Great news! In my previous post, I wrote about singing in the NYIOPs. Through that, I was invited to a second audition for the Savonlinna Opera Festival and for the Macau International Music Festival. I am still waiting to hear from Savonlinna, although my agent tells me I have a good chance of getting the lead in a world premiere next summer about the fire of La Fenice. I did, however, get a gig singing Ännchen in Weber's Der Freischütz in Macau this fall!!! My contract runs from October 16 through November 5, with three performances. Before I auditioned, I was told that for this production they were looking to hire "singers with considerable international experience" and that Kurt Rydl would be singing Kaspar. When I was in Beijing in 2008 covering Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Kurt Rydl was singing Baron Ochs, and I am so honored to be able to share the stage with such an amazing performer. I am excited to see who is in the rest of the cast!
A few notes about the audition for Macau....In addition to Warren Mok (who is the casting director for Macau, Shanghai, and Hong Kong), also in the audition was Brian Jauhiainan, who is the American casting consultant for those companies and Savonlinna, and about five little old Chinese women. Kathy, my agents, couldn't be there, so she sent another woman with the agency, Sandra. Kathy told me to start with one of Ännchen's arias, so I sang one even though it doesn't really show off my voice too much. No high notes, but a lot of good German diction. Warren asked me what else I brought, and looked fairly uninterested as I listed off all of my other arias. The last thing I mentioned, which I really didn't think made any sense in this situation, was Madame Mao's aria. Brian immediately turned to Warren and said "You have to hear her sing this, oh my God, I mean, you just have to hear it." Warren looked at me and said "Well, you are a dead ringer for the dead wife of Mao Tse Tung!" After telling him that's why I picked up the aria in the first place, I then, in front of a room filled with Chinese people, sang the second half of "I am the wife of Mao Tse Tung." Brian seemed thrilled, and I am so happy to have him as a supporter of my singing! I can be fairly certain that if he is ever asked to help cast a Nixon in China, I'll be the one he calls for Madame Mao. Warren seemed very impressed also, and asked how high the last note was (a D). Oddly, he seemed surprised that I could sing that high, even though my resume is filled with Queen of the Nights. A couple of weeks later, I got the offer! Macau looks like a fabulous place, and I even know the lead trombonist in the orchestra because we went to USC together. It'll be great to have a friend to show me around and point me in the direction of good street food.
Daughter of the Regiment is definitely a go at Opera in the Heights in Houston this September. I'll actually be heading to Houston in June for a weekend to sing in a fundraising event for the company. I've asked to stay an extra day so I can see some of Houston, and not just have a quick turnaround. I'll be singing Glitter and Be Gay, which is always a fun party piece. Opera in the Heights has just gotten a new artistic director/conductor, and I am very excited to work with him. His name is Enrique Carreón-Robledo, and he has worked all over. I spoke with him yesterday about the fundraising event, and I can't wait to collaborate with him on Daughter of the Regiment. It looks like we'll be doing the version with spoken dialogue, so I will have my work cut out for me.
I have just recently started rehearsing in New York for Mozart's Mitridate. It is one heck of an opera, with very difficult music for every singer. There are no low voices in the cast - there are sopranos, a tenor, and countertenors. No mezzos, no baritones, no basses. I find it very funny that the two brothers who are in love my my character are played by a man singing in a woman's register and a woman dressed as a man. I had previously thought that I'd be duetting with a countertenor, but instead it's a pants role for a soprano. While it would have made me giggle to sing a duet with a countertenor, it now makes me giggle that the "man" I'm in love with is a woman who is about half a foot shorter than me (maybe more) and skinnier than me, too. Hopefully the stage will have some platforms on it so she can stand taller than me on occasion! We had a musical run-through last week, and the singers are terrific. I'm looking forward to more rehearsals! I have the performance dates and the location on my website at www.ericamillersoprano.com.
Tomorrow I get to judge my first competition. Every year at Westminster Choir College, they have a competition for all of the non-graduating students for scholarships for the following year. This year, they have decided to have three alumni as judges. When I was in school, the members of the voice faculty were the judges, and I can imagine that it was very difficult to be impartial when making decisions. The three of us, who don't know any of the singers, will rank the students in each class from 1-10 (and give a score of 11 to all the ones who aren't in the top ten) and then the scores will be added up. We are not allowed to discuss the singers with each other, so it will be about as fair as can be. I'll be hearing singers from 9am to 5:30pm, with an hour for lunch. It's going to be a long day! Wish me luck!
I'll keep you updated as things progress. Happy Spring!
April 15, 2011
February 6, 2011
My last Met competition and other goodies
A few things have happened since my last blog post. I finally got a cut list for the first half of Mitridate, so I've been practicing the score like crazy. Thankfully, lots of the recitative is cut, and also thankfully, none of my arias are. I still have a ton to sing and learn, and I'm almost memorized on Act I, and getting there on the first half of Act II (that's all we have cuts for so far). Anyway, it's coming along nicely.
I decided for my final Met competition (or Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as they like to call it), instead of staying in Philly and competing against all the well-known AVA and Curtis kids, I would make a weekend of it and fly to San Antonio, Texas. It was my first trip to Texas, and I think I actually liked it. Looking forward to going back, albeit to another city, Houston, for Daughter of the Regiment in September. The best part, naturally, was the weather (60° and sunny), since I've been freezing my buns off all winter here in NJ. Not so sure how much I'll like the weather in September. Could be brutal.
At any rate, on to the competition. It's two rounds, a preliminary and a final. I have to start by saying that when I did this competition in LA, the organization of the whole thing from start to finish was unbelievably great. San Antonio? Not so much. Maybe they're just a little more laid back in Texas. A week before the competition, I got all the competition info in the mail. It had a lovely section telling us all about how amazing the pianist would be, without mentioning a name or contact info. Being 30, some of my repertoire is a bit more difficult and obscure than, say, something the 25 year olds might be singing. I planned on starting with "I am the wife of Mao Tse Tung," a powerhouse modern aria from Nixon in China by John Adams that I truly believe is the best thing I sing right now. The piano part is really difficult, and it's not done much, especially by younger singers, so I emailed the lady in charge to ask her for the accompanist's info, so I could let him know that I was singing this. I also was changing two of my other pieces I had originally planned to sing. On Thursday (I was to fly out on Friday, the competition was Saturday), still having not heard a peep about my email, I called, and was told, yes, she got my aria changes, and sure, she'd call the accompanist for me. Around 9pm that evening, I got a call saying that the pianist had never played Madame Mao's aria, and could I please email a PDF file to him. I did, and I thought to myself two things: a) I wish the lady had believed me in the first place so I could have gotten the music to him earlier, and b) there was no way he was going to be able to play this piece, so I should be prepared to just keep on singing no matter what. In a way, when you know that pianist doesn't know your music, you at least can accept it as a fact and move on and be prepared.
I was told to arrive at 1, and that my audition would be between 2 and 3:30. When I arrived at 1, I was greeting by smiles, and told that my audition would be at 4:40. Obviously, I questioned what the problem was, and was told that there had been an issue and everyone was moved back 2 hours. All of the singers looked pretty annoyed when I got to the green room. Sitting around an hour before an audition is fine - almost 4 hours is not cool. There were 42 singers, and rather than actually call us and tell us of the delay, they just let us all show up. I finally found out what the issue had been. The original pianist showed up, played for the first singer at 10am, apparently was terrible, was immediately fired, and was replaced by another accompanist who had a 2 hour drive from Austin. Thus the delay.
Many hours later, I finally was led backstage for my audition. I asked if there would be water on stage for us, as there was in LA and in Philly. No. I asked if there was water backstage. Yes. I asked if I could take my water bottle on stage with me. No. I asked if between arias I could slip backstage and get a sip of water. No. Great. I asked the accompanist before walking on stage if he had every played Madame Mao. No. I said "Here's my tempo. Play loudly. Good luck." Not sure exactly what he played, some of it was related to the notes on the page, but I sang the aria the way I know how to, and the head judge (Joshua Winograde from LA Opera) immediately said "Uh, can you just sing that again?" After a bit of discussion, the judges chose Fiakermilli's Aria from Arabella, and asked the accompanist if he knew that one. No. Mr. Winograde told him to take a minute or two to look it over and told me to relax. I asked him if I could relax with a sip of water from backstage, and he of course said yes. I got an evil look from the backstage lady when I said I was just getting some water. Ha ha! I came back and sang the first half of Fiakermilli, and the judges were happy enough to let me leave.
Around 6:30pm we all gathered in the auditorium to find out the finalists. One of the biggest parts of the Met competition is that the singers can go talk to the judges for feedback. We were told that because of the delay and the judges' dinner plans, those of us not called as finalists would only get to speak with one judge. I was in the process of getting really annoyed, when they called the finalists. There were 42 singers, and 8 names were called. I was the eighth name. Woohoo!
The next day we got to rehearse with the pianist for 15 minutes. He did a little better with Madame Mao, and I told him I was starting with it again (the judges obviously liked it). On stage, he reverted back to the way he was playing it before, but whatever, I sang it well again. My second aria was Caro nome from Rigoletto. Did I mention I was being treated for a rather painful ear infection the entire time? Very strange singing when you can't feel the vibrations on one side of your head. The other singers were all terrific, it was the highest level of singing I've seen so far at any competition I've done. I didn't win, but I felt great about the way I sang, and all three judges were really impressed with my Madame Mao, one calling it "absolutely spectacular." I did win enough money to cover my trip, and a little more, so that's always good!
After I came home, I made a recording of Madame Mao and Fiakermilli's aria. You can find them on my website (www.EricaMillerSoprano.com). The pianist I used also had trouble playing them, so please listen to me and forgive the random wrong notes in the piano part. They both really are hard to play.
Next up, I did the NYIOPs on Friday. These are auditions where a number of international and national companies all come to the same place at the same time to hear singers. It's a great way to take care of a number of auditions all in one fell swoop. I sang for the opera companies in Hong Kong, Oslo, Palm Beach, Sovonlinna, Linz, and Bologna. I talked my agent into letting me start with Madame Mao's aria, even though Nixon in China wasn't on the list of operas being cast this year. I really just think that no matter what, I should sing what I sing best and let them choose what they want to hear. My pianist, Craig Ketter, who plays for most of my NY auditions, was fabulous. I sang the heck out of Madame Mao, and was amazed at how much better it feels to sing it with an accompanist who can play it. I must have been on such a high that when they asked to hear Il faut partir from Daughter of the Regiment second, I managed to forget the words to half of the first verse. Oops. Got through it, and after I left the stage Craig said that he thought Il faut partir was a great aria for me. Not what I was expecting to hear. The thing is, everyone makes mistakes and has brain farts every once in a while, so it's not something I should kick myself for doing. However, thanks to singing Madame Mao's aria well, my agent contacted me after the auditions saying that the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland wants to hire me for a world premiere!!! I have absolutely no details at this point, but my agent thinks she'll have some by the end of the month. With today's opera world (companies closing, budget cuts, etc.), I'm crossing my fingers that this actually happens. Until I have a contract, there's no guarantee. But whatever, my agent is thrilled, I'm thrilled, and hopefully in the next couple of years I'll be spending a summer singing crazy new music in Finland!
Happy February!
I decided for my final Met competition (or Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as they like to call it), instead of staying in Philly and competing against all the well-known AVA and Curtis kids, I would make a weekend of it and fly to San Antonio, Texas. It was my first trip to Texas, and I think I actually liked it. Looking forward to going back, albeit to another city, Houston, for Daughter of the Regiment in September. The best part, naturally, was the weather (60° and sunny), since I've been freezing my buns off all winter here in NJ. Not so sure how much I'll like the weather in September. Could be brutal.
At any rate, on to the competition. It's two rounds, a preliminary and a final. I have to start by saying that when I did this competition in LA, the organization of the whole thing from start to finish was unbelievably great. San Antonio? Not so much. Maybe they're just a little more laid back in Texas. A week before the competition, I got all the competition info in the mail. It had a lovely section telling us all about how amazing the pianist would be, without mentioning a name or contact info. Being 30, some of my repertoire is a bit more difficult and obscure than, say, something the 25 year olds might be singing. I planned on starting with "I am the wife of Mao Tse Tung," a powerhouse modern aria from Nixon in China by John Adams that I truly believe is the best thing I sing right now. The piano part is really difficult, and it's not done much, especially by younger singers, so I emailed the lady in charge to ask her for the accompanist's info, so I could let him know that I was singing this. I also was changing two of my other pieces I had originally planned to sing. On Thursday (I was to fly out on Friday, the competition was Saturday), still having not heard a peep about my email, I called, and was told, yes, she got my aria changes, and sure, she'd call the accompanist for me. Around 9pm that evening, I got a call saying that the pianist had never played Madame Mao's aria, and could I please email a PDF file to him. I did, and I thought to myself two things: a) I wish the lady had believed me in the first place so I could have gotten the music to him earlier, and b) there was no way he was going to be able to play this piece, so I should be prepared to just keep on singing no matter what. In a way, when you know that pianist doesn't know your music, you at least can accept it as a fact and move on and be prepared.
I was told to arrive at 1, and that my audition would be between 2 and 3:30. When I arrived at 1, I was greeting by smiles, and told that my audition would be at 4:40. Obviously, I questioned what the problem was, and was told that there had been an issue and everyone was moved back 2 hours. All of the singers looked pretty annoyed when I got to the green room. Sitting around an hour before an audition is fine - almost 4 hours is not cool. There were 42 singers, and rather than actually call us and tell us of the delay, they just let us all show up. I finally found out what the issue had been. The original pianist showed up, played for the first singer at 10am, apparently was terrible, was immediately fired, and was replaced by another accompanist who had a 2 hour drive from Austin. Thus the delay.
Many hours later, I finally was led backstage for my audition. I asked if there would be water on stage for us, as there was in LA and in Philly. No. I asked if there was water backstage. Yes. I asked if I could take my water bottle on stage with me. No. I asked if between arias I could slip backstage and get a sip of water. No. Great. I asked the accompanist before walking on stage if he had every played Madame Mao. No. I said "Here's my tempo. Play loudly. Good luck." Not sure exactly what he played, some of it was related to the notes on the page, but I sang the aria the way I know how to, and the head judge (Joshua Winograde from LA Opera) immediately said "Uh, can you just sing that again?" After a bit of discussion, the judges chose Fiakermilli's Aria from Arabella, and asked the accompanist if he knew that one. No. Mr. Winograde told him to take a minute or two to look it over and told me to relax. I asked him if I could relax with a sip of water from backstage, and he of course said yes. I got an evil look from the backstage lady when I said I was just getting some water. Ha ha! I came back and sang the first half of Fiakermilli, and the judges were happy enough to let me leave.
Around 6:30pm we all gathered in the auditorium to find out the finalists. One of the biggest parts of the Met competition is that the singers can go talk to the judges for feedback. We were told that because of the delay and the judges' dinner plans, those of us not called as finalists would only get to speak with one judge. I was in the process of getting really annoyed, when they called the finalists. There were 42 singers, and 8 names were called. I was the eighth name. Woohoo!
The next day we got to rehearse with the pianist for 15 minutes. He did a little better with Madame Mao, and I told him I was starting with it again (the judges obviously liked it). On stage, he reverted back to the way he was playing it before, but whatever, I sang it well again. My second aria was Caro nome from Rigoletto. Did I mention I was being treated for a rather painful ear infection the entire time? Very strange singing when you can't feel the vibrations on one side of your head. The other singers were all terrific, it was the highest level of singing I've seen so far at any competition I've done. I didn't win, but I felt great about the way I sang, and all three judges were really impressed with my Madame Mao, one calling it "absolutely spectacular." I did win enough money to cover my trip, and a little more, so that's always good!
After I came home, I made a recording of Madame Mao and Fiakermilli's aria. You can find them on my website (www.EricaMillerSoprano.com). The pianist I used also had trouble playing them, so please listen to me and forgive the random wrong notes in the piano part. They both really are hard to play.
Next up, I did the NYIOPs on Friday. These are auditions where a number of international and national companies all come to the same place at the same time to hear singers. It's a great way to take care of a number of auditions all in one fell swoop. I sang for the opera companies in Hong Kong, Oslo, Palm Beach, Sovonlinna, Linz, and Bologna. I talked my agent into letting me start with Madame Mao's aria, even though Nixon in China wasn't on the list of operas being cast this year. I really just think that no matter what, I should sing what I sing best and let them choose what they want to hear. My pianist, Craig Ketter, who plays for most of my NY auditions, was fabulous. I sang the heck out of Madame Mao, and was amazed at how much better it feels to sing it with an accompanist who can play it. I must have been on such a high that when they asked to hear Il faut partir from Daughter of the Regiment second, I managed to forget the words to half of the first verse. Oops. Got through it, and after I left the stage Craig said that he thought Il faut partir was a great aria for me. Not what I was expecting to hear. The thing is, everyone makes mistakes and has brain farts every once in a while, so it's not something I should kick myself for doing. However, thanks to singing Madame Mao's aria well, my agent contacted me after the auditions saying that the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland wants to hire me for a world premiere!!! I have absolutely no details at this point, but my agent thinks she'll have some by the end of the month. With today's opera world (companies closing, budget cuts, etc.), I'm crossing my fingers that this actually happens. Until I have a contract, there's no guarantee. But whatever, my agent is thrilled, I'm thrilled, and hopefully in the next couple of years I'll be spending a summer singing crazy new music in Finland!
Happy February!
November 4, 2010
I'm back!
Just when you thought you'd never hear from me again....
Well, it's been a little over a year since my last post, but I guess I was a little busy. You know, getting married, buying a house, going on my honeymoon to St. Lucia, rushing off to spend the summer again in Sante Fe with my new husband, coming back home and sprucing up the house, thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner...that kinda stuff.
I'll give you the singing news first before I bore you with personal details. If you'll recall, I was slated to sing Lucia at Opera in the Heights in Houston, Texas in September 2011. Well, the conductor/artistic director who hired me just retired from the company, so I was a little scared that my contract (which I never had in hand) would be given away. Fortunately, everything worked out and the contract is being honored. The new news is that shortly after receiving the actual signed contract, I was notified that the opera was going to be changed because Houston Grand Opera is doing Lucia also, and they don't want to compete for an audience. All's well that ends well, though, and instead of Lucia, I'm going to be singing Marie in Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment, which is probably up there in my top five roles I want to sing. More than Lucia, even. I am so excited!! The role is double-cast, and I'll have four performances between September 22 and October 2.
In other opera news, I ran into a conductor I've worked with a couple of times in the past in the hallway at a recent audition, and he told me to call him about a possible job he thought I might be interested in. This spring, he'll be conducting one of Mozart's rarely done early operas,Mitridate, at the Little Opera Theatre of New York. I auditioned for him and the director a few days later, and was offered the leading role of Aspasia. The role consists of 4 great arias, one duet with a countertenor (that'll be a first for me), and more pages of recitative than I can count. It's going to be a lot of work, but it will be so wonderful to have the opportunity to sing a leading role in NY, where my family and friends can come hear me sing.
I sang for my agent in NY before the audition season started, and she's really happy with how I'm sounding. I've had a few auditions since then, which I think have gone well (my agent says they're the best auditions I've done since signing with her). I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
In personal news, I got married in May, two weeks after closing on a house. I don't recommend doing those two things at the same time, it was a little stressful. One mental breakdown later, the wedding went off without a hitch, and I am a very happy wife!
Here we are!
We went on our honeymoon to St. Lucia, which was just beautiful and very relaxing. I gained a good 5 pounds and have yet to lose them. After we got back, Hal left for Santa Fe, and I joined him about a month later for the last two months of his gig. Since we've been home, it's been all about fixing up our house and really moving in. I've learned a bunch of new music for auditions, and have had some fun creative non-singing moments. I decorated a cake for Hal's birthday, my first attempt at cake decorating, I carved a mean pumpkin for Halloween, and I made a turkey cake for Thanksgiving.
That's all for now! I'm sure I'll have lots of stories once Mitridate starts in April. I'll be sure to send an update if I hear anything from my auditions. I've added a couple of videos to my website from a raunchy production I did 2006 of Powder Her Face, feel free to check them out if you don't mind seeing me in compromising positions. The first one is G rated, the second one is not. My NEW web address is: www.EricaMillerSoprano.com. Hope everyone's well, and have a great holiday season!
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