Opera Workshop at WSU

04/19/2026

George Shirley

ON THIS DAY - APRIL 18, 1934

George Shirley is a distinguished American operatic tenor whose career helped break racial barriers in classical music. Born in 1934 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Shirley developed his musical talent early, singing in church and school ensembles. He pursued formal training at Wayne State University and later served in the U.S. Army, where he was a member of the prestigious Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

In 1961, Shirley made history as the first Black tenor—and one of the first Black artists overall—to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His debut marked a significant milestone in the integration of one of the world’s most prestigious opera institutions, following earlier breakthroughs by artists such as Marian Anderson. Shirley’s performances challenged longstanding racial exclusion in classical music and expanded opportunities for future generations of Black opera singers.

Throughout his career, Shirley performed internationally, appearing in major opera houses and concert halls across Europe and the United States. His repertoire included works by Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini, showcasing his lyrical voice and refined technique.

Beyond the stage, Shirley became an influential educator, serving on university faculties and mentoring young singers. His contributions to music and education earned him numerous honors, including a Grammy Award and recognition as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award recipient.

George Shirley’s legacy endures as a testament to excellence, perseverance, and the transformative impact of representation in the arts.

01/07/2026

An opportunity

Nine men and nine women are needed for an upcoming production of “The Handmaid's Tale" at the Detroit Opera House.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year from La Profesora.

12/19/2025

12/19/2025

10/30/2025

Guido of Arezzo (Italian: Guido d'Arezzo;[n 1] c. 991–992 – after 1033) was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or by some, developer—of the modern staff notation that had a massive influence on the development of Western musical notation and practice. Perhaps the most significant European writer on music between Boethius and Johannes Tinctoris,[3] after the former's De institutione musica, Guido's Micrologus was the most widely distributed medieval treatise on music.

By around 1013 Guido began teaching at Pomposa Abbey, but his antiphonary Prologus in antiphonarium and novel teaching methods based on staff notation brought considerable resentment from his colleagues. He thus moved to Arezzo in 1025 and under the patronage of Bishop Tedald of Arezzo he taught singers at the Arezzo Cathedral. Using staff notation, he was able to teach large amounts of music quickly and he wrote the multifaceted Micrologus, attracting attention from around Italy. Interested in his innovations, Pope John XIX called him to Rome. After arriving and beginning to explain his methods to the clergy, sickness sent him away in the summer. The rest of his life is largely unknown, but he settled in a monastery near Arezzo, probably one of the Avellana of the Camaldolese
order.

09/18/2025

French composer, conductor, and teacher Nadia Boulanger taught some of the most important.musicians.of the 20th century, including Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Astor Piazzolla, and Quincy Jones.reak them.
Boulanger believed in rigorous technical training, but also encouraged her students to develop their own voice and to challenge tradition.

08/05/2025

Glorious sound

08/03/2025

Daniel Steibelt was a notable composer and pianist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Steibelt challenged Beethoven to an improvisation duel. Beethoven flipped Steibelt's sheet music upside down, played it, and improvised on it for an hour, causing Steibelt to leave midway.

07/26/2025

Singer Cleo Laine, regarded as Britain's greatest jazz voice, dies at 97

In 1997, Cleo Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight. The Grammy-winning singer with a wide vocal range also had a memorable Broadway role in ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ for which she was nominated for a Tony.

Listen https://youtu.be/D3nLr9Q6x-A?si=HYdqGX2FgJ-DgLFC

06/30/2025

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House (French: Bibliothèque et salle d'opéra Haskell) is a Victorian building that straddles the Canada–United States border, in Rock Island (now part of Stanstead), Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, respectively. The Opera House opened on June 7, 1904, having deliberately been built on the international border. It was declared a heritage building by both countries in the 1970s and 1980s.

The library has two different addresses and postal codes and two different phone numbers in its two respective countries.

The building was designed by architect James Ball in the Queen Anne Revival style. The first floor houses the book collection and reading rooms and a 500-seat theater occupies the second and third floors.

The library collection and the opera stage are located in Stanstead, but the main entrance and most opera seats are located in Derby Line. Because of this, the Haskell is sometimes called "the only library in the U.S.A. with no books" and "the only opera house in the U.S.A. with no stage".

There is an entrance on the Canadian side of the building, which was used as an emergency exit prior to 2025. Until 2025, patrons from Canada were permitted to enter the United States door without needing to report to customs by using a prescribed route through the sidewalk of rue Church (Church Street), provided that they return to Canada immediately upon leaving the building using the same route. United States officials restricted most Canadians from entering via the main entrance in March 2025, except for Canadian patrons with a library card.

The library, located on the first floor, has a collection of more than 20,000 books in French and English and is open to the public 38 hours a week.

The opera house on the second floor was rumored to be modeled after the old Boston Opera House in a somewhat scaled down fashion (it seats four hundred). However it predates the Boston Opera House’s construction.

A thick black line runs beneath the seats of the opera house to mark the Canada–United States border. The stage and half of the seats are in Canada; the remainder of the opera hall is in the United States.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was a gift from Martha Stewart Haskell and her son Horace "Stewart" Haskell. Built in memory of her parents Catherine and Horace Stewart and her husband Carlos Freeman Haskell, the Haskells wanted Canadians and Americans to have equal access to the Library and Opera House and so they chose to build on the border.

Photo 1 - Haskell Free Library and Opera House in 2012

Photo 2 - The international boundary is marked as a black line on the floor of the reading room of the Haskell Library. In this picture, Canada is on the right side of the line and the United States is on the left.

Photo 3 - Canada is on the left side of the line and the United States is on the right. In this picture taken in 2018 the international boundary is marked outside by stones.