Whirlwind Saturday
Saturday started out calm, then turned into a whirlwind of all kinds of excitement overload.
I began the day just relaxing in anticpation of my Union Avenue Opera audition. When the time came, I donned my new suit and got in the car headed for Union Ave. As soon as I pulled up to the Church building at 20 til 3, I heard an excited sounding "PHIL!!" coming from behind me. The voice belonged to none other than fellow QU alum Brad Culpepper, who was about to leave when he saw me arrive. We had a nice chat, and I got to meet his fiancé Lori, who'd also auditioned. As my audition was going to happen in about 15 minutes, I had to say goodbye to Brad and Lori. It was cool to see Brad again, and we'll be hanging out more when he's in town later for Abduction from the Seraglio.
As for the audition, I think it went along just fine. My Carmen excerpt was short, sweet and to the point--just as I had hoped. My italian art song was ok, but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "Ugh, Phil....you really should have worked up some Donizetti." Oh well, what's the point in thinking like that? I had a good--if not great--audition.
Immediately after the audition, I high tailed it over to Belleville for my nephew's 4th birthday party. His parents threw a Mickey Mouse-themed movie party for him and all his preschool classmates...and when they cleared out, the family and neighbors came over for pizza. I joined the party a little late, but had a good time all the same.
The party came to an end before 8pm, and I still felt like I had more revel left in me for the night...so I joined some singer friends at Dressel's. Little did I know that this gathering would lead to a night of barhopping. Somewhere in the post-audition revels, I discovered that fellow Rigoletto cast member Charlie Martinez was still in town after his UAO audition earlier that day. (I knew he'd be in town from Kansas, but didn't know he'd be staying in town for the night.) So, I called him up and discovered that he along with Gina and Meghan (even more cast members from my wonderful Rigoletto experience!!) plus Scott Schoonover were at a little dive bar in South City. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to hang out with them all, I ditched Dressel's for Barney's. Good tipsy (or drunken, depending) times were had by all. I missed the Rigoletto crew. Hopefully Charlie and Meghan will be singing with me this summer, because that only can mean more fun times...and that's one of the best parts of doing an opera job: the bonding! We all eventually bar-hopped to two more places on the Hill. I got home at 1...and passed out soon.
Sunday was quite uneventful...a welcome contrast to the excitement overload of Saturday...
I began the day just relaxing in anticpation of my Union Avenue Opera audition. When the time came, I donned my new suit and got in the car headed for Union Ave. As soon as I pulled up to the Church building at 20 til 3, I heard an excited sounding "PHIL!!" coming from behind me. The voice belonged to none other than fellow QU alum Brad Culpepper, who was about to leave when he saw me arrive. We had a nice chat, and I got to meet his fiancé Lori, who'd also auditioned. As my audition was going to happen in about 15 minutes, I had to say goodbye to Brad and Lori. It was cool to see Brad again, and we'll be hanging out more when he's in town later for Abduction from the Seraglio.
As for the audition, I think it went along just fine. My Carmen excerpt was short, sweet and to the point--just as I had hoped. My italian art song was ok, but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "Ugh, Phil....you really should have worked up some Donizetti." Oh well, what's the point in thinking like that? I had a good--if not great--audition.
Immediately after the audition, I high tailed it over to Belleville for my nephew's 4th birthday party. His parents threw a Mickey Mouse-themed movie party for him and all his preschool classmates...and when they cleared out, the family and neighbors came over for pizza. I joined the party a little late, but had a good time all the same.
The party came to an end before 8pm, and I still felt like I had more revel left in me for the night...so I joined some singer friends at Dressel's. Little did I know that this gathering would lead to a night of barhopping. Somewhere in the post-audition revels, I discovered that fellow Rigoletto cast member Charlie Martinez was still in town after his UAO audition earlier that day. (I knew he'd be in town from Kansas, but didn't know he'd be staying in town for the night.) So, I called him up and discovered that he along with Gina and Meghan (even more cast members from my wonderful Rigoletto experience!!) plus Scott Schoonover were at a little dive bar in South City. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to hang out with them all, I ditched Dressel's for Barney's. Good tipsy (or drunken, depending) times were had by all. I missed the Rigoletto crew. Hopefully Charlie and Meghan will be singing with me this summer, because that only can mean more fun times...and that's one of the best parts of doing an opera job: the bonding! We all eventually bar-hopped to two more places on the Hill. I got home at 1...and passed out soon.
Sunday was quite uneventful...a welcome contrast to the excitement overload of Saturday...