I would love to spend time in Chicago some day. Time, that is, that doesn’t include 78 auditions. (Many of which were marvelous, mind you. But still…) I understand that there’s an amazing architectural tour. There are beautiful neighborhoods I’d love to visit. And many friends to meet at amazing restaurants. But sadly, our Chicago
Read MorePosts Categorized: Auditions
Trappers in Houston
Fun evening at Brasil with WTOC alumni (and baby!) and the random “Guitar Center Trio.” (Perfect description. Thanks, NP:)) Houston auditions brought us performances of two terrific American arias: Bea’s aria from Heggie’s Three Decembers (soprano) and Tina’s aria (“Sixty Years Ago”) from Argento’s The Aspern Papers (mezzo). Meetings with colleagues, a startling good performance
Read MoreWhat the Guys Are Singing
Aria frequency lists for tenor, baritone, and bass/bass-baritone are ready for your eager consumption. I’ve reformatted all of the lists so that they’re easily downloadable as PDFs. Start here for the entire menu. After we finish auditions (by Thanksgiving!), I’ll put together a list of starter arias for each voice type, separating out the Studio
Read More2011 Audition Tour
November 15, 2010 2011 Audition Tour Underway The 2011 nationwide audition tour will conclude in Vienna VA on November 22. WTOC Director Kim Witman and Adminstrative Director Lee Anne Myslewski are holding auditions in eight cities and will hear over 1,000 arias in search of the best and brightest talent of opera’s next generation. Singers
Read MoreTexas Already?
My apologies for ignoring California. I had gotten the flu after the New York leg and thought I had bounced back. I was wrong, and it has taken me all of Ohio and California to feel human again. The good news is that things are looking up. Only about 2,500 miles and 350 arias to
Read MorePutting on our Midwest Ears
The view from the table this week in Cincinnati, from the back of the lovely Werner Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Our pianist, as always in Cincinnati, was the peerless Donna Loewy; and our guest panelist Marie-France Lefebvre was a colleague of mine both at Washington National
Read MoreThe ‘Nati: Off to a Great Start!
I’ve been hearing auditions in Cincinnati for 18 years now, and happily so. But in recent seasons, Ohio has been the victim of overzealous, tight audition tour scheduling. We’ve blown in and out of here, sometimes arriving at dawn and flying out before bedtime, often squeezing in over 40 singers in between. When you tempt
Read MorePassing Through
We’re back on home turf for auditions at The Barns at Wolf Trap. We sailed in there on Tuesday morning and completely surprised our colleagues; evidently, in the frenzy of checking and verifying space rentals across the country, we had neglected to close all of the loops right here at home. No worries, though, for
Read MoreNew York: Done, done and done
Approximately 43 hours of singing, including some Bernstein and Strauss at NYCO. A fabulous week of auditions, with some outstanding singing, both from folks who are contenders for this year’s roster and from others that we’ve flagged to watch for next year. We just fought our way down 8th Avenue with our irritatingly large amount
Read MoreNew York Audition Location
If you’re trying to find us at the New 42 in New York, be aware that we are across the street from Madame Tussaud’s. The numbering system is odd, and it would appear from the address that we’re on the south side of the street. While it might be nice to think that Tussaud’s would
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