Hear the Voices!
Excerpts from Madama Butterfly
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Read what they're saying!
Mad about Puccini - and Verdi!
Professional Opera Company Salutes its Namesake’s Predecessor
Featured in CultureSpot.MC
Sept. 27, 2016
by Ellyn Wexler
Read the article "Mad about Puccini - and Verdi!"
Professional Opera Company Salutes its Namesake’s Predecessor
Featured in CultureSpot.MC
Sept. 27, 2016
by Ellyn Wexler
Read the article "Mad about Puccini - and Verdi!"
Feature article in The Kentlands Town Crier
July 8, 2016
by Tamar Rhode
July 8, 2016
by Tamar Rhode
We invite you to attend, to learn, but above all, to be entertained...
On the first Monday of every month, Kay and Harry present a concert in the Kentlands Mansion, now a little gem of performance, on its way to becoming the crown jewel of Kentlands culture. If you were fortunate enough to attend The American Center for Puccini Studies birthday celebration of Puccini in December 2015, or the one-hour presentation from Puccini’s Edgar last April, you understand. If you have children in whom you wish to instill a love of the arts, music in particular, mark your calendar for a very special performance of Cinderella as part of the First Mondays series at the Mansion. (Despite the organization’s name, First Mondays, Cinderella is scheduled for the second Monday (July 11) since the first is July 4th).
This will not be your average presentation of Cinderella. Then again, nothing about these First Monday performances is average, common, or ho-hum. This version has been translated from French by Harry Dunstan himself and presents the story from the fresh perspective that Cinderella needs no magic to be beautiful, that her inner kind and true self already make her perfect.
The First Monday series is designed to bring people back to the human experience of opera. Rather than offering a remote or removed experience – like watching TV, or watching Live at the Met where you see opera on a movie screen, or even like watching a large stage opera performance – attending this series in our own intimate, elegant, cozy Kentlands Mansion is almost participatory, and is most engaging. When Harry narrates or thunderously accompanies a scene on piano, or sings in his huge tenor voice, he is right in front of you. You feel every word and every note, and thanks to a helpful handout of ‘Cliff Notes’ and back-to-basics explanation you understand. There are no subtitles; there is no need.
Kay, born and raised on an Iowa farm, studied music at Stephens College in Missouri. Thanks to a life altering recommendation (and the desire for warmer climes) she came to Washington for voice lessons with Todd Duncan, the original Porgy in Porgy and Bess and the first black singer to join the New York City Opera.
Kay describes both her and Harry’s voice as large. They are, and they fill every square inch of the Mansion. But so too is Kay’s personality. The daughter of a farmer who lived to 91 and a mother still going at 90, Kay is the embodiment of ‘Iowa stock’ – strong, purposeful, full of life.
She has played piano and organ since age 10 and has had extremely good teachers. She considers herself very lucky to lead the life she does – teaching voice to students ranging in age from 12 to 90, running the Center, and hosting enormous barbecues throughout the year, hot or cold, on their 7 grills.
Does she live and breathe Puccini? Yes, she says. Everything is about the arts, music in particular. Doesn’t she have any hobbies? Harry, who I now know is her husband, answers for her. She is a ‘world class’ cook, gardens, and reads voraciously.
I turn to Harry for his story but Kay, who admits she is the talker of the two, a concept difficult to digest after hearing him narrate Edgar to the depth he has, jumps in. She says that though they both communicate very well, whether to an individual or to a group, Harry is a strong story teller. This is evident later when he recounts an experience he had when an African American stage hand, never before exposed to opera, was found off in a back stage corner crying after catching glimpses of La boheme while working.
Harry was born in Norfolk and though both he and Kay were raised in a church environment, Harry is careful to point out that he is spiritual, rather than religious. Call it what you will, his drive and sheer will to have you know what he knows about music, opera, Puccini, is immense. This is his spiritual quest and his background and talent in this endeavor are impressive.
Harry’s thesis, a manual on How to Perform Puccini, is sought after around the world. He quotes Proust and Leonard Bernstein, instructing that music, more than anything in the world, is what unifies us all. Next thing I know Harry and Kay are analogizing music to string theory, as the substance that holds the universe together. It’s hard to keep up with them but easily apparent that they are in their own musical world, a world in which they would like everyone to live, or at least stay for a lengthy visit.
Their combined intent is to get you, the audience, as excited about music as they are, to have you experience what they have, to fully understand that music is, more than language, more than anything, what links us all. We need only embrace it. Go. Experience.
On the first Monday of every month, Kay and Harry present a concert in the Kentlands Mansion, now a little gem of performance, on its way to becoming the crown jewel of Kentlands culture. If you were fortunate enough to attend The American Center for Puccini Studies birthday celebration of Puccini in December 2015, or the one-hour presentation from Puccini’s Edgar last April, you understand. If you have children in whom you wish to instill a love of the arts, music in particular, mark your calendar for a very special performance of Cinderella as part of the First Mondays series at the Mansion. (Despite the organization’s name, First Mondays, Cinderella is scheduled for the second Monday (July 11) since the first is July 4th).
This will not be your average presentation of Cinderella. Then again, nothing about these First Monday performances is average, common, or ho-hum. This version has been translated from French by Harry Dunstan himself and presents the story from the fresh perspective that Cinderella needs no magic to be beautiful, that her inner kind and true self already make her perfect.
The First Monday series is designed to bring people back to the human experience of opera. Rather than offering a remote or removed experience – like watching TV, or watching Live at the Met where you see opera on a movie screen, or even like watching a large stage opera performance – attending this series in our own intimate, elegant, cozy Kentlands Mansion is almost participatory, and is most engaging. When Harry narrates or thunderously accompanies a scene on piano, or sings in his huge tenor voice, he is right in front of you. You feel every word and every note, and thanks to a helpful handout of ‘Cliff Notes’ and back-to-basics explanation you understand. There are no subtitles; there is no need.
Kay, born and raised on an Iowa farm, studied music at Stephens College in Missouri. Thanks to a life altering recommendation (and the desire for warmer climes) she came to Washington for voice lessons with Todd Duncan, the original Porgy in Porgy and Bess and the first black singer to join the New York City Opera.
Kay describes both her and Harry’s voice as large. They are, and they fill every square inch of the Mansion. But so too is Kay’s personality. The daughter of a farmer who lived to 91 and a mother still going at 90, Kay is the embodiment of ‘Iowa stock’ – strong, purposeful, full of life.
She has played piano and organ since age 10 and has had extremely good teachers. She considers herself very lucky to lead the life she does – teaching voice to students ranging in age from 12 to 90, running the Center, and hosting enormous barbecues throughout the year, hot or cold, on their 7 grills.
Does she live and breathe Puccini? Yes, she says. Everything is about the arts, music in particular. Doesn’t she have any hobbies? Harry, who I now know is her husband, answers for her. She is a ‘world class’ cook, gardens, and reads voraciously.
I turn to Harry for his story but Kay, who admits she is the talker of the two, a concept difficult to digest after hearing him narrate Edgar to the depth he has, jumps in. She says that though they both communicate very well, whether to an individual or to a group, Harry is a strong story teller. This is evident later when he recounts an experience he had when an African American stage hand, never before exposed to opera, was found off in a back stage corner crying after catching glimpses of La boheme while working.
Harry was born in Norfolk and though both he and Kay were raised in a church environment, Harry is careful to point out that he is spiritual, rather than religious. Call it what you will, his drive and sheer will to have you know what he knows about music, opera, Puccini, is immense. This is his spiritual quest and his background and talent in this endeavor are impressive.
Harry’s thesis, a manual on How to Perform Puccini, is sought after around the world. He quotes Proust and Leonard Bernstein, instructing that music, more than anything in the world, is what unifies us all. Next thing I know Harry and Kay are analogizing music to string theory, as the substance that holds the universe together. It’s hard to keep up with them but easily apparent that they are in their own musical world, a world in which they would like everyone to live, or at least stay for a lengthy visit.
Their combined intent is to get you, the audience, as excited about music as they are, to have you experience what they have, to fully understand that music is, more than language, more than anything, what links us all. We need only embrace it. Go. Experience.
