On the Bench

To use a sporting analogy, something I have been trying to steer clear of for the last 8 months, this week I have been back on the substitutes bench, hoping for my team to continue well without me but also itching for a chance to show more of what I can do. I guess one could some up the whole year like that and it is fair to say that I am looking forward to being first pick, main team, even the star striker, in the future. This is an opera style apprenticeship after all and it would be odd for me to not want to develop from here.

Don’t blink

With my place in the reserve team firmly established this week, I have almost exclusively been watching rehearsals on stage. Stage and Piano rehearsals first, then the Piano Dress rehearsal and in the last couple of days Stage and Orchestra rehearsals.

As with other productions here, the last couple of weeks, in the theatre itself, are a chance to see the many people who together create the production. 4/5 weeks in a rehearsal room with 6 soloists, the conductor, director, a few assistants, a pianist, occasionally the design team, stage managers and of course the covers (woohoo!!) can easily make one forget that there are so many other people working on the project behind the scenes. Many of these people will watch the Piano Dress before once again sliding into the shadows of their costume department or lighting box or stage technical department and so on.  

One difficulty for a cover when the rehearsals go on stage is the lack of rehearsal intimacy. In the rehearsal room one can always hear whats happening, decisions being made, changes in staging, character discussions and the like. Once on stage these changes and discussions happen less frequently, and less obviously until some point in a rehearsal you suddenly notice that your character is not where he should be from your notes. Is this a change? Has he made a mistake? Did I write the wrong thing down? And the pencil and rubber are rapidly put into action to update what you have.

Next week

Away from Cosi, I have been preparing for the final ZAV audition in Potsdam a week today. As you may remember, I have done two auditions for ZAV, the state artist agency, this year, a first round in Munich and a second in Cologne. Now, finally, we have reached the final round which takes the form of a concert and features ten singers. I’m delighted to be joined in this concert by a friend from music college, she was my Pamina when we did the Magic Flute in fact, and look forward to hearing her sing again.

I will be singing one Gluck aria ‘Unis des la plus Tendre’ and one Mozart, ‘Il Mio Tesoro’ from Don Giovanni. Quite solid, safe choices, firmly placing me in the middle of my current voice classification, or Fach. I felt this was important, particularly as the audition is in front of a large selection of Intendant and Casting Directors from across the German speaking Opera world. Though I can sing heavier repertoire, and will do in the future, I felt on this occasion that these choices were the right ones. It is also not a bad idea to let people make their own choices about your future.

Four left

Unless I get on stage as cover for Cosi Fan Tutte or Rigoletto, I have only four performances left in Stuttgart. All four are the Jommelli opera, Berenike, including this evening.

It will have been 41 performances in the season after tonight. That’s a lot of time spent wearing make-up. It is also a lot of time learning ones craft through actual performance. Not to say that music 

college isn’t useful, but in four years at music college I performed on the theatre stage no more than 15 times. I am very much match fit these days, back to the sporting analogy, no lack of match practise here, and it’s a good feeling!

Whilst I mention music college, another friend from my studies has a survey for classical singers about their training. If you are a fellow singer, why not have a look and fill it out.Classical Singer Survey

In the meantime, hope you all have a good week.

Tom