My first Queen!

Had the premiere of Das Märchen von der Zauberflöte yesterday morning, and it went wonderfully! I mean, you really can't go wrong with cutting Die Zauberflöte down to 70 minutes, but what a terrific production this is. From the costumes to the sets to the singers, everything is just top notch. After we finished the show, there was champagne for us outside the dressing rooms, followed by more champagne in the Deutsche Oper's restaurant. Just makes you feel special to be treated like that!

It is such a difference working in a big house. First off, I find it quite nice that I don't have to do my own pin curls (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's the way you prepare your hair before the wig gets put on). My makeup lady, Sandra, takes care of that for me. She also comes to my dressing room, so I don't have to worry about going to another room to get my makeup done. Makeup is done so lightly here, the American theaters sure could take a hint from this. There is so little base put on, just enough to even things out, so it's very easy to remove afterwards (and it looks just as good – there's really no reason to cake it on). After I'm in makeup and wig, my costumer Isra comes in and gets me into that great costume, and then I'm ready to go. There is always someone to open every door for me, and Sandra and Isra are always there to help out every time I leave the stage (I have crown ad collar changes between every entrance). The stage crew guys are so friendly, and they really seem to be enjoying themselves, not just doing their jobs because they have to. They're always humming along and smiling and looking way less stressed than I'm used to the crew looking. The stage manager for my side of the stage is the friendliest guy ever, always smiling and dancing around and making jokes. I can think of a few stage managers I've worked with who could learn a few things from him!

So yep, I hit the high notes, only tripped over my costume once (during curtain call as I was backing up, not too noticeable), got lots of applause, and felt just great afterwards! I'm looking forward to doing this five more times this week, I really am!

In other news, and this could turn out to be pretty exciting, I was hanging out with a friend when my phone rang with a number I didn't recognize. He joked, maybe it's the Met calling, and he was actually pretty close! It was Ronald Adler, the artistic director of the Berlin Staatsoper, who had received my name from Christoff Seuferle, the director here who hired me. The Staatsoper is premiering a modern opera called Hölderlin, and in one of the soprano parts, there are an infamous eight measures that include a sustained high F and a sustained high E, and his soprano cannot/will not sing them. Assuming they like the sound of my voice, I will be recording these measures to be played at the nine performances of the opera. I've sung through them and can do it, it'll just depend on whether they like the sound of my voice or not. Not so sure I can crescendo the F to a fortississimo, but we'll see if they like what I do. Getting a foot in the door at the Staatsoper could be a great career move.

Last night I saw the big Zauberflöte production that I will be in next month, and I loved it. Yes, I have actually used the word love in the same sentence as Zauberflöte. The production is so good, and I found myself thinking, wait, have we gotten to the boring parts yet? I think they're around here somewhere. Well, they were nowhere to be found. The sets, the costumes, the staging, the characterizations, everything is really exciting to watch! My favorite parts were Papageno, who steals the show because his character is just so funny to watch, and the 3 Knaben (or spirits), who sounded heavenly in their three part harmony. Perfectly in tune, gorgeous voices, I've never heard anything like that out of kids before. My only issue with them? They were wearing long sleeved leotards with no pants. And speaking of costumes, Monostatos and his slaves were all in blackface, big lips and all. Would NOT fly in the States, but pretty funny to watch. Now, I was hoping to refresh my Queen staging by watching the evening's Queen, but sadly she neglected to do much of what she was supposed to. She sounded amazing, though. The biggest mistake she made was that she is supposed to cut through a life sized photo of Pamina with a dagger in her first aria, and then step through the frame. She only cut the top part, and didn't finish cutting the rest of the photo, and came very close to falling flat on her face when she tried to step through and got stuck. Not too pretty. But at least I can learn from her mistakes.

I have a very busy week ahead of me. We're beginning rehearsals for Tannhäuser and Rosenkavalier, the two shows we're taking to the Beijing Music Festival this Sunday. While I probably won't get any actual stage time during rehearsals, I have to pay close attention and take great notes, just in case the two ladies I'm covering get sick over there and I have to go on stage. The music is hard enough, so I hope the staging is simple! I should have internet at the hotel in Beijing, so maybe I'll get to write a post from there, otherwise, you probably won't hear from me for a few weeks. Wish me luck!

One down, 36 to go.

Saturday night was our first performance, the Eröffnungsgala. It was an evening of opera scenes, arias, and some solo orchestra stuff. My part was singing Frasquita in the Carmen Card Trio and in the Toreador Song. We also ended the evening with Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music, which is apparently a tradition here. For those of you that know the piece, I had the first and last female solo, “…of sweet harmony.” Well, it was an interesting and eventually successful evening, but I’ll start at the beginning.

I shared a huge dressing room with three other ladies, and I was told before I got there that we would be getting our hair and makeup done. (We also have dressers, so the one time I tried to be helpful by zipping up someone else’s dress, I was pushed out of the way so the dresser could do her job. Fair enough.) After putting curlers in another singer’s hair, one of the makeup/hair ladies came over to me and asked what I wanted done with mine. I basically told her to work her magic and do whatever she wanted. For about three minutes, she brushed my hair with a curling brush, then tucked it behind my ears and put in a little hairspray. Looked EXACTLY like it does every day I show up to rehearsal. Then she did my makeup, which looked lovely. After she left the room, I started teasing my hair and spraying it to make it actually look like I was about to perform. I will most definitely do my own hair next time!

Next interesting moment. We’re all backstage waiting for the cue to enter for Toreador. Gerlinde, our director for Zauberflötchen, was acting as stage manager for the evening. She told us to get ready to go, and I’m first out, so I’m trying to pay attention. My friend Heidi is on stage bowing to thunderous applause for her aria, and as she goes offstage, I hear Gerlinde say “Go go go!” So I go go go, and from the other side of the stage, Heidi is coming back for her second bow, at which point I turn around and go back offstage. And Gerlinde says, “I said ‘No don’t go!’” Yeah, well, between the German accent and the rhyming English words no, don’t, and go, and her standing behind the four of us instead of at the front like a normal stage manager, I ended up making my debut entrance with Deutsche Oper Berlin at completely the wrong time. Anyway, I figured that since I messed up before my actual singing, the singing would be glitch-free, and it was! Both Carmen numbers were terrific, the audiences out here are so enthusiastic and after the Serenade we came out for about six bows, and Kirsten Harms, the Intendant (basically, the lady who runs the place) came up to me afterwards and said she really liked me.

And there we have it! I’ve made my debut, and I think it was a success! My official debut with the company in a full role will be as Königin der Nacht in the middle of October, and before then I have a few performances of Königin in the little Magic Flute for kids, and my big trip to China (still haven’t finished learning Sophie in Rosenkavalier, but that’s what random days off are for).

Just to let you know, my internet is spotty at best, and hasn’t been working so much lately, so if you email me and I don’t reply, or if I’m not on Skype, there’s a good reason.

Have a great day!