Burns recalled singing in L. Wayne Batty’s Madrigals group as well as both Commonwealth Singers and Choral Arts Society with Dr. John Guthmiller, while also singing in the evenings with the church choir that Dr. Guthmiller conducted. “At one point I think I had 21 credits -- I was in five ensembles, including Opera Theatre, and I made the Dean’s List because I didn’t have time to do anything else besides my homework!”
Burns’ education and dedication continued to see him to success after graduation as he went on to earn a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and a post-graduate Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center program (now part of the Metropolitan Opera).
Melanie Day, director of VCU Opera, had this to say about Burns’ rise from freshman assistant stage manager to accomplished professional opera singer:
“From the beginning, he knew what he wanted to do, and he embraced the journey itself. He worked hard to focus and channel his personal energy and his 'outside' life in order to solidify his technique while his voice was maturing and to become truly competitive as a well-rounded singer-actor. I could not be more proud of the tremendous effort invested to achieve the success he has enjoyed!”
Burns has performed with opera companies across the country as well as performances in Japan and Hong Kong. (Read his professional bio here.) He has received numerous accolades from opera critics and organizations and has been described by The New York Times as having “a beautiful bass-baritone voice.”
When asked for any words of wisdom that he might offer his VCU Opera counterparts, Burns had this to say: “If you love opera, or you want to make a professional life as a singer, then stick with it. Even if you don’t become an opera singer, there’s always a place for you in the opera world, whether as a chorus member, as a patron of the arts, or an audience member. But as long as you love it, stick with it.”
Burns has certainly stuck with it. As an example, Burns was first introduced to the character of Leporello in Don Giovanni. “I laughed in opera for the first time and thought, ‘Okay, I can do that.’” But it was 12 years between that first introduction and his first opportunity to sing the role with Boston Lyric Opera. And the work he had done in the interim -- studying, rehearsing, performing many other roles, paid off. “The level of applause I received at the end was humbling. It’s a role that I love and the audience loved and it was just a big love fest at the end. We did 8 shows and all the reviews were positive and it was just a big career moment for me.”
But it’s not all about the career for Burns. While spends much of the year on the road, he makes his home in New York City, with his wife, soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, who has an equally demanding schedule. The couple fell in love while performing La Nozze di Figaro in Dayton, Ohio and eloped in 2008. Now, they continue to seek a balance between two demanding careers and raising their 20-month-old son, Henry.
Virginia audiences will have the chance to hear Burns and Bird fall in love all over again when perform together in the Virginia Opera’s production of La Nozze di Figaro in April 2013. Save the date!
VCU Music Out Loud, March 2012: Tap Kieu
Tap Kieu's life has been one of many hardships, but he'll tell you it's been one of many blessings. It's this attitude that brings him, at 68 years old, to VCU Music as a voice major -- he is seeking to increase his knowledge and understanding of singing and music so that he can return to his native Vietnam to teach those who don't have access to music education.
Tap's story begins in 1944 during the Japanese occupation of North Vietnam -- a time of widespread famine and poverty. Of the 50 children born during that time in his village, he is the only one to have survived. Tap's father died before he was born and his mother could not afford to care for Tap, so he was moved from orphanage to orphanage.
When he was 10 years old, he went back to live with his mother. Hunger was a constant companion and he did the best that he could to survive. "I would stand outside the restaurants," Tap said, "watching people eat, just waiting for the leftovers." After elementary school, he spent several years in a monastery in the jungle, eventually completing 10th grade before he returned to live with his mother again.
With no money for tuition, Tap would go from school to school to stand outside and listen to the teachers as they were lecturing. "It wouldn't last long, though. They would come and chase me away," Tap said. "Luckily, I met a guy who knew me whose father had to move away from the city we lived in. He needed shelter, so I took him to my mom's house and he stayed with me. He would go to school during the day and teach me at night."
The Vietnamese school system is based on the French system and requires a series of exams to move onto each successive level. It speaks to Tap's aptitude and intelligence that he was able to pass each exam, including the final exams to complete the 12th grade-- a feat his tutor was unable to accomplish.
With the boat pulling away from the dock, he threw each of his children aboard and pulled his wife onboard, losing his sandal in the process. Tap and his family came to the States with no money and only the clothes they were wearing-- and Tap with just one shoe.
With no money to continue to college, Tap began working for the U.S. military in Saigon doing manual labor. Because of his language abilities in both French and Vietnamese, he was selected to become an interpreter to U.S. military officers, befriending many of them. However, in 1968, he was drafted into the Vietnamese Marines and given a position as an event coordinator as he was known for his singing talents.
In April 1975, during the final days of the Vietnam War, Tap received a telegram from one of the U.S. officers he had worked for urging him to leave Vietnam for the United States. Unable to reach U.S. Embassy officials because of the crowds, he found a boat being loaded with former U.S. Embassy workers in the harbor. Rushing home, he gathered his wife and three children on his moped and rode straight to the harbor. With the boat pulling away from the dock, he threw each of his children aboard, and pulled his wife onboard, losing his sandal in the process. And so, Tap and his family came to the States with no money and only the clothes they were wearing -- and Tap with just one shoe.
Upon arriving in America, he was given a job by his sponsor, the former U.S. military officer, who was now running a dairy farm in Wisconsin. The Kieu family went through a series of moves and jobs as they sought to settle into life in the United States. With dairy farming too labor-intensive for his health, Tap sought warehouse work in Iowa. With the first bitterly cold winter, Tap moved his family to New Orleans where he worked first in the shipyards and then as a community worker with Catholic Charities. When his young son was mugged, his house vandalized, and then all of their belongings stolen, Tap drove his family across the country to Los Angeles where he found employment as a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
It was again a new start. Tap was able to take evening classes in L.A. and earned a degree in computer science and began a new career as a computer programmer. But just a few years later, Tap developed a brain tumor that blocked half of his vision. Mercifully, it was an operable benign tumor, and he received great medical care at the hand of a surgeon who attended his church. But even so, he was unable to continue his work as a programmer because of painful headaches. So he began work in gardening and landscape.
In the late 1980s, with his children growing older and becoming negatively influenced by their peers, the Kieu's left Los Angeles and crossed the country once again to start anew in Richmond, Virginia -- chosen for being "completely average"; average weather, average housing costs, average cost of living. Tap and his wife opened a nail salon and raised their children. They eventually entered the bridal business, working alongside one of their daughters who earned a degree in fashion design from VCU.
And then in 1998, another tragedy -- the Kieu's bridal boutique went up in flames. And another blow two months later, Tap fell from a ladder while painting his house, and suffered extensive injuries. But Tap, who considers himself blessed by God, recovered his physical health and the store, Bridal Elegance, is still run by his daughter today.
In 2009, after a few years as a Henrico County school bus driver, Tap reached retirement age and began yet again as a student, first at J. Sergeant Reynolds and then at VCU Music.
After his audition and acceptance at VCU Music, Tap was placed into the third level of Music Theory and Aural Skills, but after the first week of classes, he requested to be placed into Music Theory 1, even though it would extend his coursework by at least two semesters. "I saw that the way I had learned in community college wasn't a good fit. I wanted to build a good foundation so that I can teach others."
"With all these graces from God in my life, I need to return these graces by giving to other people."
As a student, Tap takes his classes seriously and has an obvious love for singing and learning. Other students notice his dedication and his passion, according to Rebecca Tyree, assistant professor of choral music education and Tap's advisor. And Tap is grateful for his professors and his colleagues. "The way they teach me at VCU is very, very good and very practical. I really like the school."
His goal is to absorb as much knowledge and technique as he can so that he can return to Vietnam regularly to continue to teach choir conductors and song leaders in various diocese of the Vietnamese Catholic church. He has been able to go each year for the last four years to work with these young people, most of whom have had no formal training and do not read music.
But it's not as simple as teaching students in a classroom. "We have to find money for them to spend a week in class -- we help them to buy food, some we have to find shelter for," Tap said. While he will be unable to return to Vietnam while he's working on his music degree, he plans to continue and extend those visits to several months at a time once he completes his schooling.
His professors at VCU Music are very aware of how important this is to Tap. "When he speaks of his homeland, Vietnam, and how he wants to give back to the people who have nothing there, he has tears in his eyes," Tyree said. "This is his reason for coming to VCU, to learn music better in order to go home and give back to his people. Sometimes he speaks of how little time he has to give back."
"With all of these graces from God in my life, I need to return these graces by giving to other people," Tap said. "I had a lot of experiences and good memories in Vietnam and I can see that my heart is there. I feel so grateful and so glad when I can help people there. This will be the last devotion of my life. I will spend the rest of my life doing this."
VCU Music Out Loud: February 2012
Stephanie Davenport, Class of 2004
By Tiffanie Chan
Stephanie Davenport, a 2004 alumna of VCU Music, is Director of Education Abroad in the Global Education Office at VCU. It is her job, and joy, to assist students who choose to study abroad during their college career.
Originally from Williamsburg, VA, Stephanie transferred to VCU as a sophomore flute performance major to study in Francile Bilyeu's studio and to be part of the vibrant arts community in Richmond, as a performer and patron.
Her goals for her college career included cultural immersion, both in Richmond and abroad, as well as completing her degree in four years. And it was critical to Stephanie that she be able to continue her musical studies as part of her study abroad experience.
Her quest led her to the VCU Study Abroad office where, with the help of the International Student Exchange Network, she found the Ian Tomlin Music School at Napier University (now Edinburgh Napler University) in Scotland.
After giving her junior recital just before her Spring 2003 departure, Stephanie found herself in Edinburgh -- taking a course in music history, private lessons in flute technique and performance, and a course in Scottish culture and society. Her semester was filled with performances by local professional string quartets in the classroom, new perspectives from her flute teacher (who performed with the indie rock group Belle & Sebastian on their US Tour), as well as a tour of a whiskey distillery, day trips to local castles and scavenger hunts to discover more about Scottish culture.
Stephanie took advantage of an opportunity to audition for the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, even though she wasn't a singer by training. She was accepted and was able to perform a work by Edgar Elgar with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra!
Her incredibly positive experience in Scotland primed her for an internship as a peer adviser in the VCU Study Abroad office upon her return. With a new passion for intercultural exchange, she knew that this was a career path she could easily see herself on.
Through a series of fortunate events, Stephanie began a full-time 9-month advisor position in the Study Abroad Office at VCU in 2005. The fit was perfect -- she assisted students in reaching their study abroad goals during the academic year while working toward her own M.A degree in English, Writing, and Rhetoric and during the summers she would travel and completed study abroad programs in Peru and Ecuador.
Now, as Director of the Education Abroad program, Stephanie says, "I get to work with all the VCU students who want to go abroad and I work with the international students who come in, but nothing makes me happier than when a music student comes through the door and I get to help them."
Stephanie believes strongly in the transforming power of a study abroad experience. "Being in a foreign environment forces one to mature, problem-solve, become adaptable, and develop intercultural competencies that we all need to have as our global society becomes smaller."
As for music students in particular, Stephanie says that a study abroad experience is that much more powerful. "Academically, they're studying their field from a different perspective, with different teachers and for music students it can change the way they view their art. It has such an impact on students a every level."
VCU Music Out Loud: November 2011
Charli Brissey, VCU Music Box Office Manager
If you’ve attended a VCU Music performance in the past 9 months, chances are you’ve met Charli Brissey. As box office manager, she’s the friendly face our patrons interact with as they purchase tickets to our events. She also manages the ushers that greet our audience at each performance, creates reports that let us track our sales and recently added student records management to her responsibilities. But when she’s not behind the box office window, Charli maintains an active schedule as a choreographer and dancer.
Charli graduated from VCU’s Dance department in December 2008 with a BFA in Dance and Choreography, and began a performing career that has taken her up and down the East Coast. A year later, she found her way back to VCU and took a position as the assistant to the manager of the Grace Street Theater, a job that included box office and facilities responsibilities. In January 2010 she began her work as the VCU Music box office manager. She said enjoys her job because of “the people I get to work with, and the support, trust and respect I receive from everyone here.”
When asked what her favorite performance was that she had heard since she started working at VCU Music, she had difficulty naming one favorite. “There are so many great events; we bring in amazing artists for the Rennolds series, but the student performances are also really wonderful.” She was incredibly impressed by pianist Vladimir Feltsman, who performed on the Rennolds series in September, and was also thrilled to hear Quatro na Bossa, a group she already loved, as part of the Guitar Series.
Her position gives her flexibility to continue her performing career, and when she’s not working, you can usually find Charli in the dance studio or filming and editing videos. She has been making videos for several years and they have become a large part of her dance work, as she tries different ways to incorporate video into live performance. Charli and several fellow VCU dance alums recently presented a performance titled Whiskey and Elephants at the Grace Street Theater, which featured the Richmond premiere of Weight, a video-dance she created as well as A’Darwin, a new duet she choreographed. Charli also recently performed at the Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival and is in demand as a guest performer in both Philadelphia and New York. When asked what inspires her work, she said “most of my work stems from the process of healing, and how healing can be used as a way to create change or better oneself.”
You can keep up with Charli’s art-making online at the Maeko Film Project’s website. Otherwise, be sure to say hi when you stop by the box office before your next VCU Music performance!
_______________________________________________
