American soprano and self-described “baseball mom” Talise Trevigne chats with Evans about her early love of ballet, rise to opera stardom, passion for new music, and unconditional support for her son’s Major League aspirations. Take a peek into the life of a true supermom, hear about her work with composer Jake Heggie, and listen to her perspectives on being an artist during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Show notes
Marie Kondo, an organizing consultant and author most famous for her Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, uses a methodical approach to help people clean and organize their spaces. She is most known for asking people if an item “sparks joy” in their life.
Martha Graham was a choreographer and American modern dancer whose technique is still taught around the world.
Soprano Adele Addison was an early voice teacher for Trevigne at the Manhattan School of Music.
Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Ned Rorem occasionally observed Trevigne’s lessons with Adele Addison.
Tenor George Shirley and mezzo-soprano Hilda Harris were other early mentors for Trevigne.
Choral conductor Robert Shaw is notable for bringing black vocalists, like soprano Adele Addison and tenor Seth McCoy, to the spotlight from the 1940s through the 1970s.
During her senior year of high school, Trevigne sang the soprano solo in one of Gabriel Fauré’s most notable works Requiem.
James Gandre, the former Dean of Admissions at the Manhattan School of Music, is now the President of the School.
Early in her career, Trevigne sang under notable American conductor Julius Rudel.
Adele Addison gave Trevigne original manuscripts of the French composer, conductor, and pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.
George Szell, the former Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra once famously noted: “The Cleveland Orchestra plays seven concerts a week, and admits the public to the final two. We do some of our best playing in rehearsals.”
Trevigne has worked closely with contemporary American composer Jake Heggie. She starred as Pip in Heggie’s operatic rendition of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick.
A sitzprobe (German for “seated rehearsal”) is an opera or musical theatre rehearsal in which the vocalists sing with the orchestra—usually for the first time.
concert:nova is a contemporary music ensemble based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Trevigne will perform the role of Patience in Cincinnati Opera’s world premiere production of Castor and Patience in the summer of 2021.
Trevigne frequently watches the English television dramas Grantchester and Father Brown.
Trevigne finds the following mobile applications useful: Gamechanger (for keeping tabs on her son’s baseball games), Beachbody (for exercising), and Stash (for investing).
Trevigne enjoys eating at Conscious Kitchen in Cincinnati because they accommodate her alkaline vegan diet—a diet which does not allow any animal products, processed foods, coffee, and most grains.
Outside of classical music, Trevigne listens to hip-hop (she mentions the artist Drake) and country music.