News

It's been a while since I've updated. There's not much going on as it's summer... News from today is that I planned my recital! I'm super excited...it's going to be a really fun program. Except even though it's in February it seems to be crunch time!
Here it is:
First half: Rossini song set, Pasatieri Song Cycle (3 Coloratura Songs), Debussy song set
Second Half: Two Adele arias, Profitez de la vie, Flower Duet w/ Megan, Doll Song

Other news is that I have my "final" list of schools (I say "final" because I'm mostly set but have made a few changes in the past week so never really want to say final). Here it is in order of where I would like to go the most:
USC
Long Beach
Colorado
Oregon
SF Conservatory
Northridge

Luckily right now is the time I can say YAY! and not yet be overwhelmed :).

Grad school

Grad school? Yes. Where? I don't know. I'm feeling... out of sorts. I was planning to stay at SF State for my grad work, but my advisor is strongly urging me not to, and the more I think about it the more I think she is right. I'm scared, about a lot of things, but the more I learn about these schools the more excited I get about having more opportunities to perform, meeting new people, making connections, maybe even studying with a coloratura...

Here's my list so far. I'm trying first to expand it, then shrink it down to a reasonable number of schools to apply and (hopefully) audition for.

UCLA
USC
Long Beach
Indiana
North Texas
Boston Conservatory
Cincinnati Conservatory

Semi-interested in Oregon, but their website is really crappy so I'll need some more info on that front.

Long Beach calls my name for a few reasons, it's semi-small, it's in California, my sister goes there, they have a good program.

USC does 2 fully staged operas, a chamber opera, and opera scenes... this is pretty special. I need to find out more about UCLA... so far it's appealing because it's in LA and I have family and friends there. Way less scary.

Indiana puts on 8 fully staged operas a year. It's also GIGANTIC. They have 300 practice rooms! I love this, but feel like I might get lost and performance opportunities could be limited due to the sheer number of students they have...

North Texas is also gigantic... It's also in Texas. But according to my advisor, there is an awesome coloratura who teaches there and that is a very interesting prospect...

I do have to admit that I'm a little terrified of both Texas and the Midwest. I also have some more frightening personal issues regarding leaving San Francisco that I'm trying to reconcile with.

My interest is ultimately to get a doctorate, and thus be able to teach at a university and perform a lot. Why? I don't want the life of a regular performer, I don't want to travel the entire year. I want to teach, I want to perform, and I want a normal life (probably including a fair amount of travel, but not an exessive amount).

After a rather disappointing end to the school year (got a really yucky sickness and couldn't do my jury) and a pretty miserable winter break (broke my arm), I'm feeling ready for this semester. I had a good, productive lesson on Wednesday with my awesome teacher. On Thursday I think I had a really good audition. I don't think I sang the best I ever have, but I walked in there without one little tiny bit of anxiety or nerves, and I didn't spend the entire day fretting about my audition. It gets easier every time.

Sent out a bunch of emails today, mostly to chorus masters about being in an opera chorus this summer. I'm also thinking of auditioning for Hello Dolly! in Walnut Creek, which, if anything would be more great experience and if I got a role would be really fun.

Good things are coming this year I hope!