Laura Semilian

Laura Semilian's soprano voice resonates timeless musical stories with passion and nuance, enticing the imagination to experience known feelings in familiar yet forgotten context. Her performances of what she has coined "Victorian Americana" have engaged guests at cultural sites and historical societies, crossing over to popular radio, festivals and film to share excavated echoes of the Frontier, Gold Rush, and Civil War Eras with today's audiences. She performs the classic "Lorena" in the 2019 contemporary narrative feature A Great Lamp, screening this month in Hollywood after showing at Slamdance, Mammoth Lakes, and other film festivals. Her performances of Americana, world, and experimental music have been heard by guests in venues including the Frist Museum, the Viva! NashVegas Radio Show, the WSM Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree (TN); the President James K. Polk birthplace, Reed Gold Mine (NC), Beyond Baroque (CA); El Taller Latino Americano (NY); and the United States Marine Memorial Chapel (VA). Recorded in Nashville, her forthcoming LP, Time-Keeper, features songs of 1800s America. Born in San Diego, Laura grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and presently lives in Piedmont North Carolina. She holds graduate degrees in both history and music and studied with renowned soprano Virginia Zeani, winning first place in the Southeastern Region's Metropolitan Opera Competition. An innovative, interdisciplinary performer with facility in numerous genres and languages, she has performed her vocal settings of poetry by Will Alexander and George Quasha in musical collaboration with the poets, and composed scores for several films and documentaries. Her book and journal credits include: art is (Speaking Portraits -- Performance Series) (2016, compilation by George Quasha); Gherasim Luca's Inventor of Love & Other Writings (2009, co-translator); Exquisite Corpse, The Brooklyn Rail, and Hyperion: on the Future of Aesthetics.