I am not musically inclined at all. I have a relative and know of other people that have learned to play different instruments by just listening to a song and then playing it. I did not inherit that gene and although I have tried learning how to play the guitar...well, let's just say I'm still learning. I love music though and I am actually a big fan of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of the Opera. On many occasions my wife has given me a little slap on the arm for singing and potentially ruining a song from it. It is because of the fact that I find music so challenging that I greatly enjoy hearing a wonderful voice or talented musician sing or play a complex song with ease.
June's OWSAA Feature Artist won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition (Florida district) in 2017, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern University, and has traveled the U.S. performing in operas such as 'Carmen', 'Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)', and 'Die Fledermaus'. She is a music instructor (voice & piano) at and co-owner of Songbirds Music, Art, & Dance Center in Oviedo. Her name is Jillian Morrisini!
Jillian Morrisini
Jillian and her husband Justin started Songbirds in 2017 as a place where artists not only take lessons to improve at their craft but where they can also collaborate with each other. Songbirds services include Private Music Lessons (ages 5-100), Music Together & Rhythm Kids (ages 0-5 + their grownups), Rock Band & Jazz Combo (ages 11-17), Art Classes (ages 3-100), Paint & Clay Parties (all ages), Dance Classes (ages 2-17), Summer Camps (entering 1st-6th grade), and Birthday Parties (all ages). They also sell and rent instruments, offer an online and in studio store for instrument supplies, and can repair your instrument as well. Songbirds is located at 181 E. Mitchell Hammock Rd. and you can find more information about them at their website www.songbirdsmusicartdancecenter.com.
Jillian was kind enough to sit down recently and answer some questions as our 4th feature artist. I hope you enjoy what she had to say.
When I was little, I lived in upstate New York. During the summer, the New York City Opera would come up to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and Freihofer's Cookie Company sponsored tickets for all kids. Adult tickets were only $10, so most of the community attended; we went most weekends. We would bring a picnic blanket, sit on the grassy hill, and watch the performance in the open dome theatre. I was less than 5 years old and completely enthralled by the performances. Ever since then I've wanted to move people through music the same way I was.
Most people are afraid of performing in front of a crowd. What is your earliest memory of performing in front of an audience? Do you remember being nervous?
Oddly enough, my first memory of being nervous whilst performing music is from my freshman year of college. Before that, I guess it just hadn't dawned on me that one could be nervous while making music. However, that notion hit me hard when I found myself surrounded by amazing musicians and I suddenly felt exceedingly unqualified. It took me a full year to be able to sing in front of anyone without crying, and I think getting through that at an older age helps me to be more conscious of nerves and how to handle them.
That all said- I can sing in front of people all day, but please don't make me talk.
I noticed in your bio on the Songbirds website that you have performed all over the U.S. Where/when was your favorite performance? What was your role? How much time did you put into practicing for it?
I have performed a number of roles across the country, but my favorite is probably when I performed Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Undercroft Opera in Pittsburgh, PA. It's a very small local opera company, but I had more fun in that production than ever before and it was my first big lead.
The opera, commonly referred to as Barber, is such a fun story to tell and the music is wonderfully challenging. It probably took me about 2 months to fully prepare for the role and then we had 1 month of rehearsal (that's a very long rehearsal period in the opera world).
Most people would recognize Figaro's famous line where he sings "Fiiiiiiiiigaro, Figaro, Figaro!". And of course, it helps that I met my husband during that production, which probably is why I look back on it so fondly.
When did the idea of Songbirds Music, Art, & Dance Center come to you? Was there something in particular that inspired you to open it?
When you are performing in opera, you don't just work with musicians. You work with dancers, painters, costumers, graphic artists, and more. I had always thought that the collaboration between all these artists should start much sooner than when you hit the professional landscape and I wished there had been a place like this when I was growing up in Oviedo.
As I got older and farther into the operatic world, my priorities started to change. I didn't want to have the travelling and gigging lifestyle. I wanted to have more stability and suddenly Songbirds didn't seem like something someone else should have created when I was growing up because it became my new dream.
I know Justin is a very talented musician. How did the two of you meet? Was it music that brought you together?
I never thought I'd marry a musician and certainly not a singer, but that is indeed how I met Justin. We met performing Barber in Pittsburgh and somehow, I found myself having a "showmance". During performances, he would pass me obscenely mushy notes and of course I'd read them right before singing some big aria. We traveled around the country singing together for a while and eventually I dragged him back home with me to Oviedo. Music definitely brought us together and I love how we get to spend every day together surrounded by the arts.
Justin & Jillian Morrisini
I picture your house being very musical with you singing and Justin playing one of the 10 instruments he can play. Do the two of you write music together given you are a talented singer and he a musician?
Our house IS very musical. We often have friends over to jam or just spend some evenings the two of us hanging out and singing/playing our favorite tunes. We wrote a few songs together, a number of years ago, but now we mostly just like to cover songs we like.
Justin is such a talented and versatile musician, depending on who is over he will be popping between the guitar, bass, piano, and drum set all in one night. It is both impressive and slightly infuriating (lol).
I saw that you recently performed in Lizbeth at Harriett's Orlando Ballet Centre. How did you get the role you played? How was the overall experience?
Opera Orlando's recent performance of Lizbeth was an exciting whirlwind! Unfortunately, one of the originally cast singers, suddenly became unavailable and Opera Orlando called and asked me to step in. I have performed with them previously in a few shows, so they already knew who I was.
Coincidentally, I had performed in the rarely performed show about 10 years prior, so I was somewhat familiar with the atonal music. That said it was a completely different role than I had done before, so I had less than three weeks from the phone call to opening night to learn, memorize, and stage the piece. It is definitely the speediest production I've ever done, but very much worth it!
Jillian in costume for her role in Lizbeth.
Will we be seeing you in any future performances any time soon?
I've just recently been getting back into auditioning and performing live (pandemic), so I don't have anything upcoming as of now, but you never know what will pop up!
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I want to thank Jillian for being willing to participate in this series. As you can see, she is a very busy artist/teacher/business owner and I greatly appreciate her time! It's not easy running a small business but you can tell by talking with Jillian that she loves what she does. In regards to Songbirds, Jillian adds:
"Every day I look around our business and I look at the 25+ artists we support. Amazing musicians, dancers, and artists are able to make the world a little more beautiful through the fine arts, share their knowledge with the next generation, and pursue their artistic passions while being able to make a steady living wage through us. I've performed and told a lot of cool stories over the years, but the story of how a fine arts center survived a pandemic and created a safe space for artists is my absolute favorite."
You can follow and learn more about Songbirds on Instagram @songbirdsmadcenter, on Facebook as Songbirds Music, Art, & Dance Center, and on Twitter @SongbirdsMAD.
Thank you all again for visiting our blog and as always, Enjoy the Arts!
Brian K. Smith
