Vocal Arts DC Presents Rod Gilfry in a Virtual Concert With Pianist Peter Walsh

On February 26th, Vocal Arts DC presents American baritone Rod Gilfry in a virtual concert with pianist Peter Walsh. The performance will include selections by Francis Poulenc, Jake Heggie, Morten Lauridsen, Charles Ives, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel as well as original jazz arrangements of classic French art songs by Gilfry, Peter Walsh and Matthew Aucoin. The performance will stream, via Vocal Arts DC's website through March 9th.

Gilfry, a two-time Grammy nominee, has gained status as one of the top operatic baritones in the world, while also crossing over into musicals to great acclaim. Gilfry has also appeared in a 2004 episode of PBS' Arthur, as himself. In his spare time, Gilfry enjoys experimenting as an amateur mixologist, and has a website dedicated to his cocktail concoctions.

For this very personal performance, Gilfry has chosen selections by two close friends and associates based in his native California, Jake Heggie and Morten Lauridsen. Gilfry grew to befriend Jake Heggie through creating the twin roles of Mr. Gower and Mr. Potter in Heggie's operatic adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life for Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera (and its subsequent recording). Gilfry met Morten Lauridsen during his years as a graduate student at the University of Southern California. Lauridsen's choral setting of Agee's poem, Sure on this Shining Night, is one of the all-time best-selling octavos of 20th century American music; his solo setting of it as a song is something Lauridsen wrote expressly for Gilfry.

Gilfry's collaborator on the recital is pianist Peter Walsh, who has been praised by Opera News for his "warmly expressive accompaniment." Walsh has served on the music staff of various organizations including, Opera Omaha, Utah Opera, San Diego Opera and DMV area Wolf Trap Opera. He has accompanied many renowned conductors, including James Conlon, Grant Gershon, Jane Glover, Eun Sun Kim and Robert Spano, among others.

The location of this performance will be a welcome winter respite for Washingtonians. Gilfry and Walsh were filmed on a sunny day in Southern California at the historic Doheny Mansion in Los Angeles. Originally built by a tycoon who served as the inspiration for the lead character in Upton Sinclair's novel Oil (adapted for film as There Will Be Blood), it is a stunning venue. The Pompeiian Room in which this program was filmed served from the time the mansion was built as a music room for entertaining guests, and its plentiful windows and stained glass ceiling lend an interesting visual counterpoint to the music.

The concert, which is a collaboration with The Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary's University in Los Angeles, will be available to stream from February 26 to March 8th, via Vocal Arts DC's website. For tickets and more information, please visit: https://vocalartsdc.org/rod-gilfry/. Discounted student tickets are available to K-12 and college students with a valid school ID. For more information, please email us at tickets@vocalartsdc.org

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