Audition Season

This past week has been insane with work...I'm in the middle of a 14-day work week, and trying to keep my eye on the 12th, because that's when I will fly to Jon! He's finishing up a 3 month residency with Kentucky Opera, and we both have a Cincinnati Opera audition on Saturday, the 14th.

Audition season is a time of trepidation for most singers....it's a very involved process. First, you decide to which programs you'd like to apply...and they range in duration from a few weeks to a few years. Generally I am avoiding the most competitive ones, like the Met and the Lyric Opera Program, until I'm around 26 or 27 (the term "young artist" is a relative one in this business). It's a hard thing to decide if you want a company to hear you now and know that you're out there for whenever they might decide to take you, or to wait for them to hear you until you think you are at your peak. Some companies want to hear you several times before they take you, and some, if unimpressed with your first audition, will never hear you again, no matter how many times you apply.

So far, I've sent in about 12 applications for summer and year-round residency programs. I'm trying to be smart about where I'm applying, and so far have been granted auditions from all but 3 of the companies I've sent materials to.

I've completed 2 auditions: one for Santa Barbara Opera, and one for Chicago Opera Theater. I felt that I did fairly well at both auditions, but there are many things I'd like to improve about my performance (That's another aspect of the audition - thinking of it as a performance instead of a judging!)

I have several more auditions coming up in the next two weeks - Cincinnati, St. Louis Opera Theater, and Ohio Light Opera. Very exciting!