SHOW NOTES: Season 6, Episode 6 - Young Artist Spotlight - Bernardo Medeiros, Michelle Monroe, and Marin Tack
Jul 23, 2021
Bernardo Medeiros, Baritone
Michelle Monroe, Mezzo-Soprano
Marin Tack, Soprano
It’s always so fun to sit down and talk with some of the current class of Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program singers. Audiences do not get a whole lot of exposure to these singers in normal times – and THIS summer, there’s even less interaction between the public and the young artists, because of necessary performance eliminations due to Covid restrictions. So I really loved being able to talk with Bernardo, Michelle and Marin for a half hour over Zoom about what’s going on in their lives.
Michelle was here back in 2019, and her most prominent assignment was The Narrator in Debussy’s THE BLESSED DAMOZEL, which was staged in Central City’s only Catholic church, Saint Mary of the Assumption. Here’s a photo of Michelle in that production.
Michelle Monroe, right, in Central City Opera's THE BLESSED
DAMOZEL in 2019. Photo by Amanda Tipton
When asked about the role of “Louise” in CAROUSEL, Marin mentioned that she had dance training listed in her special skills section of her resumé. That got me curious – what special skills can be found in Bernardo and Michelle’s resumés? Highlights from Bernardo’s special skills include fluent Portuguese, conversational Spanish, piano and stage-combat, and Michelle’s include music education, endurance athlete, soldier skills, martial arts, piano, brass instruments, AND ballet, tap and jazz dance! Definitely a multi-talented group.
Michelle dropped a couple contemporary opera titles as she was talking about the importance of presenting diverse, contemporary work to gain new audiences. AS ONE by Laura Kaminsky and Mark Campbell has been performed in over 40 different productions around the world since it premiered in 2014. Find out more and listen to excerpts here. Seattle Opera commissioned AN AMERICAN DREAM by Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy-Moo in 2015, and you can find out more about it here.
Marin mentioned that she became active on TicTok during the pandemic…and yes, I found her account. Turns out she’s kind of a big deal on TicTok! See her videos and follow her here: @marinmaureen. Keep up with Michelle Monroe through her artist page on Facebook and her website, michellemonroemezzosoprano.com. Bernardo isn’t super active on social media, but I did find a profile about him on Opera in the Heights’ website.
It was so nice to talk with Bernardo, Michelle and Marin on the podcast! Bernardo stars as “Rigoletto” in the Nina Odescalchi Kelly Family Matinee of RIGOLETTO at Hudson Gardens in Littleton on July 27, and Marin and Michelle appear in CAROUSEL and RIGOLETTO, respectively, through August 1st. Get your tickets now at centralcityopera.org.
Bravi tutti!
-Emily Murdock, Host & Producer