Laurel Irene
N.E.O. Voice Festival, Vocal Director
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Laurel Irene (M.M.) is a Los Angeles-based vocal artist and voice researcher, who specializes in bringing new compositional works to life with vocal repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart to the extreme sounds of the 21st century. With incredible vocal range, agile flexibility, and "resigned, compassionate, forbearing, affectionate, sympathetic, absolving" (LA Times) emotional connection that stretches from playful to unhinged in the span of a page, she draws on her expertise in vocal research to heighten unique timbres, textures, and vocal expressions. In 2019 she performed the role of Countess Almaviva in Ragnar Kjartansson's 12-hour endurance art piece Bliss at REDCAT, earning acclaim from LA Times’ music critic Mark Swed as "one of the most astonishing performances, vocally and interpretively, I have ever encountered.” As an avid voice educator and founder of the educational organization, VoiceScienceWorks, she gives voice workshops at conferences and collegiate settings across the United States and Europe including the Pan-American Vocology Association, American Choral Directors Association, Acoustical Society of America, Harvard University, York University, College of the Holy Cross, California Institute for the Arts, University of California Los Angeles, and Cornish College of the Arts. |