Opera Singing in Germany and other adventures....

I think that it's about time that I get to the nitty-gritty of what things were like for me in terms of rehearsal schedule and working environment for the 5 weeks that I spent in Bad Orb, don't you?  And for those of you who have insatiable curiosity about these sorts of things, if I haven't answered all of your questions by the end of this post, feel free to leave your questions below in the comments section.  Therefore, on to the crux of the matter! The rehearsal schedule that I experienced in Bad Orb, Germany while I was working on the role of Rosine in Der Barbier von Sevilla  was quite unlike anything that I had heretofore experienced in America.  Of course we did the same sorts of things during rehearsals (staging, musical rehearsing, tightening up ensemble singing, acting, etc..) but we did it at totally different times than what I am used to from the programs in which I had previously take part in the states.  To be more specific, here was a normal day...

This past weekend my colleagues and I sang in a concert located in the neighboring town of Gelnhausen  The concert served to promote the upcoming Opernakademie performance of Rossini's Barber of Seville, and to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Opernakademie Bad Orb, and all the hard work and dedication that has gone into producing successful summer Opera performances year after year.  Since 1986 in July and August international emerging artists come to Bad Orb specifically because of its wonderful reputation for putting on quality performances, allowing younger singers to sing important roles for future use in developing their career, and its well-known capacity for acting as a platform from which these emerging artists receive opportunities to take on larger projects at important opera houses in Germany and internationally. Therefore, there was quite a lot to celebrate at this past Saturday's concert, and we all had a wonderful time, however, as is no...

This particular entry is meant to provide an insight into my first two weeks here in Bad Orb thus far while working on the role of Rosina in Rossini's opera, The Barber of Seville , or in German "Der Barbier von Sevilla". The photos below are included to be a sort of progressive explanation of my experiences during these two weeks, almost like a photo journal. Our first day of staging, and part of our scenery! During this day, we went through the First Act musically, and then began right away to become acquainted with the acting out of the First Act Finale, and putting it on the stage as it would look in the final product. Different angle, same scenery :) Though, the set has changed even further from what it looks like here, and it is currently really much more developed than what you can now see.  A side note: the tables on the stage are where the Stage Director (Carlos Krause, a Kammersaenger from the Oper Frankfurt, and this year has been working in Opera for...

Okay, so today the newspaper came out and there was a picture of me and my colleagues from the production that I am currently rehearsing for in Bad Orb, Germany, and an article to accompany it! If you'd like to see and read this article (it's in German, of course, so heads-up to you non-German speakers) then please do click on the title of this blog post and you will be taken to the website of the newspaper in which the article appears! (And, I will of course keep you all updated as more details come to light- I will also write a bit of a longer blog post this weekend- it's just that rehearsals have been so busy, I can hardly do anything like that at the moment, so, promising now- a longer blog post this weekend!)

Because of a wonderful chamber music concert that I saw last night during the second half of the opening concert for our IVAI program here in Blacksburg, VA, I have been inspired to re-evaluate my musical knowledge and make a few resolutions to better my overall musical palette, and musicianship in a broader sense. To give a bit of background as to what spurred this train of thought in the first place, I must begin with the specific repertoire which was performed in last night's concert.  The concert featured the music of Schumann, whom although he's in the typical Western Classical music canon, is not a composer with whom his less popular works are well known to me, as well as the music of a very little-known composer named  Ernő  Dohnányi (pronounced [doch-na-nee])  whose compositional style resembles that of Brahms, and was a Hungarian contemporary of Bartok and Kodaly.  Interestingly enough, Sir George Solti was even a pupil of his. At any rate, after li...

Upon arriving in Blacksburg, VA on Tuesday evening of this week, I was excited and astonished at being able to have this wonderful opportunity to spend a few weeks at such a prestigious program, surrounded by highly-lauded Opera professionals, with whom I was able to work on music that I would like to perform or prepare for upcoming performances. And, these first four days here have not fallen short of my elevated anticipations, I can happily say. Thus far, I have gotten to meet everyone in the program who is a fellow singer, and I have met four new coaches in the disciplines of language (4), stage direction/acting/interpretation (1), and conducting/collaborative piano (2), and I am excited to become acquainted with the entire faculty by the conclusion of the program's activities. To give a brief description of what I've been up to since arriving here, my days have basically been comprised of the following elements in different quantities of time each successive day: coachi...