“The Secret Life of Planets" and “Music to accompany a departure” are in the L.A. Times Best Classical of 2022 list!

Two projects I had the great honor to be a part of were included in Mark Swed’s “Best Classical of 2022” List!

Annie Gosfield’s “Secret Life of Planets” was a remix and expansion of the concertus interruptus that opened her 2017 opera, “War of the Worlds.” No alien attack this time: just a wildly orchestrated, wry, and riotous song cycle for multi-grammy-award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann and me. It was truly cosmic in scope and bookended by the LA Phil’s unparalleled annual (and dirt cheap) twelve-hour takeover of Walt Disney Concert Hall: Noon to Midnight. Definitely catch next year’s!

“Music to Accompany a Departure,” was Peter Sellars’ intimate staging of Heinrich Schütz’s 1636 requiem Mass, “Musikalishe Exequien” for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In it, we sought to honor the stories of the people we’ve loved and lost, especially when distance, time, and quarantine fundamentally changed the way we had to say goodbye. A rueful irony that I couldn’t join the Chorale onstage due to my own Covid diagnosis, but the work we did lives on in my heart, and I hope we get the chance to revisit this work again.

Strange World In theaters!

I can barely believe it.

I didn’t dare to dream that one day I’d sing a solo in a major animated Disney movie.

And with the release of Strange World, here we are!!

“They’re The Clades” is clever, quick, heartfelt, and a rollicking good time. It fit my voice like a glove, and I got the bonus of being able to sing the reprise with some of my most bad-ass and supportive friends.

The most IMMENSE thanks possible to Walt Disney Animation Studios and Henry Jackman for trusting me with this small part of an tremendous project. And a well-deserved shoutout to very cool dude Michael J. Lloyd for his bombastic and compelling orchestration.

You can listen to the track here and the incredibly manly group reprise here, or hop over to my media page for this music and more!

Interstitial: A Book of (Musical) Stories. October 11, 2022 @ 7:30 PM.

Los Angeles is a magnet for diverse individuals who embrace, explore, and celebrate their unique and intersectional identities. For Interstitial: A Book of (Musical) Stories, noted composers and librettists are teaming up to create six original pieces inspired by and amplifying the in-between cultures of the city, which will be performed by the nationally recognized chamber ensemble Brightwork newmusic and HEX. Topics of this extraordinary, multi-part concert will include migration, gentrification, community, and more. ​

Admission is free. Reservations required.

Newman Recital Hall @ USC

3616 Trousdale Parkway,

Los Angeles, CA 90089

SF Classical Voice Audience Choice Award Winners Announced!

Pamela Madsen’s Oratorio for the Earth was just voted Best Orchestra Performance in SF Classical Voice’s Audience Choice Awards!!

This was HEX vocal ensemble’s collaboration with the Cal State Fullerton Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Choir, under the direction of Kimo Furumoto and Robert Istad. We had an absolute blast putting this piece together, which is at times minimalist, at times metal, and suffused with a curious tension throughout.

There’s a virtuosic bass solo in movement VI: Now The Hour Bows Down, sung almost entirely on “ah” and “mm”. I’m not often asked to scream on a tenor’s high C, but clearly it was a crowd-pleaser. Check out the performance here on Vimeo.

Lagrime is BACK!

The Los Angeles Master Chorale’s acclaimed production of Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro is touring again this year!

Twenty-one singers transform this 75-minute sweeping a cappella polyphonic Renaissance masterpiece – committed to memory and dramatically staged – into an overwhelmingly emotional performance piece. We’re so excited to share this piece again after a lengthy Covid-induced hiatus. Learn more at https://www.lamasterchorale.org/lagrime-di-san-pietro

CENTENNIAL HALL, University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ - October 18th, 2022 @ 7:30pm

KRANNERT CENTER FOR THE PERFORMNG ARTS, University of Illinois
Urbana, IL - October 22nd, 2022 @ 730pm