I'm on the...TOP OF THE WOOOOORLD lookin' DOWN on CREATION...
So I once again, didn't go to the Finals of the Met Auditions...what else is new?...I still had a fun time
doing it and got some quality time with Jacquie.
I got some encouragement from of ALL THINGS...a fortune cookie. Jacquie and I were at a Chinese Buffet
in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin on our trip back...and I was still a little glum. I decided to read my fortune cookie, expecting some generic and trite message that I would disgard in the dirty plates. BUT ...
My fortune cookie said, "Do it because you love it." Artists...or more so SINGERS crave affirmation, and take rejection terribly hard...I'm no exception, but at that moment, I decided, "You know what, I'm going to keep doing this, I don't care if I get accolades because I LOVE this...I love my life, and I know I would be miserable if I
gave up music and tried to do anything else..."
Sooooo...Friday (yesterday)... Gianna Rolandi, head of the Chicago Lyric Opera House and administrator for
the Young Artist Program, gave our grad class a mock audition. For those of you who aren't familiar with
the idea of the mock audition, it's where we would sing for her and she would critique us and tell us
what we needed to improve upon, as well as what she looks for in a singer.
I sang 'Cruda Sorte.' She said after I sang, "Wow...that was quite a workout huh?...well I guess I would want to hear you do 'Composer' after that, if this were a real audition."
After we all sang, she did a round table discussion and we asked her about a typical day in the young
artist program and she told us everything from fencing classes and makeup classes to having a Weightwatchers
meeting day. Last year she had the entire young artist studio join Weight Watchers...in order to compete with
the growing stigma AGAINST being a typical "fat opera singer."
They give you a hefty salary PLUS benefits, PLUS a stipend to take voice lessons!!! All
that money to just to sing and NOT have to juggle a day job...what bliss.
After the Q&A she went around the room and gave us individual critiques from the notes that she took
whilst we sang. Basically the generic comments for the group as a whole was, work on your diction, work on your acting...and when you audition you should always act like you're in a performance...yada yada yada...
Everyone...she was telling them, fix this, work on that...so I was SWEATING to know what she had to tell
me. She went through her notes and got to my name and said,
"Amanda? Ah THERE you are...wow...now YOU...YOU PERFORMED! You had us laughing, you sang incredibly
well, you have a terrific voice...I really don't have anything else to say...just keep doing what you're
doing because it's WORKING."
Needless to say I was HUMBLED and thanked her ingratiatingly. It was such wonderful affirmation
after the rejection from the Met a week prior. Afterwards I went up to her and thanked her for coming
out to hear us all and help us. I then said that I would be auditioning for her in April. To which she
said, "Oh I'm SO glad...you SHOULD, you're ready for our program."
Then I told her "I just also wanted you to know that I was already ON weight watchers... " I told her that I
had lost "X" amount of pounds and of course she congratulated me and said I looked great already.
So yeah, I'm on top of the world. Brian Dickie head of the Chicago Opera Theatre told me that he loves my voice, (last week when I auditioned for Chicago Opera Theatre's Young Artist Program, he told my teacher, Judy that it was a relief to actually sit through such a wonderful singer and performer after all the applicants he had to hear audition that day.)
Now I've had exposure to Gianna Rolandi, head of the Chicago Lyric and she loves my voice...if not this year, then there has to be SOMETHING good coming SOMEWHERE down the road from that.
doing it and got some quality time with Jacquie.
I got some encouragement from of ALL THINGS...a fortune cookie. Jacquie and I were at a Chinese Buffet
in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin on our trip back...and I was still a little glum. I decided to read my fortune cookie, expecting some generic and trite message that I would disgard in the dirty plates. BUT ...
My fortune cookie said, "Do it because you love it." Artists...or more so SINGERS crave affirmation, and take rejection terribly hard...I'm no exception, but at that moment, I decided, "You know what, I'm going to keep doing this, I don't care if I get accolades because I LOVE this...I love my life, and I know I would be miserable if I
gave up music and tried to do anything else..."
Sooooo...Friday (yesterday)... Gianna Rolandi, head of the Chicago Lyric Opera House and administrator for
the Young Artist Program, gave our grad class a mock audition. For those of you who aren't familiar with
the idea of the mock audition, it's where we would sing for her and she would critique us and tell us
what we needed to improve upon, as well as what she looks for in a singer.
I sang 'Cruda Sorte.' She said after I sang, "Wow...that was quite a workout huh?...well I guess I would want to hear you do 'Composer' after that, if this were a real audition."
After we all sang, she did a round table discussion and we asked her about a typical day in the young
artist program and she told us everything from fencing classes and makeup classes to having a Weightwatchers
meeting day. Last year she had the entire young artist studio join Weight Watchers...in order to compete with
the growing stigma AGAINST being a typical "fat opera singer."
They give you a hefty salary PLUS benefits, PLUS a stipend to take voice lessons!!! All
that money to just to sing and NOT have to juggle a day job...what bliss.
After the Q&A she went around the room and gave us individual critiques from the notes that she took
whilst we sang. Basically the generic comments for the group as a whole was, work on your diction, work on your acting...and when you audition you should always act like you're in a performance...yada yada yada...
Everyone...she was telling them, fix this, work on that...so I was SWEATING to know what she had to tell
me. She went through her notes and got to my name and said,
"Amanda? Ah THERE you are...wow...now YOU...YOU PERFORMED! You had us laughing, you sang incredibly
well, you have a terrific voice...I really don't have anything else to say...just keep doing what you're
doing because it's WORKING."
Needless to say I was HUMBLED and thanked her ingratiatingly. It was such wonderful affirmation
after the rejection from the Met a week prior. Afterwards I went up to her and thanked her for coming
out to hear us all and help us. I then said that I would be auditioning for her in April. To which she
said, "Oh I'm SO glad...you SHOULD, you're ready for our program."
Then I told her "I just also wanted you to know that I was already ON weight watchers... " I told her that I
had lost "X" amount of pounds and of course she congratulated me and said I looked great already.
So yeah, I'm on top of the world. Brian Dickie head of the Chicago Opera Theatre told me that he loves my voice, (last week when I auditioned for Chicago Opera Theatre's Young Artist Program, he told my teacher, Judy that it was a relief to actually sit through such a wonderful singer and performer after all the applicants he had to hear audition that day.)
Now I've had exposure to Gianna Rolandi, head of the Chicago Lyric and she loves my voice...if not this year, then there has to be SOMETHING good coming SOMEWHERE down the road from that.