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Monday, December 12, 2016

Where is the love?

Dear blog world,

Where is the love? 

I have been singing my entire life. I have always loved it. I loved making wonderful harmonies in my choirs growing up, I loved how singing made me feel. Where did that go? I can tell you. The music "industry" killed it. I let it. 

I have an undergraduate degree in Voice Performance from Memorial University of Newfoundland. My teachers there instilled a love for the vocal repertoire that was unparalleled. I was inspired and excited to continue. The same can be said for the Operatic repertoire as I did a Masters Degree in Opera Performance at University of British Columbia. I was so excited to get to combine dance, drama and singing just as I had before with musical theatre but it was heightened. I was on top of the world as I discovered opera and fell madly in love with it. I went on to work at the Atelier Lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal where I got a really taste of what the operatic career might entail and I was still blindly unaware of my future of rejections, rollercoasters and upsets. 

Once I was finally on my own in the "real world" I found out I was very wrong about what I thought the career would be like. I thought I would be making alright or good money and that I would be busy at least every month with a project. Wrong. Wrong. WRONG! I got insecure. I wanted to know what I could do to get out of this mess. I let every Joe, Sally and John have a say as to how I sounded and what I needed to do. I didn't trust myself and my instincts. I didn't trust my own gut feelings. I thought everyone knew better than me. Guess what? They don't! 

I also let my voice be my value. Big shock: this is not true nor helpful. Can you imagine if you thought your car defined you? How it worked etc? Okay, maybe some people do in a consumerist way, but that shouldn't define you. I have been there for years and I can tell you it doesn't make you sing better. 

Recently a wonderful singer I know posted about a bad review of himself on Facebook. He commented on how we always try and make everything seem to be wonderful all the time and we don't mention the heartache and loneliness of the music "industry." Somedays it is the most wonderful thing you could ever imagine doing and then the next day it can feel like you are digging the biggest hole and you have no idea how to get out of it. The reason why?

Everyone is critical. Even people who don't know what it is like to sing a note in their life somehow know better than we do. For example: A few years ago I sang an audition in New York City in front of a large panel of people. I paid to sing for them, paid to get there, and paid a pianist for this audition in hopes of getting a job but at the very least, some feedback. To that I say: Dear Jurer X, your two painful words "Ugly Voice" have haunted me for years. It almost was if you were calling my soul, my very being; ugly. I really hope you weren't a singer because you must know how much it hurts to hear such cruel words. Deep down I hope you were just having a bad day, were hungry or maybe english wasn't your first language. Criticism is fine as long as it is productive or you give a way to fix this problem. Unfortunately I can't really do much with those two words. I know I shouldn't have listened but you taught me a very important lesson that day. You have to care for yourself first. You need to feed your artistic soul. You need to trust what you love and believe in. That day and for a very long time afterwards I searched for people to "love" me/my voice again. Guess what? That doesn't work.

I recently did an audition where I felt frozen. I felt stuck because I had a history at this particular place. I want to be loved, I want to be accepted, but why couldn't I let go? To be fair to myself, auditions SUCK. There is no audience, no set, no costumes and people sitting there on their phones, writing, talking or on their computers. It is distracting. We pay so much money to go to these auditions and then sometimes get ignored. This was not the case in this scenario, but we live and learn. What can we do other than let go and try to do our best for the next time? Why do I taunt myself with what I could have done differently at that measure or how I could have breathed better at this measure. We torture ourselves after, or at least I do. 

All that to be said, I have recently started singing some musical theatre again. Guess what, it has saved me. Before when I listened to my demos I could only hear the flaws. I recently did one for a concert proposal and I love what I hear. I don't know if what I am doing is "right," but I don't care. I am happy. At the end of the day, that is all that matters. What I am getting at here is; trust yourself. Trust your feelings. If it is not feeling right, abort mission! I am not saying quit, but find another way to do it. Whether that be another venue or another art form, go for it! I, by no means have lost the love of opera, but I can tell you finding back the love of musical theatre has helped me love my voice and opera even more.

To conclude for all of those singers and non-singers out there: FIND THE LOVE in whatever form you can and try to bring it to every aspect of your life.  Sometimes that means not caring as much and trusting your feelings. Everything in life is a process, and I wish you the most pleasant and happy journey.

If you are looking for me, I will be sitting in front of my piano jamming to some show tunes. 

xox Suzanne




Friday, April 15, 2016

Tytania, Queen of the Fairies

Good evening!

It is opening night and I am thrilled! We had a wonderful and receptive audience tonight and it felt great! To the right is a fantastic photo of Tytania and her Fairies by David Cooper.

We had a lovely time. Check out our trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buoTHUgZgUs#action=share

We have three more shows: April 16, 22, 24.

Oh and my CBC recital will air on April 17th! Stay posted for the time. Thanks for reading! It has been a fantastic month for my blog so, stay tuned!

All my best from the West!!

Suzanne

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Combining the love of singing/classical music and running

Greetings from Victoria, BC Canada!

I am currently out here rehearsing for Midsummer Nights Dream with Pacific Opera Victoria. I am singing the role of Tytania and am having a blast. What some people don't know, is that I am also out here doing some different kind of training as well! I am training for my third Half Marathon!
CIBC Run for a cure in Nov. 2015


So to give you a bit of an update: I just signed up and am raising funds for Symphony Nova Scotia at the Bluenose Half Marathon (21.1km) in Halifax, NS on May 22nd, 2016. 


Every dollar I raise goes to helping their Community Outreach and Educational Outreach programs. This is something I hold near and dear to my heart because my mother and retired music teacher was very involved in while she was teaching. The kids had so many wonderful opportunities to interact with the symphony as well as it helps them get out into the community and perform for new audiences. This is how we can better our community and reach more people. 

Please consider donating to my campaign. I receive nothing out of it, except knowing that I was able to give back in some small way to a community and cause that I love. 

Here is my fundraising page: Soprano For the Symphony

I will keep my Facebook page: Suzanne Rigden Coloratura Soprano updated for people to follow my training and my fundraising. My goal is 500$, but I hope to surpass that if at all possible. Any amount helps! 5$, 10$ or perhaps 21$ to pay a dollar a kilometre! 

Thank you for all of your support thus far of my career and my travel endeavours! Stay tuned for more fun news! 

Happy Trails!
Second Half Marathon in Oka,QC
   

Friday, March 18, 2016

Noncerto Videos, Blondchen, West Coast and Germany, Oh MY!


Dear Blog world,

It is that time again. Blog update! I am finally feeling "on top of things" and am enjoying a few lovely days at home with my super supportive boyfriend, Christophe! One of the most important things about this career is having a wonderful support group by your side. My parents and family are incredibly supportive and have always encouraged me to pursue my dreams and now I am lucky enough to have found a partner who is equally encouraging and is very patient with my crazy schedule. For example: I have been gone since December 28th and have been home in Montreal for a little more than a week with him in total. We are long distance pro's at this point and our worst day is when we have a bad wifi connection or that our schedules don't line up. Christophe if you read this: Thank you for all that you do!

Alright, enough with the mushy stuff. It has been a busy time with so many things happening. Lets go in chronological order, shall we?

On January 16th I was fortunate enough to sing Blondchen with the Ann Arbor Symphony in Michigan. Well, this town was so adorable, the company was incredible to work for and I feel I have made friends for life now. One of the huge bonuses of this career is having met a lot of wonderful people. I love that I get to reconnect with old colleagues and make new colleague/friends. There was incredible singing and performing happening and we were able to have a semi-staged production within two days. That requires a lot of trust and team work, and that is one of my favourite parts! I grew up playing on team sports and in choirs etc, and one of the most amazing bonds you can have in this world is trust. So, all in all, that was a fantastic experience.

After this trip I hopped home and back between the states for a few auditions and then jumped the pond to try out the European houses. I again got to meet up with some wonderful friends and the weather was much nicer so I started training for my next half marathon! I will be doing the blue nose half marathon on May 22nd in Halifax. For me, I have to have goals or else I get a little aimless when it comes to training, so this is exciting.

Okay, back to the story: I spent five days in Amsterdam (what a cool city) and I did an audition and a workshop there, then I missed my train by literally a minute and caught the next one to Augsburg Germany. I bopped in and out of France, Germany and Italy for a few weeks doing auditions. My favourite being on the Regio di Torino stage. That was INCREDIBLE. What a theatre. It felt like you didn't have to do anything to create a sound there. Here's to hoping I get to go back. Anyway, then I made my way up to Berlin for the final two weeks. I enjoyed being there- again catching up with old friends, seeing beautiful opera, taking a german intensive language course, running, eating fantastic vegetarian and vegan food and Christophe came for the final week. It was truly a dream come true. He and I really fell in love with the city, so if by writing it down for the world to see here on my blog will help at all: Dear Universe- we would really like a chance to live there and work there at some point. There, the wish has been sent!

Next on the list- Noncerto Videos! There is a very cool tv channel that produces classical music videos in and around montreal but now they have outreached into the rest of Canada. Below I have posted my most recent videos that were just released and then just last week I was lucky enough to go out to the Monashee Mountains to film up at Mustang Powder; one of the coolest places I have even been to! (The picture above this post is my view from the hot tub!) I can't wait to see the next videos we will post about that. Please check out the following ones and share them. They are out here for all to see!

http://www.suzannerigden.com/#!video/lctc1

If you ever have any questions please feel free to contact me via my website at info@suzannerigden.com

Happy Friday!