLE IN A MUSICAL}

^{In 1983 I made a major stride in my performing career when I auditioned for the acclaimed musical Annie, which was still in its initial run on Broadway at the time. In this, my very first acting role in community theatre, I played several roles:  Drake (the British butler of Daddy Warbucks), Jimmy Johnson ("radios only masked announcer"), one of the Hooverville-ites (singing and dancing with the chorus in the song, "We d Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover"), and a walk-on part and brief dance sequence as one of the First Nighters in the "NYC" number).}  

^{MY ONE AND ONLY DIRECTORIAL CREDENTIAL}

^{Following the outstanding success of this show, which played to a sold-out houses of 400 people for each of the four performances--including one during a major snowstorm--I was bothered by the separation from my fellow performers (I had also resigned from a very stressful job at a group home during the rehearsal period). So when I joined the First Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, I also joined their secular theatre group, The Phoenix Players, singing in their annual dinner theatre song-and-dance shows for several years (1984-86). When the group needed a director for their 1985 show, which was on an 1890s theme, though I had never directed a show, I volunteered due to a dream in which I was directing a show and enjoying doing so. The result was a production of skits and songs that I called A Nineteenth-Century Showcase, and it included my acting in skits and singing in the chorus with others plus my renditions of such solos as "Gypsy Love Song," "Kathleen Mavourneen," "The Kerry Dance," "When You Were Sweet Sixteen," and "Cousin Jedediah." Although the old-time skits were selected by someone else, I directed all the acting and singing in this show, including the four-part harmony chorus. One attendee commented, "It was better than I thought it would be." But although I enjoyed this entire experience, I have directed a show in the 20 years since that time.}

^{TURNING TO CLASSICAL SINGING}

^{My years at First Baptist Church also included his first serious singing work. Longtime choir director Barclay Wood, a classically-trained musician, organist, and nationally-respected organ teacher who was graduated from the Yale University School of Music, directed the Chancel Choir in classical choral selections composed by such notables as Handel, Haydn, Bruckner, and even the twentieth century composer Poulenc. In addtion to singing every Sunday morning (with summers off), the choir performed an annual concert of classical religious music for the community that received favorable reviews each year and was broadcast at a later date by a local, non-commercial radio station. Wood once described me, in front of the whole choir, as "the only legitimate tenor we have," much to the mock dismay of my friend and fellow tenor Gordon Mills, who several years later served as best man at my wedding.}

^{MY WEDDING and RELOCATION TO NEW HAMSPHIRE}

^{Moving ahead spiritually, I elected to abandon my church-singing and left First Baptist Church in Worcester late in 1986 for the non-denominational Holden Chapel in Holden, Massachusetts.  This church had no choir or worship team, and I sang only one solo ("Calvary" by Rodney, with no accompaniment) during my two-plus years there. The most notable event there was my October 1988 wedding to Carolyn Martin, which led to my move to New Hampshire, where Carolyn already resided.} 

^{CHURCH SOLOS ON TV AS THE STAGE LIGHTS GO DARK}

^{My line of work during these years (1988-93) was as a residential supervisor in the field of human services, which required me to work four evenings per week until 12 midnight, thus ruling out any involvement in community theatre performances as I was unavailable for the required weekday evening rehearsals. Consequently my performing activities were limited during these years to solos and singing in the choir at First Baptist Church in Concord, New Hampshire, where choir director Frank Iovenio allowed me to skip the weekly evening rehearsals due to my sight-reading skill.  After upgrading my skills at the former Thomas School of Business in Pembroke, NH, I secured daytime employment with the State of New Hampshire beginning in 1994.}

^{MY RETURN TO COMMUNITY THEATRE AFTER 13 YEARS}

^{With my evenings free once again--and with my wife's gracious encouragement--I audtioned for The Community Players of Concord production of the musical sequel, Annie Warbucks, in the spring of 1996. Again cast in the role of Drake, the British butler of Daddy Warbucks, I enjoyed being back in theatre again. And this show marked the first time that my wife and children (now ages 4-11) had seen me perform in a play. Two of the songs from this show, including, "Somebodys Got to Do Something," became bedtime song favorites for my children for several years afterwards.  But then my performing arts career took on an unanticipated new dimension.}

^{MY OPERATIC DEBUT}

^{While walking down North Main Street in Concord one day in 1997, I noticed a poster advertising a local production of the Italian opera La Traviata. With an interest in singing opera that dated back to the early 80s (he points to his Italian ancestry), I eagerly took down the phone number in order to inquire about the group, Operafest! Of NH. The unexpected result was an audition resulting in two solo lines in the very opera advertised on that poster. Then two years later, a storybook tale came to life for me.}

^{I had enjoyed his small role in La Traviata so much that I decided that he would like to sing in the chorus of Lucia di Lammermoor a couple of years later. But during the first two rehearsals that I attended for that opera, I began to suspect that the smallest of the principal roles, that of Arturo Bucklaw, had not yet been cast. Then, following my second rehearsal, Operafest! Of NH co-founders, artistic director Jane Cormier and music director Carlos Martinez asked me to stay after rehearsal. I agreed to do so, and the husband-and-wife team audtioned and hired me for the Bucklaw role, which marked the first time I had ever signed a contract to sing in a show. The role also included a solo, a duet, and the Bucklaw character is also one of those who harmonize together in the famous "Sextette" (Chi mi frena). With only two weeks to learn this role, I walked away delighted with the opportunity and yet muttering to myself, "Youre crazy," as this was such a short period of time to memorize so much Italian.  But I did memorize the role in time and received a complimentary note from the lead tenor in the show, Ray Bauwens.} 

^{REPRISING MY BUTLER ROLE IN ANNIE--AFTER 19 YEARS}

^{The next turning point in my performing arts career came a few years later when I received a phone call from Bob Burns, who had played Daddy Warbucks during my first performance with the Community Players of Concord six years earlier.  More recently Bob had directed me in Carousel.  Bob was calling to inform me that he had agreed to reprise his role as Daddy Warbucks in Annie in Nottingham, New Hampshire, and he was helping out his director friend Anne Sheehan by recruiting men for the show.  I told Bob I was interested, he informed Anne, and she hired me over the phone to reprise my role as Drake.  However, due to an injury to his back, Bob had to bow out of the show, leaving us without a Daddy Warbucks.  Accepting my offer, I sang and acted the role of Warbuck for the next two months until another actor--who had played the role once before--was finally recruited (I joked with him, "I made it easier for you.  I did your rehearsing.").  But though I was disappointed that I was not chosen to play Warbucks (I don't look the part, and the director then would have needed to find a new Drake), this proved to be preparation for me.}

^{MY FIRST LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL}

^{Following the Annie performances, I auditioned for Puccini's famous opera, La Boheme.  My audition piece, accompanied by veteran pianist Kathryn Southworth, was "One Alone" from the 1920s musical, The New Moon.  Director Jane Cormier was smiling while I sang this piece, and gave me this feedback immediately afterwards:  "You have a stellar voice...the voice of a 16-year-old; there's no wear on it.... You should get serious about your singing."   Jane then offered me the role of the Duke in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Patience plus two free vocal coaching sessions.  However, after I sangs selections from Patience with Jane at the piano later that spring, she decided that rather than my playing the Duke, she would rather have me in the lead rold of Archibald Grosvenor.  I had been told by a fellow actor during the rehearsals for Annie 20 years earlier, "You'd make a great leading man," and now my opportunity had finally arrived.}

^{A WELL-DESERVED INTERMISSION}

^{After performing in four different productions back-to-back between November 2002 and June 2003, it was time for me to take a break from shows.  In addition to working at my "day job" as usual, I painted my house and garage, continued to sing on my church's worship team a couple of Sunday mornings per month, sang a solo and duet in Deering, NH, and a solo at my hometown church in Sterling, MA.}

^{CELEBRATING AN IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARY}

^{The Sterling solo was very memorable.  I had sung the very first of my church solos at that church 25 years earlier, so this was an important anniversary of mine.  I sang the old-time Gospel hymn, "My Jesus I Love Thee," a capella with no microphone.  And I was astounded at the response afterwards during the church's coffee hour.  A young woman walked up to me smiling, and said with enthusiasm, "That was awesome!"  A middle-aged man told commented, "Very inspirational."  An older woman declared that I must sing for them again soon.  Others were equally enthusiastic and readily approached me with glowing remarks.  All in all it was a great 25th solo-singing anniversary for me.}

^{SINGING FOR THE LARGEST AUDIENCES IN MY LIFE}

^{On September 6, 2003, I conquered one of my fears in life by driving into Boston, where I auditioned at Symphony Hall for a spot in the Holiday Chorus.  The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra was seeking 180 singers for the coming holiday season, and I was delighted when I learned--several weeks later--that I had been selected.  Traveling to Boston after working a full day in Concord, NH became routine for me, and I managed with less sleep than usual.  And after awhile I did managed to get out of Boston without getting lost in the process.}  

^{During the course of the month, we sang together in MA, NH, RI, CT, and NJ and have many great memories of our travels and performances.  Keith Lockhart accompanied us on all these road trips, and it was wonderful to work with him.  I also enjoyed sitting so close to the orchestra.  This is the first time I have ever sung for 10,000 people.  In fact, I don't think I had ever performed for more than 400 during any single performance until these Holiday Pops concerts.}

^{After eight performances during our weekend outings, I sang with the chorus and orchestra in five Holiday Pops Concerts at Symphony Hall between December 27 and 30.}

^{Just in case you're wondering, none of us chorus members were paid for our work--even the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is a volunteer ensemble--but nevertheless I would not have passed up this opportunity for anything.  And the Pops footed the bill for our bus and airline transporation and also for an unexpected layover at a New Jersey hotel.  In addition we enjoyed free catered meals at all of the venues at which we performed.}

^{As it turned out, our concert in Worcester, Massachusetts marked the very last time my mother heard me sing in public.  She died unexpectly of a heart attack in August 2004 at the age of 74.}

^{MORE ACTIVE ON STAGE THAN EVER IN 2004}

^{In my first production of 2004, I played the role of Nazi Admiral Von Schreiber in Act II Scene 5 of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music.  This marked the first time I had acted and not sung in a musical.}

^{EVEN SINGERS ATTEND CONCERTS SOMETIMES}

^{Even though I had sung in operas with professional-coloratura-soprano-turned-teacher Jane Cormier, I had never actually attended a performance of hers.  So when I noticed a newspaper announcement of an upcoming solo concert of hers, I immediately decided to plan on attending.} 

^{And by no means was I disappointed.  Jane did a marvelous job singing classical sacred songs, and afterwards we sat down and had a great conversation in the dining area at her church, where the concert had just taken place.  As music director at that church, Jane offered me the use of their recording equipment so I could at last have a professionally-recorded audition CD.  And she also invited me to sing at her church.}

^{DEFINING MOMENT: A DUET WITH MY MENTOR}

^{Later in the spring, Jane and I sang together for the first time.  First we sang some duet passages during a morning worship service, and then we appeared together in concert singing a duet of "Pie Jesu" (in Latin, of course) from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem.  Her coloratura soprano voice and my lyric tenor voice blended spendidly.  This was a defining moment of me--singing a duet with a seasoned professional whom I greatly admire.}

^{THE NEXT GENERATION}

^{Next came another character role for me--that of Mr. Carrisford in The Little Princess, a famous children's story adapted into a musical and directed by Jane Cormier.  The two performances took place in May 2004.  This marked the first time that my youngest daughter, 12-year-old Amanda, has played a role in a production with me.  Her mom and sisters were in the front row to witness her theatrical debut.  Since then other roles have followed for Amanda, and she has decided on a career as a performing artist.}

^{GOING DOWN WITH THE SHIP}

^{While just beginning to cope with the grief over the sudden loss of my mom in August 2004, I decided to audition for the Community Players of Concord's fall production of Titanic: The Musical.  Chosen for the role of First Offiicer William Murdoch because of my singing voice, this proved to be my favorite production up to this point in my performing arts career.  The pivotal role of Murdoch, who was at the helm of the ship when it struck the iceberg, I sang the haunting solo, "To Be a Captain," from the upper deck, which was the second floor--with no railing--of a mammoth set as envisoned by an award-winning designer.}

^{JUST COULDN'T SIT THIS ONE OUT}

^{Despite my decision to sit out the Boston Pops' 2004 Holiday Pops season, I heeded a late appeal for more tenors and basses, and during a break in the first rehearsal that I attended, the chorus manager talked me into signing up for even more performances.  So with only two rehearsals under my belt, I wound up singing in 9 performances that season.  Ironically I wished that I had signed up for more of them while I had the chance because I was totally enthralled by the singing of 17-year-old New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra (), whom I met and talked with briefly during our group's pre-concert dinner in Newark, New Jersey.  Learning of my daughter Amanda's singing successes, Hayley told me, "I hope she keeps on singing," and of course I later passed this along to my daughter.}

^{TOO MUCH OF A STRETCH FOR ME}

^{I began taking taking singing lessons with coloratura-soprano/producer/director Jane Cormier, whom by that point in time I had known for 7 years, early in 2005.  During that time she was directing a private high school's production of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar and was desperate for an adult to play the combined roles of Priests 1, 2, and 3.  Always willing to help, I now wish that I had declined.  Even the production's music director said that I had been miscast.  A devoted Christian, this role had me play an enemy of Jesus Christ, which twisted my emotions into a knot, and rock is far from any of my preferred singing style, and in a role in which I had to repeatedly climb up steel scaffolding and sing solo from a wooden platform--with only a slight view of the conductor looking downward out of the corner of my eye all conspired against me and led to my loss of memory while singing my solo each night--and in a different spot each night too.  After one performance, Jane understandingly took hold of my hand and gently squeezed it while silently passing by.}

^{BACK IN STRIDE}

^{My next production was my first with the Friends for the City Auditorium under the direction of the legendary Concord, NH producer/director Irene Deschenes.  I auditioned because Amanda wanted to audition, but unfortunately the director decided that she didn't want any cast members as young as Amanda.  But she did cast me in the show, which I almost regretted because I found it at first to be unchallenging ensemble singing of 100-year-old popular songs. But then the director announced that a tenor had dropped out, and I wound up being one of three men auditioning for the part of Prince Danilo for a scene from the operetta, The Merry Widow, which was to be a fully-stage scene to begin Act II of this variety show.  Chosen for the role,  I wound up living one of my dreams--singing and waltzing with my favorite New Hampshire performing artist Sue Schott, whom I had first met and sung in 2001.  After my solo of "Maxim's," in which my character cavorts with the women at the nightclub, Sue's character--the merry widow--storms in disgusted to see the Prince with other women.  But the Prince wins her over with the classic love song, "I Love You So."  This song featured my solo, then Sue's solo, and then 14 measures our walzing together while the orchestra continued to play.  Then with each of us standing sideways to the audience, we took both hands while singing in harmony and gazing into each other's eyes.  I then drew Sue close to me before we finished out duet wrapped in each other's arms.  All of this, of course, had been carefully choreographed and rehearsed over the previous weeks.  After the final performance, Sue and I parted as much better friends than before, leading her to recommend me for a role in Mame later in the year.  She even resorted to giving my email address to the director, and once again Sue and I performed together on stage.}

^{ON ONE CONDITION...}

^{But before I could start rehearsing for Mame, director Michael Curtiss had to agree that I would not be required to rehearse until my next production, L'Elisir d'Amore, was completed.  Performing with Granite State Opera in my first operatic production in 7 years, I had been cast as one of the four soldiers under the command of Belcore, who was played by guest artist Derrick Parker of the New York City Opera.  Adding to this role were a couple of unexpected pleasures--a budding friendship with a fellow singer and an offer from Granite State Opera's executive director John MacLeod asking me to photograph the week of rehearsals at the Capital Center for the Arts that would lead up to opening night.  I wound up taking hundreds of photos, and guest artists Derrick and Heather Parker--plus ensemble member Nina Eppes--also took photos that week.  For me the only drawback was that I didn't get much rest when not on stage, and of course I could not photograph the scenes in which I was acting.  But all of us shared photos with one another, and I provided a free CD not only to Granite State Opera but also to each guest artist and ensemble member who requested one.  And Nina posted some photos from each of us online so that we all could see them.  As for the opera, it was an enjoyable return for me.}

^{ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER}

^{As a result of my participation in L'Elisir d'Amore, Nina Eppes asked me to sing with the New World Chorale, and Kathy Andrle recommended that I sing in the annual Messiah performance in Mont Vernon, NH.  Messiah came first, followed by my debut singing in German in Johannes Brahms' Ein Deuches Requiem (A German Requiem) in early 2006.}

^{*** TO BE CONTINUED ***}

^{COMING UP LATER THIS YEAR . . .}

^{Please click on the link at left to visit my "Upcoming Performances" page.  And be sure to contact me at if you would like to further information how you can attend any of these performances.}