Tamra profile picture

Tamra

About Me

Tamra, a native of El Paso, Texas and lyric coloratura soprano moved to the Bay Area in 2002 to pursue her dreams of music performance. She has since obtained her Master's degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and gone on to perform many roles of note including: Laeticia in Menotti's "Old Maid and the Thief", Noemie in Massanet's "Cendrillon", Genevieve in Sf Pocket Opera's Season Opener "Genevieve, the New Woman" and most recently, Johanna in Sondheim's widely acclaimed "Sweeney Todd" with North Bay Opera and Solano College Theatre. She is known for her gripping and organic presentation of character as well as her fine musicianship. She believes in the power of music to make a difference and cross cultural boundaries. She believes in the process of coloborative discovery wherin both she and the audience are equal participants. This pursuit will be a lifetime venture for Tamra and all of you are cordially invited to take part!"Any great work of art ... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world - the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air." - Leonard Bernstein ............................................................ ........................................................ I support my music endeavors through an incredible health and wellness product line. Check it out at www.tamrapaselk.myarbonne.com. Thanks.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 08/11/2005
Band Website: www.tamrapaselk.com
Band Members: Collaborative Colleagues Include but are not limited to: Local Opera companies and their members, conductors, directors, orchestral musicians and coaches; Steve Bailey; Kristin Pankonin; Ciara McAllister; All my highly respected vocal colleagues
Influences: Karita Mattila, Rene Fleming, Joan Sutherland, Maria Callas, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Elza von den Heever, Sheri Greenwald, Kathy Cathcart
Sounds Like: I am primarily a classical vocalist with a love for the opera and all its genres. I also have a passion for art song and prefer the romantic, impressionistic, and 20th century works. Being a pianist as well, I am always looking for the technical challenge combined with a character I can really sink my teeth into. I am a light to medium lyric coloratura soprano. Some of my cross over work includes certain genres of theatre and jazz whenever I can get the opportunity!
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Inevitably the sun will break through the clouds.

In regard to the weather, San Francisco does not become me.  I've never owned or purchased the correct jacket or pair of boots to survive here.  I'm not gifted in the layering department and...
Posted by on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:16:00 GMT

Exhausting Facades

An evening in a masked crowd attempting to hide my complete and utter anguish behind the more obvious state of an exhausted being ... The countdown begins. Smiling faces and yelling phrases cloud my...
Posted by on Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:45:00 GMT

"As breathing is my life, to stop, I dare not dare!" John Lennon

Breathing is my life ... breathing is also my livelihood. As an opera singer, I spend countless hours considering my breathing patterns and analyzing the use of the air I take in and put out. How ca...
Posted by on Fri, 13 Jul 2007 01:05:00 GMT

I am not a singer.

Yes.  You read it correctly.  I, who was born to sing and have formatted my entire life to fit that bill, am not a singer.  Fear Not!  I have not lost my sanity ... of course, how ...
Posted by on Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:22:00 GMT

We wake, if ever we wake at all, to mystery.

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that ever...
Posted by on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 22:20:00 GMT

People in a Box

We are a People in a Box.  A set of invisible lines dictating our paths and steps and the ring leader is money.  Looking back on the year behind me, I've come to a realization.  I ...
Posted by on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:24:00 GMT

"Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake

Paralysis is the complete loss of muscle function for one or more muscle groups. It seems to me that nothing has the power to paralyze to the extent that fear does ... fear of failure, fear of rejecti...
Posted by on Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:43:00 GMT

Ever get the feeling that you're seeing life through a rootbeer bottle?

"For now we see as through a glass, darkly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." I Corinthians 13 - the end of the chapter that they u...
Posted by on Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:37:00 GMT

Sometimes when you're sitting under a tree an apple hits your head.

Then it all comes back to you. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see.T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.And...
Posted by on Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:03:00 GMT

why I can't give up ... my life in San Francisco

Jose Carreras once said what many famous singers have, "I was born to sing." I feel the same way but relate even more so to Montserrat Caballe when she says, "If I cannot sing, I have the impression ...
Posted by on Sat, 02 Sep 2006 21:09:00 GMT