Must the Winter Come so Soon???

Must my return to Chicago and the inevitable early-April snow shower come so soon? I am very sad that my time in Santa Barbara is coming to an end, but excited to see friends and family and to sleep in a bed that I consider my own. Oh, and the weather in Chicago is basically the exact same as it is here in SB right now... 55 degrees. So that'll make the transition less shocking. ;-)

I have not written much recently, primarily because getting myself to a coffee shop to use the internet has been difficult during these show weeks. Both Carmen and The Merry Widow have gone quite well. I will say that doing the can-can on stage is a trip and the audience seemed to LOVE the grisettes!

Some interesting tidbits about the past week. Again, my nerves and ability to fly by the seat of my pants served me well when one of our mezzos found that she had still not gotten over an illness the morning of our final Brown Bag concert of American Opera. She was set to sing Must the Winter Come So Soon? from Barber's Vanessa, an aria I've always loved but never sang because so many people do it (but they do it because it's good!). But Lara called me up thinking that I had sung it before and asked if I could fill in. I knew the words and rhythms, obviously, but had never sung it with accompaniment. So we just went over it before the concert and it actually went very well! People even said that they particularly liked my rendition, which almost made me laugh! But it's a beautiful piece and I loved doing it. I was proud of myself because generally I like to very VERY well rehearsed for anything I do or else I get nervous. But I did it and stayed calm and even made art.

The other exciting news is that I have been cast in a production of the opera Greek by Mark-Anthony Turnage, one of the resident composers for the CSO with Chicago Opera Vanguard. I got this gig almost purely based on reputation, and after sending a couple of recordings and my resume via email to Eric Reda, the artistic director of the company. I'm very excited to have something like this to look forward to back in Chicago, and am grateful for all the kind words spoken about me as an artist by the people I have worked with. It goes to show that your reputation and performance as a singer and artist are always important and valuable, even outside of the audition.

Lastly, I sang for a panel yesterday in what was both an audition and mock-audition where we received immediate feedback from the panel, who consited of Maestro Valery Ryvkin (artistic director of OSB and a lovely person), James Marvel (acting coach and director), Josh Winograde (LA Opera) and Scott Jussila (YAP coordinator for OSB). I sang the Habanera, which went well... I love the piece and it's a really good starter aria for me because I'm so comfortable with it. And then they asked for Cherubino. I got the most interesting comment from JW, but one that absolutely resounded with what I feel about myself as a singer... that I'm not really one for pants roles! He suggested I look at operetta for my German, and then be sure that I have Dorabella and even Elvira on my rep list! He also suggested Musetta, which actually is VERY exciting to me. My top is working well lately, so I think I can handle it. And those characters are definitely more "me" than Cherubino. So I was extremely grateful for that guidance.

We have one more Merry Widow and then a couple of hours of packing, and then I'm back home Monday. I will write an over all look back at my time here once I get home (and have... *gasp*... multiple days off in a row!), but already I know that coming here was the right decision for me and I have learned to much and established a certain trajectory for myself.