2025 Alice in a Winter Wonderland: A Wintry Mix of Arctic Story and Song
Ever had a dream you couldn’t quite describe?
Lewis Carroll’s dreamlike novel carries the reader through the most peculiar situations, and today’s retelling transports us even further! Jan Brett’s Alice in a Winter Wonderland re-sets Carroll’s original in magically delightful ways: Alice, a young Inuit girl, jumps down a glacier crevasse and travels 12,000 years into the past when humans shared the Alaskan tundra with woolly mammoths, the Great Auk, and one mysterious saber-toothed cat.
Other arctic animals also make appearances: collared pica, snowy owls, musk ox, wooly bear larva, horned puffins, Canada jays, Dall’s sheep, snow buntings, and Siberian huskies.
Today’s selections represent a few of the many cultures located in and near the Arctic Circle. The most commonly spoken language in this circumpolar region is Inuktitut and its dialects, the languages of Inuit. (“Inuit” means “the people”.) Because few Inuit composers work in the western choral tradition, and Inuit traditional music is outside our areas of experience, we set common Inuktitut greetings to music; a small way to expose our singers to their beautiful language and recognize the significance of Inuit culture and history. We thank the Inuit language keepers who have made these greetings and their translations available to the public.
We were delighted and immensely, immeasurably grateful to welcome Sarah Kate Walston, soprano, as today’s Featured Artist and Narrator. Sarah Kate stepped in at the last minute for Margaret Woods (out due to illness) and learned +100 pages of music in 1 day.
Sarah Kate Walston, soprano, has played more than 30 roles in opera and musical theatre productions throughout her career; some of her favorites being Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, Pamina in Die Zauberflote, Laurie in The TenderLand, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Phyllis in Iolanthe where the Baltimore Sun said “The sweet, nimble singing and deft acting of Sarah Kate Walston, as Phyllis, was a major plus throughout the performance.”
Sarah Kate also enjoys performing in recitals and concerts and has been seen performing in Germany, Belize and throughout the United States. She has sung with the Baltimore, Richmond, Annapolis, Virginia, Williamsburg, and Carmel Symphony Orchestras. Mrs. Walston has attended Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Residency for Young Artists program, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, was a Young Artist with Lyric Opera Virginia, was a Young Artist at Rossini in Wildbad Germany Festival, and was engaged as a Virginia Opera Spectrum Resident Artist.
In addition to being a singer, Sarah Kate runs a private voice studio and is on the Voice Faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also a voice over artist, actor, wife and mom! A Richmond native, Sarah Kate received her Bachelor of Music degree at Lee University and her Master of Music degree and Graduate Performance Diploma at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Richmond Virginia with her husband J-Roddy, their daughters Bertie Darling and Echo Nightingale, and their dog Low Low.
Last Updated: July 24, 2026 by testadmin
2025 Alice in a Winter Wonderland: A Wintry Mix of Arctic Story and Song
Ever had a dream you couldn’t quite describe?
Lewis Carroll’s dreamlike novel carries the reader through the most peculiar situations, and today’s retelling transports us even further! Jan Brett’s Alice in a Winter Wonderland re-sets Carroll’s original in magically delightful ways: Alice, a young Inuit girl, jumps down a glacier crevasse and travels 12,000 years into the past when humans shared the Alaskan tundra with woolly mammoths, the Great Auk, and one mysterious saber-toothed cat.
Other arctic animals also make appearances: collared pica, snowy owls, musk ox, wooly bear larva, horned puffins, Canada jays, Dall’s sheep, snow buntings, and Siberian huskies.
Today’s selections represent a few of the many cultures located in and near the Arctic Circle. The most commonly spoken language in this circumpolar region is Inuktitut and its dialects, the languages of Inuit. (“Inuit” means “the people”.) Because few Inuit composers work in the western choral tradition, and Inuit traditional music is outside our areas of experience, we set common Inuktitut greetings to music; a small way to expose our singers to their beautiful language and recognize the significance of Inuit culture and history. We thank the Inuit language keepers who have made these greetings and their translations available to the public.
Sarah Kate Walston, soprano, has played more than 30 roles in opera and musical theatre productions throughout her career; some of her favorites being Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, Pamina in Die Zauberflote, Laurie in The TenderLand, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Phyllis in Iolanthe where the Baltimore Sun said “The sweet, nimble singing and deft acting of Sarah Kate Walston, as Phyllis, was a major plus throughout the performance.”
Sarah Kate also enjoys performing in recitals and concerts and has been seen performing in Germany, Belize and throughout the United States. She has sung with the Baltimore, Richmond, Annapolis, Virginia, Williamsburg, and Carmel Symphony Orchestras. Mrs. Walston has attended Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Residency for Young Artists program, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, was a Young Artist with Lyric Opera Virginia, was a Young Artist at Rossini in Wildbad Germany Festival, and was engaged as a Virginia Opera Spectrum Resident Artist.
In addition to being a singer, Sarah Kate runs a private voice studio and is on the Voice Faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also a voice over artist, actor, wife and mom! A Richmond native, Sarah Kate received her Bachelor of Music degree at Lee University and her Master of Music degree and Graduate Performance Diploma at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Richmond Virginia with her husband J-Roddy, their daughters Bertie Darling and Echo Nightingale, and their dog Low Low.
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