LA Opus Publisher
RODNEY PUNT
Dear Readers:
It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you our newest writer, Desirée Mays. A resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Desirée will contribute music reviews and commentary in that state as well as Colorado and locales nearby and beyond.
Desirée's first foray with us will be in the last week of October when she reviews Opera Southwest's Tancredi, a serious (more or less) opera by Rossini.
Born in Ireland, and educated in London, Desirée came to the States and gradually became immersed in the world of opera as a speaker, storyteller, professor, radio interviewer, reviewer and writer.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in the Humanities from the University of Utah where she taught a course, “What Is Opera,” both there and at the University of New Mexico. Desirée hosted two radio shows: “Our Arts” in Salt Lake City where she co-produced the award-winning series “Life is a Creative Process.” She also produced and interviewed arts personalities on “CenterStage” for KSFR 101.1 in Santa Fe.
Summing up her aesthetic motto as "Art Forms through Awareness", Desirée has written extensively on opera: program notes for opera companies, promotional and review pieces for journals, magazines and newspapers. She enjoys interviewing singers, directors and conductors before live audiences, on the radio or for publication, and she currently produces “Yoga Moments” for KSFR. On occasion, she takes groups of people world-wide in search of that perfect opera.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in the Humanities from the University of Utah where she taught a course, “What Is Opera,” both there and at the University of New Mexico. Desirée hosted two radio shows: “Our Arts” in Salt Lake City where she co-produced the award-winning series “Life is a Creative Process.” She also produced and interviewed arts personalities on “CenterStage” for KSFR 101.1 in Santa Fe.
Summing up her aesthetic motto as "Art Forms through Awareness", Desirée has written extensively on opera: program notes for opera companies, promotional and review pieces for journals, magazines and newspapers. She enjoys interviewing singers, directors and conductors before live audiences, on the radio or for publication, and she currently produces “Yoga Moments” for KSFR. On occasion, she takes groups of people world-wide in search of that perfect opera.
Winters find her lecturing coast to coast from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to the Los Angeles Opera and San Francisco Opera companies in California. Desirée conducts and moderates panel discussions and leads workshops and seminars. She has spoken to Wagner Societies in Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Dallas and in Dublin, Ireland.
Desirée wrote a book every year for the last two decades called "Opera Unveiled" which introduced and examined in detail the five operas of each Santa Fe Opera season. She has been the resident speaker and storyteller for The Santa Fe Opera since 1996, concluding that series and her annual book this year.
My wife and I became acquainted with Desirée at those marvelous "Opera Unveiled" dinner & lecture evenings, which some years ago became a must-do for us each summer. With the conclusion of her twentieth season in that capacity, Desirée is ready to take a little time off to pursue family interests and take in and write about other music and theater adventures.
We are honored to welcome Desirée Mays to LA Opus. As she says, "Stay tuned!" and that we will.
---ooo---
Wonderful, beautifully detailed profile of a remarkable musician.
ReplyDelete