Where Are They Now? spotlights Minnesota Varsity Featured and Showcase Artists from 2011 and 2012! It's been fun catching up with them to ask what they're doing now and what they remember and value most about their Minnesota Varsity experience. We're pleased to share their inspiring stories with you. And we're proud of every student across the state who's entered Minnesota Varsity and shared their music-making with us and with their friends, families, and communities. Will you be one of 2013's Featured Artists? Start now.
Today, a visit with Briana Moynihan:
2012 Featured Artist
Age: 19
Hometown: Red Wing, now Woodbury
Student at: North Dakota State University School of Music, Fargo ND
After Minnesota Varsity, I played the Chief Elder in the regional premiere of Susan Kander's opera The Giver, commissioned by Project Opera of the Minnesota Opera. After graduating from Red Wing High School in June 2012, I moved with my family to Woodbury, Minnesota. This summer I participated in the production workshop of the Minnesota Opera's New Works Initiative production Doubt, as a member of the children's chorus. I am currently a student at the North Dakota State University School of Music where I am studying voice with Dr. Virginia Sublett.
After finishing my undergraduate education, I want to go to graduate school for either a master's degree or an artist diploma in vocal/opera performance. Then I would like to enter a Young Artist Program with an opera company or be on a Fest Contract in Germany. My ultimate goal is to be a working opera singer.
Before being part of Minnesota Varsity, I had only thought of myself as a student studying music. But while going through the Minnesota Varsity process, I had realized that I wasn't just a student. I was an artist. I had taken a piece of beautifully written music and brought it to life. As a singer, it's not just my job to sing what's on the page. It's my responsibility to tell a story and convey the emotions written within the music. It's a responsibility that I gladly take on, and it's because of that responsibility that I want to be a professional singer. Minnesota Varsity made me even more excited to work in the music industry. Whether I sing at the Met or not, being a classical singer is what I'm meant to do with my life. Minnesota Varsity reassured me of that.
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