Campbell Vertesi

Today was my last day off before I leave for Figaro in California.  I met with my good friend Todd, and we spent quality time in the museum of contemporary art, where they were doing an exhibit on the connection between popular music and visual art.  It was very interesting - I had never thought of the connection there before, but of course some really fantastic and interesting art has been done for record albums, and rock was the nexus for that in the West.    Very cool and interesting, and a great way to spend my day off.

When I returned to my friend Allison's apartment (where I was staying in Chicago) however, things were not as great.  Allison had had a bad fall in a soccer game that day, and was now treating an unexplained allergic reaction.  She tried antihistamines on the recommendation of her insurance hotline, but at around 10pm it was apparent that it wasn't helping.  By the time her roommate and I got Allison to the hospital, she was inflating like a red Verucha Salt, and starting to have trouble breathing.

The hospital was great, and they took perfect care of my friend.  Her roommate and I stayed up with her until she was released (around 3am).  By then it was too late for me to really sleep - my flight left at 6:30am, so I had to be at the airport at 5 - so I had a little nap and headed off to the airport.  Good thing we weren't rehearsing on the first day!

The itinerary is finally settling down for this month.  This Saturday I leave Cincinnati in the morning, carpooling with two goood friends.  We drive to Chicago, sing auditions for Sarasota Opera, and then settle in for a good famly dinner. 

On Monday I fly from Chicago to San Francisco, where my ride to Mendocino awaits.  I can't wait to sing Bartolo!  My time in Mendo is bisected by a trip home for my grandmother's memorial service. I'll fly back to cali the following Monday to sing in the preview concert, with the full performances on the following weekend.

Then I fly back to Chicago, where I'll (hopefully) audition for the Merola program at San Francisco Opera.  Then it's back to Cincinnati by bus, where I'll be preparing for my Master's recital!

And amid all of that I'm still working remotely, preparing recital rep, and trying to grow my Bartolo character, who has been sadly neglected through all this moving in mess.

Just looking at that schedule makes my head spin!  I'l be taking this one step at a time... what a great job to have, though. 

Today is day 3 in Salzburg... and I'm starting to get a bit restless.  I suppose I've been spoiled by trips to attraction-heavy cities like Paris and London.  In Salzburg, the main attraction is the ambience of the city itself.  Oh, there are a number of small- to medium-level sights to see: the fort, the Residenz, St. Peter's... but the best thing is just to walk around the old city.  The look and feel of this part of town are very well preserved - it's almost a midieval ambience.  But the attractions aren't on the level of, say, the Louvre or the British National Gallery.  So I've seen them all, and had a wonderful time.  But I've seen everything, and I'm just restless in a small town.   *ducks*

I saw the dress rehearsals for Fledermaus, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised!  I can only really speak for Bryn's cast (there are three), but the show is entertaining, funny, and has some very solid singing.  Tenor William Lewis, who runs the program, steals the show as Eisenstein.  This is only to be expected however; Lewis spent his career double-cast with the likes of Pavarotti and Corelli.  His singing is a kind not seen in American Opera anymore.  His co-stars are also impressive however, in a completely different way.

(disclaimer: Bryn is my wonderful wife, and Corinne is her best friend.  I swear I'm not biased, though)

Dramatic Coloratura Corinne Schaeffer is simply extraordinary as Adele.  Her sound is rich and full, and she navigates the role perfectly.  The color in her voice is warm, and enormous given her small stature.  I found myself waiting for her next entrance with anticipation. Bryn of course, sings the shit out of Rosalinda.  This is a role that is well worked into her body, and it shows.  Though this Rosalinda is not as sympathetic a character as the last one I heard her sing, her charm and bright voice make her a joy to watch. (and to take home afterwards) 

Originally this post was longer, but I had to cut it short for time. Next post: Diana Damrau, Festival season in Salzburg and 

This weekend is a red letter weekend for me.  Not only am I going to Pittsburgh to see Billy Budd (with Nathan Gunn and Greer Grimsley, I might add), but I'm also having a hot date with fellow blogger Ariadne Obnoxious!  

I'll be giving a full report (both on Billy Budd, and Ariadne ;)  )  when I get back... 

It's 4:25am in Vancouver, and we are at the airport. Bryn and I have a 6:10am flight for Chicago this morning, so we arrived to check in... and discovered one of those dreaded enormous checkin lineups. At 4am no less! This is the line up for the first flights of the day!

The line up isn't moving. They have all of two agents on duty - one tagging bags and one checking people in. There are now 3 United flights leaving in the next hour, and the lineup is still horrendous. There is barely a sliver of a chance that we will get checked in in time to get our flight, after a two hour line up.

This is not the fault of the agents on duty - who can you give priority checkin to? Even if all their flights weren't full on this busy travel day, you're talking about hundreds of travellers leaving within the hour, and two people to process them!

United is not making any friends at this airport today. Least of all this blogger. I will now try to avoid flying this airline again. I'd like to do an out and out boycott, but they are one of the biggest carriers that flies in Canada, so it's hard to stay true to that promise. But I'll certainly pay more money to fly another airline.

Incidentally, when we checked in at Indianapolis, the checkin official told us that United was trying to get rid of employees after the new year. He said they were probably going to make an offer to buy out people's contracts or something, because they had been treating their employees so terribly for the previous few weeks. He was planning to quit if he didn't get an offer by the 1st.

That's fine if United Airlines wants to make life hell for their employees. It's poor ethics, but they will get what they deserve - a wave of quitting employees. They will also get a wave of angry ex-customers. I'm one of them.

update: the flight ended up delayed by an hour so the passengers could get on.  Bryn and I got to run across Chicago O'Hare (literally between the two most distant gates possible in that airport) in 5 minutes to catch our connecting flight. Then the airline lost our bags.  We were thrilled.

This morning we leave, to start our grand trek towards Vancouver. OK, it's not so much of a GRAND trek per se, but sometimes it feels like it... what a cosmopolitan life we lead, flitting this way and that all over the country, that I get bored with travel!

This morning Bryn and I drive to Indianapolis, to spend the weekend visiting with her family there. On Monday we hop a plane for Vancouver, and arrive to chaos I'm sure! Two weeks of wedding planning madness ensue, followed by one helluva wedding. No vacation this year, just weddingweddingweddingweddingwedding.

When we get back to Cincinnati on January 2nd, both Bryn and I have to get back to work! January 3rd is the first rehearsal for H.M.S. Pinafore with Dayton Opera - I'm bringing my music and recordings with me to Vancouver! Better have that stuff learned, and that Cockney accent down to a "t" (or a lack thereof).

OK, off to hit the road. Apologies for the shallow post; I should be more myself when I've had some sleep again. :)

I'm back in Cincinnati now, and back at work.  Back to the same old routine. I finally have a sore throat - but perfect timing!  My last audition is days behind me, and I don't do much talking at work anyways.  Automatic vocal rest!

I'm proud of my work this semester - I accomplished my most important goals, and then some.  I've grown a tremendous amount as an actor and performer, and my singing has come a long way, too.  I feel more at home now in drama than comedy - a funny sort of reversal from September, but completely in line with the focus of my energies.  I'm getting a stronger sense of my vocal identity, and I think I've finally arrived at the turning point in my CCM vocal training: we're done breaking down old bad habits, done establishing the fundamentals of a good new technique, and now we're on to reinforcement and growth in that new technique.  Just where I wanted to be.

In terms of quantifiable goals, I conquered the role of Sparafucile vocally, and have made excellent moves towards making Sarastro a human being dramatically.  I'm well on my way to conquering two new arias, and my passaggio gets more comfortable every time I sing.  I managed all this while maintaining adequatemarks to keep my scholarship, and I feel ready to gear up for Artist Diploma auditions.

The only goal that I didn't meet was my budget. Bryn's paycheck was cut in half due to unexpected medical costs (don't even get me started), Miami University didn't give me a meal plan as we had expected, and incidental expenses for the car surprised me.  Oh, and audition season ended up overpriced too ($300 in application fees, $550 in travel/meal costs).  All this together put us about $150 in the red every month. Oh, and I finally acknowledged my spending problem: I can't resist spending on Bryn.  Oh, for more willpower...

 There's a lot to post about today, so I'll finish up this one.  Next up, the Alagna diva moment!

Arrived in New York last night, for one of my auditions. While I'm here, I'm staying with one of my best friends from undergrad... and it's been a riot. We were clever singers and went out to a bar last night. A quiet place, and neither of us drank anything but water, but still... going out and talking over music for a couple of hours is not the cleverest thing to do before an audition.

On the other hand, my throat feels fine this morning. A little Netipot action, a little green tea, and the throat is all better. The bigger issue is that I just don't feel like singing today!

Yes, it's true: even opera singers don't feel like singing every day. This is one of those days when you have to do it, because it's your job. It's the thing about doing music as a career, rather than avocationally: an avocational musician gets to do music because they love it, when they feel the passion move them. A professional singer has to get up and make art at 9 in the morning on a rainy day when they REALLY don't want to do it.

Today's not rainy. I don't really have an excuse. But I'm gonna sing, and sing well, dammit!

And... it's back to Chicago with me.  Last weekend Bryn and I did a little tango around Chicago, somehow never ending up in the same place at the same time... and tonight we drive up there again, for auditions this weekend.

Though we're both bringing work with us, we're hoping to actually - shock, horror! - have some "us" time.  We like to have date nights once a week normally, when we shut off our phones and act all cutesy.  I think it's been three weeks (or more) of stress since we really had a proper date now, and I'm hurting.  I miss my fiancee! 

Absolutely exhausted, after a very long Sunday, indeed!  Got up early this morning to hitch a ride to my Chicago-based Central City Opera audition.  I got to ride with my good friend Adam Cioffari who, quite apart from being the biggest opera nerd on the planet (and I mean this literally), is absolutely brilliant and great company.  We listened to Met broadcasts on Sirius radio the whole ride.  Oddly enough, Giorgio Tozzi was featured in every recording we heard (Mr. Tozzi taught both Adam and I at one point).  

 I should note how awesome that Sirius thing is.  Wow, to have met archival recordings at your fingertips 24 hours a day!  Incredible.  I'm buying my Real Rhapsody subscription as soon as I can afford it.  OK, before then, even if I have to sacrifice a meal.  That would really be starving for my art... :)

 The audition went well.  It's always odd singing for a company you've worked with before, but I did not feel particularly uncomfortable.  I had really wanted to get to show them some new repertoire, but sadly I couldn't get Vecchia Zimarra up to audition snuff in time. That jerk Puccini wrote some deceptively easy-looking music!  I don't think I could devise a harder approach to that Eb, nor a rougher tessitura in which  to stay even and lined up! (vocally, I mean)

I spent the afternoon in a practice room, noodling around on the piano, and singing until my throat begged me to stop.  So I would give it a break, then start up again.  I found out that La Calunnia isn't nearly as difficult an aria as it appears, so I'll be taking a more serious look through it this week, if I can find the time.

 This is intense week for everyone at CCM.  It's the last week of classes, the most exciting part of the audition season, and... did I mention it's the last week of classes? Cause that's important.  I have two spoken foreign-language scenes to present this week, along with an oratorio aria, three auditions and two trips to Chicago.  Somewhere in there I have a handful of Slavic songs to learn and coach, which will be a real treat because I don't read cyrillic or speak any slavic languages.  

And it's my brother's birthday tomorrow - happy birthday, Dave!  

But for now, I am very tired.  To Chicago and back in a day is no mean feat!  I tell you, as soon as we figure out how to teleport people, I will be all OVER that!  Whew!