Rufus Wainwright has a voice best described as “cashmere wood”—soft, fine, and delicate, but with a solid, hardened edge. And his songwriting matches it: a mysterious mix of heartfelt, honest, and raw ballads and sturdy pop/rock ravers. He’s instinctively carved a space that only he inhabits.
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Miko Marks makes her second wind a spiritual session
There was a time when Miko Marks lived and dreamed alongside the Flint River in the Michigan home of her grandmother, wondering just where her God-given voice would eventually take her.
Read MoreJ’Nai Bridges: A mezzo connecting with the moment
in Artist News
Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, who will be the soloist in Leonard Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony at Ravinia on Sunday, August 19, “discovered” her exceptional voice when, in her senior year, she auditioned for the high school choir near her home in Lakewood, WA. When the choir director heard her, Bridges was immediately urged to begin studying professionally.
“My family enjoyed music, all kinds,” Bridges explained during a telephone interview with Ravinia Magazine in late June. “My Dad has a beautiful voice, and he sang with the Sons of Thunder choir at the Allen A.M.E. Church in Tacoma. I began taking piano lessons when I was 5, but no one [in the family] was a professional.” The new adventure of voice lessons became a revelation. “I just loved singing so much,” she said. Even though Bridges was captain of her high school basketball team and had college sports scholarships on the horizon, she audaciously auditioned at top American conservatories and music schools.