Try Me Good King!

“Divorce, behead, die, divorce, behead, die. This grade school memory game is how I first came to know about the six wives of Henry the VIII, King of England from 1509 to 1547. Since then, I’ve been fascinated with the personal consequences of power that befell the Tudor family and the circle of political intrigue of both church and state which caused such a wrenching in the private lives of the seven people—Henry and his six wives.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Victoria King, Stage Director. Victoria’s NY directing credits include Assistant Director of Room Service for the prestigious Actors Studio with Arthur Storch; Musical Director Jesus Christ Superstar, The Actors Studio Workshop; Sex Myths, NY Fringe Festival; Keely & Du, The Seagull, Sweet Dreams, Baby, Stand-Up Girl, A Greasy Spoon, and Rosemary With Ginger all for The Actors Studio School. Local professional credits include Assistant Director, Driving Miss Daisy with Robert Moss Syracuse Stage, directed the premieres of Libba Cotton, Pushed Aside – The Matilda Gage Story, The Astronauts Tale, The Wind & The Willows, Strawberry Fields, Music to Earth, The Classical Style, and Sundance Opera, all for SNM. Al Takes A Bride, Vagina Monologues for Kings Theare and raised over 10k for the Vera House. Genograms, Dinner for Two, Name of Project for the Armory Square Playwrights She has also directed 6 audio books for Full Cast Audio, over 100 plays and musicals for universities and schools. Victoria holds an MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School where she studied directing with the late great Arthur Storch, acting with Elizabeth Kemp and voice with Dr. Christopher Arneson. Victoria also has a MS Ed in Theatre Education and undergraduate degrees in Theatre & Music from Loughborough University in England. She has been the Operations Manager for Symphoria, the Program Director for Cathedral Academy at Pompei Symphonic Music Program, an El Sistema Music Education school, and taught music and theatre at The Actors Studio, SUNY POTSDAM Oswego High School; Jamesville Dewitt Middle School, and Institute of Technology. She runs a successful private voice and acting studio and developed a program to teach acting to high school students on the spectrum. Victoria is a member of the prestigious Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Reviews often include “stunning attention to details” “ created amazing ensemble” and “ tells the story completely and honestly”. Her awards include ‘Listen Up’ Award, Harms Theatre Festival Awards, American College Theatre Festival, Irene Ryan Finalist, and her students have achieved many prestigious awards. To add to her list, Victoria is an accomplished set, lighting and sound designer, stage manager, actor, and singer with many credits in each area.

Soprano Laura Enslin, has elicited praise from The Post-Standard (Syracuse), as “superb,” “lovely.” Laura has also been singled out by The Buffalo News, as a “perfect vessel of beautiful singing,” and The Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.), which cites her “plush, velvety voice and unfailing sensitivity.” She performs with orchestras and opera companies, and is an ardent champion of new music. She is honored to sing Carmina Burana with the Catskill Choral Society This year she looks forward to singing Music of Woman Composers throughout NY state and Mozart’s Requiem with the Mohawk Valley Choral Society. Keeping her commitment to working with singers of all ages and backgrounds she founded her private studio, CNY Singing Garden (singinggarden.org). Interested in the mind/body connection, she draws on her background bel canto training, yoga (200 hour certified instructor), sound healing (VAH certification, Globe Institute training), and music improvisation (work with Music for People) to help singers find their own unique voice. “Creativity is not an exclusive club,” says Laura, who teaches all styles of singing. “Music is one way to reach our fullest potential, while making a vibrational difference in the lives of each other.”.

Laura’s solo engagements have included Symphoria and its predecessor, the Syracuse Symphony; Buffalo Philharmonic; Syracuse Opera; Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music; Society for New Music; Springfield (Mo.) Symphony; Lake Placid Sinfonietta; Cayuga Chamber Orchestra; Onondaga Civic Symphony; Syracuse University Brass Ensemble; and Syracuse University Oratorio Society, to name a few.

Laura’s solo repertoire features music by Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Mahler, and Villa-Lobos. Her operatic and stage roles have included Nedda (I Pagliacci), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Adel (Die Fledermaus), Atalanta (Serse), Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Madame Herz (Der Schauspieldirektor), Norina (Don Pasquale), Marie (La Fille du Régiment), Laurette (Doctor Miracle), Cecile (Iolanthe), Mrs. Hayes (Susannah), Dorine (Tartuffe), and Guinevere (Camelot). University’s Life Sciences Complex.

Additional teaching experience includes a 14-year stint at Syracuse University—first, in the Musical Theater Program and then the Jazz and Commercial Music applied study track. She also has taught at Nazareth College and the Eastman School of Music. She currently teaches at Onondaga Community College. Steeped in the bel canto singing tradition, Laura has studied with such luminaries as Mary Saunders Barton, Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, Carolyn Webber, Shirlee Emmons and Barbara Doscher.

She earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in voice from the Eastman School and the University of Colorado Boulder,

Danan Tsan is a versatile performer with a background in classical singing. When she isn’t singing the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah or recitaling, she is performing cabarets and new music in the Syracuse area. Tsan was in a chorus in the military (yes, she survived basic training) and was a featured soloist with The Syracuse Symphony (formerly called Symphoria) for their holiday concerts.

Tsan has appeared with Syracuse Opera as Charlotte in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Aldonza/Dulcinea in Darion and Leigh’s Man of La Mancha, with Oswego Opera as The Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and starred as Fantine in the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild’s production of Les Misérables. Tsan has been featured with Symphoria, The Buffalo Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, The Cincinnati Pops, and The Naples Pops Orchestra with Erich Kunzel. With the Society for New Music, she plays the lead role in Persis Vehar’s Pushed Aside (an opera about the life of abolitionist and women’s suffragist Matilda Joclyn Gage), the role of Sorcerer, in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and as Daughter, in Michael Torke’s Strawberry Fields. She continues to be featured on recital and cabaret series around Central New York, including the OASIS series, and the Utica College Jackson Lunch Hour Series.

Along with being an accomplished classical singer, Danan has many original pop songs featured in films in America and Japan and her voice has been featured on many other songs for films. For instance, Danan sang the theme song to a full-length feature film called King Lee (Cinema National) and was the voice behind many of the songs included in the indie hit Chillicothe (Blue Yonder Films). She recorded an album with songwriter and collaborator, James Durham, under the name of Aeolian May, and the song Way Down South runs during the closing credits of the sci-fi film 95ers: ECHOES (Durham Films).

While living in New York City, Danan was in the ensemble for Timmy the Great with Savion Glover (off-off Broadway), led her own award-winning band (Top 25 albums of 2007 Indie-Music.com), and sang back-up for Chris Isaak and Wynona Judd.

She holds degrees from Southern Methodist University (BM, ‘97) and The Eastman School of Music (MM ’00).

Sar-Shalom Strong is known as a pianist with the versatility to jump between styles and genres. For over 35 years, he has worked with the fine musicians and international artists who live in or visit upstate New York. He has performed concerti and orchestral keyboard with the Utica Symphony, Hamilton College Orchestra, and Symphoria, and frequently appears on concert series throughout Central NY and the northeast. In CNY, he performs most frequently with The Society for New Music and has premiered many works with them. Mr. Strong is Lecturer in Piano and Coordinator of Staff Pianists and Piano Maintenance for Hamilton College, where he has been since 2001. He also teaches privately and regularly coaches and collaborates with aspiring young musicians, many of whom go on to professional careers in music. He is Co-Chair of the Junior B-Sharp Musical Club and serves on the board of several CNY Arts organizations. His recordings, including eight with Ronald Caravan, can be found on Mark Recordings and Naxos online; those with the Society for New Music on Innova Records. Recent honors include an award from Society for New Music for his overall contribution to musical life in CNY, and a Top Teacher Award for 2022 from Steinway and Sons Pianos. In October 2023, Sar was inducted into the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame during a special ceremony at the factory.

Bruce Paulsen may be most familiar as the morning voice on WCNY-FM, but he’s spent many years singing professionally around the country. He’s played major roles in opera, musicals, Shakespeare and more. Listening to six of his “wives” and keeping his mouth shut may be his greatest acting challenge yet!

Julia Ebner, Soprano

Host or Publisher Civic Morning Musicals