In Other News: David Hodgson in "Der Freischütz."

IWV BARITONE REIGNS ON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA OPERA STAGE

David Hodgson, local voice teacher and frequent performer in concerts and other musical presentations throughout our valley, is currently appearing as Prince Ottokar in the West Bay Opera Company’s production of the landmark German Romantic opera “Der Freischütz” in Palo Alto.

Hodgson, who first came to Ridgecrest in 1988, has been applauded by local audiences for his acting and singing performances in such CLOTA hits as “South Pacific,” “West Side Story” and “Amadeus.” He has been featured soloist on a number of Desert Community Orchestra programs, and at the DCO’s recent holiday gala, “A Christmas in Ridgecrest,” he also led an ensemble of his voice students in a group of crowd-pleasing holiday favorites.

Hodgson’s acting, singing and teaching skills were honed through his years in a performing arts high school in Houston, as an undergraduate at the University of Texas in Austin, and at California State University, Northridge.

It was in Northridge that he undertook private study with master vocal coach Gabriel Reoyo-Pazos, an association that continues—“to my enormous benefit!” Hodgson says—to the present. Reoyo-Pazos was instrumental in booking some of Hodgson’s earliest engagements with professional opera companies. In addition to the Palo Alto organization, these have included Pacific Repertory Opera in San Luis Obispo and Pasadena’s Euterpa Opera Company.

The Ridgecrest baritone says he especially values the opportunities he has had to work with composers and librettists in premiering new operas. These have included John Biggs’ adaptation of the literary classic “Hobson’s Choice,” and “Serafina y Arcángela” by Enrique Gonzales-Medina.

He points out that his collaboration on new works actually originated here in Ridgecrest when he joined playwright-composer Bill Blanc’s team to premiere “The Bungling Ballerinas” for CLOTA on the BHS stage in 1990. “To be there as a new work becomes realized on stage,” he says, “to be a part of that process is fascinating.”

“I do enjoy performing,” Hodgson muses, “but I think my first love is teaching voice. I miss my students when I’m away, but keeping active in the profession allows me to bring a perspective to my lessons that’s invaluable to students.”

Hodgson has been singing with the West Bay Opera for the past several seasons. He has been featured in “Cavelleria Rusticana” and “I Pagliacci,” among others, and this past October his interpretation of Marcello, male second-lead in “La Bohème,” drew praise from the Bay Area arts publication The San Francisco Classical Voice for his “secure, chocolate-y baritone voice.”

His run as the benevolently clever prince in “Der Freischütz” ends within the next two weeks, and Hodgson expects to resume his teaching activities in Ridgecrest in early March. He urges anyone desiring more information about West Bay Opera to visit the company’s website at http://www.wbopera.org/ or to contact him at 1+760-371-4276.