What Would Mozart Do? – Details, episodes & analysis

Today I am talking to flautist Angela McCuiston. In our chat Angela passionately shares her story of how a series of playing-related injuries have caused her to become a Fitness Trainer for Musicians.

Angela McCuiston is a NASM-CPT, CES, SFS and CETI-CES (Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist, Senior Fitness Specialist and Cancer Exercise Specialist) and owner of Music Strong, a business that specializes in personal fitness training for musicians. 

Winner of the 2007 NFA Piccolo Master class, Angela received her Master of Music in Flute Performance from Florida State University and her Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Tennessee Technological University. An avid performer, Angela is Assistant Principal/Piccolo of Sinfonia Gulf Coast of Destin, Nashville Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony and Nashville Flute Choir. Joining the military soon after 9/11 she recently became a member of the 313th Army Band in Huntsville, AL, after completing a 16-year tenure in the 129th Army Band in Nashville, TN.  In addition to her solo performances, she has performed with such celebrities as Kristen Chenowith, Pink Martini, Jamie Bernstein, Morgan James, Chris Mann, Nancy Griffith and Mary Wilson of the Supremes. 

As a trainer, Angela maintains several training locations in Nashville and also travels to give her workshops and presentations, most notably presenting at the National Flute Association Conventions in Salt Lake City, UT; Las Vegas, NV, Washington, D.C. and Orlando, FL. Among her recent workshops, she has travelled to present at Arizona State University, Florida State University, Stephen F. Austin University, Ft. Lewis University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga among others.

Recently she was sought out by the Old Guard, Army Fife and Drum Corps as a special consultant to prevent playing related injuries. She has since taken up residence on the faculty of the Stetson University flute camp and has been sought out for numerous other positions including her recent appointment Fall of 2018 as Chair of the National Flute Association Performance Health Committee and adjunct flute professor at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN in August 2020.

In February 2019 she published her first book: The Musician’s Essential Exercises, with plans to branch out into instrument-specific volumes in the near future. During the pandemic of 2020 she recorded over 20 instrument specific workouts available for download.

When she is not performing or training, Angela can be found riding her Trek road bike as many hours as there are sunshine.  She recently completed her 4th century ride (100+ miles) and has a goal to ride between 5-12 centuries and log 5,000 miles.

Angela is constantly on the search for new research and her studies include Aexander Technique, Barbara Conable’s “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body” Body Mapping Class and Eva Amsler’s classes in Dynamic Integration in addition to live workshops with NASM, most recently traveling to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to complete coursework in Neurokinetic Therapy.

Angela's book
In print: https://musicstrong.com/meeprint/ 
eBook: https://musicstrong.com/ebook/
On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vyZhsv

Other Activities
Instrument Specific workouts: https://musicstrong.com/services-instrument-specific-workouts/ (free short ones are on YouTube, these are longer and better done)
Covid Comeback Challenge: https://musicstrong.com/covid-comeback-challenge2/

Today I am talking to baritone and entrepreneur Brian Witkowski. In our chat  we talk about the path that brought Brian to starting his own business called the Lucrative Artist, a platform where artists are helped to identify their purpose, to recognise their worth, and realise their value.

Brian Witkowski is a singer, actor and voice teacher turned business coach for entrepreneurial artists and educators. As the Founder and CEO of the Lucrative Artist, where he provides boutique business coaching services and trainings for fellow entrepreneurial artists and educators to help them become more prosperous, purposeful and authentic in their work. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts with emphasis in Vocal Performance and minor in Theatre at the University of Arizona; his studies and career have spanned the globe with an eclectic range of repertoire including opera, musical theatre, oratorio, art song and music ministry. He has taught in K-12 and collegiate settings, facilitates professional development seminars to teachers and artists through Arts Integration Solutions, Self-Employment in the Arts and other organizations, is regularly sought out as a speaker, and offers masterclasses and lectures in authenticity, financial empowerment, and leadership. He believes everyone has the ability to create more of the life and career they want to have as an entrepreneur. 

Website: www.thelucrativeartist.com
Facebook: www.thelucrativeartist.com/facebook
Instagram: @thelucrativeartist
Twitter: @LucrativeArt
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/brianwitkowski

Today I am talking to mezzo-soprano Lydia Jane Haynes. In our chat she shares her story of how suffering from cancer influenced her work and led her to becoming a teacher before embarking on her postgraduate studies to become a professional singer.

Lydia Jane Haynes is a 25 year old Mezzo-Soprano currently studying voice on The Guildhall School of Music and Drama Vocal Masters programme. Lydia's journey into Music has been a remarkably complex one that saw her overcoming the diagnosis of Thyroid cancer aged 16 and then undergoing two subsequent throat surgeries. Whilst rebuilding her vocal strength, Lydia became passionate about pedagogy and trained to be a secondary school teacher after completing her academic music undergraduate degree. With a passion for both performing and music education, Lydia is already carving out a career that involves her two passions, by both training at The Guildhall and working in music outreach education in her local borough, Tower Hamlets. 

Instagram @mslydiajane

Today I am talking to the Irish composer Fiona Linnane. In our talk we discuss her experiences of collaborating with various singers as she is often drawn to composing operas and song cycles, or any works that specifically involve the human voice. In 2020 she was recipient of the Art Council of Ireland Music Bursary Award.

Current projects include No.2 Pery Square, a site responsive opera, in collaboration with Limerick based production company Opera Workshop (funded by the Arts Council of Ireland Opera Commissions Award 2020).  She was awarded the Limerick City and County Council Individual Arts Bursary 2018 and 2019, for work in opera and art song.  Works include short operas Off Tuskar and Bay of Fundy; comic arias Songs of the Meteorologist and Art Songs Songs from Kate O’Brien (in collaboration with poet Mary Coll).

No 2 Pery Square https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zph3_Tc7O94

Songs of the Meteorologist - Stormy Weather

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otSxnYxXFVc

Songs of the Meteorologist - Don't make unnecessary journeys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FM-4_rKuV8

Despatches from North Clare

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuvb0QHDPnfP5nJvizkuETJfKsdXsjrX

Bay of Fundy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQYB5Iov6U

Facebook page: Fiona Linnane Composer

Instagram: @fionacomposes

Today I am talking to baritone Jonny Venvell who is the Head of Artist Relations at Encore, a UK-based musicians booking platform that brings together clients with Musicians to make their events as special as possible. In our chat we talk about Jonny’s experience working for, and developing, Encore as well as the impact that the pandemic has had on the music industry.

Jonny Venvell graduated with a music degree from Cambridge in 2015, specialising in choral singing and oboe. He joined Encore as the first employee and was responsible for growing the network from a university project to a UK-wide booking platform. He continues to sing regularly in London church choirs, and with the Facade Ensemble, a group specialising in 20th-century vocal repertoire. He also has a strong interest in Brazilian percussion and is a member of bossa nova and samba projects. Lockdown has found him more interested in folk, and he is currently recording his first folk EP on low D whistle, bodhrán and piano.   

Important links: 

Impact of COVID survey: https://encoremusicians.com/blog/musicians-leaving-music-industry

Impact of Brexit survey: https://encoremusicians.com/blog/musician-brexit-survey 

Jonny's own podcast series, The Sound Exchange (editing it a bit delayed as a result of recording my album!): https://www.mixcloud.com/jonny-venvell/uploads/

Instagram: @jvenv
Instagram: @encoremusicians
Twitter: @JVenvell
Twitter: @joinencore

Today I am talking to Micah Coston, an associate consultant at Perrett Lever, the leading international executive search firm that brings together  diverse and visionary leaders to mission-driven sectors worldwide. Micah has had a varied career path that started in music, moved on to the dramatic performance arts, then travelled through research and now is developing through his consultancy work. We discuss how the seemingly disparate aspects of Micah’s experience come together in propelling forward his constantly evolving and exciting career.

Micah is a Consultant at the executive search firm, Perrett Laver in London. He lives in a thatched cottage in the Oxfordshire countryside and can be found wandering the footpaths near his village. Micah holds a BMus in Church Music (Voice); an MA in Performance Studies; an MA in Shakespeare Studies with Distinction, The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham; and a DPhil in English Literature, University of Oxford. 

Instagram: @micahcoston 

Twitter: @micahcoston

Today I am talking to Alexander Simpson and Helen Daniels who are both classical singers and presenters on the podcast “Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?!” In our chat we talk about a variety of topics regarding the impact that the pandemic has had on young singers and how a shift in time management has revolutionised the way in which Alexander and Helen approach their work.

British countertenor Alexander Simpson is a versatile young singer who enjoys performing a wide range of repertoire and styles.

Recent operatic roles include Nireno Giulio Cesare (English Touring Opera), Cowslip Fairy Queen (Waterperry Opera Festival), Athamas Semele (Royal Academy of Music), Arsace Partenope (Iford Arts Festival), Arcane Teseo (London Handel Festival) and Refugee Flight (Royal Academy Opera).

Alexander studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded a full scholarship and graduated with a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital. He later graduated from Royal Academy Opera where he studied with Michael Chance, Caitlin Hulcup and Anna Tilbrook.

In addition to his singing commitments, Alexander has trained to become a Life Coach. He firmly believes that the industry should be made more accessible for all musicians and has set up a new ‘holistic approach’ towards singing as a career. His aim is to encourage singers to understand themselves properly as individuals and then apply these discoveries to their career so that they are able to navigate a career that is successful and fulfilling rather than being tossed randomly from one job to another.

Together with his friend and colleague Helen Daniels, Alexander has co-created a podcast entitled ‘Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?!’ which encourages classical musicians to chat honestly about previous experiences in order to create a community which is more supportive and connected.

Helen Daniels is a mezzo-soprano from Coventry, currently studying at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with Sarah Pring where she is an Eva Malpass scholar. Under Trinity Laban’s tuition she has performed in the nationally renowned Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and taken part in online masterclasses with Barbara Hannigan, Gidon Saks, Christopher Underwood and Robert Alderson. She is looking forward to playing Rosina, Il barbiere di Siviglia; Nancy, Albert Herring and Ursule, Béatrice et Bénédict in the college’s opera scenes showcase later this year.

Alongside her studies Helen is a professional ensemble singer and has performed with many celebrated groups including Classical Opera, Philharmonia Voices, The Hanover Band, City Bach Collective and Sansara. In January 2020 Helen founded a chamber female vocal ensemble with harp, Levedy, who won the inaugural Trinity Laban Carne Trust Chamber Music Competition in October 2020.

Helen read academic music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where she sang with Trinity College Choir under the direction of Stephen Layton. Solo performances include Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Bach’s St John Passion, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi's Gloria.

In summer 2020 Helen partnered with a close friend and colleague, Alexander Simpson, to record and produce a classical music podcast entitled ‘Where’s My Freaking Dressing Room?!’ The podcast encourages classical musicians to talk openly about their experiences of the industry in order to create a more supportive and interconnected musical community.

Instagram: @helendanielsmezzo

https://www.wheresmyfreakingdressingroom.com/

https://www.alexandersimpsonlifecoach.com/

Welcome to Caroline Miller and Elizabeth van Os of the Pleiades Project that is based in New York. Their project focuses on telling the various different facets of women’s stories which are often neglected in the general operatic canon.

Caroline Miller is a “warm soprano [with] emotional bite,” praised as a compelling singer-actor with vocal flexibility and dramatic intensity, who is “especially adept at comedy.” In the 2019-2020 season, Caroline was a Resident Artist with Toledo Opera, appearing as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel vs the Witch, the Plaintiff in Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury (canceled due to COVID-19) and Lady-In-Waiting and First Witch in Monk Tarrots' new production of Verdi's Macbeth. In the 2022-2023 season, Caroline returns to Toledo Opera as Valencienne in Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow.

Caroline is Co-Founder & Artistic Director of The Pleiades Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to championing women's stories through opera, film and original music-theater projects. With The Pleiades Project, Caroline has expanded her artistic talents outside of performance, embracing her interdisciplinary skills as a director, writer, programmer and producer.

Caroline has a BA in English Literature and Music from Washington University in St. Louis and an MM in Vocal Performance & Literature from Eastman School of Music.  

Caroline's website: www.carolinemillersoprano.com
Insta: @millercarli
Facebook: @carli.miller
Most recent solo project/premiere: https://invision.inseries.org/full-feature/aber

Soprano Elizabeth Van Os is one of New York City’s most dynamic performers, making waves not only as soloist and ensemble member but also as a co-founder of the non-profit Pleiades Project. For her efforts, the opera-zine parterre took notice of her “striking impression,” with additional praise from Voce di Meche for her “lovely, affecting” voice and “justifiable passion.”

A lover of concert work, Elizabeth has appeared as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Berkshire Bach Society, The Astoria Choir, the Collegiate Choir, Ars Musica, and more. In opera, notable roles have included that of Marguerite in Faust and Mimi in La Bohéme, both as Sing Through Central productions. She is a regular invited guest at the Bard SummerScape festival, where she has performed in productions like Anton Rubenstein’s Démon, Dvorâk’s Dimitrij, Pietro Mascagni’s Iris, and Dame Ethel Smyth’s Wreckers.

With an eye towards growing the repertoire, Van Os’s career has a particular focus on collaboration with select contemporary music composers, including recent premieres of work by Matthew Brown with The Astoria Choir, and Katherine Hoover, where she was a featured soloist with the New York Virtuoso Singers. Offstage, Van Os creates new performance opportunities for female artists as the co-founder of The Pleiades Project, a non-profit production company.

Elizabeth Van Os was born as Elizabeth Smith in Wendell, Idaho. She holds a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Brigham Young University in Idaho. 

Elizabeth's website: elizabethvanos.com
Photography Website: https://eavphotography.com
insta: @misselizabetka
twitter: @misselizabetka
https://www.facebook.com/elizabethvanossoprano

The Pleiades Project
Website: www.thepleiadesproject.com
Most recent premiere/short film: https://invision.inseries.org/series/the-pleiades-project-german-romantics

Today I am talking to soprano Emily Thorner who specialises in contemporary classical music but is also the CEO of moon rising, her company where she helps people as an intuitive healer. In our chat we talk about various issues, highlighting similarities between growing as an artist through the process of learning and performing music to the process of healing and being fulfilled in life.

International "ultra-soprano" (Second Inversion, WA, USA) and "new music rising star" (The Stranger, WA, USA) Emily Thorner is rapidly making her mark as a soloist in contemporary chamber ensembles, orchestras, and modern operas. Known for her command of stratospheric high notes, Ms. Thorner is highly sought-after for world premieres due to her unusual range and fearless virtuosity. Recent performances have included: Acht Brücken festival in Cologne (on WDR radio), Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Snape Maltings in the UK with Jessica Cottis and Claire Booth, the Donaueschinger Musiktage with Deutsche Kammerchor, Seattle, USA, singing a world premiere with Kin of the Moon, Gladbeck, Germany performing with the Duisberg Philharmonic and Chorwerk Ruhr for the Ruhrtiennale festival, and in Italy, singing as the Soprano Soloist for "Hotel Paradiso" by Benedict Mason with TransArt under the baton of Clement Power.

Additionally, she has also performed in Boston and New York for a double performance of Rumpelstiltskin with Guerilla Opera as The Miller, which has been recorded for Navona Records, the classical label of PARMA records, and Sisa in Noli Me Tangere, which featured her in a mad scene in the Tagalog language. In 2018-2020, she will have made appearances in the United States (Boston, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Seattle), England, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and Austria. Ms. Thorner recently was one of only two vocalists during the Bang on a Can New Music Festival and sang at Impuls Festival in Graz, Austria. She is the second-prize winner of The 2019 North International Music Competition and has been invited to sing in the Aldeburgh Festival (UK) in 2020 as well as SPLICE festival 3 (USA). She was also the first soprano in twenty years to take part in the new music course of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and her entrepreneurial spirit has led her to put together STATE OF BEING, a world tour written for her voice and electronics beginning late 2020. Upcoming world premieres written for her voice include collaborations with composers Julianna Hall (USA), Max Hundelshausen (DE), Alex Mills (UK), James Joslin (UK), Rob Laidlow (UK), Martyna Kosecka (Norway/Poland), Kaley Lane Eaton (USA), Anthony R. Green (USA/NL), and Rita Ueda (Canada).

Ms. Thorner released her first album on Itunes with ensemble Kin of the Moon for "FUNERAL SENTENCES FOR DAMAGED CELLS" in 2020. On the radio and in the media, she and has been heard on Wartburg Radio with choir Canto Armonico, MDR in Dresden performing an excerpt of Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Mozart, icareifyoulisten.com (USA) and had an article written about her during Bang on a Can in newsounds.org (USA). A featured soloist with Sound Icon in Boston, she recorded the US premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Frage, known for its impossibly high tessitura of over twenty-two high F's and beyond. Past collaborations with contemporary chamber ensembles include: Hub New Music, Boston Musica Viva, and Sound Energy at the New Music Gathering as well as performances with recording choir Vox Futura, the Grammy award-winning Hans Zimmer International Tour, and New Hampshire Music Festival.

www.emily-thorner.com

www.moon-rising.com

Instagram: @emilythornersoprano

Twitter: @ThornerEmily

Today I am talking to contralto Cindy Sadler. In our chat Cindy talks extensively about the various issues that affect creating and maintaining a portfolio career in the arts and she highlights the importance of accepting the responsibility of being the CEO of one’s own career.

Cindy Sadler’s eclectic operatic career represents the benchmark of entrepreneurial artistry. A standout performer in any cast with her rich, abundant contralto and charismatic characterizations, she has made herself indispensable in the classical music arena not only through her performances, but also her consulting and educational work, writing, and fresh vision for the stage.

When COVID-19 hit, Ms. Sadler quickly established an online opera training program with an international faculty for young and aspiring singers who had lost roles or programs. She pivoted Spotlight on Opera, the training program she founded and runs, to an online format and produced two operas and a number of scenes and concerts. Throughout 2020 and into 2021, she has continuing presenting virtual career workshops privately and to institutions such as Cal State University Stanislaus, San Jose State University, Texas Tech, Georgia Southern University, Ithaca College, and the Aaron Copland School of Music.

Ms. Sadler’s most recent article, “It’s Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings and Dances”, on the damage that weight bias does to the performing arts industry, was published on the Middleclass Artist blog. She was the featured guest on the Teacher Talk and Opera Box Score broadcasts, and will next appear on baritone Weston Hurt’s Under the Hood YouTube series.

Ms. Sadler  has continued performing via socially distanced outdoor concerts and a turn as La Zia Principessa in Valley Opera and Arts’ upcoming virtual production of Suor Angelica.

For more information, please see www.CindySadler.com and www.SpotlightOnOpera.com.

Facebook: CindySadler

Instagram: @cindy.sadler

Twitter: @CindySadlerTX