Well,
2010-2011 season has almost gone by and I have not been blogging! Does that mean it was busy, or slow...? I guess I will have to let the blog reader to figure that out!
So, to start of the year I sang the Page Boy in Rigoletto. It was a great opera, staging etc. Its funny how the little roles are sometimes the most important to keep the plot of an opera going. The un-sung heros... although in this case I guess they do sing.. just less than the others!
After this it was Audition time... which was pretty exciting as I spent a week in New York and had some exciting things happen. Highlights would be singing the callbacks for Merola and MAW. I sang for Marilyn Horne and it was supposed to be my last audition and I went into the audition with the perfect audition mentality... "I dare you to send me home" (and then of course, I sang the best I had all week!) Oh... and at 4am on my way back from New York on the bus, I found out that I got into Merola.... I didn't know what to do with myself as I was just over-joyed.. but I couldn't call family etc... (Just so you know, they don't do their calls at that time, it was that I didn't turn on my canadian cell phone until I crossed the border)
In terms of concerts, we didn't have a whole lot going on, but I did get to perform a czech concert and a mozart christmas concert with L'Orchestre des Jeunes de Montreal with Louis Lavigeur.
December came around and Aleacanto the tour came! We traveled all over Quebec with a touring show of arias and ensembles, dancing and fun!! So that took us right up until New Years.
I had two or three days off and then Werther rehearsals started up! What an amazing experience. I met some wonderful people. One of which is Michèle Losier. She helped me through my little nerves, tricks of the trade and gave me lots of great advice. I worked with a wonderful team and I was very lucky to do so! What an honor!
During the run of Werther I was preparing for Alcina in New York! Phew! I was getting tired at this point, but luckily I love it! Alcina was (if you can believe it) my first Italian Opera in full. I had six wonderful weeks of rehearsal, exercise, eating well and spending time in the libraries of New York! Morgana was a great role and we had a really theatrical staging of it, as our director Erwin Maas came from the theatre but I am sure he will have a great career in Opera as well!
I most recently got back from a week in Toronto on an exchange with the Canadian Opera Company. What a great idea. We were able to collaborate with the artists there and as well partake in personal training, lessons and coachings.
At the moment now I am preparing for a concert with Chants Libres as well as heading to New York to sing in a Gala Concert for IVAI in the honor of Deborah Voigt.
That brings us up to date! If you want more details: check out my website www.suzannerigden.com
