So last night we had a wonderful masterclass with Warren Jones. I was lucky enough to sing the Queen of the Night for him (second aria) and I learned so many wonderful little tricks. We worked on the forward vowels, the consonnats being crips as well as those nasty triplets! We have had three little mini masterclasses with him and then the one last public one, and I just felt like he had so many new and wonderful things to say. He was able to pinpoint exactly your problem and that one thing fixed any other problems. A great artist right there.
Oh and in other news, I messed up the time of the Grand Finale- it is at 7:30pm on Saturday August 20th. It is going to be a fabulous show! We just finished our Sitzprobe today!
Lastly, I found one more review!!
"Nary a note of ornamentation was missing from Suzanne Ridgen’s rivulets of notes pulsating forward giving wit and intelligence to a lovely Rosina...none holds a candle to Suzanne Ridgen’s lovely Rosina, especially when she’s got forks stuck in her hair to emulate the rays of the Statue of Liberty while holding a candleabra as Liberty’s torch"
http://www.starkinsider.com/2011/08/most-fun-all-summer-merolas-il-barbiere-di-siviglia.html
With the end in sight, I am feeling so blessed to have been here at Merola. I have learned so much and am crossing my fingers for the Adlers... but I shouldn't get too excited because everyone here is fabulous in their own ways! It is very exciting to have met all of these wonderful people and to know that these people will be the stars of tomorrow!! :)
Thank you for everything San Francisco!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Looking forward
Well, Barber is over, but that doesn't mean it is time to slack here at the Merola program!
We have the Merola Grande Finale just around the bend and it is usually is the determing factor for the Adler Fellowships... so it has been getting just slightly more tense around the opera building... Oh, and the fact that they have started rehearsals for Heart of a Solider means there are many wonderful people around, so now is not the time to look too "scruffy".
The Merola Grande Finale is going to be a wonderful show. There are some wonderful excerpts being performed and it will show-case many wonderful people. There are works from Dr Atomik, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, I Puritani, Italian Girl in Algiers.. and the list goes on!
Get your tickets soon! It is going to be an exciting show. It is at the War Memorial Opera House (Mainstage) on August 20th at 8pm.
Suzanne
We have the Merola Grande Finale just around the bend and it is usually is the determing factor for the Adler Fellowships... so it has been getting just slightly more tense around the opera building... Oh, and the fact that they have started rehearsals for Heart of a Solider means there are many wonderful people around, so now is not the time to look too "scruffy".
The Merola Grande Finale is going to be a wonderful show. There are some wonderful excerpts being performed and it will show-case many wonderful people. There are works from Dr Atomik, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, I Puritani, Italian Girl in Algiers.. and the list goes on!
Get your tickets soon! It is going to be an exciting show. It is at the War Memorial Opera House (Mainstage) on August 20th at 8pm.
Suzanne
Friday, August 5, 2011
Barber reviews
This article is so well deserved for Jonathan Michie. Bravo!! San Francisco Chronicle:
As Rosina, soprano Suzanne Rigden revealed a remarkable gift for stratospheric coloratura. She larded her showpiece aria, "Una voce poco fa," with a wealth of impeccable passagework that started high and then just kept going higher, with pointed, note-perfect placement.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/05/DD4G1KJV43.DTL#ixzz1UE3lmXfu
Suzanne Rigden (Rosina) has a dizzying ability to sing high notes, her coloratura technique is impressive.
http://www.classissima.com/en/news/384744-merola-opera-program's-barber-of-seville-(thursday)/
Suzanne Rigden, a soprano Rosina, has a fearsome coloratura. Hearing her pick off all those high notes was like watching a bowler make a strike every time.
http://nffo.blogspot.com/2011/08/merola-opera-barbiere-1st-cast.html
Suzanne Rigden’s Rosina jumped through all of her virtuoso hoops without ever showing a sign of strain
Continue reading on Examiner.com The Merolini romp with Rossini - San Francisco classical music
Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/classical-music-in-san-francisco/the-merolini-romp-with-rossini#ixzz1UEBEWiWk
I love this show. I have enjoyed every moment of performing it. :)
As Rosina, soprano Suzanne Rigden revealed a remarkable gift for stratospheric coloratura. She larded her showpiece aria, "Una voce poco fa," with a wealth of impeccable passagework that started high and then just kept going higher, with pointed, note-perfect placement.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/05/DD4G1KJV43.DTL#ixzz1UE3lmXfu
Suzanne Rigden (Rosina) has a dizzying ability to sing high notes, her coloratura technique is impressive.
http://www.classissima.com/en/news/384744-merola-opera-program's-barber-of-seville-(thursday)/
Suzanne Rigden, a soprano Rosina, has a fearsome coloratura. Hearing her pick off all those high notes was like watching a bowler make a strike every time.
http://nffo.blogspot.com/2011/08/merola-opera-barbiere-1st-cast.html
Suzanne Rigden’s Rosina jumped through all of her virtuoso hoops without ever showing a sign of strain
Continue reading on Examiner.com The Merolini romp with Rossini - San Francisco classical music
Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/classical-music-in-san-francisco/the-merolini-romp-with-rossini#ixzz1UEBEWiWk
I love this show. I have enjoyed every moment of performing it. :)
Reviews to come...
Here is one review of the Barber of Seville "Red" Cast
http://www.examiner.com/classical-music-in-san-francisco/the-merolini-romp-with-rossini
http://www.examiner.com/classical-music-in-san-francisco/the-merolini-romp-with-rossini
Barber of Seville
Well the first show is finished!
I am now lying in bed and can't get back to sleep because I am still excited about the show last night! All of my colleagues are great and I am so excited to get to share another evening with them on the stage! It has truly been a pleasure working with them and I really do enjoy every moment. It is nice to know that at the point when you could be most nervous, you relax and enjoy! I suppose that is the reason why we keep doing it! It is so great to realize how in the moment you can be when you are performing. I have been recently reading the book "Talent is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin and can't get out of my mind all of the comments he says about focused purposeful practice. The hard part about that, is that you can never recreate the feeling you have when you are on stage and have an audience. It immediately changes things! So you can never practise how to deal with the nerves of being on stage, so you just have to do it!
Here is an article to read about the Merola program if you are interested!
http://www.sfcv.org/article/merola-artists-go-the-distance
Have a wonderful Friday. I am going to try and get back to bed, and enjoy the physical exhaustion I have from last night! Thank you for all of your support!
Suzanne a.k.a. Rosina of liberty!
I am now lying in bed and can't get back to sleep because I am still excited about the show last night! All of my colleagues are great and I am so excited to get to share another evening with them on the stage! It has truly been a pleasure working with them and I really do enjoy every moment. It is nice to know that at the point when you could be most nervous, you relax and enjoy! I suppose that is the reason why we keep doing it! It is so great to realize how in the moment you can be when you are performing. I have been recently reading the book "Talent is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin and can't get out of my mind all of the comments he says about focused purposeful practice. The hard part about that, is that you can never recreate the feeling you have when you are on stage and have an audience. It immediately changes things! So you can never practise how to deal with the nerves of being on stage, so you just have to do it!
Here is an article to read about the Merola program if you are interested!
http://www.sfcv.org/article/merola-artists-go-the-distance
Have a wonderful Friday. I am going to try and get back to bed, and enjoy the physical exhaustion I have from last night! Thank you for all of your support!
Suzanne a.k.a. Rosina of liberty!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Merola!
I love San Fancisco!
I have been in San Francisco now for over a month and I am loving every minute! I have been to many wonderful masterclasses with Matthew Epstein, Martin Katz, Cathy Cathcart and the list goes on. We have auditioned for many wonderful people and opera companies including San Francisco, COC, Colorado, LA Opera, Seattle Young Artists to name a few! The coaches are phenominal, the singers.... wow... I am so blessed to be at this program. I learn so much from my peers that it is incredible. We are just getting into tech week of the Barber of Seville! I will be performing with my cast : Jonathan Michie as Figaro, Phillipe Sly as Bartolo, Adam Lau as Basilio, Heath Huberg as the Count Almaviva, Deborah Nansteel as Berta, Suchan Kim as Fiorello, and Cooper Nolan as Ambrogio.
If you are in San Francisco, come to the Herbst Theatre on August 4th at 8pm or August 6th at 2pm! It is going to be a great show, and if you have the opportunity I suggest going to both shows- as it is completely different! We have different characters and different staging.
I want to also thank all of the people who donate to the Merola program. Without you, this wouldn't be possible, and it truly has changed my life! Thank you!! :)
Sincerely,
Suzanne aka Rosina the soprano version for the next couple of weeks :)
I have been in San Francisco now for over a month and I am loving every minute! I have been to many wonderful masterclasses with Matthew Epstein, Martin Katz, Cathy Cathcart and the list goes on. We have auditioned for many wonderful people and opera companies including San Francisco, COC, Colorado, LA Opera, Seattle Young Artists to name a few! The coaches are phenominal, the singers.... wow... I am so blessed to be at this program. I learn so much from my peers that it is incredible. We are just getting into tech week of the Barber of Seville! I will be performing with my cast : Jonathan Michie as Figaro, Phillipe Sly as Bartolo, Adam Lau as Basilio, Heath Huberg as the Count Almaviva, Deborah Nansteel as Berta, Suchan Kim as Fiorello, and Cooper Nolan as Ambrogio.
If you are in San Francisco, come to the Herbst Theatre on August 4th at 8pm or August 6th at 2pm! It is going to be a great show, and if you have the opportunity I suggest going to both shows- as it is completely different! We have different characters and different staging.
I want to also thank all of the people who donate to the Merola program. Without you, this wouldn't be possible, and it truly has changed my life! Thank you!! :)
Sincerely,
Suzanne aka Rosina the soprano version for the next couple of weeks :)
Monday, April 11, 2011
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 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
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