Something (rather than nothing)

Episode 142 - Madison Marie McIntosh

“Sparkling” mezzo-soprano Madison Marie McIntosh has been praised for her “wondrouslyflexible voice,” “prodigious vocal skills,” and “richly textured and strong lower register” (Vocedi Meche). OperaWire has praised her “vocal power,” “enchanting voice,” “velvety mezzosoprano,”and “abundant vocal and dramatic technique, with no shortage of soaring high notesand flexible roulades.” She won The American Prize in Vocal Performance in 2020 and thenperformed a benefit concert for The American Prize that featured world premieres of works by eight composers. Madison has performed Ernesta (Un avvertimento ai gelosi) at Caramoor,

Delia (Il viaggio a Reims) with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and Alto Soloist (Messiah) with New Amsterdam Opera. In 2022, she performed in concerts with Gulfshore Opera and will sing the title role in La Cenerentola with Fargo Moorhead Opera, the title role in Giulio Cesare with Connecticut Lyric Opera, and Francesca Da Ponte in the premiere of Da Ponte, by composer Roger Neill and librettist Neil Cohen.

In 2021, she sang Beppe in Teatro Grattacielo’s production of L’amico Fritz at the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, the Domme in Three Way with Fargo Moorhead Opera, Melissa in La liberazione di Ruggiero with Connecticut Lyric Opera, Ruggiero in Alter Ego Chamber Opera’s production of Alcina REVAMPED at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and Lola Lowell in the virtual premiere of Theodore Christman’s opera The Impresario and the Dueling Divas with Mo. Eve Queler.

Madison has also performed Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), the title role in Carmen, Isabella (L’Italiana in Algeri), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Cesare (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Sara (Roberto Devereux), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and lead roles in the world premieres of six operas. She has premiered song cycles and other works by composers such as Peter Breiner, Paula Kimper, Roger Neill, Amy Scurria, Jeff Shankley, Myron Silberstein, Webster Young, and Paul Ayres. In 2019, she joined Eve Queler as a soloist in her 25th annual Bel Canto Opera Concert. She has been featured as a soloist in venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, the DiMenna Center, and the Teatro Rossini. She covered the title role in Tancredi and sang the Eco in the inaugural season of Will Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo. In 2019, she performed the role of Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) at the Wiener Kammeroper as a result of winning First Prize in the Vienna Summer Music Festival Competition. She worked with the late Mo. Alberto Zedda as a young artist of the Accademia Rossiniana in 2014 and was an Apprentice Artist of Sarasota Opera in 2018.

Last season, she was presented in a solo virtual concert in the Kravis Center’s series Kravis @ Home. “Sparkling” mezzo-soprano Madison Marie McIntosh has been praised for her “wondrously flexible voice,” “prodigious vocal skills,” and “richly textured and strong lower register” (Voce di Meche). OperaWire has praised her “vocal power,” “enchanting voice,” “velvety mezzosoprano,”and “abundant vocal and dramatic technique, with no shortage of soaring high notesand flexible roulades.” She won The American Prize in Vocal Performance in 2020 and thenperformed a benefit concert for The American Prize that featured world premieres of works by eight composers. Madison has performed Ernesta (Un avvertimento ai gelosi) at Caramoor, Delia (Il viaggio a Reims) with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and Alto Soloist (Messiah) with New Amsterdam Opera. In 2022, she performed in concerts with Gulfshore Opera and will sing the title role in La Cenerentola with Fargo Moorhead Opera, the title role in Giulio Cesare with Connecticut Lyric Opera, and Francesca Da Ponte in the premiere of Da Ponte, by composer Roger Neill and librettist Neil Cohen.

In 2021, she sang Beppe in Teatro Grattacielo’s production of L’amico Fritz at the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, the Domme in Three Way with Fargo Moorhead Opera, Melissa in La liberazione di Ruggiero with Connecticut Lyric Opera, Ruggiero in Alter Ego Chamber Opera’s production of Alcina REVAMPED at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, anLola Lowell in the virtual premiere of Theodore Christman’s opera The Impresario and theDueling Divas with Mo. Eve Queler.

Madison has also performed Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), the title role in Carmen, Isabella (L’Italiana in Algeri), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Cesare (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Sara (Roberto Devereux), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and lead roles in the world premieres of six operas. S has premiered song cycles and other works by composers such as Peter Breiner, Paula Kimper, Roger Neill, Amy Scurria, Jeff Shankley, Myron Silberstein, Webster Young, and Paul Ayres. In 2019, she joined Eve Queler as a soloist in her 25th annual Bel Canto Opera Concert. She has been featured as a soloist in venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, the DiMenna Center, and the Teatro Rossini. She covered the title role in Tancredi and sang the Eco in the inaugural season of Will Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo. In 2019, she performed the role of Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) at the Wiener Kammeroper as a result of winning First Prize in the Vienna Summer Music Festival Competition. She worked with the late Mo. Alberto Zedda as a young artist of the Accademia Rossiniana in 2014 and was an Apprentice Artist of Sarasota Opera in 2018.

Last season, she was presented in a solo virtual concert in the Kravis Center’s series Kravis @ Home. She also sang in virtual events presented by Fort Worth Opera, Maryland Opera, and the Art Song Preservation Society of New York. She performed one of the 22 ariette by Vaccai in Will Crutchfield’s video “Bel Canto in Thirty Minutes,” which also includes singers such as Lawrence Brownlee, Jennifer Rowley, Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, and Tamara Mumford. She later collaborated with Mo. Crutchfield on a recording for Teatro Nuovo’s Bel Canto Collection. She performed one of the 22 ariette by Vaccai in Will Crutchfield’s video “Bel Canto in Thirty Minutes,” which also includes singers such as Lawrence Brownlee, Jennifer Rowley, Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, and Tamara Mumford. She later collaborated with Mo. Crutchfield on a recording for Teatro Nuovo’s Bel Canto Collection.

Episode 141 - Gerald van Scyoc (Part One)

You can now listen to Part One of SRTN's interview with painter Gerald van Scyoc!

From GvS:

"I work in a Photorealist/Surrealist style. I like to do work that provokes a strong response from the viewer. Most of my paintings consist of collaged public domain photos. I rarely use live-models. I like to combine well-known symbols and tropes in my paintings mixed together in new and not-well-known combinations. This, along with the realistic painting style, provides the audience with a feeling of familiarity while, at the same time, offsetting that feeling with unconventional and, sometimes, unsettling imagery."

Episode 140 - Haley Robinson

It was an immense pleasure to meet and speak with Plains Cree/Filipinx activist, model and video creator Haley Robinson. Haley is from Treaty 7 territory and we spoke about art, creativity, identity and the immediacy of video content to explore questions of identity.

You can also connect with Haley's work and causes here: https://linktr.ee/og.robinson10

Episode 139 - Greg Petre and Graham Smith

If you got your sweet hands on a copy of 'Santos Sisters' I know that you want to know where such a wonderful piece of art (a comic for 'Generation X') came from.

I got the answer. Artists Greg Petre and Graham Smith join the show to chat about comics, art, philosophy, Taylor Swift, proclivities and predilections.

They describe that "One day while combing the beach, the Santos Sisters discovered a pair of beautiful medallions. What happened next changed their lives, forever. Follow Ambar and Alana, the Santos Sisters, as they balance spicy superheroics with the drama of their everyday lives in this GIANT SIZED extravaganza offset printed on decadent newsprint.."

Please support independent funny books!!!

https://www.santossisters.com/

Episode 138 - Susie deVille

Susie deVille is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build wildly successful businesses by rediscovering their creativity and leveraging the power of their true nature. An author, coach, and entrepreneur who built and sold a highly profitable real estate firm, she has been researching innovation and creativity since 2005. She is the founder and CEO of the Innovation & Creativity Institute and trained as a coach with Dr. Martha Beck. Her first book, Buoyant: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Becoming Wildly Successful, Creative, and Free, will be published in September of 2022.

Innovation & Creativity website: https://innovationandcreativityinstitute.com/

 

Episode 137 - Kimberly Laberge and Cory Fitzsimmons

In this episode, Ken Volante speaks with Kimberly Laberge and Cory Fitzsimmons from Wisconsin. This episode is a nice way to connect with two talented directors and actors as they create their version of Things I know to Be True for production in April 2022.

Kimberly Laberge is a teacher, stage manager, director, and critic based out of the Milwaukee area. Kimberly has worked with area companies including First Stage, the Milwaukee Rep, Kohl’s Wild Theater, and more. Some favorite projects include directing Oedipus Rex, starring in Our Town, and providing entertainment as a live princess for Friend Like Me Parties and Entertainment. A proud member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA), when not involved in productions, Kimberly runs the independent theatre review blog The Drama Den www.stageonapage.com

Cory Fitzsimmons is an actor, teacher, and first time director from the Milwaukee area. A graduate of UW-Milwaukee, Cory is an Irene Ryan Award nominee and a two-time SURF Award recipient. Favorite roles include James in Book of Days, The Old Artist in Jarman, and most recently the title role in Oedipus Rex. 

Things I Know to Be True by Andrew Bovell follows the Price family - Bob, Fran, and their four adult children. Each adult child is brought home at different points by a major event in their lives, from love, to identity, to even crime. Meanwhile, Fran and Bob's relationship is reflected in the light of their children's crises, leading them to examine their own standing with one another. The story is told through rooted, realistic family drama interspersed with soliloquies with music and movement. The result is a piece of truly elevated drama, making clever usage of all of the tools theatre has to offer. Bovell's text asks the question, can one love too much?

https://www.facebook.com/thingsiknowmke

 

 

Episode 136 - Jeff Ostler

Jeff Ostler is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Oregon. He is the author of The Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground and Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas.

This conversation delves into the Lakota Sioux, resilience, genocide, the art of teaching, responsibilities in teaching history and the power of place and story.

https://history.uoregon.edu/profile/jostler/

Episode 135 - Jonathan Blalock (with guest host Kinneret Ely)

As a tenor specializing in 21st century repertoire, Jonathan Blalock created over a dozen roles in world premieres with companies including the Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, the Center for Contemporary Opera, Fort Worth Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and UrbanArias. In 2019, he was featured in the new opera recordings of Paul’s Case (by Gregory Spears) and the Grammy Award winning Fantastic Mr. Fox (by Tobias Picker). In concert, Jonathan recently performed with Winston Salem Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Opera Hong Kong, Arizona MusicFest, Wichita Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Syracuse Symphoria, Washington Chorus, and the Guggenheim Museum. A native of Burlington, Blalock earned Master of Music degrees in both vocal performance and choral conducting from UNC Greensboro. 

Soprano Kinneret Ely is a freelance opera singer based in New York City and Tel Aviv. She was a young artist with Teatro Grattacielo’s Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy in 2021. As part of it, she sang Ilia in IDOMENEO ALLA BREVE 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).

She rejoined Teatro Grattacielo for their film production of Giordano’s FEDORA as Un Piccolo Savoiardo, and covering the role of Dimitri. Her performed roles also include Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Madame Cortese in IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, and Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. She was a semifinalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition and Camerata Bardi International Vocal Competition in 2021, and also in the Premiere Opera Foundation + NYIOP International Vocal Competition and the Rochester International Vocal Competition in 2020. Her YouTube channel has more than 38,000 views.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Honors from Hunter College, from which she graduated cum laude, designing her own degree there in languages, history, and literature through their Thomas Hunter Honors Program. She studied Italian at the Società Dante Alighieri in Siena, French at the Alliance Française in Paris, German at the Goethe Institut in Berlin, and Russian at the Derzhavin Institute in St. Petersburg. 

Kinneret's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KinneretEly

Jonathan's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jblay100

 

Episode 134 - Calina Lawrence (with guest host Paige Pettibon)

Of the Suquamish Nation, Calina Lawrence was born and raised within her ancestral culture at a time during the reawakening of the teachings of the canoe and the Coast Salish way of life in the Pacific Northwest. 

Her vocal journey began at a young age when she was first introduced to the songs of the canoe, the land, and the Lushootseed language. While lending her voice to the preservation of Suquamish traditions, she also grew to love many contemporary genres such as bluegrass, soul, hip hop and Spoken Word Poetry which would eventually lead her on her journey to respectfully expressing a fusion of it all.

Many of the people who raised her emphasized the importance of spreading awareness about the social and environmental injustices that have impacted the quality of lives on tribal reservations and within urban Native communities.. She embraced the awareness of inter-generational trauma combined equally with the examples of her people’s generosity and resiliency, so liberation work now shapes the lens in which the young artist sees the world.

At age 23, Lawrence graduated with Honors from the University of San Francisco (’16) attaining her BA in Performing Arts & Social Justice; a Music concentration.

Since graduation, this Independent Indigenous vocalist, aspiring emcee and producer self-released her debut album EPICENTER August, 2018. 

Her most significant Single to-date released in August of 2019 entitled “ʔəshəliʔ ti txʷəlšucid” one translation being “Lushootseed Is Alive” It is her first self-produced/hip-hop inspired/Salish fusion and in her words “has been my largest accomplishment to-date, to have access to the language of my ancestors and have the ability to incorporate what I can into my every day life, including my career.” The song is written and performed entirely in the Lushootseed Language. It features several members of her Suquamish community while the Music Video was brought to life by Kanion Productions, a crew completely comprised of Indigenous creatives. Lawrence continues traveling across nations as a full-time musician while based out of Coast Salish territory; her home, Suquamish.

https://www.calinalawrence.com/

Paige Pettibon is an artist based in Tacoma, Washington. Her medium focus is acrylic painting, but has extended to fiber art, beadwork, digital design, and other media. 

Paige is Black, White, and Salish (from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes). Paige is influenced by her multicultural background. She identifies as a community artist. She continues to grow within the Indigenous community by learning the Lushootseed language, tribal songs, arts, dances, and traditions.

https://www.paigepettibon.com/

Episode 133 - Sally Mars (with guest host Melissa Oliveri)

In this special episode, Melissa Oliveri guest hosts an All-Minnesota episode of Something (rather than nothing) with guest Sally Mars!

Sally Mars is a writer and photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her work appears in numerous journals including Kalliope, Talking River, Elysian Fields, Illiterate, Scheme, Shots, Reflex, The Rake, Churn, Whistling Shade and in the hardbound collection Series of Dreams. Two of her stories have been adapted into live action films; a third into an award-winning animation.  

Her stunning photography and writing can be found at https://www.sallymars.com/