Album Notes

PRAISE FOR "THE DREAM THAT YOU WISH"

“Made me cry... I just hugged my kids over and over last night.”

“I was overcome with emotion as well as goose bumps.”

“I put it on during my daughter’s ‘time out.’ She calmed down so quickly that she fell asleep... and I was so relaxed I didn’t want to move to wake her up!”

“The kids love to sing along in the car... and what an easy introduction to some classical music.”

“Put the baby right to sleep!”

“Should be a required purchase for all LA drivers... I arrived at work relaxed, and that never happens!”

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KAREN JOLICOEUR’s varied credits range from opera and concert to musical theater and dance. She is a principal artist with the Experience Vocal Dance Company.

As a concert soloist, she has appeared at Carnegie Hall in the Fauré Requiem and the Haydn Little Organ Mass, and other engagements have included the Bach Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, the Haydn Nelson Mass, Mozart Vespers, Orff’s Carmina Burana and both the Poulenc and Vivaldi Glorias.

Committed to the development of new works, Ms. Jolicoeur has performed in numerous premières for New York composers. Highlights include appearances with the Center for Contemporary Opera; A Summer’s Dream (Toscano), a song cycle that was written for her, with the Greenwich Village Philharmonic; and many other readings and demo recordings of new works. Her 20th-century repertoire includes critically acclaimed portrayals of Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, as well as Polly Peachum in Threepenny Opera, the Girl in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia.

Ms. Jolicoeur’s traditional roles include Violetta in La traviata, Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridce (Gluck), Adele in Die Fledermaus, Frasquita in Carmen, Sophia in Il Signor Bruschino and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. She has appeared in regional opera around the US, with L’Opéra Français de New York at Alice Tully Hall, and as a young artist with Central City Opera, the Opera Theater of St. Louis and at the prestigious Israel Vocal Arts Institute.

Ms. Jolicoeur began her professional career at the age of eighteen as Maria in West Side Story followed by Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She holds a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School of Music. Ms. Jolicoeur hails from Westborough, Massachusetts and now makes her home in New York City. For more information, please visit www.karenjolicoeur.com

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BILL LEWIS is originally from Denver and attended the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. After his early musical training, he traveled to Boston to study privately with John Moriarty and joined the coaching staff of the Boston Conservatory of Music. Within two years he was serving on the faculty of both the Boston and New England Conservatories.

In 1982, Mr. Lewis relocated to New York City and established a private coaching studio. Since then he has also played concerts throughout the US and internationally, including at the prestigious Wexford Festival in Ireland, with Cynthia Haymann, Spiro Malas, J. Patrick Raferty, Maureen O’Flynn and Marcello Giordani. He has performed in concert for Presidents Reagan and Clinton and both Presidents Bush.

As a vocal coach/assistant conductor, Mr. Lewis has worked for numerous regional opera companies including Santa Fe Opera, Lake George Opera, Opera/Omaha, Denver Lyric Opera and Boston Opera. He was chorus master for Boston Concert Opera, head coach at Central City Opera and served as Associate Musical Director at Natchez Opera Festival.

Mr. Lewis’ extensive musical theater credits include musical director/conductor for over fifty musical productions. He was the musical director for the very successful revival of Godspell at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. During the last 12 years he as appeared in and produced a concert series of spiritual music in Long Eddy, New York. He has appeared as an actor, singer and dancer in numerous productions, and continues to be actively involved in creating and arranging cabaret acts.

Mr. Lewis now appears regularly with Irish Tenor Ronan Tynan, and has several recordings on the market.