My biggest excitement this month was Queen #2. MUCH better than the first time. After the costumer left my dressing room, I took the heels off, hid them under the couch, and put my own shoes on. So, about 90% less tripping occurred. I say 90%, because my dress was now about an inch and half too long, so I had to pay more attention walking. I felt great on both my arias, and this time around, I actually got more applause than Pamina. This is really my goal in this role, to be on stage for 10 minutes and somehow manage to get more applause than the girl who was on stage all the time and had to work way harder than me. Thanks, Mozart! Here are a couple pictures of me as Königin der Nacht in the big production. Not quite as exciting as the costume for the kids' show.
Last week I got to fly to NY for the Opera Foundation Gala. The Opera Foundation is the group that gave me my scholarship to Berlin, and so they bought me a plane ticket to come sing at their annual dinner. It was a great event. Depending on how much you want to donate, seats are either $500 or $1000, so I was expecting the food to be perfect. And it was. First course of lobster, followed by rack of lamb, followed by a lovely dessert with fresh fruit and different sorbets in a chocolate shell. After the lobster, the three scholarship recipients sang. I sang the Queen of the Night's Vengeance Aria, and also a duet from The Barber of Seville. The aria got lots of cheers, and as soon as I sat down I was given a business card from a publisher of Opera News, who told me to call her. She said she was just thrilled with my singing and wants me to stay in contact. I was also approached by a woman from New York City Opera, saying that even though they're going through some transitions, she wanted to pass along my information to them. I even had a few of the wait staff come up to me with compliments! Here's a picture of me with Harold Wilson, a former scholarship recipient and the emcee of the evening, and Elizabeth Walbröl, New York socialite and in charge of the Opera Foundation.
Back at Deutsche Opera, I'm in two productions that are starting rehearsals this week, a premiere of Strauss' Die Ägypstische Helena, and Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. The director for Helena has decided that all the singers with smaller parts that should only be in one scene of the opera will be on stage for the entire opera. This means I'll be called to every rehearsal until opening. Not so much fun. Vixen will be fun, I have three tiny roles and get to dress up like different animals. Probably more exciting than both of those things is that I found out that the woman singing Zerbinetta in our new production of Ariadne auf Naxos will be absent from the first 10 days of rehearsals. And I'm the cover! So that means I'll get to sing all of her rehearsals during that time and probably stage all of Zerbinetta. I'm almost done learning the role – it's not easy but it's a ton of fun to sing.
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I had two! My parents moved it up a week to when I was home, and then on the real Thanksgiving, I went to a big dinner with a bunch of American friends here in Berlin. Glad I at least got to spend one holiday at home this year, since Christmas and Easter will be spent here.
Tonight I went to the premiere of Tannhäuser. I was told that at premieres, the applause at the end can be the most exciting part. Some singers were cheered more than I've ever heard in my life, and the Elizabeth/Venus was booed. I don't think I've ever heard boos before in a theater. Her boos weren't anything, however, compared to the boos for the director and designers. The whole theater booed as loudly for them as they had cheered for the Wolfram. Crazy stuff! Glad I was there to experience it. I found the production to be sort of blah, not great, not bad. Certainly not boo-worthy.
I'll post again once I have something more substantial to write about, like my upcoming rehearsals and shows. Until then, have a great December!
