Lousy Swinter

Swinter = spring + Winter, an awful time of year in Chicago when it either sleets and winds blow you over, or it looks deceptively sunny but is actually COLD.

This past week has been not fun in several ways; luckily none of them have to do with my singing! And I did get a fabulous review for Mikado: check it out at

http://www.hpherald.com/pg11.html

But now for the lousiness....


my company decided to fold this past week, so I am officially out of a full time job :(

Luckily, I get to keep my freelance clients for voice lessons and babysitting, so I think I will be A-Ok for money until I move in august.

Also, due to what I think was a Monday babysitting job, I have caught bronchitis and am hacking my way through this blog post. I went to the doc yesterday and got some lovely medications, but I have 2 auditions this week and am praying to the vocal gods to heal me with a couple awesome nights of sleep.

When it rains, it pours

Very exciting weekend!

I participated in the Elgin Opera voice competition, in Division III, which was open to singers ages 19-26 years old. The preliminaries were on Saturday. I went in, did my thing (sang my normal audition aria) and went home. Got an email at 9:30pm that night telling me I'd made it to the semi-finals! I did a happy dance and went to bed.

Got up the next morning, and went back for the semi-finals. Again, I went in, did my thing (the same aria, plus one art song that the judges chose) and went home. Got an email at 8:30pm announcing the Finalists, and once again, I had made it!

This is huge for me. Yes, it's a small company in the suburbs of Chicago, but I've never made it past the preliminary round of any competition I've done. This feels like a result of all the hard work I've been doing this year just for my technique and my presence on stage. I've put in many hours with my coach, taken lessons with different teachers, done acting classes, and continued to perform wherever and whenever I can. And it's culminated into a lot of good things lately.

Making the finals in this comp means that I have a spot in their summer program as well, which will run through June 1-July 11 (all in the evenings/weekends though, so I can keep my job :) ) and feature a fully staged opera, a scenes concert, and several other concerts throughout the 6 weeks it runs.

So I can do that in addition to the Boheme I've been asked to do in August...can't wait to blog about what it feels like to get into Musetta's character!

An awesome weekend! and I can't wait for the finals on April 11!

Sometimes you CAN have it all...

So after lamenting the fact that I have NOTHING to sing this summer....

I have at least 2 things to sing this summer! and maybe as many as 4, if I plan carefully....

I was contacted by a small opera company I auditioned for a month ago whom I thought had forgotten about me. But they didn't! I'm contracted for their summer show.

So I'm happy! I'm working, I'm singing, I'm a functioning member of society.
Huzzah.


Geez this blog is up and down. Such is the singer's life....

I was born to be there

Tonight was the opening of Mikado...and I gotta say....when I get a chance to be onstage, I feel pretty friggin awesome. There's always a split second (or 30) before I make my first entrance when I think

"oh geez...how am I going to do this? What if I forget a line or motion?"

but then I banish ALL those thoughts from my mind as soon as I step on the stage. It's great. This cast is amazing. They are SO MUCH FUN to play off of and it feels so natural. It's the most fun thing ever. Ever. And it makes all of the auditioning and practicing and rejection and tears worth it.

Now I'm exhausted. More blogging later. It's been way too long!

Rejection Is....

Difficult. But a fact of life in this business.

Over the last week I've gotten about 4 rejections. 1 I was not surprised about, but 3 were for programs that I honestly thought I had a good chance at getting.

And my new job has taken off and made me QUITE busy. But I'm not busy with singing work, and I can't help feeling like this job will start to take over more and more of my life and edge out the performing if I'm not careful.

I asked one of my close colleagues last week (also a soprano) "How do you keep going with this career when you are constantly getting rejected?"

And she gave a few insightful points:

1. The person left standing after all of the other constantly rejected give up is the one who will get the job.

2. If you have one or two significant steps forward in your career you can consider yourself progressing at a normal rate as an opera singer.


And my role in the Mikado is one of those 2 significant steps I have to take this year. It's just that not having anything lined up for the summer is a daunting prospect. Yes, it means that I will be more financially secure at the end of the summer. But not more secure in the career I WANT to have.

My friend's last point was that I am still young, and have a lot of time to grow and audition. Patience is not my strong suit, but I want the career bad enough that somehow I will develop it, if only to sing another day.

I tried to write this post to uplift myself, but didn't do a very good job. Oh well.

I'm not giving up yet.