Posts By: Kim Witman

Day 11: Chicago

Greetings from the shore of Lake Michigan. More Audition Rep NotesCertain arias that I’ve grown accustomed to hearing frequently in previous years are barely making an appearance this year. Some of them I don’t miss, frankly, at least not in an audition context – among them, The Trees on the Mountain (I still enjoy it,

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Transition

All of my travel predictions were blessedly wrong. The 20-minute cab ride to the airport did indeed take an hour and 15 minutes, but the rest of the trip couldn’t have been better. Hardly anyone else on the plane, and a 20-minute early arrival at O’Hare. Unheard of. I’m still pretty tired and stupid*, though,

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Days 9 & 10: Cincinnati

After over a week’s worth of hotels, planes, trains, venues, and assorted electronics operating flawlessly, it’s time for a little chaos theory. The flight from California to Ohio went well, and following it immediately with 4 hours of auditions at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, while not a great idea, actually worked fairly well. But

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The Short List and… Auditioning the Second Time Around

OK, I promised. Here’s what’s still in play for possible operas at The Barns next summer. In no particular order. AlcinaA Midsummer Night’s DreamDie Entführung aus dem Serail The Rape of LucretiaL’étoileIl re pastoreI Capuleti ed i MontecchiLa pietra del paragoneSemeleLinda di ChamounixIl ritorno d’Ulisse in patriaVolpone Così fan tutte And, because of the peculiar

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Texas to California and…. The Aria Frequency List!

Transition from Houston to San Francisco. (View out the my hotel window at left.) It’s a good thing we’re not trying to combine travel with auditions today, because I’ve hit my first wall. An early morning, an uncomfortable flight, and accumulated mental fatigue. The Short List Did some work on the plane… Mostly trying to

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Day 7: Houston – Hump Day!

As of midday, it was 6.5 days down, 6.5 to go! The nasty part is that the remaining half of the tour is the most high-maintenance, travel-wise. The Houston Report Sopranos – Consider Bubbles, Beautiful Bubbles from Pasatieri’s Goose Girl. It’s in one of the new anthologies (I’m on the road, so I can’t remember

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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

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Day 5: New York

You think you’ve had a rough audition day? Top this. It’s All About the ShoesTonight’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

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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

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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

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