Portrait of the Artist: The Singer

Baritone VaShawn McIlwain, photographed March 2012, Washington, DC

An opera stage might not be the most likely place to search for a local hero,

but for music lovers in Washington, DC, that's the perfect spot, especially

when the hero in question is baritone VaShawn McIlwain. Since graduating

from DC's Duke Ellington School of the Arts, McIlwain and his booming

baritone have been thrilling listeners and critics alike. A finalist in the

Metropolitan Opera's national auditions in 2007, he's been featured in the

Washington National Opera, the Maryland Opera Studio, and the Aspen

Opera Theater Center. He's sung for First Lady Michelle Obama and was

most recently featured in the Washington, DC premiere of "Fortune's Bones:

A Manumission Requiem", written by Dr. Ysaye Barnwell of the famed Sweet

Honey in the Rock and based on the epic poem by poet/children's

author Marilyn Nelson. The photograph above was taken at his concert

at the Arts Club of Washington.