Michael Rice
Creator, Producer, and Benevolent Host of OperaNow! Michael Rice has not let let the semi-success of the show go to his (evidenced by the picture above) huge head. He was born in Chicago, the son of two families that stayed despite much of the "white flight" that was occuring throughout the city. At the age of 10 he moved to Connecticut where his family began to "move on up." His first success on the stage was at the age of 13 protraying Tevye at a Catholic grade school (you figure that one out.) He has worked as a singer for several years now, taking him all over the country and even EUROPE! (can you believe it?...that's where opera started for the love of God!)
His love of broadcasting and more importantly, spreading misinformation, led him to start OperaNow! as a bully pulpit from which to spread FUD and annoyingly laugh at his own lame jokes. Along the way, he realized people seemed to enjoy what he and his wacky friends had to say and could not be more delighted at the result.
The son of immigrants and a product of Chicago Public Schools, Oliver was never supposed to find opera. Oliver's passion for opera is evidence of a latent gene most people possess, regardless of class, race or environment. As with other proclivities, the more they are exercised, the more perverse they become. The quest for moments of sublime beauty, or small deaths, has made Oliver an obsessive collector of Compact Discs (ancient documents of singing.)
As a singer, Oliver has been rejected by some of the most prestigious institutions. He did not realize that being short, brown, and having a small voice would ever be an obstacle in opera.
In 2006 he created The Opera Company whose mission is to employ only the smartest and most versatile types of singers: those who are enthusiastic about developing other performance disciplines like mask, clown, dance and commedia dell'arte; those who love song and music and have the intelligence to choose repertoire that feels authentic to them; those who want a different path than ABC YAP and who know that opera is theater and theater requires collaboration, rehearsal, sweat and sometimes tears.
Or those who are just really hot guys.
Doug Dodson
Doug Dodson, originally from Spearfish, South Dakota, began his journey to mid-level Internet stardom at the University of South Dakota, where he earned a BA in anthropology with minors in music and classical humanities. Against all odds, he was able to find a field of study that actually drew upon all three of his undergraduate research emphases: baroque opera. Mr. Dodson went on to complete an MM in vocal performance at the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Comfortable in a variety of musical styles, Mr. Dodson has been featured as a soloist in concert and chamber works by Adès, Bernstein, Britten, McClure, Mozart and Saint-Saëns, as well as many of the baroque composers you might expect. Operatic credits include roles in the stage works of Conradi (Die schöne und getreue Ariadne), Handel (Giulio Cesare and Semele), Purcell (Dido and Aeneas), and Monteverdi (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria), plus an enjoyable foray into the world of Gilbert and Sullivan (though not as a countertenor, much to the relief of Gilbert's undoubtedly uptight ghost, I'm sure. However, methinks Sullivan might have been amused by the Major-General in falsetto. The world may never know.)
Tenor Matthew Garrett grew up on the streets of East Paterson, New Jersey, and quickly discovered his childlike aptitude for opera singing. Known by his friends at a young age as “that white motherfucker”, the turning point of his youth occurred after a high school performance of Showboat, when Eastside High principal Joe Clark (portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the film Lean On Me) remarked “You sang the shit out of that shit.” Inspired by these words, Garrett quit his job as a bouncer at a neighborhood strip club and enrolled in Juilliard’s Take Back the Night at the Opera night courses.
Since completing his training in 1975, Matthew Garrett has built a solid reputation as the guy you call when “your tenor cancels two days before the concert and you know you can’t find anyone who can possibly learn this lousy shit at the last second.” He thanks Jesus for his superb musicianship skills, as his small voice is rivaled only by his forgettable penis.
Matthew Garrett has performed with orchestras and opera companies from Granville to Duluth, usually pro bono. For more about his singing, as well as information on hiring a part-time cleaner, please visit his website, www.matthewgarrett.net.
Ethan Watermeier
The spawn of a diminutive Brooklyn Jew and a Irish-German-Southern-Catholic-Jesuit gentleman, American baritone Ethan Watermeier grew up in a small, one-room wooden cabin in the wilderness of the Adirondack mountains. He spent the majority of his childhood playing irish fiddle, reading the great works of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Dr. Seuss, and learning various ways to cook moose. In the 1980's, after graduating from the US Space Camp - Level II, Ethan's dreams of becoming an astronaut were crushed following a tragic lawn-dart accident. Immediately turning his ambitions towards theatre and music, Ethan quickly became the premiere teenage Shakespearean actor of his time, starring in over 159 productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and the Wagon Wheel Dinner Theatre in Warsaw, Indiana. Since then, Ethan has become somewhat of a jack of all trades, pursuing a panoply of passions and professions including: doctor, Justice of the Peace, certified minister of the Bahaii faith, Vice-president of the the American Association of Jugglers, an 11th degree blackbelt in Krav Magaa, and registered midwife. He is currently enjoying a happy, productive, honest, fun, healthy, and creative life, and looking forward to a successful future of the same. Ethan's favorite foods are apples and ice-cream.
