I'm here!

So I'm in Freiburg, settled into the hotel, and everything's fine! I will post later but just wanted to let everyone know here and on facebook that I made it here safely. (Despite Dr. Torculus' efforts, which I will tell everyone about later...!)

Audition

I had an audition on Friday. Of course, that's pretty normal for me: I audition a lot. But that was my first one in a while. For the past few months, I've been pretty busy doing a show and haven't been able to go to many auditions. Also, I will be missing a number of auditions I would like to do while I'm in Germany, and I didn't do some auditions because the performances, if I were cast, would have overlapped with my trip. Ah, the craziness of my life.

So, anyway, it was my first audition in a while. I'm actually batting 1000 for my last two auditions (before Friday, of course), but that doesn't really mean much. However, it does mean that I went into the audition feeling pretty confident, since I just finished one show and will be singing in Germany this summer. My drive sapped some of my confidence: someone rear ended me at a red light (no damage to either car, hardly worth mentioning...but still!), and the construction around the DC area always makes me nervous about driving. But I got there early and in one piece. So I asked the girl who had just finished singing how it went. She said brightly, "I sang like I sing, so that was good!"

And that, of course, set me thinking. How exactly do I sing? This has been a question of some import in my life for a long time, actually, because I am constantly getting different feedback. If you don't know, there are a lot of different voice types in opera (there are probably close to 10 different categories of soprano), and everyone is expected to sing the repertoire that is appropriate for their type. The problem for me has been that ever since I became an advanced enough singer for anyone to have an opinion about my voice type, nearly everyone who has heard me has told me something different about what my voice is and what I should be singing. And these differences are usually not slight disagreements with overlapping repertoire. And it's hard to make these kinds of decisions without input from coaches, teachers, and directors, because no one hears their own voice the way it sounds to other people. Besides, ultimately, I don't get to decide what kind of roles I'll be singing unless I start a vanity company to sing whatever I want. Directors and conductors make the decision of how to cast me. So my job in an audition is to present myself in a way that lets them see I could do whatever they're casting, and I would in fact be the best choice for it.

But lately I've been thinking. Maybe I don't need a guru or an oracle to tell me what's right for my voice or my career. I keep asking more people, and every one gives me a different answer. But maybe, after I consider all the other input, it's my own opinion that really matters in the end. So on Friday I started my audition with my favorite aria. My teacher thinks is great for me, my most critical singer friends complimented my performance of it, and one of my coaches said, "I think you're too funny for this role--but you really sing the aria well!" Of course I don't know what the auditors thought of me. They heard part of the first piece and part of the other one I'd brought. And they seemed to enjoy my audition--but more importantly, I enjoyed it.

How did it go? Well, I sang like I sing. I guess that's good!

Return to Opera Camp

While still in graduate school (studying voice, of course) I attended a summer opera training program. It wasn't long into the program that I began referring to the experience as "Opera Camp." Everyone laughed and thought it was cute, but really, that IS what these programs are. Last summer, at the last minute, I filled in for one of my students as a singer at another opera camp, a little closer to home. A few weeks ago, while singing Siebel in Faust with Loudoun Lyric Opera in Leesburg, VA, I felt as thought I were at Opera Camp again. During most of the six-week rehearsal period I drove the two hour commute from my regular life to Leesburg two to three times a week. (Not my favorite part of the process.) But for tech week, I stayed with a friend in Leesburg. All I had to do was rehearse each night. During the day...I pretty much just hung out and read through my friend's library. And I had a wonderful time! Actually, although I missed my husband, part of me didn't want to come back to reality.

So now I'm back to normal life, but not for long. This summer I'll be going to Opera Camp again--farther away and for a longer time than ever before! I'm going to Freiburg, Germany with James Madison University's opera study abroad program. I'll be learning German, singing Suor Genevive in Suor Angelica, singing Wolf Lieder in recital, and hopefully doing a few auditions. I've just learned that, in addition to all the opera, Freiburg has a farmer's market EVERY DAY except Sunday.

Opera AND a farmer's market??! I think all I really need is one more plane ticket for my hubby. Maybe I won't come back...