Performing friends include pianists James Fitzwilliam, Barbara Pickhardt, Peter Schickele, Leo Treitler; cellists Susan Seligman, Abby Newton; Hudson Valley String Quartet; Gamelan Son of Lion; folk/acoustic performers Redwood Moose; guitarists Frederic Hand & Greg Dinger; many more. I've also shared the stage with James Earl Jones, Happy Traum, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, and other notable folks.
I sing music by a lot of contemporary composers, sometimes with them: Baikida Carroll, Barbara Benary, Pauline Oliveros, Peter Schickele, James Fitzwilliam, Aurora Northland, Arsenio Giron, Barry O'Neal, Elliot Levine, the late Robert Starer & Otto Luening (in that great band in the sky); creating a project -- someday soon -- with Barry Drogin, and others.
Classical: Cathy Berberian, Janet Baker, Jessye Norman, Teresa Stratas, Bethany Beardslee, Victoria de los Angeles, Arlene Auger, Maria Callas...love Natalie Dessay's intelligence & technique. Jazz: Sheila Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, instrumentalists Lennie Tristano, Lester Young, Buck Clayton.... Singer-songwrters: Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Tom Paxton, Redwood....
Inspired by: mostly, people who really know what they're doing and paint outside the lines... Cecilia Bartoli, Zap Mama, Miles, Baikida, Charles Lloyd, artists Mary Frank & Anselm Kiefer, architects Gehry, Gaudi and Domenich y Montaner, are among the artists who make me grin or gasp with delight at the possibilities they've explored and the mastery with which they explore(d) them.
You can also find more about me at my official web site,
http://daniellewoerner.com
and on my personal MySpace page.
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I've been singing since I was practically a baby; I was lucky enough to have parents who both sang. I came of age as a singer in Manhattan, studying with noted private teachers and coaches while pursuing a BA in music at Barnard and then Hunter College (and some years later, well after my career was established, catching up with that sheepskin at last at Bard College.)
My musical tastes are eclectic, so although most of my concerts and recordings are in some form of classical music -- art song, chamber music, opera -- I also sing musical theater, jazz, folk, and world music, and did my share of rock & pop earlier in my life. In classical music, I love repertoire ranging from early Baroque through contemporary music with lots of stops along the way. I do a lot of new music, often with the composer. Have been lucky to have pieces written for me by composers including Otto Luening, Robert Starer, Daron Hagen, Stefania de Kenessey, Barry O'Neal, and others. I enjoy helping to "co-create" a new piece, enjoy freer forms like performance art (I think my love of Baroque music stems from the improvisation element), and love to do comedy. Have performed at most of the recital halls in NYC, including Carnegie/Weill, Lincoln Center, CAMI & Merkin, and I sing with orchestras and on concert series throughout the mid-Hudson Valley, and elsewhere, especially on the east coast. This July (07) I did a tour in Spain as a soloist with conductor Harold Rosenbaum and his Canticum Novum Tour Choir.
I have two commercial recordings out, "She Walks in Beauty" with music by Otto Luening and Robert Starer on the Parnassus label, and "Voices of the Valley," featuring music of Hudson Valley composers, on Albany Records. Both were produced by the brilliant & wonderful Baikida Carroll. And I'm featured in a live-performance DVD of excerpts from Barbara Benary's gamelan opera, "Karna," based on a story from the Mahabarata epic, with Gamelan Son of Lion. I created the 2 principal female roles, in performances with the rest of the company throughout the east coast before we gave the full work's premiere at La MaMa in NYC. While still in college, I recorded with The Canby Singers for Telarc Records and with Tim Hardin for RCA.
Teaching voice and vocal performance is another major aspect of my work -- in my own studios in the Hudson Valley and NYC, and several colleges, currently including Vassar's Drama Dept. I'm a member of NYSTA (NY Teachers of Singing), and I give workshops in singing all over the country. My life & work include an emphasis on the healing capacities of music and singing, for ourselves as individuals as well as the world at large.
Increasingly, I'm involved in writing, song writing and arranging, alongside the singing and teaching. I've had articles published in Newsweek and Classical Singer, poetry published in the arts monthly Chronogram, and have done arts feature writing for Hudson Valley Magazine and other mid-Hudson publications. I'm currently working on a novel and two poetry collections, as well as new recording projects for my own label, Woodlark Rising Records. The umbrella company for my creative and teaching work is Woodlark Arts, Inc.
In what passes for spare time, I lead a small community choral group called Voices for Peace, which contains several other singer-songwriters as well as committed amateurs. And I try to get out to the garden, at least to keep up with the weeds...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL COMPLIMENTS ABOUT MY WORK. I LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING YOU COME TO ONE OF MY FUTURE SHOWS AT THE VARGA GALLERY IN WOODSTOCK. IT'S AN HONOR TO BE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. GOOD LUCK WITH THE ALBUM!! PEACE JAMES ENDERS
You may have a clear skin, a nice face, you may wear a lovely sari or be a great athlete, but without love in your heart you are an ugly human being, ugly beyond measure; and when you love, whether your face is homely or beautiful, it has a radiance. To love is the greatest thing in life; and it is very important to talk about love, to feel it, to nourish it, to treasure it, otherwise it is soon dissipated, for the world is very brutal.
Happy New Year Danielle and thank you for the CD - Voices of the Valley. I strongly recommend it. It is beautifully undertaken, the voice and blend perfect. I love the feel and the interpretation. When In Touch is up and running, still a way off yet, it will be featured, there is so much more I can hear in your voice. Let this year allow you to find your recognition and allow the world to know you. Love and Light and allow yourself just to be simply Danielle. Love Michael x Mik-Ha-El xXx In Touch Radio.net (Coming Soon - at the right time) Glastonbury, England Connecting the World As One
Ganesha is India’s cutest god. He has the head of an elephant on which is perched a dainty tiara, four podgy hands joined to a sizeable belly with each hand holding its own symbolic object. One has a trishul, or a trident, the second, an ankush, or goad made from his very own broken tooth, the third hand elegantly holds a lotus and the fourth a rosary (which is sometimes replaced by modaks his favourite sweet). Ganesha is famous not only for being a trickster and for his sense of humour, but equally for his wisdom. He is the son of Shiva (Destroyer in the Hindu Holy Trinity of Creator-Preserver-Destroyer) and Parvati (Shiva’s consort).
