be in an opera

So cool- I’ve participated in one season (two shows) so far, and have been invited back for the next season. The season I did included Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride”. We did Fidelio in German, but the other in English. This season we’re doing Julius Ceasar and Faust. So that should be really cool.

It was awesome! Sang Tenor II in the chorus with Opera Lyra Ottawa at the National Arts Centre. The choir-master is Lawrence Ewashko—he is AMAZING!

The only thing I didn’t like—-the tights….not a pretty site!

Probably one of the best Italian Operas ever written. Beautiful and amazing. I was in this opera when I was 8yrs old and it pretty much made my love music and performing for the rest of my life. It was imprinted in my brain when I was a kid. I remember all the rehearsal we did in a classroom. All the Italian songs we had to learn rigourously. Finally we go to go to the stage right before Opening night. All the other kids ran into the theatre and looked at it’s beauty. But my Mom put her hand over my eyes, placed me right in the middle of the theatre, and pulled her hands away to reveal an enourmous stage all decorated like a 19th century Italian village complete with falling snow. The theatre was gigantic, two tears of seats. On opening night I remember being behind the stage with butterflies in my stomach. It made me feel high. I could swear that my heart was beating faster, not because I was excited, but because I had found my calling. I know that, even to this day.

Last semester I auditioned for a part in the school opera, and one of my best friends (also a voice major), told me that my voice was too small for a certain part. I was devastated when she was cast in that part instead of me. All I could think was that her voice was more beautiful, larger, that SHE was prettier or thinner, and I kept thinking these things until they drove me crazy. When I saw her singing onstage, it was a revelation. She sounded beautiful, but so did I! My voice isn’t that big, but neither was hers! and both of our instruments are attractive in different ways. Sometimes it’s not about how great a singer you are, but about what particular qualities your voice has that a director or a conductor values in a certain role. And you know what? I have to accept and love my voice for what it is. Me and my larynx are a team, and wherever one of us goes, there goes the other. I can’t try to make it into something it’s not, and the only thing I can do is practice, learn my music, practice, study, practice, act and perform with artistry, and practice. I’ve got another opera audition coming up in a month.

I think I’m the only voice major in my entire school who was not in the last opera…

I want to do it this semester, but I’m not sure how.