gail simpson

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  featured in:
  
  

  * remix8
  * hard to handel
  * lammermoor inc
  * pop-up opera
  * bollywood lakme
  * Opera Frontier @ Palace
  

• Gail Simpson (Producer, Artistic Director, Soprano); People who know Gail are not surprised to find her exploring the frontier of opera.  Prior explorations have put an eclectic array of bullet points on her resume, including working two years in Ethiopia on a UN drought relief project, getting a PhD in economics, founding an Inc 500 company, serving as a hospital chaplain, and running a non-profit that supports socially responsible investing.  But her soul always pulls her toward song and dance.  She is enormously grateful to her teacher/mentor, Lillian Loran, who encouraged her to added these performance credits to her resume:  Gail won critical acclaim in her local debut -- a Jerome Kern review called A Fine Romance; at the Edinburg International Festival Fringe she was Katie in Joseph Lilis’ Cole Porter review Some Like It Cole;  locally she perform Magnolia in Showboat, Cunegonde in Candide and the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and as soprano soloist sang Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Bach’s Hunting Cantata.  In addition to performing, she has produced her own critically acclaimed cabaret show at the Plush Room, and two operettas with Bay Area director Ross Halper.  Opera Frontier was hatched in Gail’s mind while daydreaming in Roger Dilahunty’s dance class instead of concentrating on the jazz-blues routines he so ardently wanted her to master.   She has studied voice in the studios of Zachary Gordin, Abigail Nims and Heidi Moss.  Her current passion for fabulous singing makes opera a truly fascinating frontier.  A third generation Californian, Gail lives in the East Bay with her cherished husband and their two lovely daughters.

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