I have been very blessed to be able to participate in two very exciting Mozart projects that have resonated with me.... One is operamission's project, "COSI FAN TUTTE: some assembly required", and the Mostly Mozart festival's production of "DAVIDDE PENITENTE."

operamission is the brainchild of my friend and former schoolmate, Jennifer Peterson. We met at the Eastman School, where we both were in graduate school. I was pursuing my master's, while Jennifer was earning her doctorate. We re-connected in New York a few years ago, and recently I've had the privilege of working with her on some very cool stuff. My first collaboration with JP was a beautiful one-act opera by Clint Borzoni called "MARGOT ALONE IN THE LIGHT," based on a short story by Ray Bradbury. More recently, JP invited me to play Don Alfonso, one of my favorite and most successful roles, in "COSI FAN TUTTE." The conceit behind the project was that singers and instrumentalists would convene for a reading of this mature Mozart work, and would rehearse and perform on the spot in front of an audience. Simultaneously, the audience and participants would get a running commentary on the opera from stage director Ned Canty and City Opera dramaturg Cori Ellison. What a wonderful and eye-opening experience for me this project was! It is so energizing to work with intelligent and erudite people in the arts who truly love opera and singing. I have performed Don Alfonso several times, and participating in "some assembly required" gave me the opportunity to gain some valuable insight into this complex and sometimes complicated opera. Hearing Cori and Ned's guided tour through this piece has helped to reshape my vision of COSI. More on this later.

I have yet to work with a conductor and music director who is more beloved than Maestro Louis Langree, who has headed the Mostly Mozart festival for a few years now. What an incredible musician as well as a terrifically charismatic leader. The "DAVIDDE PENITENTE" is a parody of Mozart's Messe in c-moll, with the text of the ordinary sections of the mass replaced with Italian text. There is no principal bass in this cantata, unfortunately; the music for the soprano II aria, soprano I/II duo, and the terzetto from the originating mass is left intact. Mozart wrote a new aria for tenor and soprano II in the parody cantata. The music is highly virtuosic, particularly for the two women. Despite the late KV number (469), the writing hearkens back to Mozart's early efforts, which definitely have a structure and sound of late Baroque composers whom Mozart admired and tried to emulate. Check out our review here: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/music/index.html.

The concert was an unqualified success, and it was a joy for me to work with this festival again.