I saw this on Facebook this morning and it spoke to me. As most of my friends know, I was singing very little in Milwaukee for the last ten years that I was there. There just weren’t that many opportunities for me, and it was very discouraging. When I sang at the Hal Leonard Publishers Showcase in 2012, I realized I still had something to give and really wanted to – no, I had to – give it. Plus I sang with some terrific singers, and I discovered how much I missed that. It made me step up my game so that I wouldn’t be the weak link. (I know, that’s my mom talking – “Everyone was good except you.”)
My husband got the job offer in Baltimore in the middle of a total upstairs renovation. Most people were shocked that we were doing this at this point – except the tile guy on the project. He was a British guy who had been a session bass player in London. He told me that he wasn’t all that good to begin with, but there was so much work available in the area that he got hired all the time, and as a result, he played with some people who were really good. That made him get better – so that he could keep up with people who ultimately became his peers. (And then he fell in love with a girl in Milwaukee, had no one to play with and stopped playing the bass. So it wasn’t just me!)
Since I’ve been here, I’ve felt better about myself as a singer and felt that I’ve gotten more respect as one. And for however much time I have left as a singer, I’m not going to waste it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to practice some Rossini….
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Published by Mezzoid Voice Studio
Christine Thomas-O'Meally, a mezzo soprano and voice teacher currently based in the Baltimore-DC area, has performed everything from the motets of J.S. Bach to the melodies of Irving Berlin to the minimalism of Philip Glass.
As an opera singer and actress, she has appeared with companies such as Charm City Players, Spotlighters Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Opera North, the Washington Savoyards, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Theater, The Young Victorian Theater of Baltimore, and Skylight Opera Theatre. She created the role of The Woman in Red in Dominick Argento’s Dream of Valentino in its world premiere with the Washington Opera and Mary Pickersgill in O'er the Ramparts at its world premiere during the Bicentennial of Battle of Baltimore at the Community College of Baltimore County. Other roles include Mrs. Paroo in Music Man, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both Hansel and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and many roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Her performance as the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha was honored with a WATCH award nomination.
Ms. Thomas-O'Meally received an M.M. in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She regularly attends master classes and workshops in both performance and vocal pedagogy, and is certified in all three Levels of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method. Her students have performed on national and international tours of Broadway productions, at prestigious conservatories, and in regional theater throughout the country.
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