Well, very little blogging to be done today. Review of applications for the Chicago site has taken a nasty turn. Historically, we get 40-50 applications for that site, and we accept 30. (A 60-75% acceptance rate.) Right now I’m staring down 104 applications for Chicago. And I get to pick 30. (A 29% acceptance rate.)
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Archives
The Barns
The Short List Part 1Time to start compiling the list of operas we might be able to do this year. We don’t program anything until we hear the singers, but there’s a process of winnowing that takes place concurrently with the auditions. We start by determining which pieces we are unlikely to produce – namely,
Read MorePhiladelphia
Curtis Audition tour kick-off at Curtis Institute. In a black box theatre/rehearsal room that provides an extremely flattering acoustic. The wonderful thing about it is that everyone sounds good. The bad thing is that everyone sounds good. So, right out of the box, we’re trying to separate voice from acoustic.I said this last year, but
Read MoreGershwin
Dress rehearsal of Porgy and Bess at Washington National Opera. A beautiful, touching, funny night in the theatre. I know that it took a long haul to get here (as they say), and that’s no surprise for a piece as complicated and sprawling as this one. But what a wonderful thing to finally welcome Porgy
Read MoreThe Equation
S = (R + T) x LFMy son is the mathematician in the family. But even though my fling with math is decades in the past, I can still appreciate the eloquence of a beautiful formula. Yes, it’s dangerous to reduce difficult and messy things to a simple equation. But the clarity it brings is
Read MoreDemo CDs
More ScreeningWe don’t require audio samples, but singers who don’t clearly meet or exceed our suggested profile are encouraged to considering submitting a demo CD. I treat the recordings in one of three ways: 1) If someone easily qualifies based on the paperwork, I don’t even listen to the recording (sorry…). There’s a danger that
Read MoreThe First Step
2006 Auditions: ScreeningWelcome aboard. For the next 30 weeks we’ll chronicle the development of our 2006 season. It all starts here, on a dining room table covered with forms, résumés, headshots and CDs. October is my least favorite month – I have to take 500+ applications (exact number not yet known) and whittle them down
Read MoreCurtain Up
This year’s installment of the audition tour blog starts on or about October 24 – see you then.
Read MoreReference Post: Master Class
Participants’ Responses to Take Off Your Emotional Clothes and Sing – Barbara Cook’s Master Class at JuilliardDecember 13, 2005 Paul Kwak, pianist Metaphors are only as insightful as the perceptions of those who coin them. As agents of symbolism, given over to the investments of experience, myopic opinion, and even wrongheaded interpretation, their artistic potential
Read MoreAbout the Wolf Trap Opera Company
During a nationwide audition tour that’s held every autumn, about 15 young professional singers are chosen to spend most of the next summer at Wolf Trap. During the summer season, they prepare, rehearse and perform all of the roles in three different operas, sing in concerts and recitals, and receive individualized performance-based coaching. Singers may
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