Frustration! April 23, 2009

It is 2:30 in the morning, and I have a recital in 17 hours. I cannot sleep!!! I didn’t think I was nervous, but aparently I was wrong. So frustrating! So right now I’m drinking a rum & coke (heavy on the rum), hoping the alcohol in it knocks me out.

So my second semester of my master’s degree is almost over. I entered two different competitions this semester and didn’t place in either one. That was disappointing. But I did make it into the summer program I applied for, so that is good. It’s a program specifically geared toward improving stage performance, which I need immensely.

I’ve also been guaranteed a role in our spring opera production at my school, although the opera we’ll be doing is still up in the air. The latest idea that’s been kicked around is Donizetti’s L’elisir d’Amore, which I really hope we do, because I will get the role of Adina, which I am dying to sing! It’s my favorite opera!

Whoa! Really starting to feel that rum… Time to try to catch some Z’s!

filling in the gap December 5, 2008

Wow! It’s been a really long time since I posted. I have been super busy with school and work… The semester is almost over. After this weekend I will feel like I’m home free. I have a couple tests, one paper, and a song exam in the next two weeks. This weekend, though, I am singing Messiah. Last night was our dress rehearsal. I was annoyed. The made all of the soloists get there at 6:45, but didn’t have us sing until at least 8. Then the orchestra insisted that they had to go home at exactly 9:45. I didn’t even get to go through two of my solos with them. I was annoyed. Yeah, it was the paid orchestra (that lives locally) that had to get home, not the unpaid soloists who still had to drive an hour to get home. Grr.

The semester (thank God it’s almost done!) has been good, but really busy. I’ve been trying to get used to just being on stage again. That’s been interesting. My opera workshop performance was a couple weeks ago. It went well, but it was not an entirely fantastic experience. The director (Prof. dJ) wasn’t all that helpful to those, like myself, who were new to it, and when she was giving notes at rehearsals she could be really sarcastic and rude. So I’m trying to put together a chamber music group so that I don’t have to be in opera workshop next semester. If it flies it will be really fun. It will be me and two guitarists. I’ve found some really fun music for soprano and guitar, so I’m really excited about it. Next year my voice teacher, T, is taking over opera workshop, so I’m going to be in it then, but for now I’m going to try to avoid Prof. dJ.

Teaching has been going well, too. Most of my students are really great. I do have a couple of flakes, one of whom I’m going to ask to find a different teacher next semester. He’s lazy and doesn’t think he needs to show up to his lessons. He’s got another thing coming when he gets his grade.

I got to see La Bohème twice this semester – once in Fresno and once in San Francisco. In San Francisco Mimi was sung by Angela Gheorghiu. Where I was sitting it was hard to hear, but she was still awesome.