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!