Nothing could be more about auditions than this....

Here at the Florentine Opera, we have been blessed with a fantastic group of Studio Artists this year, and I wanted to take a moment to thank them for their fantastic work with us this year:

Alisa Jordheim, soprano
Kristen DiNinno, mezzo
Kevin Newell, tenor
Carl Frank, baritone

Thanks for all of your great performances!!

Commonalities

So, I mentioned in my last post that I noticed some things that seem to remain consistent across auditions, regardless of level.
And I thought I would talk about that a little bit.
I want to preface this by saying that I have heard and seen some wonderful performances from all levels of singers over the past weeks, and I find this all very encouraging for our art form.

What I would like to see more of, all this time is.......

1.  Take chances dramatically and musically
2.  Show more of who you are
3.  Don't be afraid of making mistakes
4.  Own the room, and don't audition defensively.

As I told a group of students at Rutgers University;

Generally speaking, you probably have a 10% chance of getting hired at any audition.  Given those odds, why not let the real you come through?
The reality is, the best chance you will have of getting hired will happen when the authentic you, the one that has something to say, comes through in your audition!!

What a week!

This last week was one of the most vocal music filled I can remember!

Thursday - conducted vocal masteclass at Rutgers University
Friday - concert performance of new opera, The Judgement of Midas
Saturday Morning - performance of Little Red's Most Unusual Day at our Opera Center
Saturday Afternoon - judged the Regional Artist Auditions for Bel Canto Chorus here in Milwaukee
Saturday Night - attended the Rising Stars Concert, presented by the Ryan Center Young Artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Sunday  - conducted High School Masterclass here at the Florentine.

With such a wide variety of experience levels, you would think there would be some commonalities to comment on, but in fact, there are some - in my next post, I will talk about that.

Off to Rutgers

I am looking forward to conducting a Masterclass this week at Rutgers University with students from their voice and opera program.  It is always a pleasure to hear students as they work toward the next phase in their careers.
I try to concentrate on identifying things that the singer is presenting that might or might not be helping in securing the next step, be it a job, apprentice program, or placing in a competition.
This doesn't mean that I won't say anything about purely vocal matters, but the other things that go into an audition don't get mentioned as much, so I feel that this is where I can be the most helpful.

Auditions

We've just had our Studio Artist Auditions this week, and it was great to hear some very promising young artists again.
If I was going to pick out a couple of things that people might want to think about (and these are not new points), they would be:

1.  Having a resume that completely and clearly lays out what you have done.  I saw examples of not enough being listed, and too much being listed that didn't really mean very much.  Always keep in mind that you want to impress someone with your resume, even if they are only taking a cursory look.  If you can imagine someone taking a fifteen second look at your resume, that might give you some clarity in putting your resume together.

2.  Headshots.  Make sure your headshot looks like you do now, so that whoever you are auditioning for, will have a good visual reference to remember you by!

Thought for the day

The temptation is to think of your auditions as a means to an end, and there is no denying that this is true.
However, another way of viewing auditions is to think of them as another performance.  You never know how many times you will get to sing in your life, and every opportunity you get to sing is a part of that finite number.  The audition is indeed a means to an end, but it is also another opportunity to perform - looking at it that way can take some pressure off!

Upcoming auditions

We will be having our live auditions for our Studio Artist Program next week, and as always, I am excited to hear young singers at the start of their journeys.
This puts me in mind of a point that I try to make when I present master classes - those of us who hear you want you to do well.
This may seem like an overly obvious point, but the reality is, when I talk to young singers, or if I think back to my own audition experiences, I find that there is a fear in auditions, that the people hearing the auditions are a negative force. 
I am not being naive, and I know that there are negative auditioning experiences, but the reality is, that in the vast majority of cases, your auditoners are pulling for you to do well.  Many of us have been in your shoes, and know what you're going through.
A recognition of this on your part, can take away at least one stress factor in your audition!

For those of you auditioning for us, and for those auditioning elsewhere,  I send you all good wishes for an audition that you will feel great about.