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Darren Drone

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What a weekend. 🥹✨

Thank you to every singer who showed up for the very first Working Singer Summit.

Thank you for bringing your questions, your experiences, your ideas, your vulnerability, and your willingness to connect with one another. This Summit started with a simple idea: to create the conference we wished existed. Watching that idea turn into a real community of artists learning from and encouraging one another was incredibly special.

A huge thank you to every speaker, panelist, presenter, and collaborator who generously shared their knowledge and experiences with us — and especially to Lindsay Kate Brown and Alejandra Sandoval-Montañez for helping me dream, plan, build, and bring this entire thing to life. 💛

And this is only the beginning.

We hope you leave feeling a little less alone in this career, a little clearer about what comes next, and a lot more excited about all the different ways a creative life can look.

There is no one way to be a working singer.

Thank you for helping us prove that. ✨

#WorkingSingerSummit #WorkingSinger #OperaSinger #ClassicalSinger #CreativeCareer

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TWO MORE DAYS!! ✨🎉

The Working Singer Summit is almost here, and we cannot wait to welcome you!

A few important updates for everyone who is registered:

💻 Your Zoom link is being sent out TODAY! Keep an eye on the email you used to register, and be sure to check your spam/promotions folder if you don’t see it.

📚 Resource links are coming next! We’re putting the finishing touches on all of the worksheets, guides, and resources our presenters have created for you. Those will be sent before the Summit, likely late Friday night, so you’ll have everything ready to go Saturday morning.

🎶 Then on Saturday… WE’RE LIVE!

We’ve spent months dreaming about what it could look like to bring working singers together for honest conversations about careers, money, branding, creating opportunities, sustainability, and the many different ways we can build lives in the arts.

And now we’re TWO DAYS AWAY from actually doing it. 🥹

✨ The Working Singer Summit
📅 September 5, 2026
🕐 9 AM - 4 PM EST
💻 100% Virtual
🎟️ Day 1 Community Pass is FREE

There’s still time to join us!

🔗 tinyurl.com/SingerSummit2026

Already registered? Drop a ✨ below if we’ll see you Saturday!

#WorkingSingerSummit #WorkingSinger #OperaSinger #ClassicalSinger #MusicTheatre

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FOUR DAYS. ✨

In just four days, singers from across the country will log on for The Working Singer Summit — a day created specifically for the conversations we wish we had more often as working artists.

Not just how to sing better.

But how to actually build a career.

How do you create your own opportunities?
How do you make yourself visible without feeling like you’re constantly “selling yourself”?
How do you manage money when your income changes month to month?
How do you build a creative life that is actually sustainable?
And what does being a “working singer” even look like anymore?

On September 5, we’re bringing singers, educators, entrepreneurs, creators, and arts professionals together to talk about all of it.

The careers we’re building might not look exactly like the ones we imagined in school — and that might actually be the exciting part.

✨ The Working Singer Summit
📅 September 5–6, 2026
💻 100% Virtual
🎟️ Day 1 Community Pass is completely FREE

We’re FOUR DAYS AWAY.

If you’ve been thinking about joining us, this is your sign. 💫

🔗 tinyurl.com/SingerSummit2026

#WorkingSingerSummit #WorkingSinger #OperaSinger #ClassicalSinger #MusicTheatre

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We’re so excited to welcome baritone Darren Lekeith Drone to The Working Singer Summit! ✨

Darren’s career is such a great example of what it means to be a working singer in today’s industry. His career has taken him to companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Opera San José, The Glimmerglass Festival, and more, with roles ranging from Falstaff and Gianni Schicchi to Amonasro, Germont, Tonio, and Marcello.

And that’s exactly why we wanted Darren to be part of this conversation.

Behind every bio are years of auditions, opportunities, pivots, decisions, growth, and figuring out how to build a career that keeps moving forward.

Darren will be joining us for The Working Singer Summit to share some of that real-life perspective with our community, and we can’t wait for you to hear from him!

📅 September 5–6, 2026
💻 Virtual
✨ Day 1 Community Pass is FREE

Come learn from Darren and an incredible community of working singers building careers in the real world.

🔗 tinyurl.com/SingerSummit2026

Learn more about Darren: Darren Lekeith Drone⁠

#WorkingSingerSummit #WorkingSinger #OperaSinger #ClassicalSinger #Baritone

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According to these pictures, I sing with my eyes shut ALL THE TIME. Looking back at this season has been fun! Here are some pictures of last year in the early 25-26’ season. Thank you @sagharborsongfestival for these great pictures by @mayarosecreates! @twetenbob @susannaphillipssoprano @cecehallsings @amber.norelai @darrendrone

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TVS members Kaitlyn, Elizabeth and Stella joined the Youth Chorus this season for Seattle Opera's Carmen! We had such an amazing time performing with and learning from all of the incredible cast, creative team, staging staff, chorus, orchestra, dancers, and everyone who worked on this beautiful show! Thank you to Seattle Opera for this opportunity - we hope audiences enjoyed it as much as we did! And thank you to everyone who came to see the show, especially our fellow TVS and YOP friends! Here's a sneak peek behind the scenes and some of our favorite moments from the show.

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Performing in Carmen with all of these amazing singers has been one of the highlights of my life so far! It's only been a month since the show closed and I already miss being on stage with you all - everyone was so friendly and encouraging on and offstage! It was truly an incredible experience to get to present the flowers to Carmen in act 4 and to be part of the youth chorus for Seattle Opera's production of Carmen and I hope I get to work with you all again!!!

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The Berlin stories — Madison Schindele surveys the endlessly diverse offerings of Berlin's 2026-27 opera season.

Link in bio👆

#opera

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FLYING DUTCHMAN is coming to Orlando!! 🛳⚓🚢

Opera Orlando presents its first Wagner production — and Wagner does not arrive quietly... This cast and creative team is on 🔥🔥🔥 for three performances only on January 22, 23 and 24.

Baritone Darren Drone — praised by Opera News for his "gorgeously warm tone and deep resonance" — returns to Orlando in the title role, joined by German soprano Johanna Will making her Company debut as Senta, a role she has performed around the world, with two Orlando favorites returning to the MainStage, tenor Brendan Boyle as Eric and bass-baritone Nathan Stark as Daland. Conductor Geoffrey Loff returns to the Opera Orlando podium. Production concept and stage direction by Grant Preisser.

The Dutchman is a sailor cursed to sail the seas for eternity, permitted ashore once every seven years to find a woman willing to be faithful unto death. The music has such raw power that it feels less like something composed than something elemental, dredged up from the ocean floor. When the Dutchman's theme rises from the pit and fills Steinmetz Hall, the whole room will be caught in its wake "...ooooh, OPERA!”

Full details at season link in bio.

Individual tickets go on sale in September but why wait??? Subscribe now to the 2026-27 season and save up to $150!!! Subscriptions include BUTTERFLY, FLYING DUTCHMAN, ELIXIR OF LOVE, and the option to add on SHOW BOAT!!

Subscribe now and save at season link in bio.

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THANK YOU SEATTLE!
Eight shows, one unforgettable month with Carmen at @seattleopera 🪭

So grateful for every moment on stage, every colleague who shared this journey, and every audience member who filled the hall with energy and love night after night. Performing this music and living in this world has been such a special experience.

Thank you to the incredible cast, crew, orchestra, chorus, and everyone behind the scenes who made these performances possible. What a beautiful month it has been.

Until next time 🇺🇸

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That’s a wrap for ‘Carmen’ at @seattleopera! It was the most amazing journey serving as Associate Conductor under Maestro @ludovic_morlot in this beautiful production by @paulcurranopera.

I’m deeply inspired by all the incredible people on this team. Bravissmi to the cast, crew and the fantastic Seattle Symphony (what a luxury to have this calibre of musicianship in the pit)!

For now, bon voyage to all and hopefully until soon!

#purplebaton
@camimusic_ny
#seattleopera

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I’m going to miss this crew! With today’s last show it’s a wrap on Seattle Carmen! Good times were had, plenty of yummy food (and coffee!) were consumed and memories made. Best of all the music will keep us floating for months. Toi toi toi for the closing and thank you Seattle!

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