A native of the Boston area, Basil is currently a resident of Minnesota’s Twin Cities area. His work for the stage and church take him across the United States, and musicological pursuits regularly see him straddling both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. He lived in Mauritius from 2011-2012 to conduct ethnographic research for his doctoral dissertation, Priests, Pirates, Opera Singers, and Slaves: Séga and European Art Music in Mauritius, the Little Paris of the Indian Ocean. He has conducted ethnographic field research on music in Hawaii and Mauritius. Basil has been the Artistic Director of The Really Spicy Opera Company (formerly the Reduced Spice Opera Company of Brookline) since 2006.