Good news

[unbound_spirit]

I've been accepted to OPERAWORKS in Los Angeles, California, for July of 2007.  They auditioned hundreds of singers in every major U.S. city, and only chose about thirty, so, I'm honored.  This program is supposed to be pretty innovative, doing a lot of exploration of performance through improvisation and experimentation, so all that is definitely right up my alley.  (You singers will also be excited to hear that my audition for this program was the first audition I ever did wearing PANTS!  Yes, the joys of being a mezzo!) 

I'm still waiting to hear back from a few other programs.

Tomorrow night, March 1st, I'll be at Merkin Hall in NYC to see the Bang on a Can All-Stars premier three new works by composers Lukas Ligeti, Joshua Penman, and Stefan Weisman, as well as performances by Meredith Monk.  I can't wait.  If any of you are in the area, you should check it out.  http://www.bangonacan.org/

Comments

[pinkstiletto510.livejournal.com]

thats awesome! big congrats

say... do you know much about CalArts? they're very much into their new and experimental music there and that seems like one of your things hehe

[unbound-spirit.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Unfortunately I do not know a lot about CalArts, as I don't know too much about West Coast schools in general. However, I checked out their website, and there are some names I recognize that are good (haha, my teacher Phyllis Bryn-Julsen is listen under people who CalArts students have participated in Master Classes with) and they seem to have a really comprehensive program. Honestly, if I were just now looking into a masters program, I'd totally be all over this one. (I didn't even know they had a voice program back when I was looking at grad schools, and I think I had pretty much resolved to stay on the East Coast anyway.) But seriously, one specifically thing I like is that they seem open to all possible ways in which someone's career as a vocalist could develope, and that is SO important. There's way more than one way to have a career, and people seem to forget that. The whole cookie-cutter school-apprentiship-program-bigger-role-opera-career thing is not how it works for everyone, and in fact, some people who have had the most successful careers have gone in a totally different path. The important thing is to find your niche, and this school seems like a place that would allow you to do it. They seem really open to all kinds of music and performance, including "world" music and improv, and honestly, that is the direction of the music of TODAY. That is the cutting edge, NOW thing in performance.

The performance/composition combined program also looks cool. Damn, why didn't I know about this school?

So congrats on getting in! This school, in my humble opinion, gets a thumbs up!

[pinkstiletto510.livejournal.com]

oh good :) i'm really leaning towards this one.... hopefully i'll get over my fear of singing more contemp. ('abstract' as i like to call it) music...i'm slowly getting there but chromatic-ness and tricky rhythms scare me

[unbound-spirit.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'll let you in on a little secret... I suck at tricky rhythms. I took a class at Juilliard Evening Divison that really helped me a lot, but if you ask me to clap two against five, I think I'll look like a mentally challenged person trying to do it. Its all about practice, doing it more often, and constantly being exposed to music that forces you to figure out more complicated stuff. You get used to it. And in the end its definitely rewarding.

[pinkstiletto510.livejournal.com]

oo! it looks like the girl that showed me around CalArts a bit (Alisha Conroy) got into the program as well but in the 2 week session

[unbound-spirit.livejournal.com]

Cool! Too bad I won't get to meet her though, but, hey, that reflects well on the school!