The Schmooze

A relatively relaxed week in Stuttgart started with a last second step-in to a Stage and Orchestra rehearsal and finished with an audition in Potsdam. Between those I was very happy to be able to spend a few days with Mrs Elwin here in Stuttgart and also excited to visit Berlin for the first time.

Cosi

The rehearsal process for Cosi is now at an end. The opening night is tomorrow evening and so over the last week we have had the last two stage and orchestra rehearsals, the House Dress rehearsal and then the General Rehearsal (otherwise known as the Final or Dress rehearsal).  There was also a matinee event, introducing the new production of Cosi to the public, at which the three of us covers sang.

Luckily for me, stage and orchestra rehearsal 4, on Saturday morning, fell close enough to a performance of Rosenkavalier for the main tenor that he only sang the first two hours of it. So I was called upon from the auditorium, and had an extremely enjoyable hour of singing the finale of Act 1 Cosi with the Orchestra. I was then somewhat surprised but equally excited to have the chance to sing Ferrando’s aria ‘Un aura amorosa’ with the orchestra, a really great experience.

Having finally been confirmed as a full cover for the show, not just musical cover as initially planned, I had two addition rehearsals. A great coaching with a lady I have taken some time to warm to as a coach, and a three hour staging rehearsal on the rehearsal set with just me, one of the wonderful assistant directors, a pianist and the language coach (and the wife watching).  I have a huge amount of respect for the assistant directors, they are often the glue that sticks the piece together. They are always at hand, writing down everything that happens, trying to interpret what the Director shouts at them during run-throughs, dealing with the chorus, dealing with the covers, dealing with the set and props and so on. Everything seems to go through them to an extent. We are lucky to have a team of great assistants here in Stuttgart.

More travel

At the end of the week the final round of auditions for ZAV finally arrived. As those who have been following this blog may remember, I auditioned for ZAV in Munich back in February, this was then followed by a second round of auditions in Cologne in March. Having then been selected as one of the final ten singers, the final round happened yesterday in Potsdam.

On the way to Potsdam I stayed in Berlin, my first time in this most historic of cities. As an unashamed history –geek I was very happy that my bus from Tegel airport passed through the centre of the town, past the Recihstags building, the Brandenburg gate, the Berlin Dome, the TV tower, Deutsche Oper and many more places. It is a shame that I did not have longer to explore.

ZAV

ZAV stands for Zentrale Auslands- und Fachvermittlung, with the other title of Bundesagentur für Arbeit. They are a state agency who coordinate potential employers with potential employees. In terms of an Opera singer, they act as an agent for singers who audition for them, and have strong contact with most of the opera houses in Germany. Having made it to the final round meant that I sang in a concert-audition in front of a selection of Invited casting directors, Intendant (Heads of Opera houses) and conductors.

For many reasons this is a fantastic opportunity.

Despite having the cost of having auditioned in Munich, Cologne and Potsdam, the equivalent cost of singing to each of the 20 or so opera companies present would be huge. Conservatively I would suggest that each audition trip from Stuttgart costs about 150/200 Euro in travel, accommodation and so on. So whereas getting to the final round of ZAV will have cost me somewhere in the region of 500 euro in expenses, traveling around Germany singing to all 20 opera companies would have cost me thousands. This is not money I have and I am fortunate to have raised enough support to afford to do any auditions.

Cost aside, it is very difficult to actually get auditions, particularly without an agent. Inevitably casting directors and intendant go through agencies to find singers so to have a state agency like ZAV who can do this work for people like me is great.

The set up of the audition is very much pro the singer. I know that I have been pre-selected, through two rounds of auditions, I am being put forward in a positive light from the start. I also knew that not all the opera houses will be looking for a young tenor, some may, some may specifically look for a young Lyric like me.

For me I also knew that this was not the end of the world. I have work next year in Stuttgart, I also have an early but developing relationship with an agent, so all good. In stark contrast to the auditions of 2013 where I strangled myself with fear of failure, this time I felt liberated by the opportunity.

The music

The repertoire chosen for the audition was done so in consultation with ZAV themselves. They had liked a Verdi aria I sang to them, some Donizetti too, they had disliked a Mozart aria which Stuttgart employed me on the back of. So there were quite a few options.

In the end I settled for following the advice of an agent who auditioned us all in Stuttgart a few months ago, that being that at the moment I would be ideally cast across Germany as a Mozart specialist. This is fine with me, I love Mozart, I have loved being involved with Cosi and enjoyed singing Die Zauberflote a few years ago. So if that is how to best sell myself at this stage that’s great.

With this decision in mind, I chose to sing Gluck’s beautiful aria from ‘Iphigenie en Tauride’ – ‘Unis de la plus tendre’, an aria that was introduced to me by a very good friend about 6 years ago and one that I have been waiting to use. The other aria I sang was Don Ottavio’s ‘Il Mio Tesoro’ from Don Giovanni. Neither aria is particularly taxing, neither challenge me like some of the Bel Canto repertoire that I am so keen to sing, but both can show the beauty of a voice, the legato, coloratura, ease (or otherwise) of the upper middle register of the voice. So good, safe, audition arias.

The Schmooze

Following the concert-audition, all ten of us singers were taken to the foyer of the Hans Otto Theater 

(a beautiful, modern theatre, set on the water front) to meet any Intendant or Casting directors who wanted to talk to us.

This moment of the process I call the schmooze (an American term!). The schmooze also occurs after opening nights of shows, after concerts, at competitions and many other events. There are singers in the world who excel at the schmooze. The ability to charm potential future employers with wit, intelligence and so on. There are naturals who everyone loves to talk to and then there are those who hate it, look uncomfortable, want to go home as soon as possible.

In a world of building relationships and networking, schmoozing is an important skill to have.

Unfortunately my German is not good, so I relied on some of the ZAV team to introduce me to the houses that were interested, and I stood there nodding along, answering the questions as best I could but without any of the charm that a native speaker would have. (note to self, must improve my German!!)

Excitingly, though, and without the skills of German schmoozing, a number of opera houses expressed an interest in me, one is even looking for a Mozart tenor, so a successful day.

Friends

It was lovely, as ever, to meet some more new singers at this audition day. There were singers from all over the world, me being the only English native speaker. There were two South-Koreans, one Chilean, a Swiss-Italian girl, one Romanian, three German singers, me (the Brit) and a Portuguese soprano.

In fact the Portuguese Soprano was Sonia Grane, who I studied with for all 4 years of my time at the Royal Academy of Music. She was Pamina to my Tamino (Die Zauberflote), was Gilda to my Duke (in a scene from Rigoletto) and it was lovely to hear and see her again. She is about to jump-in to Ariadne at Deutsche Oper, where she is in the Opera Studio, and just performed Blonde in Die Entfuhrung aus Serail. It’s great to see things are going so well for her.

Next

With Cosi performances starting I now move onto the last project of the season, covering Borsa in Rigoletto. This week there are also the final two performances of Jommelli’s Vologeso, including tonight.

I’ll let you know how it all goes.

See you next time.