As requested, an historical overview of young artist applicants* for the Wolf Trap Opera Company: *(None of these numbers include applicants for the Studio Program.) The most striking thing is that we’ve seen a 100% increase in applicants over the last 10 years: from 399 singers vying for the 1999 season to 793 contenders for
Read MoreBlog
Archives
The Talk and the Titles
In case you’ve missed this, take a few minutes to read Holly Mulcahy’s article in the The Partial Observer: It’s Time for The Talk. “My teacher’s talk to me was an attempt to bring reality into my life without crushing my dreams…” Adaptistration called it to our attention, and Butts in the Seats goes further
Read MoreMore Aria Data
For the newly posted comprehensive list of arias heard during the 2008 tour, go to http://wolftrapopera.blogspot.com/2007/12/2008-audition-tour-list-of-arias-heard.html. The comprehensive list also gives you the panel’s choices for second arias. I hesitated to do this, not wanting to feed into the wasted effort that singers tend to expend on worrying about and projecting what the panel will
Read More2008 Audition Tour: List of Arias Heard
The previously posted Aria Frequency List comprises all of the arias listed by singers heard this year. The list below represents the opening arias (always singer’s choice) and the follow-up arias requested by the panel. The opening aria is listed first, with the various second choices in the [brackets]. This list is raw data. If
Read MoreCasting & Repertoire: A Case Study
But first, the top 10 reasons I haven’t been posting: 10. Running around the country left me dumb as a stump. (Or, as TL taught me, dumm wie Brot) 9. I’m enjoying the unexamined life. 8. The white boards in my office are calling to me. 7. The endless variations of repertoire and casting grids
Read More2008 Tour: Vienna – Over and Out
Good to be back on home turf, but as Rahree says, it carries its own set of liabilities. There’s a singular focus on the road, but back here there are many other responsibilities chipping away at our depleted reserves of energy and attention. It’s all about the tenors today, somehow. Funny how that happens, that
Read MoreStudio Days 4 & 5 – Cincinnati, Vienna
Studio auditions are officially finished. If you sang for us, you should receive some kind of notification within about a week and a half as to whether we would like to keep you on our finalists list. We were extremely happy to see such a great turnout in this, our second year of this new
Read More2008 Tour: Philadelphia
Saturday was an extremely dense, long day in Philadelphia, just at the point that fatigue was closing in… I’m not complaining, really, for we heard a lot of fabulous new talent. It’s just that I’m craving a good night’s sleep, and the 18-hour Philadelphia odyssey was a bit much for this point in the tour.
Read MoreThe Callback Game
This is the first tour in which we’re including a provision for a callback or ‘final’ audition for singers that we’re seriously considering casting in our 2008 operas. On four of our days so far this fall, we’ve had no callbacks, and that’s been cause for some consternation. It really shouldn’t be. In explaining this,
Read More2008 Tour: Cincinnati…. and the Aria Frequency List!
Drum Roll, please….. The 2008 Audition Tour Aria List! Click on the link above or go to http://wolftrapopera.blogspot.com/2007/11/2008-audition-tour-aria-frequency-list.html. The list represents the number of times each aria is listed on this year’s applications. Since singers are allowed to change their rep lists, the actual list of arias heard will vary slightly. (The list of opening
Read More