I will take a cue from Ms. DiDonato's website and make a list of all of the wonderful things I am grateful for here, at this moment.
Firstly, I am just so happy to be here in this gorgeous weather. I am not being paid much here, but I think that sunshine might be a legitimate payment option. The warmth and sun make me happy, even on very stressful days.
I am grateful for a lovely and fun group of fellow YAs. Besides being very talented, there isn't an unkind bone in the whole bunch. People have been extremely supportive of one another (their encouragement really got me through last week's insanity, probably more than they know) and then after a long day of rehearsal, they are great fun to hang out with! Specifically, I couldn't have asked for a better roommate than Diana Stoic, who also wants to be at rehearsal 15 minutes early and will also go grab a burger (In-n-Out or The Habit) between rehearsals! We work off alot of calories doing the can-can as Grisettes, so we earn the splurge! ;-)
I am grateful that Sara Cambell, the woman playing Mercedes, is better, because it's never fun to be sick... but I am glad (though I wish it didn't come at the expense of someone feeling ill) to have done the whole role in rehearsal. I now have Mercedes completely memorized, and while sitting in rehearsal I am absorbing Carmen as well and hope to run the whole role with piano before the program is done. I continue to fall in love with the music. It's "rock-n-roll" opera, I like to say... because the tunes are so catchy (I can't stop singing The Gypsy Song) and Carmen herself is such a rock star (even in the self-destructive way).
Now, on another subject... I am working on my "networking" skills, but sometimes it seems a little forced and weird. So I've made something of a decision, that I will never force a conversation or kiss up to people, but remain friendly and genuine to all people, including the stage managers (Valerie Wheeler is our fabulous SM for Carmen... she's so efficient and no nonsense, but also funny and very real. I respect her a great deal), not because I should, but because it's good to be nice to people. If people like me, they will like me because I am who I am. Perhaps I will loose out by not "kissing up" to people, but if I were ever anything but myself, I think I couldn't be happy with anything I got because of it.
I think very highly of both our director, Vernon Hartman, and our Maestro, Nir Kabaretti. They are both extremely talented and efficient in their rehearsal. Vernon is a singer himself, so he directs both the music as well as the text without asking for anything that doesn't enhance the show for the singers. Maestro Kabaretti was so good in helping me through Mercedes. I only hope that I was able to make a good impression.
Tomorrow is my first day off in over two weeks (thank GOD!), and there is a cocktail party in the evening with many of the staff from the company, including principals, directors and musical staff. I know that my tendency (out of shyness) is to stick to my friends and not talk to the higher ups, but I will make it my goal to talk to at least two staff members (other than Lara and John Ballerino... since I'll obviously talk to them) and at least two donors I don't know. It's a good exercize, though easier done in "mock" form in grad seminar!
Well, time to go walz to Lehar. I'm enjoying the Merry Widow much more than I expected! It's campy, but the principle singers are fantastic and great actors, so they make it come alive.
Sending sunshine to all of you Chicagoans!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Know your Cover!!!
This week has been unbelievably hectic and exciting, but also nerve wracking. After a week of shows and coachings on Carmen and the scenes to be performed in the "Brown Bag" concert on Wednesday (lunch time concert series featuring the YAs), I was sincerely looking forward to a few days of relaxing in the chorus and also giving my voice a rest. I was so excited to do the Brown Bag scenes since I got to perform the role of Carmen since the woman covering the role isn't a YA (Carmen is my "role study"). So though my actual cover is Mercedes, I was preparing Carmen's part in both the quintet and the Card Trio. Feeling physically fatigued and emotionally exhausted, I was ready for a let down in the action. We've essentially been performing non-stop between master classes, outreach school shows and the festival preview concerts.
BUT 10 minutes before the brown bag, I got a call from Valerie, our lovely stage manager, who said that their Mercedes had gone home sick and they would need me for the afternoon rehearsals! AHHHHH!!!! So Lara was a savior and helped me re-learn the quintet, singing Mercedes's harmonies. I had alread learned the trio as Mercedes, so that was ok. So I showed up to rehearsal and did a good job with the quintet as well as The Gypsy song singing while jamming on the tambourine (my junior percussion skills are finally being put to use!). Yesterday was a little rougher since the ensembles in the 3rd act are very wordy and I had practiced the alto line, which is also Carmen's part. So I sort of fell flat in the morning rehearsal, but I think I stepped up in the evening. Emily Johnson, who's doing a fabulous job with her powerful and sexually charged Carmen, was nice enough to suggest we run through all those parts musically, which was extremely helpful for me.
Retrospectively, I think I was a little selfish and irresponsible, not using my coaching with Lara more on Mercedes's part. I like singing Carmen more, obviously, but someone getting sick is a very real possibility. So I have learned a valuable lesson, though thankfully not at the expense of my reputation. I am grateful for years of choral singing and harmonizing in rock 'n' roll that has taught me to feel out harmonies and learn music extremely quickly.
Tomorrow I will most likely sing in the orchestra reading, which I'm really excited about! My voice is a little tired, but I will use it sparingly from now on. I'm not getting a day off this week, going on two weeks since I did have a free day, but I hope that my willingness to work will speak highly of me as a professional.
Man, I was right in titling this blog "Adventures in Opera"!
BUT 10 minutes before the brown bag, I got a call from Valerie, our lovely stage manager, who said that their Mercedes had gone home sick and they would need me for the afternoon rehearsals! AHHHHH!!!! So Lara was a savior and helped me re-learn the quintet, singing Mercedes's harmonies. I had alread learned the trio as Mercedes, so that was ok. So I showed up to rehearsal and did a good job with the quintet as well as The Gypsy song singing while jamming on the tambourine (my junior percussion skills are finally being put to use!). Yesterday was a little rougher since the ensembles in the 3rd act are very wordy and I had practiced the alto line, which is also Carmen's part. So I sort of fell flat in the morning rehearsal, but I think I stepped up in the evening. Emily Johnson, who's doing a fabulous job with her powerful and sexually charged Carmen, was nice enough to suggest we run through all those parts musically, which was extremely helpful for me.
Retrospectively, I think I was a little selfish and irresponsible, not using my coaching with Lara more on Mercedes's part. I like singing Carmen more, obviously, but someone getting sick is a very real possibility. So I have learned a valuable lesson, though thankfully not at the expense of my reputation. I am grateful for years of choral singing and harmonizing in rock 'n' roll that has taught me to feel out harmonies and learn music extremely quickly.
Tomorrow I will most likely sing in the orchestra reading, which I'm really excited about! My voice is a little tired, but I will use it sparingly from now on. I'm not getting a day off this week, going on two weeks since I did have a free day, but I hope that my willingness to work will speak highly of me as a professional.
Man, I was right in titling this blog "Adventures in Opera"!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Performances and Mr. Katz...
Yesterday we performed our favorite arias for an audience of Santa Barbrians, which was basically a "Death by Aria" for the public. It was a good show and luckily our group of YAPs is extremely kind and supportive, so the general energy was positive. But I sang "Give Him this Orchid" from the Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten (because both Lara Bolton and I LOVE Britten and this aria), but the audience we were singing for might have preferred one of the "hits". I thought it was my chance to do something not French, since I'll be doing Carmen next week... but perhaps I should have sang Va! anyway. Ah well. It went well, but next time I hope to really take better breaths and connect the phrases in a more artistic way.
I had a coaching with Martin Katz, which wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be, considering he's "THE" Martin Katz. He had great artistic suggestions and I was proud of how I responded to them. We did "The Letter Aria" from Werther, and rather than being a vocalise with all the same vocal color, each letter was given something different with his suggestion, and this makes the aria "pop" I believe. I realized that what I need the most work on is my ability (and willingness) to caress music as apposed to just blasting dramatically, which Mr. Katz recognized that I already do quite well. But it will be more affective if I am able to contrast it with extremely elegant and sometimes very soft singing. I hope to do this when I sing "The Diary" for him, from Argento's cycle "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf".
I had a coaching with Martin Katz, which wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be, considering he's "THE" Martin Katz. He had great artistic suggestions and I was proud of how I responded to them. We did "The Letter Aria" from Werther, and rather than being a vocalise with all the same vocal color, each letter was given something different with his suggestion, and this makes the aria "pop" I believe. I realized that what I need the most work on is my ability (and willingness) to caress music as apposed to just blasting dramatically, which Mr. Katz recognized that I already do quite well. But it will be more affective if I am able to contrast it with extremely elegant and sometimes very soft singing. I hope to do this when I sing "The Diary" for him, from Argento's cycle "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf".
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Photos...
I LOVE outreach!
Three years ago now, my mom ran into Dr. Susan Armbruster, the acting principal at Lake Bluff's elementary school, at the grocery store and she asked her whether or not I might be interested in being their substitute music teacher for... the rest of the year. Their music teacher has left to follow her boyfriend to the east coast when he was transferred since the P/T teaching position wouldn't allow her to pay rent. My mom asked me and, after thinking about it for 5 minutes (I had NO teaching experience) I decided to give it a try. Those few months were extremely challenging, but also very rewarding, and though I am fairly certain elementary music is not my calling, I know that I find the energy and enthusiasm of children refreshing and their ernestness and innocence inspiring. And in all of my outreach experience since (Hansel and Gretel, Little Red, OSB), my knowledge of how to relate to this age group has been invaluable.
I am at Opera Santa Barbara a week earlier than the rest of the YAPS because I am part of the "outreach quartet", consisting of Diana Stoic Richardson (sop), myself, Jonathan Smucker (tenor) and Andrew Darling (baritone). We do scenes and arias from both The Merry Widow and Carmen for the children who are generally K-6th. As with Granny in Little Red at CROT, this is a great learning experience in physicality on stage as well as actively engaging an audience, because children respond primarily to action as apposed to text (especially if it's in French!). The love duet I sing with Jonathan from The Merry Widow is difficult to really make entertaining for the kids, especially since they generally find romance to be disgusting. ;-) The girls are often most interested in the pretty red dress that I wear. Jonathan sings so beautifully though that he keeps their attention throughout his aria preceeding very well. The Habanera is a different story though, because even though I sing in French (which is probably better so that the children to not get all of the sexual inuendos), I am able to miander throughout the audience and make direct eye contact with many of the kids, which immediately connects them to the performance. I think it is also fascinating for them to see this kind of singing up close. The little ones are often just spell bound. And then if I see the pre-pubescent 7th grade boys in the back getting fidgety and seeming like they are just too cool for school, and definitely too cool for opera, THEY are in trouble. ;-) So they generally get a good idea of who Carmen is, the PG version, of course.
Now the most FASCINATING part about this experience is how well I've been singing in these shows! From the moment I'm on stage I forget about myself because I am looking out into the audience for my next "victims". And without my ego getting in the way, worrying about how I'm going to sound and what my audience will think of me (because, in all honesty, the kids don't care whta you sound like as long as you're entertaining), my voice just flows out. No, it isn't technically perfect, but the character and emotion of the piece come out because I am saying every word with intention. And then at the end I often pause before the last F#, because the kids have often gotten quite vocal themselves at this point, giggling and whispering, and once they've quited a bit I let out the loudest and longest F# I've ever sung. Then they get that opera can be both fun as well as impressive. What if I could accomplish this in auditions? Perhaps I'd be having more success!
The greatest part for me is after the show talking with the kids one on one... we don't always get to do this because we often have to run to our next show, or the kids have to leave, but they are desperate to look at the costumes up close. Or they just want to hug you! It makes me a little teary eyes just to think about it. These are easily the most rewarding moments for me as a performer. And I know that as long as I sing I want to combine these two loves: the love of music and the love of children, of teaching them and brightening their world.
I am at Opera Santa Barbara a week earlier than the rest of the YAPS because I am part of the "outreach quartet", consisting of Diana Stoic Richardson (sop), myself, Jonathan Smucker (tenor) and Andrew Darling (baritone). We do scenes and arias from both The Merry Widow and Carmen for the children who are generally K-6th. As with Granny in Little Red at CROT, this is a great learning experience in physicality on stage as well as actively engaging an audience, because children respond primarily to action as apposed to text (especially if it's in French!). The love duet I sing with Jonathan from The Merry Widow is difficult to really make entertaining for the kids, especially since they generally find romance to be disgusting. ;-) The girls are often most interested in the pretty red dress that I wear. Jonathan sings so beautifully though that he keeps their attention throughout his aria preceeding very well. The Habanera is a different story though, because even though I sing in French (which is probably better so that the children to not get all of the sexual inuendos), I am able to miander throughout the audience and make direct eye contact with many of the kids, which immediately connects them to the performance. I think it is also fascinating for them to see this kind of singing up close. The little ones are often just spell bound. And then if I see the pre-pubescent 7th grade boys in the back getting fidgety and seeming like they are just too cool for school, and definitely too cool for opera, THEY are in trouble. ;-) So they generally get a good idea of who Carmen is, the PG version, of course.
Now the most FASCINATING part about this experience is how well I've been singing in these shows! From the moment I'm on stage I forget about myself because I am looking out into the audience for my next "victims". And without my ego getting in the way, worrying about how I'm going to sound and what my audience will think of me (because, in all honesty, the kids don't care whta you sound like as long as you're entertaining), my voice just flows out. No, it isn't technically perfect, but the character and emotion of the piece come out because I am saying every word with intention. And then at the end I often pause before the last F#, because the kids have often gotten quite vocal themselves at this point, giggling and whispering, and once they've quited a bit I let out the loudest and longest F# I've ever sung. Then they get that opera can be both fun as well as impressive. What if I could accomplish this in auditions? Perhaps I'd be having more success!
The greatest part for me is after the show talking with the kids one on one... we don't always get to do this because we often have to run to our next show, or the kids have to leave, but they are desperate to look at the costumes up close. Or they just want to hug you! It makes me a little teary eyes just to think about it. These are easily the most rewarding moments for me as a performer. And I know that as long as I sing I want to combine these two loves: the love of music and the love of children, of teaching them and brightening their world.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
70 degrees and sunny!
Though I haven't seen too much of the weather so far...
We've arrived in California and basically hit the ground running. Arriving on Thursday, we were rehearsing by 10 am Friday morning and had a performance that very evening. I am broken hearted I didn't bring my camera to that performance, because we were at the Topa Towers in Ventura where the dinner club is on the 22nd floor, over looking the city lights and the dark void beyond that in the daylight is an ocean.
The first performance was good, though somewhat nerve racking. I performed a duet from the Merry Widow that I had run with piano for the first time that morning. It went fairly well, which I am proud of because I generally rely on having run something a million and a half times for comfort. My singing was fine that evening, but my nerves dealing with new people and the general director of the opera company (who is very nice and in now was utterly supportive) there MCing the performance. Last night, our second show, was much better for me vocally. I utilized some of the techniques in "Power Performance for Singers" in my mental preperation before the Habanera, which requires the utmost control of breath and vocal weight. By calming my mind and becoming Carmen, I am able to execute these lengthy passages without excessive breaths. The Habanera is known for these crazy long lines and few places to breathe, but Lara Bolton, the fantastic coach we are working with here, said that Bizet wrote it knowing that it was possibly to sing while only taking breaths where he wrote rests. I said something like, "You're kidding, right?" But as we tried it, taking an efficient and simultaneous monstrous breath during the 16th note rests, I was able to get through the whole thing that way! AND, even more importantly to me, I was able to do it during performance last night.
Today we are performing for a retirement home in a festival preview concert. Today is somewhat relaxing and I hope to make it to the beach late this afternoon to try to catch some dolphins!
With Jonathan Smucker, tenor, at the Opera Night performance in downtown Santa Barbara. Yes, he is in fact related to the Smucker family of jelly fame. :)
We've arrived in California and basically hit the ground running. Arriving on Thursday, we were rehearsing by 10 am Friday morning and had a performance that very evening. I am broken hearted I didn't bring my camera to that performance, because we were at the Topa Towers in Ventura where the dinner club is on the 22nd floor, over looking the city lights and the dark void beyond that in the daylight is an ocean.
The first performance was good, though somewhat nerve racking. I performed a duet from the Merry Widow that I had run with piano for the first time that morning. It went fairly well, which I am proud of because I generally rely on having run something a million and a half times for comfort. My singing was fine that evening, but my nerves dealing with new people and the general director of the opera company (who is very nice and in now was utterly supportive) there MCing the performance. Last night, our second show, was much better for me vocally. I utilized some of the techniques in "Power Performance for Singers" in my mental preperation before the Habanera, which requires the utmost control of breath and vocal weight. By calming my mind and becoming Carmen, I am able to execute these lengthy passages without excessive breaths. The Habanera is known for these crazy long lines and few places to breathe, but Lara Bolton, the fantastic coach we are working with here, said that Bizet wrote it knowing that it was possibly to sing while only taking breaths where he wrote rests. I said something like, "You're kidding, right?" But as we tried it, taking an efficient and simultaneous monstrous breath during the 16th note rests, I was able to get through the whole thing that way! AND, even more importantly to me, I was able to do it during performance last night.
Today we are performing for a retirement home in a festival preview concert. Today is somewhat relaxing and I hope to make it to the beach late this afternoon to try to catch some dolphins!
With Jonathan Smucker, tenor, at the Opera Night performance in downtown Santa Barbara. Yes, he is in fact related to the Smucker family of jelly fame. :)
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