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!