Tomorrow will be spent packing, in preparation for the WAS-NYP-CVG-ORD-PHL-LAX-SFO-SEA-IAH-IAD 8,000-mile/1,000-aria adventure that is the next 6 weeks. As I get ready, I’m aware that many of you need to get your heads in the game for your own audition odysseys. To that end, here’s a look back at various bits of audition season advice
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From the Horses’ Mouth(s)
Enough of me writing audition season advice. (Well, not really… I will weigh in eventually…) This year you’re going to hear from those who have been there: working singers who have learned things the hard way. I’ve asked Wolf Trap Opera alumni to send me audition advice that they’d like to share with young artists, and so far
Read MoreAu revoir, Carmen
Well, that happened. Personal bests from our singers, an unbelievably beautiful summer night, and 6,000 souls in the audience. Hundreds of people onstage and off pulled our little company through its biggest project of the year, and it was a night to remember. We got a lot of press (good, bad, rarely indifferent…) for the technological
Read MoreCarmen: Leaving the Room
We now leave the rehearsal room, that place that saw this production come to life and is now too small to hold it. It’s on to the Kennedy Center (orchestra rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday) and the Filene Center stage (tech rehearsals Wednesday and Thursday night.) I’ve been busier than usual in recent weeks and haven’t witnessed as many rehearsals
Read MoreAnd the House was Full of Song
We had some food for the soul as we prepared for Carmen tech week: two afternoons of A Houseful of Song with Steven Blier, Ying Fang, Renée Rapier, Eric Jurenas, Robert Watson and Tobias Greenhalgh. Ably assisted by David Hanlon, staged by Alison Moritz, lit by Robert H. Grimes and stage managed by Madeline Levy. A slideshow for your
Read MoreCarmen 2.0 – Part Two
David Pogue is going to be in my opera!!! OMG!!! Sorry. Had to get the fangirl reaction out of the way. I know there are opera lovers out there who toil away providing valuable science and engineering services to society, many of whom wish they had continued with piano lessons and become musicians. I sit here on the
Read MoreCarmen 2.0 – Part One
I have been facing inward these last few weeks, preparing the Great Ship Carmen for its sailing. Battening down the hatches, clearing the decks, all those things. But now it’s time to bring all of you into the excitement as we head toward this one-night-only event in Wolf Trap’s beautiful amphitheater, the Filene Center. (photo from last year’s performance
Read More“Super” Stars
Guest post by Mina Asayesh-Brown When I took a tour of The Barns at Wolf Trap as part of my summer copywriting internship, I never thought I would be performing in an opera on their stage just a few weeks later. Maybe the phrase “performing in an opera” is misleading: I’m a supernumerary (or “super”
Read MoreIn Search of Opera Newbies
Do you know someone who’s curious about opera? Wolf Trap Opera is seeking “opera newbies” to participate in our New Audience Study. Participants receive free tickets to the 2014 season operas!* If you’re interested, write to us before June 15. If you’re already a fan (and you likely are, if you read this blog…), take this opportunity
Read MoreLet the Fat Lady Sing
I guess it’s time for another round of the operatic fat fights. In this corner, a culture that places increasingly intense value on youth and thinness. In the other corner, an art form that is slowly being pushed to undervalue its primary unique asset (the glory of the human voice.) I won’t do a lot
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