Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

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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Day 2: New York

Greetings from this AWOL Virginian, whose absentee ballot is probably being counted as we speak. Dramatic day for politics. My daughter is studying political science and foreign policy, and I usually look to her to explain these things. She called me three times today to give me updates :o) Planning on staying up past my

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Day 1: Philadelphia

Flat The first day of this year’s audition tour brings a rash of out-of-tune singing. Everyone has the occasional “off” day, and I’m well aware that a live audition isn’t going to have the pristine intonation of a recording. But I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I have to say that there

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Make Your Voice Heard

Are you auditioning for us this year? Add your voice to the blog. Send an email to wtoc@wolftrap.org with the word blog in the subject field, and I’ll include your message in the next day’s post. If you’d rather be anonymous, click on the “comment” link at the bottom of any of my posts. (I

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Parade

If you’re looking for an informative post about the upcoming audition tour, go here or here. Or work backwards through last year’s audition tour diary starting here. Or check back later this week for a post on the audition workshops I’ve done this fall. But today’s entry is a plug for my recent extra-curricular activity.

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