An October Update

I haven't written in so long! I'm afraid that the busier I get here, the harder it will become to keep up with my blogging. I will do my best, even if that means once a week!

Since I wrote last, I started my German language course. There are 14 of us in the class, including the instructor, and we represent 11 different countries. These include:

Poland (three students come from Poland)

Georgia

Germany (our Professor)

Macedonia

Holland

Bulgaria

Ukraine (two are from Ukraine)

Serbia

China

England

USA (me!)

I was so thrilled when the professor started speaking and I recognized his familiar German accent. Even HE said that he has trouble understanding the Austrian dialect. This made me feel a lot better, too!

So far, the class is very challenging for me. We spend a lot of time discussing politics and economics: two subjects which don't particularly interest me, and which I admittedly don't know much about. I'm really enjoying getting to know everyone in my class, and it's just such a nice change from "Au pair life", which I think I need to keep my sanity!

This past weekend, I recorded seven arias for a demo CD. I've already been to the studio to work on editing with the sound engineer, and I think I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome. Of course, I listen with the most critical ear and already hear things that I need to fix, but I don't think I could ever be COMPLETELY satisfied. At least I'm not discouraged!

The time has come for me to start sending my materials (resume, CD, bio, etc.) to agents and opera companies throughout Europe. I'm going to be pretty busy, and I can't wait. I've always been one who thrives on a busy schedule, and I've just had too much time on my hands during these last two months!

Unfortunately, I don't have any exciting pictures to post this time. I'm heading to Salzburg with the family again on Sunday, as it's a Holiday weekend here in Austria. Tuesday is National Day, so I'll be sure to let you know how the Austrians celebrate. :)

Oh wait...I found a picture!

I asked Emilia last week if she'd be dressing up for Halloween. She didn't say anything, just ran upstairs and told me I wasn't allowed to follow. She came down dressed like this. The cutest witch I've ever seen!

A Weekend in Salzburg

This past weekend, I traveled to Salzburg with the Herkners. It was a weekend full of family, TONS of kids, hiking, and lots of picture taking for me. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the beauty of the Austrian countryside. We stayed with Irmgard's younger brother, Christoph, who lives in a beautiful home in the hills of Austria. Christoph and his wife, Isabella, have four children, and they hosted us along with another family with FIVE kids! Twelve children between the ages of six and fifteen were in this house. I felt like I was at summer camp. :)

HELLBRUNN CASTLE

At a rest stop somewhere in Austria.

(I absolutely love that the Herkners have a VW Bus!)

When we arrived in Salzburg, our first stop was Hellbrunn Castle. This Castle was built and inhabited by Archbishop Markus Sittikus in the 17th Century. Hellbrunn was his summer home, and portrays Sittikus's sense of humor and love of life. The archbishop commissioned an Italian architect to install trick fountains throughout the palace. Sittikus would host parties with lots of food and wine, and once his guests were sufficiently full of both, he would surprise them and turn on the fountains, which are still working today! (See photo below)

The tour guide asked for volunteers to sit around the table, and you can see that Felix was thrilled to get soaked!

All twelve kids!

Cousins, Simon and Vinzi, enjoying their weekend together. They're both 6, and good buddies.

HIKING ON SUNDAY

We had a leisurely Sunday morning at Christoph's home, and then all of the (male) cousins piled into the VW bus, and we met up with both Harald's and Irmgard's parents for a hike.

Christoph's home.

The breathtaking view from the balcony.

This is Jonas, 8. He let me sleep in his room, and kept reminding me of it all weekend. :)

Simon getting ready to hike!

Walking along this little stream inspired me to sing a Schubert lied. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but there really were trout in there! How could I NOT sing "Die Forelle"???

"The hills are alive...

...with the sound of music!"

All of the cousins made it to the top!

Jonas & Opa on the hike back down.

I think I'll end this post here for now. I still have a lot of updating to do, but I have to get going on my German homework! In my next post, I'll include stories of my interesting German class.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

A Viennese Audition

My first agent audition went well enough for me to report back!

Overall, I would say that it was a positive, successful first European audition experience. David, my coach, organized this audition for an American soprano, Jenufa, and me. It was so nice to have a private audition, as the agent was able to take time to give me immediate feedback. I have to admit that I was too nervous for my own good, but my nerves calmed down by the time I began my second piece, and I was able to get a hold of my breath and calm my mind. I'm so glad to have this first audition out of the way, as now I have a better idea of what to expect. This particular agent said that my voice is best suited for coloratura (i.e. Rossini) and French repertoire. I still haven't had a chance to really talk to David about what he thought (he accompanied me), so I look forward to hearing his opinion. I don't think I'll be hearing back from the agent, but I wouldn't have expected that so early in the game. He has my contact information, though, so who knows!

After singing, Jenufa and I treated ourselves to coffee at the famous Hotel Sacher, which is right across the street from the opera house. Jenufa is twelve years older than I, and lives in Florence with her husband. She's been singing in Europe for several years now, and had a lot of great advice for me. I look forward to keeping in contact with her, and maybe visiting her in Italy someday! We took this photo together at the Hotel Sacher Café. When we asked our server to take our picture, the entire café became silent, and everyone started staring at us. I still don't know why. Maybe you can even see how much I was blushing in this photo!

That's all for now...I'm off to review some French arias! :)

A month has come and gone...

It's officially been one month since I boarded the plane in Pittsburgh for Vienna. Although there have been some ups and downs, I think I've settled in quite well. I've established my role with the family and have found a good balance between family member and employee. I have so much fun with the boys, and really enjoy spending time with the family when I'm not "on the clock".

A recent development: last week, when Vinzenz come up to my room to tell me it was dinnertime, he hid behind my door and scared "the living daylights out of me", as my mom would say. :) Since then, Felix and Lolo have caught on. Last night, Lolo called me for dinner, and I walked down the hall with a full glass of water. He jumped out from behind a corner, and I was so startled that the water went everywhere. I think he loved that. He ran downstairs and reported his victory to the rest of the family.

The last time I wrote, I was headed to my coaching with David and was hoping to see TOSCA from backstage. Well, it was even better than I'd expected: David snuck me up to a lighting booth directly above stage right, and I could see absolutely everything. It was thrilling! (Though I think at one point, Scarpia and I made eye contact, which was terrifying.) Before the performance, David and I went to the Staatsoper cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. I observed cast members in full costume, dressed as monks and choristers, sipping a beer ten minutes before curtain. That's showbiz, I guess!

On Saturday, David gave me a comp ticket for the premiere of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at the Staatsoper. In the third row. What an experience that was. Lucrezia was sung by the legend Edita Gruberova, who, at age sixty, still has the chops! It was a concert version, so the soloists were completely downstage with the orchestra and chorus behind them. It was great seeing their faces so close.

Here are some photos from the two hour city bike tour I took with Harald, the three boys, and two of their friends on Sunday. I was pretty nervous at the beginning (see first photo!) because I was the only female, and I didn't have the greatest first experience with city bike riding! It ended up being so much fun, albeit freezing cold. We had our own parade throughout the inner city of Vienna!

This photo was taken under a bridge along the Danube canal. The walls are completely covered in graffiti like this. It made for a pretty cool photo!

Harald was a great tour guide.

Today, I have my first audition with an agent. Last night, I translated and reformatted my resume to fit the German/Austrian standards. I have to admit that I'm pretty nervous, as I have no idea what to expect. You have to start somewhere though, right? I'm really not expecting much out of this audition, but I'm just looking forward to being heard and getting some feedback. I may or may not report back on the audition, depending on how it goes! ;)

Name Day & Emilia

Happy October, everyone! I can't believe how quickly September flew by. I've already been seeing some Halloween decorations in Vienna. Everything is so much more "Americanized" in Europe just since I lived in Germany ten years ago. Halloween was so foreign to my friends and host family in Germany in 2000, but now, in 2010, children over here are talking about trick or treating and Halloween parties.

Emilia, for example, was a bat for Halloween last year. She might be Ariel from The Little Mermaid this year, because Ariel is her favorite Disney Princess. Though Emilia informed me (in English) that she doesn't like red hair.

Here she is!

Emilia's favorite color is purple. :)

Vinzi's Name Day celebration was a lot of fun the other evening. It's pretty much a smaller version of a birthday party. Everyone sang a traditional folk song to him, and he was presented with a cake and a few little gifts.

Vinzi and I got off to a bit of a rocky start, as I think he was testing me out, but now we're getting along so well. I'd say that my best friend in Vienna right now is a blonde little six year old!

In these photos: Harald, Irmgard, Vinzenz, Alma (Vinzenz's cousin), Judith (Vinzenz's Godmother)

Oooh, Abalone! Vinzenz loves games. Especially checkers and chess. Games were really never my thing, but I'm learning to love them. :)

I have a coaching this evening with David at the Staatsoper at 6.30, and then there is a performance of TOSCA beginning at 8PM. I'm secretly hoping that he sneaks me backstage for TOSCA as he did for BOHÈME. I shouldn't get my hopes up, of course, but it sure would be exciting!