Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Links to Fall 2009 Aria Frequency Lists

The Aria Frequency Lists for this fall's audition tour are found in separate blog posts:

Soprano
Mezzo
Tenor
Baritone
Bass & Bass-baritone

These lists represent the frequency with which individual arias were listed in audition packages of singers in that voice type. Next week I'll compile and post the list of arias offered as first choices in each category.



Here, in the gratitude list tradition, is my Thanksgiving week five at the end of this audition tour:
  1. 8,000 miles of safe travel.
  2. 1,000 arias that made us laugh and cry.
  3. Good health. For even though the last few weeks made me cranky, tired and fat(ter), I stayed healthy. :)
  4. Colleagues who are smart, funny, flexible and forgiving.
  5. Family. And mine is the best.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Aria Frequency List: Soprano

The following list was compiled from the arias listed on audition applications of singers who were heard during this fall's WTOC audition tour. The number in bold refers to the number of singers in this voice type who listed each aria. (This does not refer to the arias actually heard in auditions; that list will follow in December.)

THE WINNER, AGAIN (31X)
Ach ich fühl's

RUNNER-UP (15X)
No word from Tom / I go to him

11X
Deh vieni
Je dis que reien ne m’épouvante

10X
Come scoglio
Je veux vivre
Song to the Moon (Rusalka)

9X
Be kind and courteous
Caro nome
Depuis le jour
Oh! quante volte

8X
Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
Du gai soleil
Embroidery aria
Je suis encor
Mir ist die Ehre (Presentation of the Rose)
Quel guardo / So anch'io
Sul fil d’un soffo etesio

7X
Du gai soleil
Durch Zärtlichkeit
Non mi dir
Piangerò
Prendi per me
Regnava nel silenzio
Sì mi chiamano Mimì
Tornami a vagghegiar

6X
Ah je ris (Jewel Song)
Dich teure Halle
Gold is a fine thing (Silver Aria)
Qui la voce

5X
Adieu notre petite table
Dove sono
Glitter and be gay
Gluck das mir verbliebt (Marietta's Lied)
Padre germani addio
Porgi Amor
Zerbinetta's aria

4X
Ah! fuggi il traditor
Amour ranime mon courage
Batti batti
Come now a roundel
Das war sehr gut
Der Hölle Rache
Donde lieta uscì
Emily's Aria from Our Town
Fire aria
Il est doux
Kommt ein schlanker Bursch' gegangen
Lia's recitative and aria (Azaël)
O luce di quest'anima
Quando m'en vo
Steal me

3X
Ah chi mi dice mai
Ah! non credea / Ah non giunge
Ain't it a pretty night
Chacun le sait
Come per me sereno
Da tempeste
Dearest Mama
Ebben ne andro lontana
Ernani involami
I want magic
Je marche / Obéissons (Gavotte)
Nun eilt herbei
O zittre nicht
Ou va la jeune Hindoue? (Bell song)
Presentation of the Rose
S'altro che lagrime
Stridono lassù
Willow song

2X
Bel raggio
Comme autrefois
Dis moi que je suis belle
Einsam in trüben Tagen
Endless pleasure
Es gibt ein Reich
Gothic cathedral
Have peace Jo
How beautiful it is
Je suis Titania
Joy beyond measure, mother!
Klänge der Heimat (Czàrdàs)
La maja y el ruiseñor
Lady with a Hand Mirror (Postcard from Morocco)
Les oiseaux dans la charmille
Martern aller Arten
O mio babbino caro
O wär' ich schon
Or sai
Par le rang / Salut à la France
Se il padre perdei
Steal me sweet thief
Tu che di gel
What good would the moon be

ONCE
Adele's Audition aria
Ah fors'è lui / Sempre libera
Aria Snegurochka (Snowmaiden's aria)
At night we dream of love (Heggie)
Bester Jüngling
Chanson du Rossignol
Che tua madre
Der kleine Taumann heiss'ich
Di cor mio
Do not utter a word
Du bist der Lenz
Ecco lorrido campo...Ma dallarido stelo divulsa
Elle a fui
Go to sleep, my dolly dear
I always carry a handmirror
I can smell the sea air
I have dreamt
I know you love me, Tom (Hotel Casablanca)
Il primo ardor
In uomini
Injurious Hermia
Io son l'umile ancella
L’altra notte
Ma quando tornerai
Marfa's Aria (The Tsar's Bride)
Mein Herr Marquis (Laughing song)
Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss
Merce, dilette amiche
Mi tradì
Myself I shall adore
Neghittosi or voi che fate
Non disperar
O Dieu Brahma
Ombre pallide
Partir, o ciel, desio
Pleurez mes yeux
Qual farfalletta
Ruhe sanft
Scoglio d'immota fronte
Son pochi fiori
Son vergin vezzosa
Tacea la notte / Di tale amor
Tatyana's Letter Aria
Ten lasky sen (Bartered Bride)
This is the face....
Trahir Vincent... Mon coeur ne paut changer (Mireille)
Trees on the mountain
Un bel dì vedremo
Vissi d’arte
Vivan los que rien
Volate, amori
Welche Wonne welche Lust
Zachem zhe eti slyozy (Lisa's First Act Aria)
Zeffiretti lusinghieri

Aria Frequency List: Mezzo-soprano

The following list was compiled from the arias listed on audition applications of singers who were heard during this fall's WTOC audition tour. The number in bold refers to the number of singers in this voice type who listed each aria. (This does not refer to the arias actually heard in auditions; that list will follow in December.)

THE WINNER (19X)
Smanie implacabili

RUNNERS-UP (12X)
Must the winter come so soon
Svegliatevi nel core
Va! laisse couler mes larmes

10X
Voi che sapete
Wie du warst

9X
Cruda sorte
Que fais-tu

8X
Sein wir wieder gut
Una voce poco fa (mezzo)

7X
Things change Jo

6X
Parto parto

5X
Give him this orchid

4X
Adieu forêts
Nobles Seigneurs salut
Non piu mesta
O mio Fernando
Pres des remparts (Seguidilla)
Vois sous l'archet (Violin aria)

3X
All'afflitto è dolce il pianto
Je vous ecris (Letter scene)
Pauline's aria (Podrugi milïye)
Thy hand Belinda / When I am laid in earth

2X
As I was saying (Baba the Turk)
Chacun à son goût (Ich lade gern)
Connais-tu le pays
Deh per questo istante
Dopo notte
Enfin je suis ici
Faites-lui mes aveux
I shall find for you (Lullaby)
Iris hence away
L'amour est un ouiseau rebelle (Habanera)
Me voici dans son boudour
Priva son d'ogni conforto

ONCE
A Prayer (The Mighty Casey)
Ah! mon fils (Le Prophete)
Batti, batti
Beppe's Aria ( L'amico Fritz)
Cara speme, questo core
Che farò
Contro un cor
Dal crudel che m'ha tradita (Tamerlano)
Di tanti palpiti
En vain pour éviter
I am an actress (Nina's aria)
I am easily assimilated
Je vais mourir
Lyubasha's Aria (Tsar's Bride)
Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix
My father left me here (Therese Raquin)
New York has Changed Me (An American Tragedy)
Nimmermehr wird mein Herze...
Non . . . vous n'avais jamais (Les Huguenots)
O! la pitoyable aventure
Or la tromba
Perfido, di a quell'empio tiranno
Povero amico
Romance from La Damnation de Faust
Sgombra è la sacra selva / Deh! Proteggimi
Sta nell'Ircana
There is a garden
Vedro con mio diletto
What a movie
Where shall I fly

Aria Frequency List: Tenor

The following list was compiled from the arias listed on audition applications of singers who were heard during this fall's WTOC audition tour. The number in bold refers to the number of singers in this voice type who listed each aria. (This does not refer to the arias actually heard in auditions; that list will follow in December.)

MOST POPULAR (16X)
Dies Bildnis

RUNNERS-UP (11X)
Here I stand
Una furtiva lagrima

6X
Ah lève-toi soleil

5X
Ah mes amis

4X
Ah la paterna mano
Dein is mein ganzes Herz
Il mio tesoro

3X
Addio fiorito asil
Ecco ridente
Fra poco a me ricoverò
Frisch zum Kampfe
Ich baue ganz
It's about the way people is made (Sam's aria)
La fleur (Flower song)
New York Lights
O wie ängstlich
Outside this house
Pourquoi me reveiller
Tarquinius does not wait
Total Eclipse

2X
Che gelida manina
Dal labbro il canto
De Miei Bollenti Spiriti
Fantaisie aux divins mensonges
Firenze è come un albero
Kuda kuda (Lenski)
Lonely House
O Colombina
Parmi veder le lagrime
Quanto è bella
Questa o quella
Salut! demeure chaste e pure
Sì ritrovarla
Un aura amorosa

1X
Ach so fromm
Ah fuyez
Ah! Je vais l'aimer - Béatrice et Bénédict - Berlioz
Albert the Good
Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden
Amor ti vieta
Aria of the worm
Barbaro fato
Be not afeard
Care pupille
Ch'ella mi creda
Ciel e terra
Deserto in terra
Di rigori armato il seno
Divinite des grands Aames
D'ogni pieta mi spoglio
E un folle un vile affetto
Heaven helps those
I know that you all hate me
Im Gegenteil (Tanzmeister)
In that country (Adventure of Pinocchio)
Je crois entendre
Jour et nuit
Languir per una bella
Magische Tone
Mein lieber Schwan
O blonde Ceres
O Go! Go! Go Away!
O nature pleine de grâce
O paradis (L'Africaine)
O Souveraign
Oh jours heureux
Once when I was a young man
Open Thou my lips, O Lord
Peter Grimes’ mad scene
Povero Ernesto
Prologue - Turn of the Screw
Se all'impero
Se fosse in torno al trono
Tradito schernito
Tu vivi e punito
Un momento di contento
Va pour Kleinzach!
Vainement ma bien aimée
Vedrommi intorno
Wie eine Rosenknospe
Winterstürme

Aria Frequency List: Baritone

The following list was compiled from the arias listed on audition applications of singers who were heard during this fall's WTOC audition tour. The number in bold refers to the number of singers in this voice type who listed each aria. (This does not refer to the arias actually heard in auditions; that list will follow in December.)

THE BIG WINNER (22X)
Hai gia vinta la causa

10X
Ah per sempre
Mein Sehnen (Pierrot's Tanzlied - Die Tote Stadt)

9X
O du mein holder Abendstern

8X
Avant de quitter ces lieux

7X
Bella siccome un angelo
Come Paride vezzose
Lieben Hassen

6X
Largo al factotum
E fra quest'ansie (Silvio)
Votre toast (Toreador)

5X
Mab
O vin dissipe la tristesse
Within this frail crucible
Billy in the Darbies

4X
Papageno's suicide aria
Questo amor
Sois immobile

3X
Donne mie
Ein Mädchen
Onegin's aria
Onegin's Act III Arioso
Rivolgete
Vision fugitive

2X
And farewell to ye
Aprite un po quegl' occhi
Come un' ape
Maxim’s
Se vuol ballare
Vien Leonora
Warm as the autumn light
When the air sings of summer

ONCE
A quoi bon l'economie
Deh vieni all finestra
Deh, ti ferma
Der Vogelfänger
Di Provanza il mar
Do you know the land?
Du côte de la barbe (Cendrillon)
É sogno?
Fin ch'han dal vino
Friedrich's Aria (Das Liebesverbot)
George’s Aria
I'll be there (Grapes of Wrath)
Io morro ma lieto in core
Johanna
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
My Friends (Sweeney Todd)
News has a kind of mystery (Nixon In China)
Nothin', that's how you people see me
Nulla, silencio
Nur Mutig, mein Herze
O Nadir
O Rosalinde
Per me giunto...
Prince Igor (Ni sna ni)
Scintille, Diamant
Snooks' Aria (A Wedding)
Ves tabar spit (Aleko's Cavatina)
Voilà donc la terrible cité
Yeletsky's aria (Ya vas lyublu)
Zazà piccola zingara

Aria Frequency List: Bass & Bass-baritone

The following list was compiled from the arias listed on audition applications of singers who were heard during this fall's WTOC audition tour. The number in bold refers to the number of singers in this voice type who listed each aria. (This does not refer to the arias actually heard in auditions; that list will follow in December.)

THE WINNER (9X)
Se vuol ballare

RUNNER-UP (8X)
Vous qui faites l'endormie

6X
Come dal ciel
La calunnia
Madamina (Catalogue aria)
O Isis und Osiris

5X
Hear me O Lord
Il lacerato spirito
Vi ravviso

4X
Come master
Épouse quelque brave fille
Gremin's aria
Quand la flamme
Vecchia zimarra
When my cue comes call me
Aprite un po'

3X
I miei rampolli femminini
I rage / O ruddier than the cherry
I'm a lonely man Susannah
In diesen heil'gen Hallen

Twice
Aleko's aria (Ves' tabor spit)
Arise ye subterranean winds
Deh ti ferma
Ella giammai m'amò
Infelice
Schweig'! Schweig'!

Once
Abenlich stralht der Sonne Auge
Als Büblein klein
Di cupido
Ho capito
Le Tambour-Major
Le veau d'or
Leave me loathsome light
Mein Herr und Gott
Nel mondo e nell'abisso
Non più andrai
Oh Beauty, oh handsomeness, goodness
Ombre di mia prosapia
Piff paff
Rucker's Sermon
Scintille diamant
Tirannia
Vieni, la mia vendetta
Voici des roses
Voli colla sua tromba
Wahn!, Wahn ueberall Wahn
Wie schon ist doch die Musik

Saturday, November 21, 2009

National Opera Week on the Road


The Saturday morning sunrise from my New York hotel room was some consolation for having to be up at 6am to catch the train to Philadelphia.

My personal tally at the end of this, National Opera Week 2009:

  • 4 operas (Lohengrin, Esther, Stradella, & The House of the Dead)
  • 188 auditions
  • 393 arias
  • 17 monologues
  • 9 interviews
  • 7.5 hours of research
Still working on the Aria Frequency List for this tour; look for it by midweek.

Philadelphia today, and Vienna VA for the next 3 days. Much sleep is needed, but the finish line is in sight!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Tough Call

A lunch hour post, for I'm feeling a bit guilty at my blogging track record this time around. Seems that I can either do things or write about them, but not both...

We implemented a callback audition procedure a couple of years ago, and it has served us well. We only have one trip around the country to sort out all of our casting, for we have no other system that allows us to do preliminaries and finals. We can't stay out on the road any longer than we do, and I don't believe it would be fair to ask people in whom we are interested to pay for a special trip to Wolf Trap. That means that we have to think fast and answer a lot of questions in a short audition.

Until a few years ago, we did it all within the standard 10-minute appointment, but now we have the option to ask singers to come back at the end of the day (or midday, if there's a cancellation) to sing again. Not only does it give us a chance to discuss amongst ourselves and then hear some new material, it also gives all of us a chance to push the reset button and see each other anew. (Sounds dopey, but perspective changes, and a second, slightly removed, hearing is often illuminating.)

Anyway, the mechanics involve recording a hotline voice mail message with the names and appointment times for the singers who, based on their initial audition, we are considering seriously for this year's roster. The flip side of that is that if your name is not on the recording, that means your resume didn't make it into the "finalist" pile for this year.

I'm enough of a sad sack bleeding heart that it nearly kills me to record the damn voice mail. Twice a day. (No sympathy requested; if I haven't figured this out by now, it's my own fault.)

If you're not on the callback list, it doesn't mean that you sang a bad audition, or that there is necessarily anything dramatically wrong. There are almost as many reasons for not getting on the finalist list as there are singers. Completely individual. It just means that on this particular day at this particular time we don't find you among the 8-10 most compelling singers in your Fach. (It's disturbing math, but there it is. We hire an average of 16 Filene Young Artists, and usually pull those from about 50 finalists. Those 50 came from the initial 1,000. This is not to make you despair, just to give some perspective. There are plenty other YAPs and companies out there.)

We were talking this morning about how astonishingly revealing it is to hear this many auditions every year. My colleagues who do this regularly understand the phenomenon, but it's so hard to explain it to others who don't have the benefit of this long view.

It's not that I have any supernatural ability to make sense of what we hear in auditions - it's just that the sheer quantity itself tells a compelling story. It's a messy story, to be sure, but its details are clear. You quickly begin to understand what's unimportant and what's critical. For Wolf Trap alone, I've heard an average of 350-400 singers each season for the last 17 years (more over the last few years because of our Studio), so I've clocked somewhere between 6,000-7,000 auditions. Easily 15,000+ arias. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to make deductions from that kind of volume.

I do want to stress that although I throw around numbers to make this sound scientific, it is decidedly not. It's quite subjective, in fact. There are commonalities in good singing, of course, but once the basic parameters are met, preferences are unavoidably individual. We do our best to try to be as objective as we can, but there's a place where art and science diverge. And many of our decisions have to be made beyond that point.

Although the WTOC is terribly proud of its record in participating in the developing careers of several generations of fabulous singers, there are terrific artists who we passed over during our auditions. If you didn't get called back, perhaps you'll be another one of those.

So there you have it - back to some more singing this afternoon. I will try to compile this year's Aria Frequency List tonight and get it on the blog shortly. And I hope to be back by week's end with a summary of how I spent National Opera Week :)

Friday, November 13, 2009

Midwest Musings

This part of the tour is always too much of a whirlwind. Too many good singers, and too few hours in the day. It was a quick 8-hour turnaround from Wednesday night's arrival in Cincinnati to our morning departure from the hotel. And Thursday was dense, with only a half-hour for lunch, and a dash to the airport at the end of the day.

So, befitting our scattered state of mind, some random observations:


Chicken and Egg

I have a slight resistance to a certain Britten opera that shall remain nameless. (Normally I adore Britten, but I have a specific block about this one.) Anyway, an aria from said opera was offered the other day, and since I knew the singer very well, I allowed myself the atypical luxury of a groan. The end of the story? He sang the spots off the scene, and I was won over. I've thought a lot about it, and I have a theory.

So often this opera is sung by young singers whose technique and artistry are still developing, and as a result, I've gotten used to hearing it sung without a lot of legato, expressive flexibility, or finely tuned pitch center. And I've begun to equate those student performances with the piece itself. Sung with detail, accuracy and sensitivity, it took on a whole new aura.


The Delight is in the Details


Our Studio Artist candidates offer a brief contemporary monologue as part of their audition package. Some of them dread being asked for it, as their training and confidence as actors tends to lag behind their musical development. But I'm here to tell you that even though many of them aren't thrilled to perform their monologues, we find a lot more detail in those brief scenes than we do in the arias they've been working on for months or years.

The take-away here? Please please find as much detail, interest, and context in your singing as possible. A single generic emotion spread out over 5 minutes of music does not cut it, even if that emotion is extraordinarily strong and heartfelt.


It's Not About You

Don't sing for yourself.

Or to yourself.

It's not about you. It's about the audience, the music, and the characters that connect the two. I know that you feel it deeply, otherwise you probably wouldn't still be at this crazy game. But you have to get out of your head (and your heart) if you want us to come along with you. Don't be indulgent and selfish

I don't know if this makes sense, but this distinction is a big one.


LA: Epilogue

I said I'd post on Sunday after the MONC competition finals, and I failed. It was a marvelous weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to make a small contribution to the marvelous talent discovery machine that is the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. But the process of adjudicating those auditions is necessarily very different than what we do in our casting for Wolf Trap, and I'm happy to be back in my comfort zone.

While I was in LA, I heard the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel in Verdi's Requiem, and it was an unforgettable experience. All forces were on the top of their game - newly engaged by, it seemed - this piece of standard repertoire. There's a lot of buzz around this new music director, and (is not always the case) it's so lovely to discover something behind it. And on top of that, I adored being in Disney Hall. Too many times one tolerates the physical space in order to hear a performance - in this case, it was completely comfortable and aesthetically pleasing to be there. What a refreshing change.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Chicago: The No Caffeine Zone

We've settled into a new audition space in Chicago for 2 days. The management at Classical Symphony Hall is taking very good care of us, and we appreciate being able to listen to voices in a space that doesn't fight against us. The acoustic isn't luxuriously live, but the ceilings are high, and the sound is true. The singers don't seem to mind it, and it's easy to listen.

The only problem is that there's absolutely no food or drink (except water) allowed in the space. And listening to 40 auditions a day (as we did today) without access to coffee is a bit of a stretch. Yes, I'm chemically dependent on caffeine. But the best part was that when I posted the coffee-free-audition-room as my Facebook status update, I received a flurry of comments, the volume of which is normally reserved for announcements of the birth of children and landmark birthdays: 35 comments so far, including:

  • That just isn't right.
  • A crime against God and nature.
  • NOOO!
  • Gasp!
  • Maybe you can beam it in and use a Tarnhelm.
  • No coffee? Is that legal? NOT right!
  • NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
  • Oh, wow. Just imagine me trying to deal with this. I am getting worked up just thinking about it
  • NO COFFEE?!?! how is that legal?!
  • OMG somebody break in there and help that woman!
  • Clearly, I'm not the only one with an addiction.

Close Your Eyes, Change Your Brain

Now might be a good time to mention why I close my eyes. I'm not sleeping. (Go ahead, link through; it's a short article.)

Although I'm not a highly visual person, I seem to identify so closely with singers while I'm watching them that I have a hard time turning off my inner cheerleader/coach. ("Come on now... Breathe... Stick with the phrase... You can do it...") I've found that if I close my eyes, I can absorb what I hear far more clearly and thoroughly.

Of course, it's a technique to use sparingly, for part of the singer's allure is visual, and I certainly want to experience the visual nuances of the performance. But true to the research, the amygdala (of which I've nerdily written once before) is an amazingly strong barometer of emotional impact of an experience. My left brain is so busy shuffling resumes, looking at rep lists, and documenting the audition that I need a quick way to hook back into the non-clinical aspects of the moment. And closing my eyes is just the ticket.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Interlude: MONC Auditions

I'm on a mid-audition-tour busman's holiday this weekend, judging the Metropolitan Opera National Council Western Region auditions in Los Angeles on the beautiful campus of USC. A high level of singing, enjoyable colleagues, and marvelously friendly and efficient MONC staff and volunteers make it a pleasure.

Today we were in the Newman Recital Hall of the Thornton School of Music for preliminaries, and tomorrow the finals take place in Bovard Auditorium. I'm taking advantage of a night off tonight to catch the LA Phil in Verdi's Requiem. More tomorrow.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Technology in the Audition Room


We kicked off the fall audition tour with a strong start in Los Angeles, and as I was emptying my portable office of its seemingly endless gear, I was reminded of this NY Times article from last summer. I bookmarked it with a reminder to revisit this topic during the audition tour, and this seems like a good time. Clearly, sending casting updates and audition comments via Twitter crosses a line. But the location of that line is much harder to see when you're near it.

Full disclosure: this is how technology helps us in the audition room.


Computers

Yes, we use laptops. And no, we are not trying to be rude or ignore you. I've seen plenty of audition panels eat their lunches, do crossword puzzles, manicure their nails, and doze. Being rude does not require a computer, and typing on a laptop does not constitute an affront. Fact is, I can touch-type 10 times faster than I can write, and I can do it while I watch you perform.


Databases

I've kept the same auditions database for 16 years. The layouts are set up so that while we're listening to a singer, any previous years' audition comments are off the active screen. You can scroll to see them, but don't have to be influenced by them. And at the end of the day we can put all of our comments side-by-side so that we can see patterns.


Reference Media


We make video and audio recordings of each audition. They are saved onto hard drives. When we have our group of finalist candidates for the season, we review this media. It's always illuminating, and not in predictable ways.

Going back to the performances helps jog our memories of those auditions, and it gives us a chance to re-experience them (or a digital vestige of them) on a different day at a different time in different circumstances. They fill out the picture and help begin our deliberations. After casting is finished, the files are deleted. They've served their purpose, and the aggregate size is too large to archive anyway.


Printer

Yes, we travel with a printer. We print revised schedules for the day, keep track of possible repertoire as it emerges, and - most importantly - print boarding passes so we can sprint to the plane at the end of the day :)


Instant Messaging

And here is where I'm sure I'll get into trouble with someone. We use IM to decide on which aria to ask for next. It is way more efficient and thorough than hushed 3-way conversations while the singer is waiting at the other end of the hall. We can think through possible 2nd aria requests quickly and make sure we're choosing wisely.

I know that some of you think we're carrying on casual and unrelated IM correspondence during your audition. Although that might be tempting for the first few minutes or hours using this technology, in reality, it's far more boring than that. There's a lot to be done in documenting your audition - listening fiercely, writing comments that will help us make finalist and casting decisions, jotting down notes that may be helpful to singers when they request feedback, figuring out what the best 2nd choice will be - and there's really no time to chit-chat.


Social Networking

No, we're not going to tweet our audition comments. I think everyone realized that that was just plain stupid. But I am about to blog my 6th audition tour, and that's always a little scary. I started this blog because I believed that singers and fans alike deserved to know more about what really goes on behind the curtain and behind the audition table. Yet it's extremely difficult to do that without invading privacy. I hope that I have managed so far, and I will continue to do so. There are some things that are simply private. There are others that deserve to be openly acknowledged and discussed. Then there's a third list that includes important knowledge for aspiring singers but needs to be obfuscated in some way when the story is told.

The opera world and the arts in general have gotten way more transparent since I started writing in the fall of 2004, and that's a wonderful thing. Hurtful gossip and twisted storytelling will always spread like wildfire, and it's only fair that we now have news ways of counteracting that by keeping the real and important conversations open.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Happy Fifth Bloggiversary

Well, it was on Wednesday, but I missed it.


Now We Are Five.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Sweating Small Stuff... Seeing Forests for Trees... Wholes Being Greater than Sums of Parts ...

As we prepare for our California auditions, I thought this would be a great opportunity for a guest post. Joshua Winograde, Artistic Planning Manager for LA Opera, is a great friend and colleague of the WTOC, and he spent several chunks of his career so far with us - as a Filene Young Artist, as the originator of the title role in Volpone, and as the administrative engine behind the development of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio.

I keep telling Josh he should have his own blog, but he seems to prefer sending guest posts for mine... Hmmmm



Sweating Small Stuff... Seeing Forests for Trees... Wholes Being Greater than Sums of Parts ...

There are endless adages encouraging people to see the larger point, even at the expense of detail. They are wise sayings, and apply to many situations. But believing in these morsels of wisdom too much can be a downward spiral for singers. I'd like to propose that seeing too much of the bigger picture (or at least DWELLING on it) can be bad.

You know when you learn a word for the first time, and then over the course of the following week you hear it seemingly in every newscast, radio show, and conversation you have? Well, over the last two weeks I have come across 3 situations that involve the exact same theme: "DO

SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF" (AKA "PAY ATTENTION TO THE TREES", AKA "THE PARTS ARE GREAT, TOO"). So I saw it as a sign to get this information out there ...

I offer this important disclaimer first: Nothing applies to everything or everyone across the board. So don't take this too literally ...just some food for thought.

(By the way, all details have been adjusted ever so slightly without altering the point. So don't bother trying to guess who these are about ... you won't, and you'll end up spending 10 fruitless hours on google :))

Situation #1

A young and very talented conductor friend of mine was lamenting recently about his career not being quite as important (yet) as he had hoped it would be by his age. He used the wondrous, spectacular, unreal, phenomenal Gustavo Dudamel as an example of what he hoped he would have accomplished by HIS 30th birthday. The large picture was this: "Dudamel is my age, why am I not famous? What can he do that I could not, if given the same opportunity? Why don't I have MY own orchestra? Why are LA's streets not covered with posters of ME?"

First I want to just point out that my friend is NOT an egomaniac. He is just concerned that the WHOLE seems to be LESS than the sum of his parts. So I asked him the following questions: "Well, what about the time you guested with the XXXXX Symphony last year?" "Oh," he said, "that was kind of a bomb. The orchestra hated the piece and I had a cold so I wasn't very pleasant or charismatic or inspiring." My response? "When was the last time Dudamel was UN-inspiring, do you think, even with a cold and a horrible composition?" The answer, of course, is NEVER.

My advice was simple. Don't worry about the big picture. Just be excellent. Don't think about Dudamel's explosive career. Just conduct well. Don't worry about whether there might be a chance for you to catch up with someone your own age who is doing much better than you. JUST. BE. EXCELLENT. The next time you conduct, do it well. Someone will hear it and will tell someone else how amazing you were, but DON'T think about that. The next time you are in front of an orchestra, just be excellent. They'll love you because you were excellent, and you'll get another job from it, or an agent, or a poster on the street. But you'll have gotten those things because you were excellent, not because of a larger, abstract agenda to be famous, likable, charismatic, etc. And I am sorry to say that, very often but not always, if you didn't get good things as a result of your performances, it's because they weren't excellent. Got it?

Situation #2

One of today's most famous directors just told me this story about his first big break. He had been the assistant director for many years of another SUPER famous director, and was given the opportunity to finally direct his own show. It happened to star several of the most famous singers in the world, and he was FREAKED. "How do I make sure they like me? How are they going to react to some young, unknown punk telling them what to do? How will they take me

seriously? What if I bomb?" This young director took his concerns to his mentor (the SUPER famous one), who replied with this: "Start by fixing their mistakes."

It was a revelation to this young AD (who by the way had a HUGE success). In other words, don't worry about their perception of your expertise. Just fix mistakes. Don't get hysterical about whether this will get good reviews. Just direct well. You can't control whether they have already formed an unjust opinion of you since learning their director was an unknown punk. JUST. BE. EXCELLENT.

The famous singers will tell all their famous friends about how great you were. People will ask you for the DVD to see your work. You will be hired again by the same company. But it will be because you directed excellently, not because you somehow strategized to become loved, or successful, or to get good reviews.

Situation #3

I saw a video of a cello master class taught by the most successful cellist in recent history. The student he was working with was getting flustered by his critiques, not because the teacher was impatient or unclear, but because the young cellist student said she "couldn't quite get a complete picture of the appropriate Bach style" he was asking for. His response: "Start by playing beautifully. And in tune." There was dead silence for about 10 LONG seconds before they just continued. It was as if the statement was so simple that no one could understand it.

By this point in my ramblings, you get it ...

So in summary, how does this apply to singers? Are you anxious about your career? Do you want us to like you? Are you unclear about which managers to approach? Are you confused about which YAPs might want you? Do you want desperately to understand bel canto style? Mozart recits? Handel ornamentation? Do you want to make a good impression and be re-engaged by the company you are working at currently? Do you want to get on the good side of someone important? Blah blah blah ... forest for the ... whole is greater ... too big picture ... waste of time ... yuck.

Start by singing excellently. The next time I hear you, be excellent. Sing beautifully. And in tune. Pronounce your words excellently. Is your top short? Fix it. Do people tell you that you go flat sometimes? Fix it. Make it excellent. Are your runs sloppy? Fix them. Are your recits unnatural and "un-Italian"? Make them idiomatic. The next time you sing, and the time after that, too, just do a REALLY good job. Trust me, if you are excellent, we'll like you. You'll get re-engaged. You'll get a job like Dudamel's. Your Bach style will be wonderful.

YES ... I can hear the screams from here. "Do a good job? That is so abstract and more complicated than you think! This makes no sense! If I COULD just be excellent I wouldn't need to keep studying! You can't just WILL yourself to sing in tune, JOSH!!! Coloratura is hard!"

And you are absolutely right if you thought any of these things to yourself. I have completely over-simplified the process and I myself can hardly believe some of the idealistic and intangible things I've said. But if you REALLY don't think anything I have said applies to the coming audition season and to the rest of your career, then please allow me to tie this up cleverly in a sweet little bow: maybe you just can't see the forest for the trees.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

IAD-LAX-ORD-CVG-IAH-JFK/NYP-PHI-WAS

And we're off. 7 cities, 6 airports, 3 train stations, dozens of cabs and one car rental later, we'll end up back here at Thanksgiving - with any luck, ready to cast 3 operas for next summer.

I'll write as often as possible from the road - cities and dates below at right.

Tonight I try to stuff 3 weeks' worth of clothing, computer gear, audio/video archive equipment, and audition paperwork into one checked back and one carry-on. The travails of travel await, but this will make it all better this year.

See you from the left coast in a few days.