Need (musical) help
Okay, I know there are music people reading this. In about 2.5 weeks, I will be auditioning for the Vocal Arts Ensemble. My audition consists of singing a rather lenghty a cappella piece with an octet (piece & octet have been assigned, and rehersals are weekly, soon to be twice weekly), range and echoing testing, and (most nerve wracking) a 60 second a capella solo, of our choice. I asked the director if he had any preferences, in terms of classic or contemporary, and he told me I could sing "whatever" as long as it wowed him.
So, here's my dilemma:
I need an alto solo that: a) the director's heard of and b) is "wow" worthy. Sopranos and tenors can sing up in the rafters, and basses can rumble along and be impressive, but how does an alto impress? Right now, I'm leaning towards "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from JCS. It's a nice melody, in my range, and the first few verses before the bridge are about 60 seconds. But I would LOVE suggestions as to other pieces that I could sing. My comfortable range is from E below Middle C to E above high C. I am familiar with a bunch of musicals, and pop music from the 50's thru 80's. Classical is more hit & miss, but it seems like all that's been written for sopranos, anyway. I'd rather sing in the low end of my range.
This is public, so if you know of any other musicians who might be able to help, point them my way!