My Songs | My Stories

Every song tells a story; every person has one. In an ongoing series of informal interviews, Vocal Arts DC is asking singers, both established and earlier in their careers, to sing one or more of their favorite songs and to tell us something of their own life’s story. Enjoy the entire series or scroll through the playlist and discover Rod Gilfry, Emily D’Angelo, Joshua Hopkins, Lise Davidsen, Matthew Polenzani, Lawrence Brownlee, Brenda Rae, and Iestyn Davies, with more released regularly.

DAVID PORTILLO, tenor
CRAIG TERRY, piano

Sharing a sampling of self-proclaimed identity songs, Portillo and Craig are thrilled to be able to show audiences who they are and what they love. “To share and communicate in a way that’s authentic and free is incredible.”

GOLDA SCHULTZ, soprano
JONATHAN WARE, piano

Schultz and Ware share their respective backgrounds and how they became professional musicians. Schultz says, “I come to music not from the aspect of, ‘I want to be a musician’ but I come to opera and song repertoire because I like stories. I like hearing about other people and I like telling other people’s stories.”

ROD GILFRY, baritone
PETER WALSH, piano

Gilfry describes his musical upbringing and how he happened into classical voice. “In high school we had an extraordinary music program, so based on that experience I thought I would be a choir teacher. I went to Cal State Fullerton and started studying that, then took voice lessons and discovered that I had the chops for classical singing.”

EMILY D’ANGELO, mezzo-soprano
SOPHIA MUÑOZ, piano

D’Angelo shares her musical upbringing and describes what she loves most about singing recitals. “We have a much more wide range of vocal styles and color available to portray the story. We don’t have to sing over an orchestra, we are one with the piano.”

JOSHUA HOPKINS, baritone
MYRA HUANG, piano

Huang shares how she found her artistic voice and Hopkins details the story and creative process behind Songs for Murdered Sisters.

LISE DAVIDSEN, soprano
JAMES BAILLIEU, piano

Davidsen shares why she wants to continue performing both lied recitals and opera. “It is a completely different way of working and communicating. We can work as a duo and explore this together.”