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| I recently was re-reading parts of Renee Fleming's autobiography and after a conversation with some other opera majors, I have been thinking recently about how people get to where they are today. While Renee Fleming may not be the most respected singer in the business today, she is considered "America's soprano" and while I can count numerous people who really hate her voice, reading her book really does make it seem like everything was handed to her based on her natural talent. Whether you agree or not with the conflicting opinions of Renee Fleming, the point is, somehow she got to where she is today. And whether you love her or hate her, I really think that until you achieve the stardom that she has - or any other well known singer - there's really no point in arguing degrading her for getting to where she is. Now, that's not to say that you can't listen to her and constructively critize. And if you want to argue pop singers who can't hold a tune, but rely on monitors to adjust their sound as they scream and bop around the stage, that's a whole different story. What I'm talking about is singer A who constantly degrades singer B, yet singer B is the singer who's getting the jobs... anyway, back to the topic - how people get to where they are today. Donna Roll always says "many are called, few are chosen." Others say luck, hard work, destiny. Christians say God's will. I, being a Christian, tend to like the latter option. Does that make it easy? Does that mean I don't have to work as hard? Does that mean exempt from rejection? HECK NO. But as I look back, I can clearly see how God brought me to where I am today. We were talking today at lunch about how we got Longy - certainly not as common a household name as BoCo or NEC, but certainly a world class international conservatory. I guess for me to answer that question I'd have to go back to Gordon College and how I got there....which would bring me back to high school. In high school, I liked to sing, but had more success with the flute, which I enjoyed immensely. I chose Gordon College for its Christian education and its strong music program in which I could sing and study flute. Eventually I chose just voice. Gordon gave me a solid foundation, but not nearly what I needed to make a career or living, so the choice was made to go to grad school. We all know the grad school story and how Longy just fell into place after horror stories with two other schools. But again, certain doors were specifically closed and others opened. Does this mean I will be the next Renee Fleming? Maybe. Probably not. But it's nice to know that God's in control as I start heading into the audition season and wondering where He will take me next. On a completely different note, but perhaps slightly related, I saw "Troubled Water" tonight at the movie theatre. It's a B movie, a documentary on Hurricane Katrina. It's filmed by a poor black couple who took this camera everywhere and filmed everything from two weeks before the storm hit to a year and a half after the storm. It was very interesting - part of it was what I expected - we all know as much as you can know if you ever watch CNN where they beat a story to death. But it also told of a part of the country that seemed like a different country all together - very removed from my every day life. The part of New Orleans that is the lower 9th ward - the part that my parents and sister have been working with. The part that is so poverty stricken and the part that got almost no government help whatsoever - during or even up to a year after the storm. There were parts of the documentary that disturbed me a bit - I highly doubt that the coast guard soliders ever thought that their words and actions would be displayed in a national movie. Or the phone conversations that were recorded between this couple filming the documentary with the FEMA organization. Anyway, I'm still thinking and processing the movie, but you should see it if you can. My point in writing about it now is that it made me stop and realize that you don't know what tomorrow holds. My life is good and secure and happy and music filled with big hopes and dreams. But you don't know what may come and it just reminds me to stay humble, on my knees before God, and realize that God has truly blessed me. | | |
| I'm so tired of politics. Let me first say that right now I am undecided on who I will vote for and I'm not writing this to bash either the democratic ticket or the republican ticket. I don't particularly agree wholehearted with either side, but I'm so tired of the biased media and other supporters of a certain, un-named party....whether you identify yourself as democrat or republican, I feel like you should at least respect the other side and give credit where credit is due. On another subject.......... Not too much super-new. Longy started, so I'm into my second year as a grad student. I passed 2 out of the 3 theory exams, so far, so I just have the composition of a Bach chorale and the aural exam to pass. YAY! I'm not worried about history and I'm pretty sure that they are going to exempt me from piano proficiencies since I passed them in my undergrad. I had my first lesson with Bob and while I was pretty excited about the things I had done all summer and the progress I made, he was rather unimpressed and down to business - but he did approve most of my auditions, so I guess I wasn't as bad as I thought he thought I was. Lots to work on, though! I sang for Donna and the opera department the other day - first day of class - this is so everyone can hear you, plus it's really your audition for operascenes. I'm pretty happy with what I got - the lead role in the Lakme scene (NOT the flower duet!!), and a Handel scene from Radamisto. Goooooooood roles...really excited!!!! | | |
|  | Currently Listening
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro / Furlanetto, Upshaw, Te Kanwa, Hampson, von Otter, Troyanos; Levine
By Michael Forest, Renato Capecchi, Heidi Grant Murphy, Anne Sofie von Otter, Tatiana Troyanos, Anthony Laciura
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School starts again in 2 weeks. Part of me is ready to go back and part of me is not. But the part of me that is not is really minuscule. I've had some success this summer playing roles this summer in 3 different Boston productions and have now been cast in a production of Marriage of Figaro, playing Barbarina. I've been recommended to some really big auditions this fall and am really excited that my teachers and coaches believe I can do them. So that really tiny part of me that doesn't want to go back to school is the same part of me that really just wants to do auditions and play roles and get this career started! But then, I come back to earth and reality of the business hits and I realize that I need my second year in grad school. Lots more to learn, and do and grow. I'm excited to where I'll be in a year. Plus, the reality of making a nice living on the tiny little cords in my throat that make noise doesn't have to hit for another year.  A Little Night Music opened and closed and went very well. I've been asked to audition for this company's fall production of Pirates of Penzance, playing Mabel. (yes....this role....again....there ARE people out there who make a living playing one role all of their lives...I could be Mabel...haha...just kidding, I think I would get tired of it, though I do love the show.) But I don't know if I'll do it - playing Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, keeping up with school, teaching voice lessons, doing the gigs I already have lined up, plus preparing for and doing fall auditions may be my limit...I'm actually a bit stressed out about it all right now. Other than that, my summer is pretty much done. I made a looooong road trip up to Mt. Washington and over to Bangor, Maine and back to Boston to visit family and get away from the city....every time I do this I say "never again" since I hate all the driving, but really, sometimes it's necessary and nice to see your family. I've also watched a lot of Olympics. Now that we have cable, they're on allllllll the time. It's kind of inspiring as I make the parallel to music. They train all the time, but it comes down to one Olympic performance. It doesn't matter how amazing they are in the gym, it comes down to what they can do when it counts. Kind of like an audition. But all the athletes there are freaking amazing....and it's so fun to watch! | | |
| I love summer. I wait all year for the heat, the care free attitude, the plethora of summer-y things to do, and the free time to do what I want. Like practice more. What I don't love about summer is the Boston public transportation system. I live in town, right on the green line and the majority of the time, it's great. I can get anywhere I want to get and quite easily, in fact. However, there are two things complicating this process at the moment. One, the gas prices. This means that more and more people are taking the train each day. Which is understandable...however, the MBTA needs to make adjustments for this and put more trains out at a given time. I can't tell you how much time I waste sitting underground waiting for a train to come at all! And when it does come, it's so packed that as it rides down the rail into the next tunnel, you can hear the rails squeal under the weight of all the people. This annoys me, but more than that is the fact that this problem is compounded by all of the crazy Red Sox fans. Now don't get me wrong - I like the Red Sox as much as the next person - it is kind of hard not to get caught up in them when you live in this city. Plus Dunkin Donuts gives out free iced coffee every time they win. However, the number of Red Sox tourists who take the T is amazing and the number of Red Sox tourists who have no idea how to navigate the subway system is even more astounding. (It's really not that difficult.) This makes for slower trains, little kids screaming, and adults who probably have a bit of alcohol in them, angry that they don't know how to get back to their car and more annoyed by the fact that someone is touching them on the overcrowded trains. And I just want to get home at night. So I put my ipod on, close my eyes, and take a deep breath. On nights of a game, it takes me more than an hour to get from MIT to the green C line. I could probably walk home from rehearsals in that time. Ok, I'm really done complaining. I promise. On the upside, I completed the BU opera program. Amazing. I learned more in two weeks than I did all semester - ok, maybe not, but just as much. Sondra Kelly, resident mezzo at the Met. Opera in NYC, was fantastic. Really demanding, but incredibly knowledgable and a great teacher. We re-worked my entire fall audition package, staged 3 of my 6 fall audition arias, worked on not over-opening my jaw, and drilling the dental T's, double consonants, and rolled R rules of the Italian language. I was honored when at the end, she gave me a list of programs that she thought I was ready to audition for this fall. I have a list of about 14 auditions to get ready for this fall and I'm scared to pieces. There are some big auditions on that list and upon looking at the website to see who was in the programs currently, I almost fell over at their individual credits. Part of me wants to run away and hide for a couple years until I feel ready...and the other part of me wants to go out there and sing my little coloratura voice out, and make people believe that I can do this. I think I will go with the latter. A Little Night Music is going well. I really begrudge Sondheim for his complicated rhythms and ever-changing rhythms, but I think we'll be ok. It's getting better. Less than a month until production!!! | | |
| I'm tired, but can't really fall asleep...but life continues...music mostly.... I quit the ICA. Kind of sad, but very exciting...this is because I have enough offers for paid singing gigs and shows this summer!!! YANK opened and closed at the BCA to good audiences. It went very well and was reviewed well. As always, I continue learning from every show I'm in. This particular show stretched me in more ways than one. It's a rather dark show in my opinion; as in not much uplifting in it - based on Eugene O'Neil's "The Hairy Ape". The main character, Yank, is a stoker on the liners in the NYC port and has searched his whole life to find a place to belong. He finally finds it working in the bottom of the ship...until one day when a rich little white girl goes down into the stoke hole to see "how other half lives" (meaning the poor). She is horrified and faints at the sight of Yank and from here on, Yank is angry at the way she made him feel that day. He goes out into the world to find where he belongs and no matter where he turns, he doesn't fit in. I won't give away the ending, in case you ever want to read the play, but it's not very happy. I played a character that shows up in every scene, in every place where Yank turns trying to fit in. I played a rich brainwashed church-goer, a prostitute, and a snobby leader of the IWW, and in the end, part of the zoo. These characterizations really stretched me as an actor. Like I've mentioned before, I'm always the ingenoue, or sometimes the coloratura pant role, but most often, the cute, bubbly personality onstage. I've never had to be so mean, so snobby, or so vulgar. I definitely could not do this show forever, but was enjoyable in a way - to access a set of emotions and personalities that I've had very little oppurtunity to experiment with onstage. I'm not saying that I would ever want to be those people, or that personality, in real life, but there is a satisfaction to being able to play versatile roles. Not just that, but there was "meat" to these individual characters that was so interesting to explore and really grab hold of and play, rather than the bubbly person, that really, resembles the more real-life me than anything. I am also happy to announce that I was able to excercise my low register in this show. Now it's onto "A Little Night Music" being presented in the MIT theatre at the beginning of August. I am ashamed to admit that I know nothing about this show and only after a full read through tonight (or sight-read through for me since I missed the first week of rehearsals due to YANK), have I begun to figure out the storyline. auditioned for the role of Anne since it was the only character listed as a soprano on the list of characters at the open auditions. Upon my casting offer, I was told that while Anne could be a good fit, the directors thought that I would enjoy the role of Mrs. Nordstrom (a narrator of sorts) better since she sings a lot and Anne doesn't sing much at all, except for a rather low solo entitled "Soon". Given the choice, I opted for the role of Mrs. Nordstrom...only later being told by everyone and their mother that I was crazy to turn down the lead role of Anne. But, I am happy with what I chose. Mrs. Nordstrom's tessitura is much higher and this quintet of narrators sing waaaay more than anyone else in the show, plus the directors gave me some lines and other random scenes to do. I'm discovering that Sondheim is way harder than he looks on the page. I've never actually sung Sondheim before, but I've heard him and he doesn't sound so hard. Maybe it's just this show, maybe not. There are some crazy harmonic things he does and the tempos, registers, and rhythm can be a bit extreme for a Broadway show. Plus, he likes to repeat things and change them slightly each time. Very annoying. But nonetheless, it's a catchy show with catchy music, a twisted love triangle for a plot. The cast is coming from all sorts of places, so it'll be fun to work with all them. Ohh, I've also been asked (and scheduled) to sing on the summer concert series of New England Light Opera in July. The only sad thing is I think I'm going to have to cancel due to rehearsals for A Little Night Music.....still figuring that one out.... I'm getting very sleepy....maybe I should call it quits for tonight.... | | |
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