“ ‘Have you stopped singing?’ Eric Owens says people ask him. Actually, the bass-baritone, who turned 44 this week, is at the height of his career,” writes Anne Midgette in Friday’s (7/11) Washington Post. “But Owens is also … spending six weeks with the Wolf Trap Opera this summer … to dispense vocal and career advice (in addition to the occasional performance…). It is rare for a major performer in his prime to spend so much time on what is essentially a nonperforming activity…. For Owens, it is part of an even larger and more ambitious vision…. ‘There’s a sea change that needs to happen with artists, vis-a-vis what they expect of themselves,’ he says…. Owens now chairs the advisory committee of the Glimmerglass Festival and is also a donor. The Wolf Trap Opera is also becoming a beneficiary of his efforts. … ‘He is seeding a fund that will be part of our 2015 budget,’ says Kim Witman, the head of the Wolf Trap Opera.… Owens plans to launch [a nonprofit] this fall to help mobilize other singers, raising funds for awards to go to young-artist programs at opera houses all over the country.”
Posted July 15, 2014
