Happiness is.....

1. Getting employed full-time on salary (BizyBizy! Not the opera company, I know, but a place I've been putting a bit of time in for lately. it's nice that it is being recognized!)

2. Going shopping for office clothes!

3. Ice-skating with roommates.

4. Cantoring successfully at synagogue.

5. Going out for a beer with friends and discovering fried cheese curds (DO NOT knock this until you've tried it. It was heaven in a nugget).

Weird how NONE of these things have to do with opera singing. But it's nice to know I can orchestrate my own happiness without it depending on an audition panel.

cheers!

Winter Highs and Lows

Today was a bizarre mix of depressing and hilarious events. First, I had a second interview for a job with a well-known corporate music and gymnastics school, where I would be hired as a desk clerk and class teacher. I enjoyed observing a class, but in the interview I was asked some difficult questions that I have been grappling with lately. These questions included "so, you aren't going anywhere for awhile? Because this is a permanent positions" and "where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

And, I answered truthfully: "I have nowhere to be besides here at the moment." But of course in my mind, I'm hoping that the Met will call up and offer me a dream career. That isn't going to happen though. At least not this year.

Also, I don't KNOW where I see myself in 5 years. Hopefully, I'll be building my career...but since so much of what I do is contingent on how I do in auditions/who I have connections to, I can't see clearly how I'm going to GET there. I'd also liked to be with Jon still :) which I can definitely see clearly.

So hard cold facts of reality were faced this morning, and I believe if I get this job I will stick with it until something better comes along.

But THEN I had Mikado rehearsal, and I have to say it's among the most enjoyable shows I've done. The director is wonderful, and the cast is talented, professional, and hilarious. I am having ridiculous amounts of fun, and am so glad that my family will be there to see it! If anyone else wants tickets, let me know. I'll hook you up!

Projects for the Month

It's turning into a busy month...somehow that always happens and I LOVE it. I love being busy, in general, but especially busy with music projects. Some of my upcoming events are:

Cantoring - February 19 at Temple Sholom. I will be singing the Robbie Solomon Hashkivenu, in lieu of the traditional meditation following silent prayer.

Recital - February 25 in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave. My roommate Kyra and I will be performing new works by Brian Baxter written for Soprano and Cello. It promises to be an exciting concert!

Opera On Tap - February 25 (double bill that night!) I will be singing with Opera on Tap, a group that performs in bars throughout the city. I auditioned for this group last month and am thrilled to be performing with them.

Mikado - not till next month (March 12, 13, and 14) but rehearsals for it are really heating up. It's a wonderful group of people, I'm having so much fun with them, and they are lighting a fire under me to memorize....

So that's what I'm off to do!

North Carolina is supposed to be WARMER than Chicago

To be fair, it is. About 6 degrees warmer.

I flew in from Chi this morning to Raleigh, to stay with my brother and sister-in-law for a couple nights. I have an audition for school tomorrow about 90 minutes from their house, and they have generously agreed to house/drive me this weekend.

I'm a little worried because I've had a cold all week, which, typical of the kinds of cold I get, started in my head/sinuses, worked it's way to my throat yesterday and has settled firmly in my chest today. The chest is the last stop, I think, so hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up and be perfect....please...

It's very nerve racking that singing depends SO MUCH on your health. You can be a Met-worthy singer and one cold knocks you out of the audition/competition circuit for up to 3 weeks (or more). I've always had the attitude of plowing ahead despite illness, but sometimes it can hurt you more than help you to have that outlook if your career rides on it. I'm trying not to think of each individual audition as the be-all end-all of my career, because individually they aren't. It's a cumulative process.

2 cute comments

Today was the last day of our tour...I'm now back in Chicago, resting comfortably with tea and applesauce.

The very last show we had today was for a K-4 school at 1:45pm. After the show, we had our standard Q and A for the kids. Recently we discovered that if we turn it around and ask the KIDS questions, we get some really good responses. Here's my favorite dialogue of the day:

Linden (director): So wasn't that a great opera!? (general yesses and applause). An opera is different from a play. Who can tell me what an opera is?

Child (Profound 4th grader): It's a group of people who have REALLY good voices, and they're all together and they're doing what they love.

Linden: That is a wonderful definition! Now who can tell me how a play is different from an opera?

Child (frightened Kindergartener who probably had her hand up for a completely different comment): It's just....where....everybody does what they're supposed to.


So cute. So very cute. I love outreach.

Kids today....

A couple of comments/questions heard at our performances over the last few days:

(apropos of nothing): "My Birthday is February 24th!"

(cynical child): "Why is Baby Bear TALLER than Mama Bear??"

(other cynical child): "Why couldn't you FIND Goldilocks when she went behind the set and you did too?" (we do this Groucho Marx routine where we're chasing Goldilocks, she runs behind the set, we do too, we pretend we can't find her, come out, and walk away and look back and she's peeking her head over the TOP of the set. Many people find it funny. This child clearly did not.)

(realist child): "Bears don't HAVE whiskers" (I told him to Wikipedia it)

....hoping for some cuter questions over the last 2 days of our tour.