Vienna, Virginia

Auditions yesterday at The Barns. Nice to be on home turf. The warm and inviting acoustics of our home theatre are both a boon and a challenge.

Each audition city seems to have its own personality, and it seems to require a different set of ears to get what we need from each site.

• We hear much more “raw” talent in these DC-area auditions. Many of these singers have great potential but are still foundering with technique and mastery of style.
• Up-and-comers – Philadelphia (Curtis Institute and Academy of Vocal Arts, primarily) and Cincinnati (University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois, University of Missouri – Kansas City, and others) are largely populated with very promising singers who are just a few steps earlier in their training.
• YAP’s – Relative beginners also show up in Houston (Rice University, University of Houston, University of North Texas) and our west coast locations, but there they are joined by advanced singers who have found a place in the Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program. (San Francisco Opera also has a terrific YAP, but it’s a year-round commitment. Los Angeles Opera’s YAP is an up-and-comer.)
• Young Professionals – In contrast, New York offers up a higher percentage of seasoned young singers – folks who have may have already finished advanced degrees and are enjoying the opportunity to work with some of our business’ best teachers and coaches.
• Mixed Bag –Chicago always offers a little of everything – some Midwest university students, some singers from the Lyric Opera Center, and anyone else for whom it’s convenient to use O’Hare as a hub.

Opera on DVD

I don’t usually watch opera on DVD. I wish I did enjoy it, but I find it only minimally satisfying. I am not, however, above using Netflix to help with repertoire research. The first three I surfed brought a smile to my face – not because they were enjoyable (they varied widely on this count), but because they featured old Wolf Trap friends: Paul Austin Kelly in La fille du regiment, David Kuebler in La gazza ladra, and Charlotte Hellekant in Owen Wingrave.

“A Few Bumps”

That’s what the flight attendants say when you’re going to spend the next 20 minutes trying to keep your lunch down. Lovely weather moving across the eastern half of the country had air traffic in a tizzy tonight. Felt like riding an old wooden roller coaster. (Remember those?) In between bumps, we sampled two more DVD’s – an uneven Italian production of L’equivoco stravagante and the beautiful Glyndebourne production of Le comte Ory.

The Shuffle

• Finale from Don Giovanni – “Questo è il fin di chi fa mal” (That’s how evil men meet their end!)
• Jack Johnson’s “Brushfire Fairytales” – lots of Jack on the iPod thanks to my acoustic-guitar-wielding son.
• Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony. Didn’t understand Shostakovich a whit when I was trying to play the piano trios about ten years ago. Now I’m fascinated by him. Happy 100th birthday, Dmitri!
• Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld. Wacky piece. Wish we could produce it, but our venue is too small.
• Barbara Cook singing “Time Heals Everything.” Indeed.

The End of the Great Big American Voice – A Response

My plans for an opera-free Sunday were dashed by the front page of this morning’s New York Times Arts section. Anne Midgette’s feature on the shortcomings of America’s opera “farm teams” has my head spinning. For what it’s worth, here’s a response – argumentative, sympathetic, and defensive all at once.

Stephanie Blythe in 2005.
(Richard Termine for The New York Times.)

Concurrence

I will not deny that identifying and nurturing the “big voices” of tomorrow is difficult. Nor will I refute that we who deal with emerging artists tend to do a better job with those singers whose entire “package” comes together at an earlier age. While this bias is not deliberate, correcting it is a conundrum.

First, identification. In our annual auditions, we typically hear 15-20 voices that might fit in this category. A rare few already have enough of a skill set to benefit from our particular program. (Meaning that their languages are in decent shape, and their vocal technique is solid enough to sustain the assignment of a full-length role.) Most are still bundles of raw talent. Many are biding their time in an alternate Fach (vocal classification) until their instruments and techniques mature. Dramatic sopranos often refine their linguistic, dramatic, and musical chops while passing a few years as mezzos until the top portion of the soprano range comes under complete control. Likewise for full lyric tenors masquerading as baritones and Helden-baritones singing as basses. This is not a bad thing, and those of us who work with emerging talent recognize this path.

Then, stewardship. Ms. Midgette’s article only grazed the fact that the young artist programs in this country’s big houses are making a concerted attempt to be good stewards of these big voices. More should be made of this. Mention was made of Marjorie Owens, a budding full lyric who blossomed in the Houston Grand Opera Studio, sang her first big role with us at Wolf Trap last summer, and is now moving to the Chicago Lyric Opera Center. Just one example, but a pertinent one.

Them’s Fightin’ Words

Shared culpability. I believe that the media (broadest use of the term) are hugely implicated in this scenario. "Slight, light” singers are not just favored by training programs; they are also the darlings of magazines, newspapers, record companies and (whenever opera is lucky enough to be mentioned) television. They fit so much more nicely into our culture. Usually thinner, prettier, and perceived as more refined. Not as much a threat to our popular culture’s norms as are the messy force-of-nature talents that are bigger voices.

Success Stories. A quick read of today’s paper leaves a gloom-and-doom impression. But many big voices have been well-served by this country’s “farm team” system. In spite of the proclamations of folks like Ms. Midgette and Peter Davis (The American Opera Singer is a book-length indictment on this same subject) the American system for singer training is the best in the world. Not without its warts, but all the same, the largest contributor to the international scene. The accompanying audio file on the New York Times website glorifies mezzo Stephanie Blythe as a “hope for the future…(with the) huge thrilling voice of a golden age singer.” Stephanie received training in the Met’s young artist program, and she spent two summers at Wolf Trap. Our own history with the Big American Voice is extensive. Before Stephanie Blythe, there was Alan Held, Gordon Hawkins, Nancy Maultsby and Margaret Jane Wray. In recent years, we’ve had emerging artists Morris Robinson (also mentioned in today’s feature), Carolyn Betty, Simon O’Neill, and Stacey Rishoi. The recent Ring at Seattle Opera included nine former Wolf Trappers in its cast.

Other Paths

Have we missed some important voices? To be sure. We passed over Deborah Voigt. (And Renée Fleming, for that matter.) We’re proud of our track record (over 90% of our company members from the last 15 years are still career singers), but no one program can participate in the development of all of tomorrow’s great singers. The goal is to do a comprehensive job as an aggregate.

Jennifer Wilson, the soprano whose performances of Brünnhilde kicked off today’s article, is one that fell through the cracks. I knew Jennifer briefly when she was starting out in the Washington, D.C. area – she coached with me just a few times in the early 90’s. Clearly a significant voice, even then, but so far to go. The biggest thing that separates her from those who won’t sing on the Chicago Lyric stage is determination. Not that we want anyone to have to work so hard and wait so long, but it happens. It’s important that she didn’t give up, but it’s equally as instructive that she didn’t spend all her energy on damning the system that didn’t serve her well. She just kept singing.

The question of career paths that don’t involve singing in “the minors” is one with which I’m familiar. Every business has a pyramid structure, and opera is no different. The air gets more rarefied and the selection more rigorous with every step toward the "top." Some people fall off because the level of God-given talent (the “pipes”) can’t compete. Some have a toxic lack of work ethic. Still others realize that the itinerant lifestyle is something they can’t sustain. But there are many other ways to participate in cultural life – to inspire audiences and challenge oneself. These things don’t only happen on the stage of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Mozart

Is Mozart a miracle drug to be indiscriminately prescribed to all young singers? Of course not. Yes, we who work with young singers, and Wolf Trap Opera in particular, have made a big deal about Wolfgang’s suitability for emerging voices. Although I would personally broaden the circle a bit to include Handel and contemporaries, I’m sticking with the basic premise. Almost every developing voice that I’ve been involved with (including my coaching staff days at Wolf Trap, we’re talking 21 years’ worth) can both serve and be served by a few roles in this mid-late 18th century canon. Assignments must be made judiciously, and singers must be allowed and encouraged to sing with the entire voices. And pride shouldn’t get in the way of singing “comprimario” roles to gain stage experience and chops while the voice is still developing. (More about Mozart and Wolf Trap in a later entry…)

Voice Lessons

I won’t say too much, for this is an area in which I don’t participate. But judging from what we see when auditioning singers from the country’s top conservatories, this is a huge dilemma. Once a week is not enough. Once a day is more like it. In another time and place, a few generations of singers ago, that’s the way it was done. Singing is a physical act. Would you expect a gymnast to only see her coach for an hour a week? It’s crazy. Singers are flying blind so much of the time. It’s about money (teachers’ time doesn’t come cheap), it’s about time (competing pressure for students to refine languages, study culture and music history and repertoire), and it’s about schedules (yes, many teachers are still performing and have their own travel and rehearsal schedules to accommodate). I don’t know what the answer is, but too often the singers who prosper in this system are the ones with fairly unproblematic, tidy voices and techniques. The “slight, light” voices of today’s newspaper.

And Finally…

I’ve been tamping this down, but I must admit that my secondary response to today’s article was one of chagrin. I’m a realist regarding the part our company plays in the careers of today’s developing artists. We’re a single component in a large system, but our contribution is unique and independent. Ask anyone who knows us. I can’t decide if I’m disappointed that we were entirely overlooked in this survey, or if I’m relieved that we weren’t implicated in the generally disparaging tone of the report. Probably both.

The timing of this tirade is fortuitous, for our next big hurdle involves how we’re going to program opera in Wolf Trap’s large venue (the Filene Center). The discussion of larger voices has implications for this venue that don’t figure at all in discussion of repertoire at our primary venue (the small Barns). It might take a few days for me to get to this topic, for travel will be intense this week. But check back soon, and thanks for letting me vent!

New York Day 5

Report from the Road

You know you’re getting tired when forgetfulness sets in. Left my purse in Starbucks this morning. Checked out of the hotel; was carrying a suitcase, a bag of computer and audio gear, a bunch of books and CDs; had a meeting scheduled before auditions, and afterwards walked down Columbus Avenue schlepping everything but my purse.

There’s hope for mankind, though. Ten minutes later, the purse was still there.

Auditions went well, though, and the day turned out just fine. "Keine Panik," as my colleague Thomas likes to remind me.

Shop Talk

Regional Accents. If English isn’t your first language, it’s usually not wise to choose an aria that requires a regional accent. The clearest example is Susannah (in Carlisle Floyd’s opera of the same name). While it’s possible to sing this aria in the King’s English, it’s best performed with an authentic touch (just a touch!) of an Appalachian accent. Not an easy thing to do well, particularly if English isn’t your mother tongue. But overly conscientious and tortured diphthongs and triphthongs are tremendously distracting.

Soprano Traps. 1) “Caro nome” and 2) “Depuis le jour.” I’m not trying to keep these two arias out of the audition room. But just a few words of caution: They are extremely difficult to pull off. Sopranos often feel good about conquering their vocal hurdles but don’t realize that they’re underestimating the musical challenges. (These aren’t the only two that fall into this category, but they’re the ones that appear on rep lists with alarming frequency.) Phrasing, form, idiomatic touches – a significant level of artistry is needed to sing them well. Not that we expect 25-year-olds to be able to impart the musical wisdom of the ages. And I don’t mean for these beautiful songs to fall off everyone’s lists. If you sing one of them, take extra care. Spend extra time unearthing its secrets.

Testing the Acoustics. We chatted last night with tenor Javier Abreu (our Ramiro last summer) about auditioning in venues with wide-ranging acoustical properties. He likes to start a few measures of recitative preceding an aria whenever possible. Uses the recit to gauge the acoustics so that he isn’t surprised during the aria. The biggest mistake that inexperienced singers make is to react to dry acoustics by pushing for volume because they don’t hear much sound coming back at them.

A Cappella Rules!

I’ve become a college a cappella junkie. My daughter’s a cappella group concert is this week, but, as is too frequently the case during the auditions tour, I’m missing out on some family stuff. I hate missing their concerts. Go Virginia Sil’hoettes! Check them out at www.silhooettes.com. (My daughter is the gorgeous redhead:))

Taking the weekend off from blogging. Playing the organ for my nephew's wedding! See you Monday.

New York Day 4

Wolf Trap in New York dinner

L-R: Audrey Babcock, Liora Maurer, Heather Gilles, Lisa Ostrich, Kate Lindsey, Sarah Meyers, Javier Abreu, Anna Christy, Alex Tall, Dimitri Pittas, Kate Mangiameli, Jen Aylmer, Keith Phares


Report from the Road

There are trends – maybe even fads – in the choice of audition arias. It seems that there are always a few pieces that crop up again and again. The strange thing about this year is that we seem to be hearing the widest variety of arias ever. We’ve heard about 300 arias so far, and fewer than 30 of them were duplicates. (This is anecdotal, based on a quick summary. If I have time later in the month, waiting for some delayed airplane or something, I’ll do hard cold statistics. Unnecessary, I know, but completely irresistible in a weird way.)

Remember the rash of cancellations on Monday? Well, we’ve only had one person cancel since. It all evens out. These days we’re scrambling to stay on schedule.

More and more singers are coming into the room saying that they’re reading this. I'm both encouraged and a little freaked out by that. Please remember that while I occasionally slip into humor, it’s never meant to be malicious. I tend to speak frankly because I find that the cult-like secrecy that often surrounds our business rarely serves us or the music well.

Shop Talk

Pianists. I know that it’s comforting to bring an accompanist who knows you and who knows your repertoire. But please don’t bring someone who does you a disservice. It happened a few times this week. Both my colleague and I are coaches, and we know when a singer is struggling to drag his or her pianist up to tempo. (Or fighting to slow down a runaway train.) The majority of singers who bring accompanists do not fall into this category, but sadly, the singers who do make this mistake are often the very ones who can ill afford a liability like that.

New Arias. Neither of these are brand new, but they’re certainly uncommon.

• Mezzo – “Waiting” from Harbison’s Great Gatsby. A chance to dig into a character piece and indulge in some juicy singing, too.
• Soprano – “Love Me Big” from Bolcom’s McTeague. You have to be the right kind of singer (it takes some good “steel” in the voice, and great force of personality), but it’s a fabulous sing.
• Soprano – “You’ve Never Seen the Winter Here” from Hoiby’s A Month in the Country. Light lyric soprano. Only about 2 minutes long.

Colleagues

No theatre- or concert-going tonight. It’s time for our annual Wolf Trap in New York dinner. 17 singers and staff from previous seasons, vintage 1996 through 2005! Photo at top.

Parting Words

Words I try to live by as a sometime pianist. Applies to singing, too, of course. “Anything you can imagine clearly, you can play. That’s the great secret.” (Body and Soul – Frank Conroy) The catch is that truly imagining is not an easy thing to do.

New York Day 3

Report from the Road

Getting into the rhythm. Every 10-minute interval is filled with about 7 -8 minutes of singing, a minute of chatting/welcoming, and a minute of documentation. The database is an amazingly helpful thing, for it allows us to hear singers’ performances in context.

What’s on the database? This is a simplification, of course, but we’re able to access the following information on one screen:

• How many times the singer has auditioned for us before. (Comments from previous years are also available, but we tend not to look at them until the current audition has passed. Keeps the memory of a previous bad sing from influencing our responses.)
• Graduate schools, conservatories, and young artist programs attended. (The more opportunity an artist has had to participate high-level training programs, the more we expect of him/her. Someone who hasn’t had access to top-flight instruction can have a successful audition on the strength of natural talent. But a singer who has had a high level of experience and professional exposure can’t get away with sloppy skills.)
• Teachers, coaches, colleagues. We know who to call if we have questions about your past engagements. (Often this works in an artist’s favor, especially those who don’t do stellar auditions but are dynamite onstage.)
• Roles sung and awards won.

The database is a conscientious singer’s friend. It allows us to make informed, considered responses to the whole artist, not just 7.5 minutes of singing out of context.

Shop Talk

First impressions, continued. For sopranos.

If you begin with Juliette’s waltz or “Chacun le sait” from La fille du regiment, be sure that under any circumstances (a cold, too much or too little caffeine, a sleepless night, a drop in barometric pressure…) you can sing those initial cadenzas in tune and without any casualties. If you end up in a different key than you started in, you’re faced with re-winning our confidence. The same thing happens at the ends of arias (long cadenzas that stray), but then we’re likely to chalk it up to fatigue. Troubles at the beginning can be caused by nerves, I know. But if the cadenza makes you nervous, start with something else.

News from Yale

This is old news, but I keep forgetting to put it in the blog. Yale has received an endowment that will pay tuition for all School of Music degree candidates. Curtis Institute is the only conservatory that currently does this. If you haven't heard about this yet, go here.

Opera by Day (The Little Prince)…

Ran upstairs at lunchtime to catch the dress rehearsal of Act II of The Little Prince – it opens here at City Opera on Saturday. Wolf-Trappers Keith Phares, Josh Winograde (in costume pajamas at right, demonstrating how not to behave when on an audition panel), and Hanan Alattar in the cast. A dress rehearsal audience full of rabidly enthusiastic New York City schoolchildren.

…Chamber Music by Night (Borromeo Quartet)

Another facet of my job involves bringing artists to The Barns at Wolf Trap for our chamber music series. We're hoping to feature the Borromeo String Quartet next season, so I took the opportunity to hear them tonight at Alice Tully Hall.

I didn’t have a chance to do my intermission eavesdropping, for I had some phone business to take care of. But an evening of chamber music was just what the doctor ordered. Even though 45 minutes of it was Schoenberg. An early work (Quartet #1), but still a bit of a difficult sit in a few stretches. Truly rewarding, though, for the patient.

And chamber music audiences are (for the large part) nothing if not patient. A great 'flip-side' to opera audiences. The latter are loud, opinionated, and usually engage in love-hate relationships with their artists and their repertoire. But chamber music audiences abound in equanimity and sheer love of music. Many of them were or are amateur players themselves. You can imagine them doing Tai Chi and drinking chai. I’m a chamber music personality trapped in an opera world. :)

"Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."

New York Day 2

Report from the Road

Visitations from many friends – former Wolf Trappers (Joshua Winograde, Matt Boehler, Keith Phares, Kevin Burdette & Matt Burns – the latter of whom are beaming out at you from the photo on the left), conductors Gary Wedow and Steve Mosteller, and former apprentice director Sarah Meyers (who’s directing the Little Prince production upstairs at City Opera right now). When I mused about the fact that most of our singer visitations were by basses, Kevin reminded me that basses are always in it for the long haul. It’s their basic temperament. It has to be.

Spent another evening at Lincoln Center, this time to see The Light in the Piazza. Related rant found at the end of this entry.

Shop Talk

Long recitatives: If you sing an aria with a recitative that’s longer than the aria proper (“Eccomi in lieta vesta….O quante volte from I Capuleti ed i Montecchi is the best example I can think of), you may want to reconsider. Or find a way of offering just the aria with a brief lead-in of recit. Three or more minutes of recitative is a lifetime in an audition setting. Yes, it shows if you have the acting chops to tackle the scene. But sadly, out of dramatic context, most young singers don’t.

Coloratura: You’ve heard the admonitions. It has to mean something. It must be motivated, have intention, color, detail. We know that you know this. But we very rarely see it put into practice. It’s astonishing how easy it is to see the eyes glaze over, the face go blank, the arms and hands begin to clench. Don’t disappear on us. Trust me, I know how difficult it is. But most of these composers knew what they were doing. We’re not asking you to treat these challenging passages as if they were easy. They exist for musical and dramatic reasons. 1) Figure out exactly what those reasons are, 2) Merge the composer's intentions with your technique and approach to the coloratura, and (this is the hardest one) 3) Make it more than an intellectual exercise. It must, as they say, “read” all the way to the back row.

Biographies: Later on, when your manager provides materials to prospective employers, s/he will include a lovely prose biography that makes you sound irresistible. But for now, you should resist the temptation to make up your own biography and submit it with your résumé (or worse, in place of your résumé.) Let your singing demonstrate how terrific you are.

IMVHO

One of my favorite things to do at the theatre or opera house is mill around during intermission and eavesdrop on conversations. (This irritates my husband, who thinks it’s just plain weird.)

Overheard last night at the Met’s Lucia. “I can’t believe that [insert singer’s name] made that mistake….tsk tsk tsk….”. “I remember Lucia with [insert names of retired famous singers], and it was so much better.” “I think [singer] sounded much better last season.” And on and on.

What I find consistently and disconcertingly missing is any conversation about what is really happening in the theatre. Donizetti isn’t my first love, I’ll admit that. But I’m touched by this young woman whose mother just died. She’s utterly alone, with only her brother to look after her. When he begins to verbally and physically abuse her in Act II, my heart breaks for her. And is it really that operatically far-fetched that she goes mad and kills the husband that she was forced to marry? These things really happen. And not just in moldy old Scotland.

Why don’t we seem to care? Or maybe we do, and it’s just not the kind of thing we talk about. To be sure, grand opera requires suspension of disbelief. Things don’t happen in real time. But that’s what gives them extraordinary power. As the late Robertson Davies said, “Music is the lyre and opera is the underworld of passion and romance that everyone desires but which daily life rarely offers."

I’m getting way off topic.

Overheard tonight at Light in the Piazza. “The music is hideous.” “The sets and costumes are to die for, but there isn’t a single tune.” “I find the whole thing unbelievable.”

What? OK, full disclosure here. I’m a sucker for this show, and it has nothing to do with my “professional” opinion of it as a theatrical or musical work. I cry almost every time I hear the recording, and I cried through most of the second act tonight.

Don’t we all see ourselves up there? Young people whose entire lives are ahead of them, and whose optimism and belief in the power of love takes your breath away. Husbands and wives who have lost their way and don’t know when or how. Parents who can’t protect their children any more. Kind of like Lucia.

Maybe I’m just sucked into bad black holes when I’m picking up on conversations in the lobby. Maybe it’s human nature for everyone to be a critic. In both cases, at the opera and the theatre, there were standing ovations. So all is not lost.

Ciao

I think that it was safer when the internet connection in my hotel room didn’t work and I could go to sleep with a clear conscience. Tonight, armed with a backlog of emails, a functioning wireless connection, and a fit of compulsive behavior, I’ve stayed up way too late.

New York Day 1

Report from the Road

Today’s entry is long. Treat it like a Chinese menu.

Sad amateur photo at the right was taken as I and a few thousand of my closest friends were leaving the Met after tonight’s performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. (I really do need to get a better camera or learn how to use the one I have.) More Lucia if you make it to the bottom of this entry.

Made the mistake of getting into New York at midnight last night, and there were no “No Smoking” rooms left at the hotel. Grrr. Also broke the earphones to my iPod. Trouble with the internet connection at the hotel, so this posting is late. Boring travel irritations…

Rash of singer cancellations today due to sickness. Four out of 33 – a higher percentage than usual. But if we try to bank on cancellations and overbook the auditions, suddenly everyone shows up and we have to hurry folks through.

We’re at New York City Opera today, auditioning in the Orchestra Rehearsal Room. Singers hate it because the acoustic is dry. We’re not tremendously fond of it, but ears adapt very quickly, and the lack of reverb makes our job easier. That sounds callous, but look at it this way. When I hear a singer in a generous, boomy acoustic, I do immediate mental subtraction: What does the voice sound like minus all of that extra resonance? In the drier acoustic, the mental math is all about addition. Giving the benefit of the doubt. And because details emerge more clearly, a well-prepared, focused singer with a solid technique probably has a slight advantage over a similar performer in a “live” room where I’m likely to be mildly suspicious of my favorable response.

Shop Talk

“Sometimes it’s better to focus on one big thing” (Officer Lockstock, in Urinetown, of course…I promise this is the last time I mention it...) Today’s “big thing” –

Singing On Pitch. I wish I had the magic bullet. I’m certainly glad I’m not coaching singers any more because I’m really at a loss. It’s truly an issue for singers and their teachers, but it too often gets ignored, or tabled, or minimized. But it’s the elephant in the room. Years and years of work devoted to refining all other aspects of vocalism (projection, resonance, smoothing out the registers, etc), learning languages and styles, dissecting characters and scenes – it all takes a back seat if the singing isn’t on pitch. Flatness is more pervasive, but being sharp is just as deadly. I have no advice on this. It would be pretentious to believe I do.

Arias:

Tenors: “Celie” from Pasatieri’s Signore Deluso – a viable alternative English aria. For a heavier voice than Rakewell, but stacks up nicely against Anatol (“Outside This House”) and Sam (“Lonely House”.)

Sopranos: Zerbinetta’s scene from Ariadne auf Naxos – don’t. Please don’t. It’s so tempting. I love it too. But it’s almost 12 minutes long. Even if you’re prepared for us to cut you off, it’s hardly the optimal scenario for making a good impression. If you’re really attached to it, start with “So war es mit Pagliazzo…”

Ladies: Parade of the E-naturals. This sounds silly, but first impressions count… The E-natural at the top of the treble staff is not a problem-free note. For many women it’s dangerous territory. There are a few arias that seem momentarily (and dramatically) to be about that E-natural: “Va!..............laisse couler mes larmes”, “Gualtier Maldé…….(Caro nome)”, and “Quan……..do m’en vo” for starters. Of course, all of those arias go on to be about much more than the E-natural. But if the first sustained sound we hear is problematic, you’re already working with a deficit. (OK, now you really do think I’m crazy.)

IMVHO

Lucia at the Met tonight. But if you’re waiting for me to “review” the performance, you should get back to work or read your email or something.

Busman’s Holiday: It’s not easy to spend 7 hours listening to auditions then go to the opera at night. But I do it for a few reasons. I don’t get out very often (literally) under normal circumstances. Life gets in the way. Catching up on work, volunteering at school or church, or being at home so the teenager that’s still living there is suitably nagged. I go to the opera to be sure I don’t lose sight of the goal. Running a young artist program within a parent institution that isn’t all about opera means that it’s easy to lose touch with the rest of the industry. As much as I love my beautiful office in the woods at Wolf Trap, it can certainly be isolating. And finally, I love to go see productions that feature alumni of our company. Elizabeth Futral (WTOC ’91) has been singing Lucia at the Met (and elsewhere) for quite a while now, and I finally got to hear her. (Sidebar: Elizabeth is married to conductor Steven White, who led our L’elisir d’amore at The Barns last year. She spent some time with us in Vienna, and it was a pleasure to catch up.)

Verdi: I was delighted to see that Edoardo Müller was conducting tonight. Back when I was working for Washington Opera, Maestro Müller conducted a Luisa Miller for which I played rehearsals (about 15 years ago). I learned more about Verdi in three weeks with him than I learned before or since. I’d worked with too many conductors who treated Verdi interpretation like a secret members-only club that we poor mortals could never join. Maestro Müller approached it in a way that allowed this poor pianist (who, at that time, didn’t have a single natural Italianate bone in her entire body) to understand it as good music, pure and simple.

Extracurriculars

For those of you who asked, the Urinetown performances at the high school were great fun. First sell-out (Saturday night) in our history. I could go on and on about what theatre does for these kids – teaches them that creativity and discipline aren’t mutually exclusive, for example – but this isn’t the time or place. Can’t close this chapter without a few pictures, though!












Above: Bobby Strong & Company
Right: My son as “Robbie the Stockfish” :)