• Blog

    A Trip to Disney’s California Adventure!

    An unrelated-to-this-video note: I had my NYU Master’s recital last night and I’m so pleased with and grateful for how it went! I feel like I was able to demonstrate some of the best of my abilities and training, and it was such a privilege and pleasure to perform with my phenomenal accompanist and the other incredible artists and friends who comprised my My Fair Lady cast ??? Thank you very much to those of you who came or watched online last night!! In the coming weeks, I will be editing our video footage to share here ☺️ For this video: This isn’t exactly a vlog, but I thought I’d…

  • Music & Theatre

    NYU Recital Nov 26! “My Fair Lady” rehearsal clips

    Next Tuesday is the day!! Can’t believe it’s already time for my NYU Master of Music recital! I hope you’ll join in person or via Facebook livestream! My recital begins at 8:00 pm and will run approximately 75 minutes, including a brief intermission. To join us in person, you can find details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/416738169019422/  We’ll be in NYU’s Pless Hall Black Box Theatre, which is located at 82 Washington Sq E, New York, NY 10003.  I’ll also be live-streaming it on Facebook from my regular profile page (https://www.facebook.com/ashley.nicole511) and I’d love to have you join us that way! I hope to share better quality recordings from my recital directly on…

  • Music & Theatre

    Il est bel et bon

    Today’s #WeeklyWednesday is another duet with my adopted sister, Renee Ulloa-McDonald ? This video is from a musical pre-show I designed for Coronado Playhouse’s production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and it was so much fun performing these pieces with her!! “Il est bel et bon” was composed by Pierre Passereau and first published in 1536 in Tiers livre contenant XXI chansons à quatre esleves de plusieurs livres, no. 7. You can find translations and more information on the piece here. I was first exposed to “Il est bel et bon” (and many other early and Renaissance pieces I’ve come to love) while living in Naples, Italy, and singing…

  • Music & Theatre

    Aveva na gallina capelluta

    Today’s #WeeklyWednesday is another duet with my adopted sister, Renee Ulloa-McDonald ? This video is from a musical pre-show I designed for Coronado Playhouse’s production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and this piece is probably my favorite of our duets! “Aveva na gallina capelluta” was composed by Antonio Scandello (1517-1580). I was first exposed to this (and many other early and Renaissance pieces I’ve come to love) while living in Naples, Italy, and singing with an a capella choir (check out their lovely performance of this piece here). That’s another experience I’m so grateful for, and from which I have many happy memories ? “Much Ado About Nothing” was…

  • Music & Theatre

    “Touch the Sky” (Merida from Brave)

    Hey, friends! For today’s Halloween-themed #WeeklyWednesday, I hope you’ll check out last year’s “Touch the Sky” video! It was really fun to make! Last year was a particularly fun Halloween for me, as I think it’s the first year I’ve ever purchased a costume (rather than cobbling something together last minute) 😉  I thoroughly enjoyed being Merida, and NYC was absolutely gorgeous – weather, festivities, company…  During lunch in the park, we decided to film a little bit, including the first verse of “Touch the Sky” – and I managed to record and edit the rest at home before and after the Greenwich Village Parade (fun/crazy!). I hope you enjoy this…

  • Music & Theatre

    Vecchie letrose

    Today’s #WeeklyWednesday is a duet with my adopted sister, Renee Ulloa-McDonald ? This video is from a musical pre-show I designed for Coronado Playhouse’s production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and it was so much fun performing these pieces with her!! “Vecchie letrose” was composed by Adrian Willaert and first published in 1545 in Canzone villanesche alla napolitana, no. 5. I’ve seen the text both in Italian and also in Neapolitan; our version is using the Italian text, and you can download the SATB arrangement in Italian for free here. Paul Archer has the text in Neapolitan with a nice translation into English, plus more info about the piece…

  • Music & Theatre

    Accompaniment: Die Männer sind méchant! (Schubert)

    Today’s #WeeklyWednesday is the accompaniment to a German lied with music by Franz Schubert and poetry by Johann Gabriel Seidl. If you’d like to learn more about this piece and see the poem translated into English, check out this site. FYI: I’m a singer, not an accompanist! I couldn’t find an accompaniment when preparing this piece a few years ago (still trying to decide whether I feel the recording I have of it is good enough to share ?) and needed something to practice with – so I made this track myself. I hope it helps you when preparing the piece – and if you’d like to download a copy…

  • Academic,  Music & Theatre

    My Fair Lady: Understanding Eliza’s Transformation Through Language

    New York University, 2019. Hey, guys! For today’s #WeeklyWednesday, I decided to share a practice take I made of a research presentation for one of my courses at #NYU (it’s weird sometimes “performing” or talking alone in my apartment in front of a camera ? I think it went pretty well and definitely felt more natural in person!). I hope you enjoy hearing my questions and ideas about Eliza’s development throughout “My Fair Lady” from a sociolinguistics/linguistic anthropology lens – and that it gives you some good food for thought! Things here are going well – just much, much busier than I’d like (it’s not a sustainable pace right now!).…

  • Music & Theatre

    Mandoline (Dupont/Verlaine)

    Today’s #WeeklyWednesday is the accompaniment to the French song “Mandoline” – but you can also check out my performance of it here: Paul Verlaine’s poem has been set to music several times – mine is composed by Gabriel Dupont.  You may be familiar with Fauré’s version; and I love Debussy’s (this recording by Diana Damrau is awesome!)! If you’d like to see his poem translated into English, this site does a nice job. FYI: I’m a singer, not an accompanist! I couldn’t find an accompaniment when preparing this piece and needed something to practice with – so I made this track myself. I hope it helps you when preparing the piece…