Day 6: still New York...

OK, I wasn't kidding. It really is all about the shoes. The flight to Houston tonight was showing, of course, The Devil Wears Prada. I unplugged my headphones from my iPod, which was dutifully chipping away at some Handel opera casting problems, and plugged into some of Hollywood's cheap thrills. That movie makes me glad there are probably no more entry-level jobs in my life.

Audition Aria Thoughts

Sopranos - A nice English aria alternative to Baby Doe, etc. is Tiny’s Aria from Paul Bunyan. Reasonable for a pianist to sightread; 4 minutes long; musially quite satisying.

Mezzos – Perhaps some of you could give Smanie a rest. Look into Dorabella's É amore un ladroncello.

Tenors - Anyone ever tried Morire from La rondine? Puccini, but not terribly heavy. Short, with a high B (I think) at the end.

The Week in New York

This week included the hands-down best rendition of O luce di quest'anima that I've heard in audition. Strictly speaking, not one of my favorite pieces, but this singer made me actually wish I could hear it again.

An epidemic of fabulous basses brought us multiple (all very satisfying) hearings of Wie schön ist doch die Musik.

We were also treated to a gorgeously sung Cendrillon excerpt that renewed my (futile) interest in producing the piece. I played rehearsals for it ages ago with Frederica von Stade, and I've had a soft place for it in my heart ever since.

We're not halfway done yet, but I can safely say that some of the sung-to-death aria trends are reversing. We've only heard one Pamina (the run-away favorite last year), and two Anne Truloves. Mezzos seem to be avoiding coloratura (heard the first Cruda sorte today), we're hearing fewer Rosinas than ever before, and no one has sung Non piu mesta. We've not heard a lot of tenors, so the statistics aren't clear. The Count is still the baritone favorite, but we've yet to hear one of last year's two runners-up (Billy in the Darbies). And not a single bass has sung Madamina!

Welcome to Texas

7 hours tomorrow in a Houston Grand Opera rehearsal studio. Wish us luck!

Day 5: New York

You think you've had a rough audition day? Top this.

It's All About the Shoes

Tonight's dinner conversation found its way to the subject of ladies' audition and concert shoes. I don't know how you girls do it. You look like a million bucks in those stiletto heels. But I'd have trouble staying upright, let alone getting around the stage and being grounded enough to sing. Great advice from my veteran soprano friend: tango shoes. They have to look fabulous, but they're built to be danced in. Teddy's Shoes.

Added Value

Chicago Opera Theater's Brian Dickie wrote yesterday about a mock auditions class he held. He found, as I did, that singers are becoming much more savvy about certain aspects of the audition process. One of the things I've noticed recently is that (generally...) résumés are in better shape than they were ten years ago. Some of this, of course, is due to the availability and sophistication of personal computer desktop publishing. (Remember, though, that no spell-checker out there can fix the names and titles on an opera résumé.)
In the last couple of years, though, I'm finding the pendulum swinging a little too far in the opposite direction. Some singers are so busy being their own publicists that they forget that their main task is to learn to sing. I know... When you're just too tired or frustrated to deal with one more practice session, it's far easier to tweak the fonts on your résumé, write glowing prose for your bio, or photoshop your latest production shots for your website. These things are helpful in starting your career. But they don't take the place of those long hours in the practice room or with a score.

Hocus Pocus!

Popped into the Hansel and Gretel matinee at City Opera this afternoon. It's the revival of Jim Robinson's terrific production. We got there in time to see the changeover into the Central Park location, and had to leave soon after the appearance of the witch. ("Angela Petitfour", above at left). We were/are/could be toying with the idea of doing a H&G at the Filene Center some season. As much as I love this production, though, it's quite New York-centric, and doesn't feel like the right thing for us.

Too Many Notes

If J. Alfred Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons, I've measured out my Novembers in arias. 30 singers a day seems to be just about my limit. I push it occasionally, as I did today (35, three of whom cancelled due to illness), and it's always a challenge. It's our responsibility to stay as fresh for the people at the end of the day as we are in the morning, and somehow we manage it. This afternoon I think we got a little punchy in between arias, so singers entering the room sometimes looked at us a bit askance.

Relocating

Final day in New York tomorrow. Then off to Houston. Repacking this evening for the air travel marathon of the next 7 days. See you down south!

Day 4: New York

An absolutely beautiful day in New York, the second in a row. Makes up for those 18 solid hours of pelting rain on Wednesday. We relocated today, to the 10th floor of the Rose Building at Juilliard (white tower at left).

Random Aria Comments

"Caro nome" - That first E-natural ("Gualtier Maldé!") has to be on pitch and gorgeously spun. It takes us a long time to recover from a sketchy first impression if that first phrase (which is all about the E-natural) is tough going. If you sang "Caro nome" for us today, please don't read anything into this. As a matter of fact, today's rendition was particularly lovely. It just reminded me of all the times a soprano had to recover from that first deceptively difficult phrase.

Mezzos – Consider "This Journey" from Dead Man Walking. I continue to be desperate for an alternative to "Must the Winter Come So Soon."

Coloratura sopranos – Try this French aria as an alternate to "Chacun le sait" etc. - "Couplets des Regrets" from Offenbach's Orphée aux Enfers.

It's the Return of Pamina! After an endless succession of "Ach, ich fühl's" last year, the sopranos are dealing with Pamina sparely this year. These things go in cycles anyway. We heard our first one today, after almost four solid days.

The Great Audition Staging Debate

I received the following email today (duplicated here with the singer's permission) in response to yesterday's blog entry:

Before I begin this email, let me first say that I've never blogged, not once, NEVER!!!...(what, never???) That being said, I looked to your blog in regards to the auditions of my particular day only to find myself being the indirect (and, thankfully, nameless) subject of what you considered a tasteless and crude gesture...crotch grabbing. First of all, let me apologize to you if it was offensive. Please allow me just a moment to defend the action, seeing as the PRECISE response that I sought was the one that you had. For the sake of clarity , I made the choice to grab myself when Belcore was stating "son galante e son sargente" (please excuse the spelling). What kind of a pompous jackass would at the same time be blowing his own horn about being gallant and grabbing himself???!!! I think Belcore IS that jackass. While there are many other ways to show this, there are perhaps none quite so poignant. I realize that it walks a border of bad taste, but if we really look at the humor of the period we have to realize that Donizetti was not writing for the crown, but rather the commoners, and one has to associate slapstick,"crotch humor",and "potty humor" (that is if potty and crotch humor can't be categorically linked!) with the comedic zeitgeist of Italy in 1832.
P.S. I eagerly anticipate a retort!

re‧tort – noun: a severe, incisive, or witty reply, esp. one that counters a first speaker's statement, argument, etc.

I'm not sure I was up to a retort, but here's my response:

Thanks for your explanation. Your description of the character and the situation shows (as I fully expected) that you have given a lot of detailed thought to your interpretation. Trust me; I was not offended. (If I were that easily put off, I wouldn’t have lasted very long in this business!)

I buy into your rationale, and I whole-heartedly agree with the statement that L’elisir is not particularly high-minded. I can easily envision a production into which this particular Belcore fits perfectly. The reasons that I mentioned the gesture in the context of our audition tour are two-fold:

1) It was far enough outside of the panoply of what we usually see in an audition situation to distract our attention for a while. Now perhaps the audition experience shouldn’t be that artificial – I won’t argue that. But I’m looking primarily to see and hear what a singer can bring to an aria outside of a full-fledged staging format. Not everyone agrees. And this general dilemma (blocked? staged? physically rooted? traveling?) is very much on singers’ minds. I get asked this question a lot. And there is no single answer. All I know is that when something happens visually that’s far enough outside of normal parameters for this very abnormal performance situation called an audition, it catches my attention and detracts from my appreciation of the overall picture. If that’s as hard to understand as it is for me to explain, I apologize.
2) I might not have remarked about it at all except that we had a female singer make pretty much the same gesture this week.

Thank you for your audition and for the obvious way that you are deeply committed to being a singing actor. If there’s any portion of your email and my reply that you’d agree for me to publish on the blog (your name omitted), let me know. Otherwise, it’s just entre nous.

To "stage" or not? To what extent to incorporate blocking into auditions? Should you feel as if you're straitjacketed? These questions are asked frequently, and each one of us has our own answer. Personally, I want you to feel free up there, but I'd rather let the voice, the language, and your nonspecific body language (what is that? you say...) do the work. But clearly, with the more buffo material, there's a larger gray area.

Thoughts? Feel free to enter the fray. Comment below or wtoc@wolftrap.org.

Day 3: New York

A busy day. Auditions for 30 singers and 1 apprentice coach. Interviews with conductors, directors. A brief visit with one of my colleagues from the San Francisco Opera Center, and a late night dinner with a long-time friend and colleague from my Washington (National) Opera days. Back then we weren't "National":) As a matter of fact, we were part of an exclusive club, the Two-Two's (The Women Of The Washington Opera). We went bowling. It was a very different place then.

Soprano Aria Ideas

• “You’ve Never Seen the Winter Here” from A Month in the Country
• “But You Do Not Know This Man” from A View from the Bridge
• “I Can Hardly Stand It / When He's Away" (Stella’s aria) from A Streetcar Named Desire

Gestures

This week's auditions have brought a couple of inappropriate – and more to the point, unnecessary – staging gestures. I’m not exactly prudish, but anything that detracts from rather than enhances your performance is not a good thing. This week it was about crotch-grabbing. Male and female. Don’t ask.

Was It a Good Thing?

OK, so I struggled to stay awake until 12:30 this morning to watch the Met's Barber cast on Letterman. May I say I was underwhelmed? There are ways to do this well, and this wasn't one of them. I'd love to hear from anyone who's not an opera aficionado who saw this segment. (Yes, I do realize that if you aren't interested in opera, you won't be reading this, so I doubt I'll get any feedback.) There was a tremendous amount of talent on that little stage, but I'm not sure anyone could tell. Standing in front of microphone stands, trying to connect with whatever monitor keeps them from getting separated from the conductor (who's upstage) during the thorny stretto to the Act I Finale... Wouldn't have piqued my interest.

Day 2: New York

Greetings from this AWOL Virginian, whose absentee ballot is probably being counted as we speak. Dramatic day for politics. My daughter is studying political science and foreign policy, and I usually look to her to explain these things. She called me three times today to give me updates :o)

Planning on staying up past my bedtime to catch the Met's Barber cast on Letterman. Pretty exciting. There are naysayers, I know, but I'm not one of them.

Miserable weather in New York today, poor folks arriving at auditions sopping wet. I knew I was about to have a bad hair day by the time I got to 72nd Street, but then again, no one was going to stare at me while I sang...

Acoustics

We're downstairs at New York City Opera today and tomorrow. Forsook our customary audition space (the orchestra rehearsal room) for one of the staging rehearsal rooms. We're fond of the orchestra rehearsal room because it's very easy to hear in there. Everything is uncomplicated and clear. The acoustic is on the dry side, and there isn't a lot of reverb that surrounds the sound. Of course, singers hate it for the very same reason.

We went with the more reverberant room this year largely because of the feedback we got from singers. Auditioning is a tough thing, and resisting the urge to push and drive the voice because of a too-dry acoustic is an unnecessary challenge in what is already a tough situation. It means I second-guess myself a lot more about how much the reverberant room is altering the basic sound, but then again, we're not the ones under the most strain here.

Dorabella

Received this email today from a mezzo who will be auditioning for us in Houston:

I've been doing auditions with other companies all month and will have four more auditions right after yours. I saw your blog on "Smanie." I'm a mezzo and sang that aria for [company name deleted], and the accompanist fell apart on me and stopped playing. It almost makes me feel that I should take it off of my rep list. However, its one of my favorite arias and I have done the role. So, I'm going to take it to Houston when I audition for all of you, but if this piano player falls apart on me like the last couple, I think I'm going to have to pull it as an audition aria.

Well, I'd hate to see you pull it if you feel good about it. I've probably heard hundreds of Smanie implacabili auditions, and I've never heard a pianist give up on it. Granted, it requires a nimble technique, but it's a true staple of the repertory, and the overwhelming majority of audition pianists have it well in hand. I believe your recent experience was an aberration. An unfortunate one, yes. But you shouldn't stop singing it.

Keeping It Real

Dinner last night with 15 recent WTOC alums. Always one of the highlights of our fall trip to New York. A little bit of inevitable shop talk, but mostly a chance to catch up on each other's lives.

And, I have to share this recent email from a colleague whose identity shall be protected. He's always after me to loosen up and take a few lessons from those American Idol judges. He takes me to task for a recent blog post...

"Objective things: intonation, mastery of languages, the right notes at the right time... then I'm listening for phrasing, musicianship, and general artistry." What's with all this high falootin'talk? How about: "Hey dog, you gotta know who YOU ARE, choose the right song, don't go all pitchy, and above all, keep it real."

Day 1: Philadelphia

Flat

The first day of this year's audition tour brings a rash of out-of-tune singing. Everyone has the occasional "off" day, and I'm well aware that a live audition isn't going to have the pristine intonation of a recording. But I've been doing this for a while now, and I have to say that there was more approximate intonation going on today than any time in recent memory. Not all of it is under pitch, too. In fact, the most egregious examples were all over the map, on both sides of the pitches, and across the entire range.

I realize that developing a technique is a process, and occasionally you may be in transition, or working through something that wreaks temporary havoc with tuning. And I also understand that a developing technique may not yet have conquered intonation in the most difficult places in the tessitura - at the top, through the passaggio, etc. But singers must realize that even if we appreciate everything else about your artistry - dramatic depth, musical instincts, exquisite phrasing, impeccable language - if you can't sing on pitch, we can't hire you. Blunt, but unavoidable.

Name That Opera

The black box theatre at the Curtis Institute of Music was our home for the first day of the audition tour. Rehearsal prop table for the current opera production may be seen at left. What could it be?...

Arias

Today, a few words for mezzos. If you sing the Composer's Aria from Ariadne or "Smanie implacabili" from Cosi, spend some time getting familiar with the sound of the actual orchestration.

Too many pianists attack the Composer's Aria as if it were scored for a 90-piece Wagner orchestrata. Strauss wrote Ariadne for a chamber orchestra, and it's really rather transparent. Too often, mezzos strive for power and volume above all else in this piece. It needs color, line, and clarity.

As for "Smanie", those overwhelming triplet eighth-notes in the piano part are really just a murmur in the orchestration. The larger architecture of the wind chords and the long phrases are far more important. Understand this keeps you from singing the aria in too vertical a fashion.

Tell Us About It

If you're auditioning for us this year, we want to hear from you. Write wtoc@wolftrap.org (put "blog" in the subject line) or post an anonymous comment (see link below).

A blog contribution today from recent WTOC alum Weston Hurt, who says embarrassingly kind things about us, but who also has some very to-the-point advice in paragraph 2.

Kim Witman -- Friend or Foe?

Upon entering the dreaded Wolf Trap audition room everyone already assumes that Kim Witman, the General Director of the company is already writing your rejection letter before you begin to sing and certainly once she heard you mess up that word, right? WRONG!! Kim is a lovely woman and actually wants you to sing really really well! Kim is a lap-top-a-holic. She does EVERYTHING on her laptop...so, no worries, she is not writing your rejection letter, she is just taking notes about your audition.

So, what can you do? Sing well and have fun. Realize that auditions is just a part of what we do. We aren't really singers, we're professional auditioners. Whether that is taking place in a room with a piano or on stage in front of an audience, we are always auditioning, so get used to it, and get good at it!

Kim and the rest of the Wolf trap gang understand this better then most and truly want your audition for Wolf Trap to be the best ever. So, come prepared and sing well! There is a reason that there are alumni dinners and why alumni pop in from time to time during the summers in Vienna....its because we all love Kim and everyone at the trap.

Sing purrrdy!
-Weston Hurt
alumnus '05, '06

Brief walk in Riverside Park this morning, clearing my head for 5 days' of singing in New York. See you tomorrow.

Make Your Voice Heard

Are you auditioning for us this year? Add your voice to the blog. Send an email to wtoc@wolftrap.org with the word blog in the subject field, and I'll include your message in the next day's post. If you'd rather be anonymous, click on the "comment" link at the bottom of any of my posts. (I do have to screen these comments because of spam, but I promise I'll publish anything that's not profane.)

I'm documenting our side of the process, but we want to hear how it feels to you. It's especially important for you veterans to pass on a few words of advice to those who are new to this peculiar but necessary part of our business.

And...... We're Off!

Daily posts for the next 2.5 weeks. The audition tour starts tomorrow in Philadelphia. Then New York, Houston, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Vienna VA. 375 singers over 13 days of singing. More airplanes, rental cars, trains, taxis and hotels than I want to consider at this moment.

Packing is always a challenge, but particularly so this year because we're chaining together all of our cities without a break. The tight schedule makes it inadvisable to check baggage, so my challenge for today is to fit two weeks of stuff in one carry-on and a briefcase. Particularly difficult because the electronics alone fill about 75% of the allotted space...

• Laptop, power cable, mouse, broadband wireless card, flash drive
• MP3 recorder, power cable, microphone, USB cable, data storage
• Digital camera & charger
• Videocamera, mini-tripod, AC adapter, mini-DVs
• External hard drive, power source, A-B cable
• iPod, headphones, USB cable
• Office supplies: tape, markers etc
• Cell phone, charger
• Palm, charger, USB cable
• Extension cord, power strip, 3-prong adapter
• Signs, Scotch tape, markers, schedules, invoice forms for pianists and monitors, etc
• Printer, power cable, USB cable

Maybe I'll have to take the advice of this morning's Washington Post and wear all of my clothes in layers on the plane. But I'm not sure that mixing 5 layers of clothing and raging meopausal symptoms is a good thing... And could anyone tell me if a printer cartridge is a liquid or gel? Looks kinda solid to me, but the ingredients read like liquids. There's not exactly room for it in my pitiful zip-lock bag, but all I need is to get flagged as a troublemaker because I've put it in the depths of my bag. Especially since it's already going to take me forever to take all those layers of clothing off before they'll let me through security.

These are the important issues that consume me in these hours before the music begins. See you tomorrow in Philadelphia.