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Greer Davis Brown as Iris in Florentine Opera's SEMELE
The Semele costumes were incredible! Be honest—how long did it take to get your dress, wig and makeup on? And—how heavy were they, really?
I would say it took a good 15 minutes just to get the dress on, since getting the corset on was a bit of a project all by itself. I had a dresser (she was fabulous) who followed me around backstage all the time and helped me navigate the stairs and sit down when I wasn’t needed on stage. It was probably another 25 minutes or so for the wig and makeup. I’m not sure exactly how much the big pink dress weighed – My guess would be 8 pounds or so just for the skirt. It felt really heavy, since all the weight was right on my hips! PLUS at the beginning I had the telescope in my pocket; that added about 5 more pounds. The wig wasn’t too heavy, just tall!
After playing a deity, where will you go? Any future roles you’re dying to sing?
Well it being pretty early in my career I’m ready to do any role someone will give me! But some that I would really love to do would be Susanna from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Adina from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and Tytania from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s really hard to narrow it down, there are so many I’d love to do!
What music are you listening to lately, and where do you draw musical inspiration from?
I have a wide variety of music I like. Currently, I’m listening to a lot of Jane Monheit, who is a fantastic jazz singer. Also on my current playlists are Dave Matthews Band, The Fray, Paris Combo, Belle and Sebastian, Jason Mraz, Lily Allen, and Kings of Convenience. I also am a sucker for comedy so I really like Flight of the Conchords. As far as musical inspiration, I’m really interested in how each performer makes whatever music they’re doing interesting. There’s usually a good reason why good musicians of any genre make it, and I love studying what they do to captivate an audience. I try to learn from performances I’ve seen to make myself better.
You’ve been in Milwaukee since October as part of our 08-09 Florentine Opera Studio. What’s your favorite Brew City memory?
I’ve really enjoyed some of the restaurants around here – Kil@wat at the Intercontinental, Coquette Café, and Kincaid’s. (I like to eat out, it’s one of my favorite pastimes.)
Anything you haven’t had a chance to do yet that you definitely want to do before you leave the city?
I really do need to make it to the art museum.
Do you sing in the shower?
Of course, those are some of the best acoustics!
