Famous Friends

The world of classical singing is very large but very small, and very competitive. I'm sure you could play 6 degrees of separation with any classical singer and we would all be connected. I always see someone I know, or a friend of a friend at auditions, and now, I'm seeing friends and former cast mates gain some serious recognition! My friend James Valenti has been doing really well for the past few years, with winning the Met competition, doing Minnesota Opera YAP for 2 years, being at AVA for 2 years, and now he's singing all over the world (including the Salzburg festival!). He's really becoming famous in the world of opera, and I still chat with him regularly. I just googled some former colleagues to discover that one of them is doing some serious recital work in NYC and was hired to do a tour in Great Britain in the fall. My friend John is singing his first Alfredo this August with New Rochelle opera, and my former roommate did Sarasota YAP and won a spot with the Marilyn Horne foundation recital series! It's so exciting having friends who are really making a go of it singing. I like to think I'm not too far behind. I'm hoping that moving to NYC will bring me as much success as it has brought my friends.