Soprano Ana Treviño-Godfrey has seen lots of changes over the last ten years. She completed her doctorate in music at Rice University. Mercury Baroque, the orchestra she founded with her husband, Jonathan Godfrey, the group's concertmaster and violin soloist, and Antoine Plante, the group's artistic director and conductor, expanded its scope and became Mercury, the Orchestra Redefined. She became a mom (she has an eight-year-old daughter and four-year-old son). And she started Prelude Music Classes for Children, a music school for young kids.
What she does: "I make music!" she laughs. "I sing and dance for a living." That's the short answer. Making music takes a variety of forms for Treviño-Godfrey. She sings with Mercury and with Hope Stone Dance. She teaches at Prelude Music. And she bursts into song on occasion. "There isn't a day that I don't sing and dance somehow, if not in a performance, in a class, or in my kitchen with my kids."
"I still do quite a few performances with Mercury and with Hope Stone Dance, but I've really cut back. My kids would be coming home from school and I'd be leaving for rehearsals or performances and my husband would be leaving; it just didn't seem right. So I put all my worlds together, performing, dancing, singing, loving children, and that's where my school of music came from."
She teaches prenatal music for expectant moms and dads (basically singing to the mom's belly). Once those kids are born, they move into Music Together®, a music and movement class for babies eight months and under. Then there are classes for kids up to seven years old and their families.
"I feel so fortunate to be able to put all the things I love together in my work. It's turned into a much bigger thing than I could have ever imagined." She started Prelude Music by herself in 2007. Now she has some 450 kids on the roster and she'll be adding a fifth teacher to the team later this winter.
Why she likes it: "Music is part of who I am. I absolutely love making music. And I love being with little ones. It's just such a gift to be able to see children grasp and really understand information."
What inspires her: "Nature inspires me. People that I meet along the way inspire me. Studying for my doctorate was an amazing process. At first I thought, 'How am I going to use all this?' But now I see where it's all come together in wonderful ways that I never expected."
If not this, then what: "I can't imagine not making music," she says. "But if I had to think about being something outside of music, I would probably be a Montessori teacher."
If not here, then where: "Somewhere with mountains, I think," she says quickly. "But I must tell you, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, I love Houston. I don't ever want to move. I love it here. The arts are amazing here; it's a wonderful place to raise a family."
What's next: "I just finished a couple of performances, so I don't have anything coming up right now. I plan to spend my time growing my school of music and really bringing lots of great music to little, little ones."
More Creatives for 2012 (In order of most recently published; click here for the full page).
Matthew Detrick, classical musician Travis Ammons, filmmaker Florence Garvey, actress Julia Gabriel, artist, designer and backpack maker Rebecca French, choreographer and FrenetiCore co-founder Kiki Neumann, found object folk artist Flynn Prejean, Poster Artist JoDee Engle, dancer David Rainey, actor, artistic director and teacher Geoff Hippenstiel, painter, art instructor Jessica Janes, actress and musician Dennis Draper, actor and director Mat Johnson, novelist and tweeter Orna Feinstein, printmaker and installation artist Adriana Soto, jewelry designer Domokos Benczédi, Noise and Collage Artist Robert Boswell, Book Author, UH Prof Patrick Turk, visual artist Elizabeth Keel, playwright Bob Martin, designer Mary Lampe, short film promoter and developer Nisha Gosar, Indian classical dancer Jeremy Wells, painter George Brock, theater teacher Radu Runcanu, painter Ariane Roesch, Mixed-Media Sandie Zilker, art jewelry maker Philip Hayes, actor Patrick Palmer, painter Ana Mae Holmes, Jewelry Designer John Tyson, actor Jerry Ochoa, violinist and filmmaker Raul Gonzalez, painter, sculptor, photographer Roy Williams, DJ of medieval music Laura Burlton, photographer David Peck, fashion designer Rebecca Udden, theater director Donae Cangelosi Chramosta, vintage designer handbag dealer Paul Fredric, author John Sparagana, photographer Damon Smith, musician and visual artist Geoff Winningham, photographer Johnathon Michael Espinoza, visual artist Jaemi Blair Loeb, conductor Katya Horner, photographer Johnathan Felton, artist Nicoletta Maranos, cosplayer Carol Simmons, hair stylist Joseph "JoeP" Palmore, actor, poet Greg Carter, director Kenn McLaughlin, theater director Justin Whitney, musician Antone Pham, tattoo artist Susie Silbert, crafts Lauralee Capelo, hair designer Marisol Monasterio, flamenco dancer Carmina Bell, promoter and DJ ReShonda Tate Billingsley, writer Kiki Lucas, choreographer and director J.J. Johnston, theater director Mary Margaret Hansen, artist Richard Tallent, photographer Viswa Subbaraman, opera director Emily Sloan, sculptor and performance artist Sonja Roesch, gallery owner Enrique Carreón-Robledo, conductor Sandy Ewen, musician Camella Clements, puppeteer Wade Wilson, gallery owner Magid Salmi, photographer Carl Williams, playwright
