About Us
OPERAGASM
You are now experiencing a full-fledged Operagasm!
Welcome to Operagasm.com, a substantive, cutting edge national perspective on current events, news, reviews, interviews, fashion and editorial contributions regarding opera and classical music.
We have known each other since 2003, when we attended Metropolitan State College of Denver pursuing our bachelor degrees in music. Melissa and Christie were in their junior year of their performance degrees, while Erica was returning to school after taking time off to raise her daughter, Alexis. Although we were classmates, our life-long friendship wasn’t cemented until a cathedral choir trip through Germany and Austria in 2006; chalk it up to one of the benefits of endless hours on a tour bus rumbling through Bavaria.
Although our lives have taken us in different directions, we still share an incredible and dynamic friendship. Erica is pursuing her Masters of Music at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, Melissa is pursuing her performers certificate at Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland, and Christie is pursuing her Masters of Music at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Where will our lives take us from here? We may have international fame on the opera stage, or have a professorship in the hallowed halls of the music conservatory, or maybe have a starring role in Bravo’s Real Housewives of Goldigger County. Who knows, but one thing is certain… we will have opinions! And we look forward to sharing our opinions, and all the latest in the opera world with you on Operagasm.com.
CHRISTIE CONNOLLEY
“The best performance is that of Christie Connolley… Connolley’s singing is not only tonally poignant but also powerful and very clear. Her adaptation of Dame Quickly brings out the rumor-mongering, clever, and capricious traits of the character.” Mezzo-soprano, Christie Connolley garnered this praise for her portrayal of Dame Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff. Christie most recently was an Apprentice Artist with Opera Fort Collins from 2007-2010 where she performed Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana opposite Cynthia Lawrence and Charles Taylor. Other roles include Lucretia in Rape of Lucretia, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Desiree in A Little Night Music. Christie made her international operatic debut in 2009, singing Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte at the Seoul International Opera Festival in Korea.
Christie will be pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in the Fall of 2010. Christie holds a Master of Music from Colorado State University where she was the recipient of the Colorado State University Fellowship, a Graduate Teaching Assistantship and the Opera Pronto Scholarship. Christie holds a Bachelor of Music from Metropolitan State College of Denver where she was the recipient of the Beverly Fernald Scholarship, Denver Lyric Opera Guild Scholarship and Metro’s Music Talent Award.
In addition to singing, Christie is the co-founder and director of Operagasm.com, a blogazine that presents a substantive, cutting edge national perspective on current events, news, reviews, interviews, fashion and editorial contributions regarding opera and classical music. Christie’s other interests include international travel, politics, art and fashion.
Learn more about Christie at www.christieconnolley.com.
ERICA PAPILLION-POSEY
“….Purely exciting and rich!….great delivery of text….”
-Carol Ann Niles, NATS Adjudicator
“….Gorgeous, powerful voice!..…”
-Dr. Juliana Bishop-Hoch, Loveland Opera Theatre, NATS Adjudicator
Born in Manhattan, N.Y. and reared in Lake Charles, La. Ms. Erica Papillion-Posey has performed both stateside and abroad.
Highlights of Ms. Papillion-Posey’s career are: Madam Flora, “Baba” from Giancarlo Menotti’s, The Medium, her debut as Princess Akara, from Cherise Leiter and Leanna Kirchoff’s, world premier of Lady or the Tiger, Tigrane in Puccini’s Edgar and Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutti. In 2006 she was awarded 1st place in the operatic division of the Vocal Arts Competition for Young Colorado Musicians and won master-class appointments with Dr. Matsumi Moteki-vocal coach and accompanist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Judith Christin, world-renowned mezzo soprano, Dr. Robert DeSimone, Opera Director and Vocal Coach, University of Texas, Austin and Simon Estes, distinguished operatic and art song baritone-bass. In April 2008, Ms. Papillion-Posey captured the coveted role of the alluring seductress Carmen in the operatic production of Carmen at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, CO and in December 2009, Ms. Papillion-Posey was the featured alto soloist in Faith Lutheran’s production of Handel’s Messiah.
2010 has proved a monumental year as Ms. Papillion-Posey, along with friends, Ms. Christie Connolley and Ms. Melissa Wimbish founded the e-magazine, Operagasm.com, a substantive, cutting edge, national perspective on current events, news, reviews, interviews, fashion and editorial contributions regarding opera and classical music. In March, she re-created the role of Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, in May she was awarded 2nd place at the National Association of Teachers in Singing (NATS) competition, in the open, professional operatic division and if that weren’t enough, in July, 2010, in Viterbo, Italy, Ms. Papillion-Posey will play the Darth Vader of female operatic characters, Zia Principessa from Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
Ms. Papillion-Posey began her vocal training at Jackson State University, Jackson, MS with Marilyn Moffitt and completed her studies at Metropolitan State College of Denver in Colorado under Dr. Mee Ae Nam where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. In addition to her performance schedule and serving as co-director of Operagasm.com , she teaches private voice and is in completion of her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver, under the tutelage of her mentor, Cathy Kasch, wife and coach to renowned tenor, Donald Kaasch.
In addition to her classical studies Ms. Papillion-Posey loves spending time with her family, enjoys studying religious history and is a practitioner of the jazz arts in the Denver metropolis.
Having honed her craft in ornate cathedrals and theatres of Europe to the jazz clubs of Louisiana surely lends to her allure and mystique. Ms. Papillion-Posey’s versatility and connection to the music are evident and special to watch.
Learn more about Erica at www.epapillionposey.com.
MELISSA WIMBISH
“…simply incredible…..the highlight of the entire evening…” were the quotes from the Boulder, Colorado’s Daily Camera when describing the recent performances of Melissa Wimbish, soprano, in her role as Cunegonde with the University of Colorado’s production of Candide. More recently, she made her international debut as the “Queen of the Night” at the first Seoul International Opera Festival in Seoul, Korea in the summer of 2009.
Throughout her studies, she was involved in several productions including Hänsel und Gretel, The Secret Garden, Amahl and the Night Visitors, culminating in the solo opera by Poulenc, La Voix humaine. Equally at home in concert work and chamber music, she was also the featured soloist with the Metropolitan State College of Denver Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s concert aria “Vorrei spiegarvi, O Dio!” as well as in Orff’s Carmina Burana. Ms. Wimbish was invited to be the soprano in the world premiere of “Venus Transiens: Trilogy for Harp, Cello and Soprano,” by composer Fran Pierson.
In performance, she won second prize in the German art Song division of the Graduate Vocal Arts Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the international ‘Competizione dell’Opera’ in Dresden, Germany.
Ms. Wimbish has been noted as much for her research and writing skills as she is for her performing. Her scholarly recognition has been in the form of awards and prizes such as the Denver Lyric Opera Guild Scholarship, L. Rudolph Quinn Scholarship, Metro Scholars Award, Dante Alighieri Music Scholarship, and the Excellence in Musicology Award, which was awarded for her essay and public presentation on Béla Bartòk’s opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.
Ms. Wimbish received her Master of Music in vocal performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She received her Bachelor of Music in voice from the Metropolitan State College of Denver. Currently, she is pursuing her Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where she was recently cast as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte as well as Ida in Die Fledermaus.
When she is not singing or rehearsing, Ms. Wimbish likes to practice the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira, play with her dog Scarlett and experiment with vegetarian cooking.
Learn more about Melissa at www.melissawimbish.com.
