The Classical Fabtastical Young Artist Podcast

Tessa Fackelmann: Mezzo-soprano. Canadian. Lover of Pedro Pascal.

Please welcome our guest: Angel Azzarra! Described by Operator as one of "40 Under 40: A new generation of superb opera singers," young dramatic soprano Angel Azzarra is quickly becoming known for having "a warm voice that swells from staggering size to pianissimo as effortlessly as the ocean waves." Her Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with dell'Arte Ensemble was praised by critic and author Fred Plotkin as "a standout performance... Angel Azzarra sang with quality and distinction." Her reprisal of Anna came as an emerging artist with St. Petersburg Opera, which followed her 2018 professional operatic debut at Mobile Opera as Mimì (La bohème). Angel is also a YouTube content creator: check her out at https://www.youtube.com/c/AngelAzzarraOpera

Please welcome our guests for this week the cast of Palm Beach Opera's production of "L'elisir d'amore". Join us as we have brief conversations with chief conductor Maestro David Stern, Musa Ngqungwana (Dulcamara), Mario Chang (Nemorino), Andriana Chuchman (Adina) and Alexey Lavrov (Belcore).

Please welcome a our guest for this week's episode: David Walker! In the spring of 2019, David Walker was selected to be the company's general & artistic director, and since then has expertly guided the company through the COVID-19 global pandemic crisis. During the pandemic, he led an entire company pivot to be the first large-scale, live, outdoor opera festival since the crisis began, which featured a full orchestra and chorus, and a line-up of today's top opera stars. Additionally, throughout the entire crisis, he has maintained surplus budgets and strong cash reserves – even when the company had to cancel one of its performances at the top of the crisis, engaged the company's patron and supporter bases, retained a full-time staff and team, cultivated new board members, and introduced one of the company's newest artistic initiatives designed to expand the company's offerings of non-standard operatic repertoire – its ‘Discovery Series'.

Welcome our guest: soprano Avery Boettcher. Regarded for the warm, luxurious texture of her voice and versatile, captivating nature as a performer, Avery Boettcher is a soprano from Appleton Wisconsin. Most recently, Ms. Boettcher was seen performing the role of Violetta Valéry in an excerpt of La Traviata in Opera Theatre of St. Louis' Center Stage concert during the 2021 summer festival season as a member of the Gerdine Young Artist Program. Additionally in her time as a GYA, Ms. Boettcher had the privilege of covering world-renowned soprano Patricia Racette in her self-directed production of Poulenc's one-woman opera La voix humaine.

Welcome our guest: soprano Amanda Woodbury. A native of Crestwood, Kentucky, soprano Amanda Woodbury has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as having a voice that is “bright, beautifully colored, and full of strength and passion.” The 2021 – 2022 season sees Ms. Woodbury's debut with the Glyndebourne Festival to sing Countess in the Michael Grandage production of Le nozze di Figaro. Ms. Woodbury also returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Une voix d'en haut in a new production of the original five act French version of Don Carlos, and cover the title role in Rodelinda. She also made her house debut as Micaëla in Carmen with Palm Beach Opera. Orchestral engagements include Handel's Messiah with the United States Naval Academy.

In this episode, we discuss a variety of topics within the world of opera with Drew Minter. In addition to numerous workshops in the vocal and dramatic performance of baroque music, Mr. Minter has taught voice for the past ten years at Vassar College, where he also directs the Vassar Opera Workshop and conducts the Vassar Madrigal Singers. He has taught since 1989 at the Amherst Early Music Institute. In addition to an active singing career of his own, he teaches frequent masterclasses in opera and oratorio; in recent years these have taken place at Indiana University, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, West Chester University and the Crittendon Opera Workshops in Boston.

Join us this week as we discuss opera accessibility and current projects with tenor Bergsvein Toverud.

In this episode we interview bass baritone Christopher Humbert and learn about his young artist journey.

In this episode we would like to take some time to introduce ourselves and give an overview of what the focus and goals of this podcast will be.

In this podcast we will be discussing the world of opera and other subjects with various young artists. Join us in our effort as we shed some light on the life of a young artist and the various obstacles we may all face.