Getting ready for Fidelio.
Alle Menschen werden Brüder
Swan songs... Two of them have expired :(
(The tenor still has another summer in him, with any luck!)
Bye, guys. We'll miss you!
There's probably absolutely nothing new I could post here on the subject of auditioning. Four years of audition tour blogging has pretty much tapped out the topic. As I was considering the prospect of reigning over an Open Studio audition class this morning, it felt as if I had absolutely nothing to say. I haven't been in the audition groove since last winter, and the just the idea of thinking about it made me tired. But then the singing started, and it all felt familiar. Just like riding a bike, I guess.
It helped that these young singers are really so very musical, intuitive, smart, and gifted with naturally healthy, beautiful instruments. We've been preparing to say goodbye to these 16, getting their comments about their Wolf Trap summer, and trying to help however we can with next steps. One of those steps is making sure they put their best foot forward every time they step into the audition room.
I only had a chance to hear 6 of them today, and there's never enough time to really cover everything. It's made a little tougher by the fact that there is an invited audience (hence the term Open Studio), and some conversations are only effective when they're private. But these folks are amazingly sanguine about all of the wide-ranging advice they're receiving at this part of their developing careers.
I was talking a few days ago to one of our Filene Young Artists, and she mentioned an image that she's found useful when trying to describe what it takes to be an effective and honest performing artist: You must have the biggest, warmest, softest heart imaginable; then you must put it in a strong steel cage.
Without heart, artists become entertaining musical acrobats. Without the cage, your heart can be eaten alive before you know it.
I'm impressed by these Studio Artists' willingness to continually seek feedback, criticism, and suggestions - while fighting off the human tendency toward self-protection and defensiveness. We who don't daily put ourselves up there on the stage as an easy target for everyone's opinions and preferences should pay heed.
This morning we kicked off the 2008 version of Open Studio. For 5 days we offer an opportunity for Wolf Trap donors to see inside the workings of our newest venture - the Wolf Trap Opera Studio.
All sessions begin with an introduction by WTOS' fearless leader Josh Winograde. (Who will momentarily leave us for a Big Job. But we'll forgive him.)
This morning, he introduced our own Eric Melear - coach, chorusmaster, WTOS Music Director, and most recently, Alcina conductor.
Eric demonstrated how a conductor works with singers - demystifying some of what goes on in a conductor's mind for both the audience and the singers in the room. (You'll notice that I said "some of"... I think the rest will always be a mystery:)
We take so much of our business for granted that it's quite a lot of fun to be able to shed some light on it for audience members who clearly love the art form and have a seemingly endless supply of questions about how it all fits together.
PODCAST!
I had big plans for podcasts this summer, and I'm conceding defeat. Too few hours and too many competing demands. But a bunch of our singers got together today to free-associate about their careers, the challenges and rewards of the opera business, and what they wish they had known when they were 20 :)
In the post-season, I'll edit our hour-long ramblings into a few shorter chunks and post here on the blog. Thanks, guys.
BOB FINCHEIMER
I've been nagging Bob all summer to finish his daily schedule program, but I'm having to take 3rd place in his life, after his job and his pre-VTech assignments. (Well, if I'm honest, I'm kinda 5th in line after those two things, his girlfriend, and his crazy fast computer.)
I did nab Bob long enough this evening to update all of the code for the 2009 audition applications. I think we nailed it. We'll test for a few days, and with any luck we'll go live next week. First application deadline is September 30.
Thanks, Bob.
It's so difficult to communicate those things that are most important. We have 3 weeks to go yet, but I am already partially in the post-season game of trying to characterize what happened here in these 14 weeks that are WTOC 2008.
I'm ahead of myself partially because the minute the curtain comes down, it will be necessary to summarize what just happened - artistically, fiscally, philosophically, and logistically. We must do this in order to avoid making the same mistakes twice (and I guess to also stand a better chance of replicating our successes). And as I wrestle with how to communicate what really happens here, I realize that the two main ways in which we report on our season are not acceptable in and of themselves.
1. Reviews
I say very little about this during the summer for a multitude of reasons, most of which I've enumerated here. (I'd look up the posts for you and link to them, but I'm too lazy.) I neither rail against nor enthusiastically embrace criticism. I try to remain aloof - something of a mildly interested bystander - and I believe that many of our artists are trying to learn a similar balance in their own relationship with the press.
But even as I describe this somewhat delusional, noble philosophy, I know that the first thing I'll reach for when trying to justify my existence to funders, supporters, board members, and colleagues is.... press quotes. Kinda makes me uneasy, but I don't have a good Plan B. When it's all done, I believe we all know what was great, what was good, and what didn't work out as well as we had hoped. But we don't have the street cred the press does. Even as I pretend an arts organization doesn't need good reviews, I realize how difficult it would be to continue to drum up support without them.
2. Statistics
Numbers - of artists, of staff, of guest faculty, of patrons, of performances
Percentages - showing the elite nature of our artist pool, the success our singers enjoy after leaving us, the capacity to which our house was filled for performances
Dollars - where we saved a few bucks, the ways in which we were creative with our funding, the maddening essential things (travel and housing, anyone?) whose cost keep rising and taking a chunk out of the mission
The numbers tell a story, but perhaps not the right one. Certainly not the complete one. But I will reach for them again and again.
The Alternative?
I have no idea, really. But I suppose the answer is related somehow to the reasons that this topic consumes me today.
I've been missing out on Strauss, and I finally got a dose this morning - a sing-through of the Opera (without its Prologue) in the rehearsal room. And even though we have more than two weeks left, and there is still work to be done, I was uncharacteristically touched and impressed by what I heard. I normally multi-task in the rehearsal room, industriously returning emails and creating spreadsheets while I listen. But today's rehearsal stopped me in my tracks more than once. And it is forcing me to wax philosophical.
This afternoon, our Filene Young Artists were generous enough to spend a lunch hour talking to the younger Studio Artists about the many young artist and apprentice programs in this country, giving first-hand advice and reactions to the seasons they spent in those programs. I expected a fair amount of "thank god that's over" in reaction to the entry-level YAPs that work their artists very hard. But there was not all that much of that, and quite a bit of affection and enthusiasm for those formative experiences. Mixed in with a dose of realism on the ways in which the business works and the ways in which you can benefit if you're smart.
And this past Saturday afternoon I heard a sing-through for the Britten Project that the Studio is preparing for its final performance this coming weekend. Again, a work in progress, but one that so clearly shows how much these singers have matured since I heard them in audition last fall - and even how their artistry has been shaped throughout this summer.
These are the real stories. And there are dozens of them, all of the details of which I will never really know. I do know that we are privileged to take part in helping people figure out how to be outstanding, generous, fascinating, and compelling artists who will have a big hand in making the world a more beautiful and interesting place for years to come. Somehow, I think this is why people give money to organizations like ours; this is one of the big reasons the loyal patrons get addicted; this is why folks work very hard for modest money in arts organizations. This is the real story, and I still have no idea how to tell it when it matters.
Using a rare day off to make a day trip to Pennsylvania is risky. But I managed to get a good night's sleep, enjoyed a relaxing day with family on the farm, and gorged on sweet corn that went from stalk to table in 5 minutes. (If you've ever eaten any, you know what I mean.)My boss AMM is fond of marveling (as she should) at the "soundtrack of her life." Thus, this sampling of my 24-hour soundtrack, here in the home stretch of July 2008.
July 25, 8:45 pm
Balcony scene from West Side Story, compliments of DA and LC, in concert with the National Symphony.
July 25, 9:48 pm
La bohème end of Act I with MO as Mimi and BG as Rodolfo. With aforementioned NSO.
July 25, 10:06 pm
Love Walked Right In (Gershwin) from The Goldwyn Follies, with LC channeling her inner 1940's MGM movie star.
July 25, 10:22 pm
Bolero. Normally not a fan, but when you're about 6 feet away from those horn players at the end, it's a real hoot.
July 25, 11:35 pm
I Kissed a Girl. On the Alcina mix CD in the car. You figure it out.
July 26, 12:20 am
The Schmuel Song from The Last Five Years. My son singing it in the shower.
July 26, 9:35 am
You Can't Stop the Beat from Hairspray. With yours truly at the piano because the Broadway ROCKS gang showed up without a pianist for their impromptu Saturday morning rehearsal. You never know in which ways those years of summer stock and dinner theatre will pay off.
July 26, 11:20 am
Circe, Circe! from Ariadne auf Naxos. Compressing an mp3 of yesterday's rehearsal so it can be sent winging through cyberspace to our German coach in Bayreuth!
July 26, 1:05 pm
Heil sei dem Tag Finale from Fidelio. Doing timings for next Thursday's Beethoven concert.
July 26, 3:00 pm
It's not 3 yet, but in my near future is a sing-through of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio's Britten Project.
I whine occasionally about this many-headed musical monster for which I work. There are disadvantages (and advantages) to representing the classical music niche within a large diverse performing arts organization. Although we try to close the gap between "art" and "commerce," I'm always on the impoverished side with hat in hand.
But in truth, one of the reasons I chose to work here is that I know how claustrophobia sets in when opera is my only music. And even though days like this can feed maddeningly fragmented, that's more a feature of sleep depivation than anything else :)
I missed the July 25 posting. Was heading toward a photo entry of last night's Romance Under the Stars performance with the NSO, but Blogger was not helpful. The 15-hour day was too long to struggle with technology at the end of it...
I spent today revising the web pages for the 2009 audition tour applications. Official links and details will follow soon, but it looks as if all auditions will take place between November 6-22. The first deadline will be September 30. We'll be in Houston, LA, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and, of course, Vienna.
Remember this? Today's news is that we have officially decided to kill the optional audio sample in our application process.
We've reached the tipping point where the easy availability of high-quality sound enhancement (Garage Band, anyone?) has rendered an audio CD or mp3 pretty useless as a diagnostic tool. In the last couple of years, the few audio samples that I allowed to push me over the edge in the screening process turned out to be red herrings. Voices that sounded almost nothing in person like they did on their recordings.
We didn't make this decision lightly, for I am all for gathering as much information as possible to make those difficult screening choices. If we were looking for truly raw talent and sheer potential, I might've held onto this longer. But the bottom line is that our program is designed for singers who've been through a substantial amount of training and other formative experiences. And that information does show up on paper. Not always in the same way for each person, but if we're diligent and intuitive enough about interpreting all of the details in the application and résumé, we get a good feel for it. We're just not getting a reasonable investment for the 100+ hours spent managing, cataloguing, and reviewing CDs and mp3s.
So, that's one less thing you have to worry about when preparing this particular application!
Talk Back
You might want to back up and visit yesterday's post, which has already generated a few comments.
