Yes, it has been a while since I've written a post. That's mainly because not much has happened. We finished Helena and Elektra, and opened Carmen, which I'm not in until June. So I didn't really have to go to rehearsals since it's a completely different cast in June and we'll have to rehearse then.
I've taken two little trips since I last wrote. I had an audition for an agency in Vienna, and the audition went well. After singing Der Hölle Rache (only one person, a tenor, sang more than one aria out of the 20 or so singers there), the agent told me that he didn't have any auditions he could send me on now, but that he'd call if something came up. Sounded promising. From what I've heard through the grapevine, and from other friends who have done agent auditions in Europe, apparently the agents don't sugar-coat. They'll tell you exactly what they think, so if I had done something not to his liking, I have a feeling he would have told me.
I also took a little vacation to Munich surrounding a Richard Strauss competition. I made it to the finals, but was not one of the winners. I felt like a winner though when I was unexpectedly handed 200 Euros in cash for my travel expenses. Thanks! Munich was beautiful, but there's not a ton to do as a tourist. A few days was definitely enough to see what I wanted to see. Something I was looking forward to and will hopefully avoid at all costs in the future was watching the Glockenspiel at the City Hall (at 11am every day the clock plays a merry tune and dancers spin around to the music, like a big cuckoo clock). Well, the merry tune was so out of tune that I would have sworn it was written by Harry Partch, and the action definitely left something to be desired. It was pretty sad, and maybe half the crowd actually stayed for the whole thing (we're talking 7 or 8 minutes at most). Here's a short segment if you don't believe me, unfortunately it isn't rotated correctly. See if you can name that tune!
My latest project was making a new recording of the two Queen of the Night arias. You can listen to them on my website at http://www.ericamiller.papaphonic.com/recordings/recordings.html. They came out really well, if I do say so myself. I will tell you, recording Der Hölle Rache is so hard! It can only be done in one take because there's no good place to splice, and there's a limited number of times you can sing it before you can't sing it. This was my second take of two. Whew! Now, the reason I needed to update my recordings on my website is because I just sent my materials out to about 80 opera houses in Germany, and about 20 agents in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. My plan is to do as many auditions as possible and maybe even have a job next year! I sent out everything this weekend, and have spent about four hours already today getting email after email back from the info@ email addresses telling me where to send my materials. A lot of houses don't post the important people's email addresses on the website. I've already heard back from a couple houses who are looking for a different soprano type than myself, I have one agent audition scheduled in Düsseldorf and another possible audition for an agent in Munich, and the opera house in Leipzig said they'd set up an audition for me, and that I'd hear from them later. Hopefully some more will bite.
Since I haven't given a sausage update in a while, I should say that the Weißwurst in Munich were delish. Something else I bought that was also delish but not so delish when I still had the taste in my mouth a day later was Döner-flavored potato chips. Döner being those yummy meat-on-a-stick Turkish sandwiches that are on every street in Berlin. I think I'll stick with the ham-flavored chips from now on. The Roast Chicken and Thyme chips were also good, but they just didn't seem to go well as a side dish with anything. Ham's definitely the way to go.
There's not much coming up for me at the moment. My next performance is La Novice in Marie Victoire in April. I'm double-cast so I haven't been rehearsing since the other soprano is singing the premiere. Fine by me, the director has apparently been pretty mean during rehearsals. My entire role pretty much consists of sitting and praying and every five minutes singing some phrase that begins with "J'ai peur." I'm observing a rehearsal tonight, so I'll find out if I actually move in the hour plus that I'm on stage. I hope so! I'm also learning Clorinda in Cenerentola (as a cover), and I think I'm going to start looking at my part for the White Rabbit in Ostendorf's Alice in Wonderland. There's quite a bit of dialogue, so the sooner I start looking at it, the better off I'll be.
Happy almost spring!
Edited to add: Thanks to my sending this blog out announcing that my email isn't working, my email is now working. So email me at whichever address you desire, USC or Gmail.
