Long time no blog!

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

2010-2011 Season

The Season is out!

I am proud to announce that I will be singing Sophie in L'Opéra de Montréal's production of Werther in January-February 2011! It is a unique version done for Baritone, who is Phillip Addis. Charlotte will be sung by Montréal's own globe trotting Michèle Losier.

I also will sing with Chants Libres in their Anniversary Opera Arias concert in May 2011.

Cheers.

Suzanne

Some press for you

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/arts/200912/14/01-930807-carmen-dans-le-sanctuaire.php

http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/279263/concerts-classiques-une-interessante-revue-d-effectifs

http://www.scena.org/blog/newswire/2009/12/production-30e-anniversaire-tosca-de.html

Update 2010

Well, well...

Maybe I should make a New Years Resolution to be better at updating this!

So I will make a little 2009 Recap for myself and for those who are reading!

January 2009 was a busy month. I sang at the Metropolitan Opera Regional National Auditions and won the First Achievement Award as well as the Audience Choice. After that I attended the callbacks in Montreal for Atelier Lyrique.

February 2009 I was accepted to the Atelier Lyrique! What an achievement!

March 2009 I was chorus in Verdi's Falstaff in Vancouver.

May 2009 I graduated with a Masters in Opera Performance at UBC! After graduation I traveled to Estonia to compete in the Klaudia Taev competition (I was extremely sick for it :S) and then traveled to Finland, France, and Spain for my own enjoyment!

June and July 2009 I made my way to the Czech Republic to rehearse Carmen with the UBC and European Music Academy. I sang the role of Frasquita in Teplice and Usti nad Labem under the baton of Norbert Baxa. I also sang in an open air concert in Teplice. My mother traveled over to see the shows and then we continued traveling. We went through Germany (where we saw Diana Damrau singing Zerbinetta!), Austria, Czech Republic and we ended up in Italy.

August 2009 we made our way through Italy until we got to Orvieto, where I performed in the Spazio Musica competition, where I made it to the finals. I love the halls in Europe! My mom traveled back home after some more traveling and then I made my way to Salzburg, Austria to participate in master classes with Edda Moser at the Mozarteum. I stayed for two weeks of intense training and enjoyed my birthday there with friends! (I even had a friend from my home town there!) I sang a concert on my birthday- and the crowd was so generous! At the end of august (August 23rd) to be exact, I packed my bags and hopped onto a plane to arrive in Montréal! I stayed in a hotel until I found my quaint apartment in my new city.

September 2009 I had just started working with Atelier Lyrique. What an amazing job I have. We got to see our teacher Gerald Martin Moore right away. It was so nice to be back in Canada. The French was hard to get used to at first, because my "second language default" had switched to German! It was an interesting feeling. At the Atelier we receive coachings, lessons, seminars, and language training. It is excellent. I also got my Kitten La Reine!

October 2009 I started rehearsals for Die Zauberflöte and found out that I was the cover for Queen of the Night as well as the First Spirit. It was an exciting month, as I also went home to see my family for the first time in a while!

November 2009 was the performances of Die Zauberflöte.

December 2009 I participated in Noël à l’opéra with the Orchestre Métropolitain as well as found out that I will be performing the title role in Marie in La fille du Régiment with IVAI in Tel Aviv, Israel.

It has been a whirlwind of a year. I am very thankful for everyone and everything I have. Truly.

Happy New Year!

Another review!

If you can understand french, here is another review from the Magic Flute!

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/arts/musique/musique-classique/200911/09/01-919805-la-flute-enchantee-enfin-mozart-dans-la-tradition.php

Cheers!

Reviews are out!

Alright, so I just had my debut with l'Opéra de Montréal on Saturday night.

Here is what the Gazette thought!

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Mozart+Magic+done+just+right/2200687/story.html

It was a great show. So much excitement and everyone was on cloud nine when it was all said and done!