Campbell Vertesi

It's the question everyone's asking me by email. The answer is: great. Really great. Opening night in particular was a huge hit, and everyone sang beautifully.  The audience was great, and I could really relax and engage in some audience banter.   

The only down side: there was no program!  I don't know why, but somewhere between the producer's computer and the printers things got fouled up.  That means that the audience may have enjoyed the show, but they have no idea who we are!  I was actually stopped on the street by the reviewer from the local paper, to ask for names of the cast!  I'm happy I ran into her... otherwise we would have been a bunch of nameless awesome singers in the review.

The Sunday Matinee wasn't as good, from our perspective.  Matinees are always a pain - as our Countess Alex Rafallo put it, "who wants to see opera while the sun is out?"   Hell, who wants to SING opera while the sun is out?  The audience was quiet and slow to get going, and that affected our energy big time.  I wasn't happy with my own aria... I was stupid and had coffee when I shouldn't have, and I got jumpy for the first half of the opera.  In the end it was still a good show and the crowd had a good time, but the overall spectacle wasn't on the same level as the night before. 

Sorry for not posting about this sooner, but there really isn't much internet access in Mendocino. Plus, I've been spending some quality time with my parents, and blogging just doesn't get very high on the priority list next to family.

Today I'm in San Francisco, hanging out with friends and relaxing.  I can't wait... this is really my last day to relax for awhile.  Between auditions, my graduate recital (ugh) and Masters' finals, I've really got to put my nose to the grindstone...

The cast and directors had a little meeting this morning.  It was discussed that although we all had concerns about pulling off a project of this magnitude in the time allotted, we could do a really fantastic job of a more limited production.  Today's rehearsal is a "cutting board" rehearsal (my term, not an industry one).  We sing through the entire show, and decide which recits etc can be cut.  We'll have a limited narration to fill the audience in on the happenings they missed, but it will essentially be a normal cut production of Figaro.  

And I'm relieved.  At the very least, 4 hours of Italian without surtitles is a lot to ask of any audience.  2 hours and a bit is much more reasonable.  

My part is not a large one, but my biggest problem is a common one - how to keep vocally warm in the long break between my scenes!  My first scene, at the beginning of Act I, includes my big aria.  I have to be warmed up for that.  But my next entrance isn't until the Act II finale!  In rehearsal at least, there's about 2 hours in between those scenes, where I'm sitting quietly studying music.  That's a lot of fallow time... and so far, by the time I've come on for the rest of my singing, my voice is cold and even a bit tired.  More on this later...

Today was the second rehearsal, and I have to say I'm starting to look for the panic button.  I'm not ready to push it yet, but I want to know where it is, just in case.  For those who aren't familiar, Figaro is a long opera.  More than 4 hours at full length, and our production has only the barest of cuts.  A lot of it is recitative, which is brute memorization work.  The rest is arias and ensembles, each of which can stand a surprising amount of musical work to get "performance-ready".  Putting on a show like this in 2 weeks is a difficult task, to say the least.

The entire cast has arrived knowing their parts, but I'm learning about the special requirements of Mozart.  This isn't like Boheme, where the parts all interlocked, but the piece keeps moving if someone messes up.  In a Mozart recitative or ensemble, if one person trips up the whole beautiful construct comes crashing down.  And though we all know our parts individually, the moment we put down our scores and try to sing together, it becomes very easy to trip up.  Frighteningly easy.

This would not be such a problem, if we had some more time.  The plan is to stage the entire opera in two days (!), and have a staged concert version ready for performance by a week Friday.  I consider myself an optimistic guy, but this is looking dicey.  The music is good, but it needs a lot more work to be ready... and we're about to add staging?  I just don't know, but I don't like the look of it.

In the end though, this isn't my lookout.  My job is to do the best I can at my (small) part.  If the rest of the production crashes and burns, at least Bartolo will be scintillating, I guess.  To be honest, I'm not sure what do do.  The director is a friend to me as well as a colleague, and at some point I think I have to say something, even just in private.  I just want a plan B, in case this ambitious project proves to be as difficult as I think it is.

I arrived in California today, and met the rest of the Figaro cast at our residence. It's one big house, apparently usually used as a Christian retreat. Just imagine the Real World, Opera style. The cast is great, the house... well it needed some work.

I guess you can call it a teambuilding exercise: we all pulled together, and cleaned the place from top to bottom. When we got there, the kitchen was sticky, the walls and ceilings were cobwebbed, and the laundry room was inaccessible. By the end of the night, the place was clean enough to walk barefoot, the laundry machines were great, and even the hot tub was filled, warming up and filtering as it should. I can't say we weren't a little miffed at having to do basic cleaning and maintenance first thing when we got there, but in the end the house should be just great.

The cast, as I mentioned, is very cool. I don't know anyone's last name yet, so I'll have to write about them later... but trust me, all very nice, friendly people who will be fun to work with. Tomorrow, we have our first rehearsal...

In the last few days of minimal postage, a lot has been going on in my life... hence the minimal postage(!)  So it's time to play catch up.

First and foremost, I got an email from Opera Fresca, the company that hired me to sing Sparafucile a few weeks ago. It seems that their Zuniga for their Spring production of Carmen is unable to make it after all, so they asked me to sing the role!  I'm excitted, but there are some practical considerations before I can accept.  First of all, as much as I love singing, the money has to be right.  I would sing for free anytime, but this is a 4 week time commitment - that's a lot of income not made in Cincinnati.  If I can break even, of course I'll go.

The other, (larger?) concern is the time off from school.  CCM has a policy of excusing performance absences whenever possible, but 4 weeks is a big chunk of a 10 week quarter.  It might mean delaying my degree, and that's not a good thing.  So I'm working on it, and I'll keep you guys informed.

More news - I've been workshopping a new opera with Cincinnati Opera this week.  It's a lot of time, but I'm enjoying it.  I have no idea what aspects of the piece are confidential as yet, so I won't say much... only that I get to sing some nice low chorus bits, and that a big group of my friends from CCM are involved, too.

More more news - Bryn's Die Fledermaus was a success.  Review to come.

Aaaaaand I have an audition tomorrow morning, with famous blogger Kim Witman of Wolftrap Opera. It's odd- the size and stature of the company doesn't make me nervous at all.  What I'm most anxious about is meeting Ms Witman, who's a celebrity in the opera blogging world.  Or at least, a celebrity in my little corner of the opera blogging world. OK I just think she's cool.  The point is, I'm nervous about making a good first (vocal) impression with someone I respect so much.  And that's all I'm writing about that, before I psych myself out.

Aaaaaaaaaand I got to see my awesome sister Janet this weekend, because she came in to see Fledermauus. We hung out, had a great time, and set up her website... no content there yet, but I'll link again when she puts stuff up.

Add a dash of wedding franticness, just a hint of sleep and a smattering of Theory homework, bake at 45 degrees, and there you have my life so far this week. 

All sorts of news!  I've spent the last 3 days in transit from Mendocino to Cincinnati... as you can guess, it sucked.   But I'm ahead of myself.  I last posted after the opening night of Rigoletto.

My day off was delightful and relaxing. I finally got to spend some quality time with my camera on the bluffs (see new pictures here), got drenched by a couple of waves, watched a spectacular sunset, and generally relaxed. The best part of the day was finding out that this trip had been a success - after the first performance, the artistic director offered me Sarastro in their 2009 Zauberflöte!  To be asked back is a very good sign in my books, and I happily accepted.  So now I'm booked for a solid month in the distant future.  There was some talk of other, nearer possibilities, but nothing firm so mum's the word.  Sorry!

Then it was on to performance number two - closing night.  Having done theatre work (and Central City with it's incredibly long runs...) it seems so funy to call the second night closing night, but it's pretty common in opera.  Even my Dayton Opera gig is a three show event!

Despite some personal politics backstage - which will remain personal for the sake of those involved - the entire cast pulled off a solid show. A fog had rolled into town about 2 hours before the show, throwing everyone (except Moore, our experienced Rigoletto)'s sensations of their throats off-kilter.  Casey (the duke) in particular walked on feeling like his throat had just committed ritual suicide... I don't know how he felt after his first sing ("Questo o Quella"), but seconda me if his voice was dead, it was doing a great job from beyond the grave. 

In fact, we all seemed to respond similarly.  Because we were worried about our odd-feeling throats, we all gave that extra little bit (ok, we pushed), and it made a very positive difference in the house.

There was one typical stage mishap, which threw the Storm Scene off.  I got a little carried away telling Maddalena to "rattoppa quel sacco" (mend this sack), and threw the cloth in her face, almost bowling her over!  Poor Kristina: I don't know if she got her next line out or not - either way, it was muffled in a pile of cotton!  After that, we were all a little wary, but the scene went by without any serious derailings.

Overall, I was very happy with my experience with Opera Fresca.  I learned a lot, my voice grew tremendously, and I made a good enough impression (ha! got THEM fooled...) that I've been asked back for a larger lead role! On the way home,I decided to make this the model for every show I get, in terms of my goals for success.

And now, the moment I've been postponing for so long - it's recording time! We had some piano difficulties, so unfortunately neither of the Storm Scenes recorded well enough to post.  I do have the Act I duet however, which makes this the first recording of myself I've posted in what, three years?  I'm not Cesare Siepi, but I'm proud of my progress.

But enough chatter - here's the recording! Don't spend it all in one place.