Here are just a few of my all-time inspiring people, places and things in no particular order: Light, Therese of Liseux, Anthony Dalla Villa, my husband composer Chris Becker, La France, Laurence Olivier, Bob Marley, Bono and U2, New Orleans, Jeff Buckley, Dave Chappelle, Betty Davis, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Peter Gabriel, Elie Wiesel, the Neville Brothers, Paramahansa Yogananda, George Anderson, Anne Frank, Nusrat Fateh Ali-Kahn, Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi, Frank Sinatra, Martin Gore, Depeche Mode, Marquis de Lafayette, Handel, Louie Armstrong, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Janet Baker, Renee Fleming, Bjork, Madonna, Simon Schama, Annie Lennox, Les Arts Florissants, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Johnny Depp, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Pee-Wee Herman, SCTV, William Shatner, Sean Penn, Bernie Mac, Phil Schapp, Wynton Marsalis, Caravaggio, Michaelangelo, Botticelli, Andy Warhol, Leonardo da Vinci, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo di Caprio, Lawrence Fishburne, Cate Blanchett, the movies: Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire and Until the end of the world, Coffee and Cigarettes, Gangs of New York, In the Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, In the Name of the Father, Return of the Jedi, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Joan Osborne, Charlie Parker, decoupage, swimming, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, my flamepoint Siamese cat Brodie, travelling, a huge variety of all kinds of music...
Mezzo-soprano Lainie Diamond’s vibrant tone and expressive stage presence brings to life a wide variety of orchestral, oratorio, opera, contemporary music and music theatre repertoire. Her voice has been praised by the Danbury News-Times for its “warm and poignant quality” and received notice in numerous other publications including the New York Times and New Orleans Times-Picayune.
She made her Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall debut as Bellangère in Ariane et Barbe-bleue with The American Symphony Orchestra. In December 2005, Ms. Diamond was honored to sing as soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in the first classical music performance in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.
Her recent performances as soloist include Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennes de Confessore with the Choral Society of Pensacola; McClure’s A Caribbean Mass and John Rutter’s Feel the Spirit with the Connecticut Master Chorale; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Bach’s Magnificat; Lichas in Handel’s Hercules; and at New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Her voice was prominently featured in composer Chris Becker’s score for choreographer Rachel Cohen’s highly praised dance theater work If the Shoe Fits. She was invited back to her high school Paideia in Atlanta, to teach a master class to the students and perform in recital. In December she sang as soloist with the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera directed by Stephen Stubbs, with the New York Continuo Collective, and in the New York Choral Artists for sold out performances of the Handel Messiah with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Nicholas McGegan.
She performs music from the Early Music period through the Modern repertoire in ensembles including the New York Choral Artists, New York Concert Chorale and the New York Virtuoso Singers at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall under conductors including Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Neville Marriner and Nicholas McGegan.
Ms. Diamond has been singing and acting in theatre since childhood. She has sung operatic roles including Hansel, Cherubino and Dorabella. She has won numerous awards and praise for her extensive performances of leading roles in musical theatre and plays including Julie in Show Boat, the Witch in Into the Woods, Flora in Pretty Baby, Lucy Brown in The Three Penny Opera and Shifrah in the Off-Broadway musical Moses, My Love.
She has sung as soloist for live television masses broadcast from St. James Cathedral-Basilica on The Prayer Channel, NYC. Her voice is featured singing Gounod's O ma lyre immortelle in the award winning independent film The Legend of Johnson Roebling. Ms. Diamond is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans where she received music and academic scholarships.
Thank you Lainie so much for the kind words regarding my work ...and again: You have some very interesting voices in here, sound like You are nice person :)
Hey Lainie! I am so happy that we have been in better touch! yay, New Year's resolutions!!! Hope that you are surviving the snow and cold! Am looking forward to seeing you next week for Chris' show! HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!!! Love ya, Soline
