Asleif Willmer

Asleif Willmer, a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Performance student, was chosen to sing leading opera roles at the Brevard Summer Music Festival in Brevard, North Carolina. She will perform as Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and as Baby Doe in “The Ballad of Baby Doe” by American composer Douglas Moore, which is based on the scandalous love affair between the “Silver King” Horace Tabor and Elizabeth (Baby) Doe at the end of the 19th century in Colorado.

“The first aria that I performed, as a 17-year-old freshman, was the ‘Willow Song’, which is the aria that introduces Baby Doe in the opera,” says Willmer. “It has been a dream ever since to sing the role of Baby Doe. I have also been wanting to attend Brevard Music Festival for many years, so I am excited that I am experiencing two of my dreams in the same summer.”

In August, Willmer will also sing with the Mount Desert Summer Chorale for Mozart’s requiem “Vesperae Solennes de Confessore” at the Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine. She was invited by David Schildkret, director of choral activities in the School of Music, to be the soprano soloist. Fellow School of Music students Miriam Schildkret and Ryan Downey, both Doctor of Musical Arts students in Music Performance, will also be soloists.