She's Here!!!!

The long six weeks have finally passed...and my beautiful daughter is HERE! My parents and daughter arrived in Graz last night, and I was able to touch, hug and kiss my little girl after six long weeks away from her. It is so good to be with her again. Although she looks a bit taller than last time I saw her, she is still the spunky, funny, sweet girl I know so well. It is a little surreal to have her and my parents here in Austria. Life is a little crazy some times. I showed them my tiny cell - I mean dorm room - and then we had a nice dinner at a local Italian restaurant called Fontana. Today I took them up to the top of the Schlossberg, where we had lunch and wandered around. This evening was my very last operetta concert with orchestra, and I am so incredibly grateful that my parents were able to attend and see me perform!!! It almost didin't happen, as the concert was supposed to take place outside in the open air in front of a church in this beautiful down called Frohnleiten, and the weather forecast was calling for serious rain and thunderstorms. The clouds looked ugly all afternoon as we went through sound check. The word was that if a single drop fell down, the conductor would stop the concert, since any sort of rain would damage the instruments in the orchestra and all of the sound equipment. So...we all waited patiently, and the concert started, and halfway through the very first number some drops started falling. So the orchestra rushed inside and put away their instruments, and I was praying for the rain to stop so that my family could see the concert. Fortunately, the bigwigs in charge decided to move the concert inside the church. After a 30-minute break to allow the stage crew to rearrange everything inside, the show went on! Us singers sat in the back of the church and walked up the aisle when it was our turn to go. My duet went well with my partner, and the ensemble numbers went well too. I had so much fun! And the audience loved us!!! One of my favorite moments was when the 80+ year old woman in the pew next to me started singing along. Fabulous experience. I asked my daughter what part she liked best and she said "the part when you sang, mommy." I have her trained well. :) I'm so glad my parents and daughter were able to see the show. Tonight I realized how wonderful all of this operetta has been for me. I've struggled with being animated on stage in a sincere way prior to Austria, but operetta has required me to be very animated and over-the-top. Singing operetta makes it easy to have fun on stage - and I love it! I wasn't nervous at all tonight, and had a really good time.

Wow, what a day!

Today was a crazy day! This morning I had my first rehearsal for the operetta concerts with orchestra. We received our ensemble music *yesterday*, so nobody had really looked at it before our rehearsal, and yes, we are supposed to have it all memorized by Thursday. Gaaah! The entire vocal cast for the concert got together to learn the music from 10-12:30pm today. And - surprise! - I have been given a solo part in one of the ensemble pieces. Woohoo!!! So I have three ensemble pieces plus my duet for the orchestra concert. I'm telling you, it's a LOT of music to memorize in 3 days. Time to get very focused and just brute-force those words into my memory. After the 2 1/2 hr rehearsal, we rehearsed with our conductor from 3-4pm, and then had a private coaching with him for 30 minutes from 4:30-5pm. Oh - and I also found out at breakfast that I was to sing in tonight's recital at 7pm. But I wasn't done after that - I had another operetta rehearsal from 8-9:30pm. Phew!

The conductor for the operetta concerts is from the Volksoper in Vienna, and he's been great to work with. After the private coaching with my duet partner, he complimented me on my solo singing from our earlier rehearsal. He also said he was interested in hearing me sing "Depuis le jour" at the recital!!! Very cool. Even though I was exhausted by the time the recital came around, I had to dig deep to find the energy to perform to the best of my ability - especially with a conductor in the audience that was there specifically for me. While it certainly wasn't the best I've ever sung that aria, I do feel like I made improvements on my stage presence and connection to the emotion of the character. I felt in control on stage, and my guestures felt so much more natural than in the past. During the intermission, my stage artistry instructor came up and told me how proud she was of me and gave me a big hug. Yay!!! After the concert, the conductor asked me how I felt I did. I told him that I didn't feel like I had enough energy to keep the forward momentum of those long legato phrases. He agreed and said that he could tell I had more sound to offer and that he thought I was holding back vocally. I honestly think that I could've done a lot better had my voice, body and mind not been so tired. I've got to be careful about pacing myself and resting enough so that I don't burn out. It's great that he showed an interest in me and got to hear me sing one of my favorite arias, and I'll continue to work hard this week and next to show him what I've got. No holding back! And with that...it's time for bed.

Week 4 photos

Eating dinner with some of my AIMS friends

Inside the Stefaniesaal, where our orchestra concerts take place

Schniztel - dinner of champions

On our way to the first operetta concert at the casino...looking a *bit* stressed

Week 4

Wow, the week has just flown by! The last week and a half of classes have been fantastic. Voice lessons are fabulous, my coachings are going well, I couldn't ask for more - except for things to slow down a bit. It's really shocking to think that I only have two more weeks left of the program. But WOW, what a couple of weeks it will be!

Most students went out of town to Vienna or Salzburg last weekend, but I chose to stay in Graz to relax, refocus and catch up on sleep. On Sunday I went to a spa about an hour away and basically spent the day in a hot tub. Not a bad way to spend a free day. :) I'm finding that rest is just as important as the work, as a lot of students are starting to get sick. There are so many things to do, and us singers are pretty social folk, so it's tough to say no and stay in my room. I've taken naps over the past week as I've needed them. This is mentally and physically exhausting work, and I certainly don't want to get sick.

So...updates on concerts! I was cast in 3 of the 4 operetta concerts with piano AND 3 additional operetta concerts with orchestra!!! We had our first operetta concert with piano this last Wednesday at the Graz Casino, and it was an intense experience. I had little time to memorize the music (with all of the other work I'm doing), so I felt incredibly nervous. The show went really well, considering how anxious we all were. There was one terrifying moment when I forgot about 4 measures of words and had to make up some German nonsense lyrics until my memory kicked back in, but I just had to keep going. Oh well. My other duet went really well so overall I felt good about the experience, and I have two more opportunities to perform the songs. I'm singing a different piece for the orchestra operetta concerts, so yet another song to learn in record time. This song is a duet and I can't wait to perform it with the orchestra! Our first orchestra concert will be at the top of the Schlossberg, which will be so cool.

Tomorrow is a really big day for me, as it's the first round of the Meistersinger Competition! 45 students signed up for the competition, and then 24 will proceed on to Round 2, and then 8 for the final concert. We all had to list 3 songs for the competition, but will only be singing 1 of the 3 tomorrow. My three are "Caro Nome", "Depuis le jour" and "Ach, ich fuhl's." I really wanted to get "Ach, ich liebte" in a good place, but it's just not competition-ready yet. And I guess it's a good thing, as I saw that four other women listed that song as one of their three competition arias. I feel really good about my three arias, and have chosen to sing "Caro Nome" tomorrow. I've had lots of time with that aria this week and feel confident I can rock it for tomorrow's competition. It's hard not to get all worked up about the competition, and wonder what other people are doing, but again, I just need to keep my focus on doing MY very best. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Today was a very special day, as it was Abby's 8th birthday. I've never been away from her on her birthday, so I felt a bit of sadness throughout the day. I did get to Skype her this afternoon and send her my love and kisses, as well as a special happy birthday recording from me and my friends here at AIMS. I love her so much, and can't wait to see her in a week!

Okay, bedtime for me! Time to get in the zone and become Gilda (the character that sings Caro Nome). Gute Nacht!

Week 3 of AIMS

So after a dizzying first week of real classes, I had a fabulously relaxing weekend. Saturday was an easy recovery day for me, where I had the chance to catch my breath and refocus. Sunday evening was the very first AIMS concert, where the orchestra played "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Also sprach Zarathustra," and Linda Watson sang some gorgeous Wagner.

The last three days I've been immersed in my classes. I've been focusing this week on "Caro Nome" and "Ach, ich liebte." I am determined to conquer "Ach, ich liebte"!!! Sra. Colon thinks that I sing it well and has been very encouraging. She has suggested to take some of the weight off my sound at the bottom of my runs, which has helped a ton. She has also been working on me rounding my sound so that there are more overtones in my notes. I have a horrible habit of spreading my mouth/sound horizontally. I need to think vertical. Looking in the mirror while singing is key for me until my mouth gets used to opening more vertically. One of the best moments of this week was when Sra. Colon said that she thinks I am very capable of having a successful singing career in Europe!!!!

There is a big singing competition at AIMS that I am entering next week - called the Meistersinger Competition - where there are two rounds of auditions and then the final 6-8 winners are chosen to sing with the orchestra in the very last AIMS concert. I need to have three songs prepared, and am still finalizing my choices with my teacher's help. Of course everyone else here is entering the competition, so my challenge is to figure out how to make my arias special and unique for my voice.

I have been cast in a few concerts, which is totally awesome! I will be singing in the Spanish music concert in a few weeks, as well as the Operetta concerts (there are four of them, plus one with orchestra that hasn't been cast yet). I am completely new to Operetta, so it's been great to learn a new and completely Austrian genre. What is not great is having to learn FIVE SONGS in one WEEK. I think I will be sleeping with the music under my pillow tonight and pray for osmosis to kick in.

Okay, time for bed! I have to wake up early tomorrow to do laundry, as I'm out of clean pants and it's supposed to be cold and rainy all week (like typical Seattle weather). I consider it a gift from the universe to help me feel love from home. :)

Governor's Reception

All gussied up with some of my AIMS friends.

On Friday evening (July 15th), AIMS was invited by the Styrian Governor to attend a reception at Schloss Eggenberg. They sometimes call this the "AIMS Prom" because everyone gets all fancied up. This is inside the "Planet Room" - so incredibly beautiful.

In the courtyard at Schloss Eggenberg.

Standing in front of the Schloss.

Wow - things are moving fast!

Has it really been 8 days since I last blogged?! Time is going by quickly over here. I am now in my second week of classes and am BUSY. :) Thanks for your patience.

So last week was amazing. My voice lessons and coachings have been so wonderful. It's really great to get two of each type of instruction each week. Each day is so incredibly full; it's a bit overwhelming at times. I have to consistently remind myself to focus on what my main priorities are here so that I don't spread myself too thin or get off track. Daily German classes are helping me learn the language, but I find that I'm a bit shy using it out in the 'real world' - except for in a restaurant. I'm pretty good at ordering gelato, but need to expand my repertoire, shall we say...

One of my favorite classes is Stage Artistry. I have a fabulous instructor, and she has been so helpful with providing me the tools to add more interest and color to my arias. I have some worksheets that I'm filling out for each of my arias, to be very purposeful with my actions/thoughts/emotions while singing. Very cool class - and very helpful for me.

As I wrote in a prevous post, I was really hoping to get cast to sing a certain aria with the orchestra. Unfortunately I did not get it, but a really talented and wonderful singer did and I wish her the best. I was upset about it for a night - thinking "I spent the last six months learning that aria and I think I do a really great job with it. What did I do wrong? Why didn't I get it?". But the next morning was a new day, and I realized I was being too competitive and that my energy should be spent focusing on improving myself, not on the things I'm NOT getting cast in. There are so many great singers here that I'm catching myself comparing what I have with others. I need to just keep focusing on doing my best, and great things will come in the right time.

We've had an agent and an Intendant come to AIMS this last week, which has been very informative. They have each spoken to the students about how the German/Austrian music system works and how a potential client can audition and work with them. A singer will audition for an agent, get signed on, and then the agent will send the singer to auditions that are appropriate for that singer's voice type and experience. When a singer auditions, she is expected to introduce herself and her song in German, and be able to converse with the panel in German afterwards. Talk about motivation for learning more German!!! The Intendant spoke about what singers should wear, what songs they should choose, what qualities he is looking for in a singer before offering him/her the job, how much money singers should expect to make their first year with a smaller house, benefits, etc. The Intendant and agent have been auditioning students who are ready for an international career. I have not been chosen to audition for them yet, but will keep you posted.