Posts Tagged: audition

WTO 2018 audition tour, coming to you today from Rehearsal Room 3 at LA Opera. I’ve seen WTO alums in the LA Phil’s Music from the Magic Flute and LA Opera’s The Pearl Fishers over the last two nights, and now we’re getting ready to hear 65 singers in audition over the next two days. Let’s

And here it is, the fascinating, scintillating and titillating audition season post you’ve been waiting for… Paperwork! It’s important. Don’t resist or resent it. Look at it this way. If you were pounding the pavement looking for a “real” job* right now, you’d be writing dozens and dozens of customized cover letters and tweaking multiple

Today, we talk about the printed music that comes in the audition room with you. No huge revelations, but you’d be surprised how many folks create stumbling blocks for themselves by ignoring this basic advice. Our Cincinnati auditions (at CCM) are typically played by Donna Loewy, who is not only a fabulous pianist and collaborator, she’s

We’ve talked a bit about what happens outside the audition room. Now let’s turn our attention toward what happens between the door and the first note… Greetings Don’t spend a lot of time obsessing about how to relate to the audition panel. Auditions aren’t cocktail parties, and other than avoiding the appearance of being extraordinarily

You are right to be primarily concerned with what happens inside the audition room. But I encourage you to extend your professionalism to the people and situations outside the door. Trash Talk Singers don’t overtly try to get inside each others’ heads the way professional athletes do, but there are mind games outside the room. Most artists

We find that singers worry endlessly about the extent to which they can move in an audition situation. A few thoughts from the other side of the table: Should You “Block” Your Aria? Well strictly speaking, no. You shouldn’t perform your audition in the same way you would approach a staged performance. But the exercise

There are many steps to putting on my audition ears. Spotify-surfing through my favorite recordings is only part of the process. I also have to remember how difficult it is to compare different voices in different acoustics. To wit, consider these extreme ends of the spectrum… 1. The Bathroom/Stairwell Singers initially love the fact that

Having just packed a carry-on suitcase for the first 2.5 weeks of travel in 4 cities with 3 different climates, I am in a particularly empathetic place with you singers who are trying to decide what to wear for auditions. If you’re staring at your closet trying to figure out what to strut during your audition, I

A guest post from Lee Anne Myslewski, Director of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio. This is the first year that we’ve asked for video files for the Studio applications. They’re not required, but I’m heartened to see that so many people have them, and that they’re largely quite good! I’m only about halfway through the