Indre Viskontas
Based in San Francisco, INDRE VISKONTAS holds a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a PhD in cognitive Neuroscience from UCLA. She recently made her television debut as a co-host of Miracle Detectives, a new one-hour documentary series airing on The Oprah Winfrey Network. Dr. Viskontas has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been interviewed by Entertainment Tonight, CNN, Access Hollywood, E!, TV Guide and Aol. Defying traditional career boundaries, Indre spends most of her time performing as an opera singer, equally at home in contemporary and classical opera. Her "bell-like timbre" and "winsome stage presence" are particularly suited for the leading noblewomen in operas from the 18th and 19th centuries, while her intellect, dramatic intensity, curiosity and nuanced acting add depth to contemporary operatic roles. The Lithuanian-Canadian soprano has performed roles ranging from The Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro to the title role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. Operatic performance highlights include the role of Beth in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Kate in John Estacio’s Frobisher, Heart's Desire in Arthur Sullivan's The Rose of Persia and Aurelia, in Purcell's Dioclesian. She has created the roles of Irena in Patrick Dailly's Solidarity, Dora in Felsenfeld's The Bloody Chamber and Amelia in Aquilanti’s Oxford Companions. In the Bay Area, she has performed solo roles with West Bay Opera, the Lyric Theater of San Jose and Goat Hall Productions. She was recently hailed as "the musical highlight of the evening" by the Opera Insider for her performance as Dora at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn with Opera on Tap: New York. She is also a regular soloist with several Bay Area chamber groups, including Classical Revolution and co-founder of Vocallective, a consortium of singers and instrumentalists dedicated to the art of vocal chamber music. Dr. Viskontas has published more than 30 original papers and chapters related to the neural basis of memory and creativity, including several seminal articles in top scientific journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Journal of Neuroscience, Current Opinion in Neurology and Nature: Clinical Practice. Her work has been featured in Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia and Discover Magazine.
