Confusion

In theory, I should have all of my classes scheduled by now. But...there are always problems. This may involve me pleading with the Russian department about letting me be late to a class twice a week. This class conflicts for 10 minutes twice a week, and while my theory professor is ok with it, I have no word yet from the Russian department. In the words of my professor, "Well, you can go and beg on your knees and see what happens." But he said to not cry, because then he'd feel bad.

But in the spring semester next year (if it works out), I'll be working one-on-one with this same theory professor in an independent study course. For my topic, I've chosen to look at Rachmaninoff's songs and see how the poets he chose to set influenced his style. Of course, his later works are hugely different from his earlier ones, and I'm looking to see what the trends of poetry, or the styles of the poets he chose, had to do with that change. This professor is a Rachmaninoff specialist and only here for two years, so I want to take advantage of the opportunity to work with him. I met with him on Tuesday to discuss my topic, and we should be finalizing everything before the end of the semester.

The last weekend of The Most Happy Fella is coming tomorrow, and on Saturday are auditions for the first two operas of the season here! Then two weeks of class, three days of finals, and I'm done!

Easter 2009

Yesterday marked my second Easter away from home. Normally, I would go home, since it's so close, but I'm currently in the chorus for The Most Happy Fella here, and this past weekend was our opening. So, I was in Bloomington and away from my family, something that has never been easy. But I think the show went very well, and the chorus had lots of fun in the green room with Catchphrase and card games. And I really like my vineyard worker dress.

But, like the Easter I spent at Interlochen, the holiday turned out to be very nice. I go to church here with some wonderful people who really care about the students here, and two of them were kind enough to invite me to their Easter dinner. Alison is a fantastic cook, and makes some of the most wonderful dishes I've ever had. The dinner party was make up of Alison and her husband Helmut, our choir director Jon, his friend Laura, Brandon (a tenor friend of mine and fellow church chorister), and myself. And as usual, Alison's cuisine was just to die for. We had an appetizer of puff pastry filled with a mixture of sauteed mushrooms, feta, basil, onion, and artichoke. The main course consisted of roasted broccoli, a grain called quinoa (the only grain that is by itself a complete protein!), a cucumber dish, and roasted lamb. For dessert, she made a tiramisu-like dish that was just wonderful; I think what made it different was that it was made with brandy, but I'm not sure. But it was so good! And of course, conversation at the Kaisers is always interesting. We talked about everything from Helmut's job at the cyclotron, where he splits atoms and does experiments with neutrons to the piracy in Somalia to our traffic mishaps. As I've said before, I'm so happy that I've found such wonderful, interesting, and caring people here in Bloomington, especially outside of the university.

The second half of my Easter consisted of going to recitals. Jerome, a baritone in my studio, had his senior recital in the evening. He's made so much progress in the past year, and I'm very proud of him. His Schubert set in particular was very good. He's a very good actor as well, and you can tell how much he enjoys performing. The most beautiful point was the pianissimo high note in "Silent Noon", which just blew me away! Unfortunately, I had to leave his recital a bit early to catch another one. Thomas, a bass-baritone that I go to church with, and who sang both Figaro and Nicolai's Falstaff here, gave his master's recital. I can honestly say it was one of the best recitals I've been to here. My favorite pieces were two songs from the cycle A Broken Arch, which tells the story of a man who has been betrayed by his wife, and kills her lover, his best friend, in a duel. The words of these songs were painfully beautiful, and he sang them beautifully. The highlight of the recital, however, was Claggart's aria from Billy Budd. This aria is fairly creepy, but, like most of Britten's music, psychological and insightful. Congrats to Jerome and Thomas!

But my Easter ended with another happy note. I'm participating in a program this summer called The Italian Operatic Experience, in Urbania, Italy. Yesterday, I received word on what I'll be singing during my 5 weeks there. I'll be in the chorus of L'Elisir d'Amore (no mezzo roles), and I will also be participating in the opera scenes program, singing Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff! Quickly is actually a contralto role, and between that, Cornelia, and the bits of Carmen I've done, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm a pants mezzo, or more of a young dramatic mezzo. Hmm...we'll have to see what happens. =)

Three weeks remain in the semester, and finals week can't come soon enough. This semester has really wiped me out in many ways. I'm very much looking forward to being at home again and having some quiet time to myself. Not much longer!

Updates updates updates

Spring break has finally come! And now for some updates on what's been going on.

1. Closing night of Giulio Cesare came off with great success! All of the feedback I heard about the production as a whole, and my own performance, was very positive and gracious. As mentioned before, this was a bit overwhelming, but in a very good sense. I'm proud of my work in this show, and can't believe I as a part of this experience!
Some photos:

What I looked like as Nireno before they got rid of my wig. They said because I had the hat the entire show that there was no need for the wig.


With director Tom Diamond. He's brilliant, just amazingly brilliant, and I loved loved loved working with him. His methods really opened my mind to new ways of approaching acting, and I hope I have the opportunity to work with him again.

Backstage fun: Jacquie as Cleopatra and Dominic as Tolomeo. Dominic has worked in all sorts of art forms, from ballet, to musical theater, a role on All My Children, and now opera, and he's so so so so so good. And his high G is better than mine. Congratulations should go out to Jacquie not only for her beautiful performances, but also for her wedding yesterday!

With Cody, who sang Achilla in my cast. I've known Cody since my first semester at IU, and he's one of the nicest people I've met at this school. It was really a thrill and honor to be in a show with him. And you can now all see how short I am.

2. I'm going to Italy this summer! I'll be paricipating in The Italian Operatic Experience in Urbania, Italy during the month of July. I requested to live with an Italian family during my stay, and should find out at the end of the month what exactly I'll be singing there. I'm going to Italy!!!!

3. Driving back home was fun!

4. Friday's plans; Cavalleria Rusicana/Pagliacci at the Lyric Opera of Chicago! Mom and I are taking yet another trip up to Chicago for a girl's weekend complete with opera, shopping, good food, and everything else.

Soon to come...

Now that Giulio Cesare has finished, I'll have a little more free time. I'm coming home for spring break today, and will post some of the details of closing weekend and such when I get home. That is, if the Internet at home will be nice and not slow.

I'm actually doing the driving back home this time, which is strange. The girl that was supposed to give me a ride broke her ankle and can't drive, so I'm driving her car back to Fort Wayne. I've never driven for this amount of time put together, so things could be interesting. Coffee will probably be needed.

Some thoughts after opening night

Opening night was all that I could have ever wanted and more. I always forget from show to show how much an audience gives you an extra burst of energy and often inspires a degree of spontaneity in performance. And I could feel that it was there, not only in me, but in my fellow cast members. The arias were sung especially well; I've never heard Andy (Cesare) sing "Va taccito" as well as he did last night, and the same goes for Cody (Achilla) in his aria, and Jacquie (Cleopatra) in her "Da Tempeste". Andy even threw in a low D at the end of "Quel torrente" just for kicks, and it was thrilling to be onstage with him; "Quel torrente" is meant to inspire Sesto and Nireno, and it wasn't hard to feel that way. I'm so proud of everyone not only in my cast, but in the other cast. I'm truly blessed to share the stage with such talented and wonderful people!

Another word about the whole team of Giulio Cesare. They've been so kind during the whole process, from the first meeting we had as a cast back in October to opening night. Their graciousness, generosity, and support have been well beyond what I could have asked for in a group of colleagues, and it means the world to me. I've known a few of them since my first days at IU, and it's been an honor to finally work with them in such detail. It's been a wonderful experience.

And really, this has been a full circle adventure for me. I remember when I was 13 and seeing my first live opera, Don Giovanni, at IU and thinking to myself, "I want to sing here someday." The thrill from that performance is something I remember even today, and it was matched by the happiness I felt last night. And I honestly never thought that I'd get here, but I'm happy that I was wrong.
The photo is of Maestro Wedow and myself after the performance. He's one of the most brilliant and creative people I've ever worked with, and has given me the chance to test my limits and open myself to new ideas.

Covering and Hovering

Opening night of "Giulio Cesare" is tonight! Consequently, we've been in dress rehearsals all week. And of course, half the cast wasn't feeling well. Everything seems to be fine now. But Wednesday was totally different. The Cornelia in that cast (tonight's cast) wasn't planning to sing any of her arias on Wednesday to save her voice. My cast had to be in the Green Room at 6 for notes from our director and were free to go after that. After I got my notes (one of which included lifting Achilla higher in his death scene so that he's in the light...basically putting his whole torso on my legs and chest)I found Maestro and asked he if wanted me to stay for anything. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to ask if I could sing the arias, so I tried to be sneaky about it. At first he said he didn't need me for anything, but I must have given him a look or something, because then the lights in his eyes went on and he said, "Actually, do you want to sing the arias? That would be wonderful!"

And I did.

I think this was the biggest adrenaline rush of my life. I'd never sung totally solo with an orchestra before; I'd done two SATB quartets with orchestra before, but nothing this large or this intense. I hadn't rehearsed with them, and had only worked with Maestro once. So, when it came time for one of Cornelia's arias, I walked to the side of the stage and sang while the actual singer did the acting. I think for the most part it went well; I know for the first 5 or so measures of "Priva son" that I was behind, but I had trouble hearing the orchestra at first, and didn't realize how behind I was until Maestro and Marcello started motioning for me to speed it up. And for those of you who don't know the aria, the introduction is...one beat. Downbeat, sing. This is scary. But after I got in sync with the orchestra, I felt that it went very well. I won't lie, it was a bit awkward to walk onstage in my jeans, tennis shoes, and sweater and sing an aria from the side of the stage while everyone else was in full costume and makeup. But several of the people in attendance that evening complimented me on how I sang. And while the chances of me actually singing Cornelia in this run are extremely slim, I'm so glad I had this experience, especially because much of her music is very exposed and scary if you've never done it before. But now I know I can indeed do it!

For those of you interested in watching the performance but can't make it to Bloomington, here is the link to live streaming.
Streaming begins at 7:45 Eastern Time. I will be singing in the February 28th and March 6th casts.
And here is the link to the official website for the production.

The photo was taken on one of the dress rehearsals. I don't know who took it, but thank you whoever you are! This is my first scene in the opera. On a side note, the label inside my headdress says it's from the Met, from a production of "Aida". This may be the closest to the Met I ever get, but it still makes me feel cool.

Cesare Top 10, Week 2 of Staging

What's new with Cesare:

1. I have Cornelia memorized!
2. My Nireno costume was made for a man, so I'm sort of swimming in it. But it makes me look cool. And they're adjusting it.
3. Supporting a 6'4'' bass-baritone during his death scene isn't easy.
4. If I would end up singing a performance of Cornelia, I would get felt up by 4 different guys.
5. Tolomeo's death scene is going to rock, hardcore.
6. My Italian, according to our coach, is getting better each time!!
7. Being slap happy with previously bass-baritone, diction coach, and another mezzo is quite fun.
8. I'm performing in the inside cast (the "Remus", as in Romulus and Remus, cast), which performs on February 28 and March 6. If you can't see it live, catch it on the live streaming over the Internet. More details to come.
9. Maestro is one of the most amazing people I've ever worked with. Actually, this whole cast and production team is just brilliant!
10. I can't wait for this show!

What's keeping Lydia busy?

As of Sunday, I am officially the cover for the role of Cornelia in Giulio Cesare in addition to singing the role of Nireno.
This will be the least amount of time I've ever had to learn something of this magnitude, but I am thrilled that I was asked to do this, and want to prove that it wasn't a mistake to pick a sophomore to learn this role in less than a month.
In other words, I'm thrilled beyond belief, but I have more work to do than I ever have before.

What I did on my snow day.

We were smart enough to create photographic proff of our snow day. So here you go.

Snow!

Monday marked the first "official" rehearsal for Giulio Cesare with the entire cast and Maestro. As of today, we have a month until opening night.
The rehearsal itself, in my opinion, went quite well. We had an hour break in the middle, and instead of being a good student and practicing (I hadn't had a chance all day, seeing as I was busy from 9 a.m. until right then), I went to dinner with some of the other cast members. This was fun, because I made $5 in rehearsal that day after answering a question Maestro posed. Does this mean I'm a paid opera singer? ;)

The dinner crowd consisted of myself and my double, 4 countertenors, and a baritone. That's right, 4 countertenors. Before this show I didn't even know 4 countertenors. But we had a good time, and I enjoyed getting to know them a little better. Somehow we ended up talking about our dating lives and such, and after they talked about theirs, one of them asked me if I was seeing anyone. I said I wasn't (which is true), but that I'm working on it (which is also true). He looked me in the eye and said, "Oh don't worry, there are many fish in the pond, and the pond is a big place." I can honestly say I've never been asked about my love life before, especially in a group of people I don't know that well. But it made me laugh and I had a good time.

And to make this week even more interesting, the university closed today due to snow. There was already a few inches on the ground, but by noon we had a foot of snow. So, after watching a Disney movie with the housemates, we went out and played in the snow. I haven't played in the snow for years, so this was quite interesting. And, as many many many college students have done, we went tray sledding. That's all I'm saying about that. But now my body's a little worn out. We rounded out the snow day by watching The Fellowship of the Ring, the extended version. But I got work done afterwords in preparation for tomorrow's opera rehearsal. But the snow day was very much needed, and I had a blast!

Happy Birthday Mozart!

If Mozart were still alive, he'd be 253 today.

One of my first encounters with opera was with this duet, and I've been in love with it ever since.


This was one of the first arias I ever learned. It still is one of my favorites.


In my opinion, this is the most seductive piece of music ever composed.


Enjoy! =)

Signor del mondo...

I had my first coaching with Maestro Wedow today, and was very happy with how it all went. Again, my role isn't very big, but it is important. Nireno is, as Mo. Wedow put it, "Like James Levine, Vince Liotta, and David Effron all rolled into one." Cleopatra trusts him, and really lets him boss her around a bit. I keep forgetting that Cesare is, well, Julius Caesar (ahhh!!!), a larger-than-life character. King of the world. He's more than a general, and Cleopatra knows it. If she wins his love, she wins power. What she doesn't plan on, however, is falling in love with him.
And this is where Nireno helps.
He's proud of Cleopatra. She's "his honor student" as Mo. Wedow said. But he's still a servant. A servant, as he put it, in the way that Hilary Clinton is working with President Obama. And he's on the right team; after all, it is Nireno that begins the coronation scene, declaring Curio to be the victor, and Cesare to be kind of the world. In the back of his mind, though, he's saying, "See, I told you my girl Cleopatra would win. And now all those suckers who supported Tolomeo are being beheaded. Guess I was right!"
But there was still time left after we were finished working through the role, so we worked a little on my aria from Ariadne auf Naxos. I haven't been working on it that long, so it's still pretty rough in a lot of places. But Maestro gave me some very good suggestions, especially on how I learn the aria. He said I should take it in chunks, and that while Struass sounds like it's floating, you have to watch the conductor at all times. In retrospect, I should have sung Mozart for him, but he mentioned that he'd like to hear me sing my aria from Le Clemenza di Tito eventually. But I don't think I made a fool of myself in the least, and learned a great deal.
I'm just so thrilled to be singing in this opera, and to be working with my amazing cast members and artistic team! =)

New Semester

It's only 3 days into the semester, but I'm already very busy. My semester started at 9:00 am on Monday morning with a coaching for Giulio Cesare. It went well, but I still need to do a lot of work as far as bringing Nireno to life, something Daniela is helping me accomplish. I worked with Marcello on Tuesday, and he was very pleased with my diction, telling me how much I had improved over the break. This made me very happy, seeing my work amount to something!

Of course, whenever I come back to school from a long break, some homesickness lingers for the first week or so. It makes me frustrated, seeing as I really haven't found a way to rid myself of it. One of the things I miss most when I'm at school is having my cats around. Yes, I'm one of those cat people. ;) There's a Petsmart not far from campus that has cats up for adoption, and on Monday, I discovered that you can hold them for as long as you want. Which I did. And I'm going back today. It's really too bad I can't adopt one, although the cats at home would freak out if I did.

The other big news is that I'll be moving again next fall. While I like the location of the house I'm at now, there's just too many people and too much noise. Part of this comes from being on a very busy street corner and me not being used to traffic noise, having grown up in the middle of nowhere. But some of it also stems from there just being 11 of us, and the majority of the housemates being very extroverted, which sometimes clashes with my introverted personality. So, I'll be living with 3 or 4 friends in a townhouse a little farther from campus. But it's about half the price I'm paying now, in a much quieter environment, and closer to things like the grocery store. But it's still close enough to campus that I won't need a car. I'm excited for this change and think it will be the best for me.

Baritone therapy

I'm getting a little stressed about next semester, with my rediculously busy schedule, Giulio Cesare, and upper divisionals. But you know what the best kind of therapy is? Good-looking baitones. Just watch.

I know it's in Russian, but it's good to know that headphones are an international pain in the butt.


Some Mozart to cure the winter blah

2009

Hello 2009!

Winter break has been wonderful so far, except for the having a cold when I came home and the power outages. Those were not so great. But the ice melted, the power came back on, and my voice has mostly come back. It better, because I have an audition recording to make tomorrow and 5 pieces to sing. At some point I'll post photos of the insane amount of ice we had, but right now there's a cat on my lap and I can't get my camera.
I've also spent much of my break reading, which is something I really don't have much time for when I'm at school. Mansfeild Park by Jane Austen is what I'm currently reading. Yes, I'm a Jane Austen fan and am not ashamed to admit it. But I also got my hands on copies of Dostoevsky's The Devils (which is also translated as Demons) and The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas. I was going to find some smutty romance novel to read over break just for the heck of it, but I don't think that's going to happen.
2008 was definitely a freak-out year for me; opera workshop, meeting Dmitri Hvorostovsky, my "special" summer job and class, dealing with insecurities, the cattle call freak out, singing for Virginia Zeani, the callback for Giulio Cesare, getting cast in the same opera, and learning a lot of "big girl" music.

May the freak-outs continue.

Can I just move to Europe?

The concert yesterday went very well, in my opinion. The Bach really pulled itself together, and all of the soloists really sounded wonderful. And of course, the children's choir was just as adorable as is possible. As I said before, I could go on about the musicians, but I won't.
After the concert, I went to dinner with one of the other altos in choir, Alison. Her husband, Helmuth, is from Austria, and besides the three of us there was our choir director, Jon, another member of the choir, Kelly, a graduate piano student who sings with us, Alice, Heidi-Marie, Alison and Helmuth's daughter, and two Italian astrophysicists, Massimo and Claudia. I was definitely the youngest person there, but I didn't mind in the least; I've always gotten along better with adults then people my own age.
So, the first course is brought out. Yes, course. Sorry, I may get a little carried away. The first course was individual quiches and a mixed greens salad. I love quiche. A lot. So after we were finished, the main course is set out. We had almond-encrusted salmon accompanied by a sweet salsa. Along with this were sauteed zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, and basil, peas with shrimp, and a citrus rice dish with basil and maybe saffron. It was, in a word, amazing.
So I thought this might be the end. But no! There's more! After that came the bread and cheese. And really good European cheese. After the cheese came desserts. Homemade puff pastries and a coffee-chocolate mouse. And on top of all of this, when Alison invited me on Tuesday, and I mentioned that I was very excited to come, she said, "Oh, don't be. It's not going to be much."
omg.
But besides the wonderful food (this is honestly the best I've eaten in months), the company was great! Alison and Helmuth are very sweet and interesting people, and well rounded in many subjects. Discussion at the table covered everything from politics (both American and Italian) to things at church to literature to the stupid things undergraduates do (but I was informed that I do not fall into that category) to how Jon met Chelsea Clinton when he was at Yale. Part of the flavor of the conversation came from everyone's varied backgrounds. Jon grew up outside of New York City, Massimo and Claudia are from Rome (and moving to Paris by January), and here I am from Lake WobeDecatur. I didn't get back to my house until midnight, and was beyond tired; I'd been up since 7 that morning so that I get some studying done before Thomas picked me up for church at 10. But it was entirely worth the exhaustion.
And I'm thankful that I can have opportunities and experiences like this. Although it may sound odd, this is the sort of experience one doesn't expect to have when growing up in a place like Lake WobeDecatur. Being cast in an opera, learning Russian, and working with world-class artists also fall into this category. It blows my mind sometimes.

Almost done

My last coaching with Marcello before the break was on Friday. He told me that I've improved, and even sounded good on some parts. We had time after we were finished with the diction part, and went on to actually singing. As I've said before, he's on the pickiest coaches I've worked with, but brilliant. I've never really done recitative before this, and he's been a great help making it sound good.
In about 45 minutes I'll be getting picked up for the choir concert at my church down here in Bloomington. We're performing a bunch of different Christmas and Advent selections, including Bach's cantata "Hertz und Mund und That und Leben". Even though this is a volunteer choir, we've actually got a voice major on each part plus quite a few people who know what they're doing. Jon, our director, got a few members of the Early Music Institute (EMI) to be our orchestra, plus some outside soloists (he told me and the tenor in our choir that he would have picked us for those solos, but I came in kind of late and the tenor had his junior recital to prepare). Our soprano soloist was in opera workshop with me last year, singing Maria to my Anita in "A Boy Like That", and is actually the one who introduced me to this church down here. The bass soloist sang Figaro here last year and Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor this fall. His voice sounds slightly like Nathan Gunn's, only with more "bass" qualities. He's also one of the funniest people I've ever met, and Jeff and Kelli's (our pastors) kids just love him. I could go on but I'll stop.
My first two finals are tomorrow; Russian at 8:00 am (honestly, Russian is a language that really shouldn't be spoken before 10:00 am. It's unhealthy) and French at 12:30. Then nothing until my music theory final Friday at 12:30. I have no idea what the heck I'm going to do for three days, and really wish I could take it earlier (already tried, won't work sadly) and get home sooner.

Italain Diction Boot Camp Part 2

My second coaching with Marcello was today. I've worked on my text, but there's still a lot of work to be done. However, he did tell me that I've improved, and some of it sounds very good. But, as he was telling me that my mouth was working too much to enunciate, he said, "You look like you're under pressure. You just need to relax. I know you want to do a good job, but just relax a little. If you work too hard, it's counterproductive." Of course, once I did, it improved! This isn't the first time I've been told by a music person or anyone, that I'm tense and need to loosen up. Do I work too hard sometimes? Yes. Do I need to loosen up? Probably. Of course, part of the nervousness comes from having a native speaker (who happens to be gorgeous) coach you in his native language. I'm very glad he's being extremely picky though, because this will help tremendously in the longrun.
Yesterday I had my first musical coaching. I've never done recitative before, and it is much harder than one might think. But I'm getting the hang of it, and very much enjoying it. It's better to learn to do recitative now than a few years from now. But my musical coach asked me if I was a grad student. I'm not, but this question has come up several times since I started college. I think part of people thinking I'm tense and nervous is because I am; I'm 19 and doing my first role at a major voice school. Of course I'm nervous! It's scary!
And, as a fellow opera-blogger and facebook friend Susan pointed out, "You know... if you relax, the Italian will just come. :) So go have a glass of chianti."
Chianti...mmmmm. =)

All fached up

Today I sang for the first and last time an aria from Britten's Billy Budd. This opera is based on the novella of the same name by Herman Melville, and has an all male cast. There's not even a pants role, sadly. Therefore, I'll never be in this opera. But in English diction, I got a chance to sing one of the arias as part of an "all fached up" day.
Surprisingly, very few people sang, especially given the excitement that had gone into setting this up. There were three of us who sang something we'll never sing again. A tenor sang "My man's gone now" from Porgy and Bess in his falsetto, and blew everyone away. Seriously, his high C is better than most women's. He might consider a career as a countertenor. One of the other women in the class sang "Joey" from The Most Happy Fella, which nearly every baritone sang this year at cattle calls. In fact, between that and the many people who sang it in her studio, that's how she learned it. And I sang "And farewell to ye, old Rights o Man" from Billy Budd. It's a very beautiful piece, and surprisingly tonal by Britten's standards. Billy sings this only minutes before he's hanged for killing Claggart, and in these final moments he explains that he's at peace, and that all of the horrible things that are about to happen to him don't matter now. I felt like I sang it well, but after I was done, Ms. McNair said to me, "Didn't you just feel the energy in the room that you created? It was wonderful!" And then went on to explain that no matter what you're singing, if you take it seriously, so will the audience. She then said to me, "You go and be Billy Budd!"
Later in the class, she herself sang "The Devil went down to Georgia" and played the violin part. It was, to say the least, freaking amazing.

What?

My week:
Russian exam
"All fached up" day in English diction
French listening exam
English diction exam
Theory homework
Italian diction coaching for Giulio Cesare
Musical coaching for Giulio Cesare
Voice lesson
Work on theory project
Church choir rehearsal
Dinner with Stephanie in celebration of her engagement