Podcast 72: Chabrelle Williams and Arnold Livingston Geis

We are joined via Zoom by Arnold Geis who is a Los Angeles based tenor and performer for Film, Television, video games, and opera companies around the world and Soprano Chabrelle Williams who is an avid arts advocate, and three-time District winner of the New York Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. They were both performing at the Lincoln Center Theater in Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage’s opera “Intimate Apparel” as Mr. Mark’s and alternating as the lead role of Esther, in a production directed by Bartlett Sher, which has been suspended because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

This episode was recorded on Zoom and is available on YouTube.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 72

NOTES

Chabrelle Williams

Soprano Chabrelle Williams is a three-time District winner of the New York Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and an avid arts advocate. Chabrelle most recently sang the soprano solo in Verdi’s Requiem with Citymusic Cleveland and is also an alumnus of the Holland Community Opera Fellowship program at Opera Omaha. Other recent engagements include her debut with Out of the Box opera as a contestant in their Diva Cage Match series and her debut with the Lincoln Symphony as a guest soloist for their A Night at the Opera concert. Chabrelle has also performed a variety of operatic roles, which include: Sadie Donastrag Griffith/Cousin Blanche in Champion, the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Elle in La voix humaine, La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Marenka in The Bartered Bride, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Pamina in The Magic Flute.

Chabrelle Williams on FaceBook and Instagram

Arnold Livingston Geis

Arnold Livingston Geis, tenor, is a musician from Chehalis, WA currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. He has been engaged as a principal artist with Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Long Beach Opera, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, and Lincoln Center Theater. Artists he’s worked with include Gustavo Dudamel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esperanza Spalding, Wayne Shorter, James Conlon, John Williams, Danny Elfman, Grant Gershon, Frederica von Stade, Missy Mazzoli, Rod Gilfry, and Denise Graves. He’s also an avid session singer for Hollywood films like Star Wars: Rogue One and Lion King, TV favorites like Family Guy and Tom & Jerry, and video games like World of Warcraft. Geis is a member of the operatic crossover group, VOX, featured on Season 10 of America’s Got Talent. Arnold graduated from Biola University with a BM in 2012 and The University of Southern California with an MM in 2014. He’s a member of SAG-AFTRA, AGMA, and AEA.

www.arnoldlivingstongeis.com

Instagram: livingstontenor

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ArnoldLGeis/

From OPERA America

Paid Leave Provisions Included in Bipartisan Federal COVID-19 Relief Package

The opera field has joined the broader arts and nonprofit sectors in speaking up out of concern for its workforce in the wake of COVID-19 closures and performance cancellations. Early this morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan COVID-19 relief package that includes the following:

Mandated emergency paid leave for employees for qualified sick leave, family and medical leave, and caring for a child whose school has closed;
Refundable payroll tax credits for required emergency paid leave provided by employers with fewer than 500 employees (nonprofits are eligible for relief);
Refundable individual tax credits for leave taken by self-employed workers for qualified sick leave, caring for a family member, or caring for a child whose school has closed;
Emergency funding to states for unemployment compensation;
Additional provisions related to nutrition assistance and cost-free COVID-19 testing provisions for the uninsured.

This reader-friendly summary outlines more details about these provisions, and the fine print is in the full bill text.

Federal agencies will be required to swiftly issue guidance and regulations detailing plans for implementation, eligibility, exemptions and record-keeping. The paid leave provisions will apply to leave taken beginning within 15 days of the bill being signed into law, starting on a date still to be identified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this Monday, March 16, and the White House has signaled support.

OPERA America will provide a more detailed analysis of these provisions as additional information becomes available.

Thanks to everyone for your continued advocacy! Further relief packages are being created. We urge the opera community to continue communicating with Congress.

OPERA America has provided a page of coronavirus resources with information and tools to help navigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will add ongoing updates to this page, so please check back.

Thank you, and please stay in touch with us on this ongoing issue! You can email us at OperaLink@operaamerica.org.

COVID-19 RESOURCES

We are deeply concerned about the spread of COVID-19 across the country and its impact on all the individuals and organizations that contribute to the vibrancy of our art form and our field. The cancellation of performances and entire productions — some of which have been years in the making — is profoundly disappointing. Reduced work will have the greatest immediate impact on the artists, artisans and support staff who are paid by performance, or on an hourly basis — and on all the businesses that depend on arts audiences for their livelihoods.

OPERA America works collaboratively with a number of other wonderful national arts service organizations, many of which have shared links to resources that can provide current information and access to assistance. We’ve compiled these resources on a COVID-19 Resource Hub for the opera field, available at operaamerica.org/COVID19. We will update this page regularly, and we invite you to send new resources to OperaLink@operaamerica.org. Also included on the page is a list of performance and production cancellations across the field. Once again, please notify us of additional announcements.

Visit the COVID-19 Resource Hub

Thank you to the many organizations that have shared resources with us.

A few links from David Salazar at OperaWire

European Companies

North & South American Companies

Pacific Opera Project from Los Angeles
OperaVision streaming service from Europe

Criteron Collection for mjovie buffs

Naxos Video Library

Credits

Episode 72 was recorded via Zoom

A New Operaspective