Thomas Erik Angerhofer

I've added some "new" photos of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, thanks to Kristen (who was also in the production). Also, as of today, I'm back to 85% according to the EMT - 1 month ahead of time. The order for speech therapy has been rescinded, and after one more month of rest and medication, I'll be ready to sing again. Dr. Opperman was very suprised at my quick recovery, to which I replied "I had no choice... too much to do!" Contracts are beginning to pile up - a very good thing! I'll be back in full swing for the fall productions of La Boheme in Colorado Springs and La Traviata in Boulder. While I'm looking forward with great anticipation to both of these productions, there is one in the spring that is very close to my heart. I'll let you know when it is official!

I looked at my previous blog entry, and it has been almost a year since posting!

 

Here's the short list of accomplishments for the year:

Marcello, La Boheme, October 2008

Director of Undergraduate section of Shakespearepalooza!, CU Boulder Opera Workshop

Governor's Mansion with Opera Colorado, December 2008

James Myers' Requiem, February 2009

Assistant Director, Albert Herring, CU Opera, April 2009

Soloist, Carmina Burana, May 2009

 

The good news is that I have now completed all of the coursework for the DMA program at CU Boulder. The bad news is that I have been rather sick most of the spring, and all the singing has resulted in bi-lateral blistering of the arytenoid cartilages. Since I managed to not damage the vocal ligament, I still managed to sing decently. When I told people how my voice was hurting, the typical response was, "well, you sound fine to me." Moral of the story: listen to your body. When swallowing hurts, there is probably something wrong.

 

Now my summer will be spent resting and rehabilitating my voice; vocal rest until September should allow for some good reading, studying for theses, projects, and comprehensive exams, as well as role preparation. This fall brings Marcello in CO Springs and Germont in La Traviata in Boulder.

From June 27 through July 2, I substituted for my undergraduate voice teacher, Dan Ihasz, at the Rocky Ridge Music Center. It is located between Allen's and Estes Parks, not too far from the base of Longs Peak. What a special place! The scenery is amazing and the young musicians play their hearts out. This is the first year that they have had a vocal division, so there were only 4 voice students. They were kept very busy; multiple lessons per week, opera and musical theater scenes, and numerous performance opportunities had them learning at a record pace. Three of the students were from my alma mater, SUNY Fredonia, and the other from Cornell. They were all a pleasure to work with, and all sang very well. As a teacher it was a fantastic opportunity to work with such fine students in a nurturning and supportive creative environment. If they are to continue with the vocal division, I would highly recommend it for any students seeking an intensive summer training experience without the competitiveness of some of the more well known summer programs.

Last Friday Xavier and I made the trek to Rocky Ridge Music Camp to visit with a good friend and my undergraduate voice teacher, Dan Ihasz. I will be substituting for him at the camp when he travels to the NATS convention in Nashville at the end of the month. What a beautiful place! It is nestled between Estes Park and Allen's Park near the Roosevelt National Forest. It is difficult to imagine a more beautiful setting to practice and make music in the summer months. We stayed for a performance class where students on horn, violin, cello, piano, and voice previewed their repertoire for the next day's concerto competition. It was a pleasure to listen in to such gifted musicians, and I look forward to going back at the end of the month to work with the voice division as they prepare scenes and other repertoire.

I have uploaded a number of sound files dating back to 2005 (thank your lucky stars I didn't go back any further - believe me!). Before you visit the files section, I feel compelled to issue a few warnings. First, my voice has changed a little in the past few years. Nothing drastic, but I'm a little embarassed by my singing on some of the recordings. Alright, maybe more than "a little". Second, all of the recordings (so far) are LIVE! You know what that means... mistakes :-( Oh well, nobody's perfect. Third, the file sizes are large. They are im Mp3 format, but are at the highest bit rate; hence, they might take a while to download. Last, none of the recordings are professional quality. As I made most of them, I can easily attest to the lack of professionalism! The recital sounds like it was recorded in my bath tub (you know how you always think you sound better in the shower?), but it was in fact recorded in a church - far away from warm, sudsy, cast iron comforts.

 

Anyhow, I've done my best to provide a sampler that will provide an overview of my broad repertoire. Trust me - as soon as I get better quality recordings where my singing is actually tolerable, I'll rush to get them uploaded! Until then...