Back to Blogging

March 19, 2008 - First of all my apologies for the rather long hiatus in posts. Life got very hectic immediately following the close of Tobias and the Angel, and since blogging has not yet become a part of my "daily ritual", the item that slipped off the radar was unfortunately the blog. Life is still incredibly hectic, but I wanted to do at least a brief post to let our faithful readers (I know you're out there eventhough you rarely comment) know what's been going on at OV.

1) Orpheus in the Underworld - Opening night is hurtling towards us like an oncoming train but things are pretty much where they need to be at this moment. Chorus rehearsals began last week and principal music rehearsals begin on Monday. This cast is chockfull of talented, energetic, funny people so it's going to be a real treat working on this zany show with them. It truly is the most outlandish, over-the-top thing we've ever done so be prepared for a dizzingly uproarious night of theatre. The set is being constructed as I type this, but the search for some free TVs and satellite dishes (all of which will be returned to the donors after the show) continues so if you've got a spare one lying around let me know.

2) The 2008-2009 season - We held our second round of auditions on March 7th and 8th, and I'm thrilled to report that between the two rounds of auditions and the return of some treasured past artists, OV is going to have three of the strongest casts in its history. Once I have definite contracts offered and accepted for all roles, I'll blog a bit more about the specifics. Also, my apologies to singers who were told that all casting decisions would be finalized by March 17th. Chalk it up to the best laid plans of mice and men.

3) OV11 Gala - Preparations have also kicked into high gear for our celebratory gala/fundraiser: OV11. We're throwing a fabulous party on May 17th to celebrate OV's first decade and usher in the next. It will be lots of fun and a great way for our supporters to contribute useful funding to the organization so as you plan your Spring social calendar be sure to pencil OV in on May 17th.

4) Artscape - OV has once again been asked to participate in Artscape. Having given audiences Leonard Bernstein's 20th century masterpiece Trouble in Tahiti last year, this year we're presenting two short but glorious baroque pieces complete with period instrument orchestra: Monteclair's Pyramus and Thisbe and Handel's Apollo and Dafne. At the moment, I'm engaged in translating the Monteclair while also keeping all the abovementioned balls in the air. Oh well, I guess that's why they pay me the big bucks.

Anyway, that's a brief overview of what's been going on at Cathedral and Read. I heartily encourage you to take in any or all of the offerings that are coming up. It was great to see so many new faces at Tobias and the Angel, and we hope that you all will become long-term friends of OV. See you at the opera! - John Bowen

Thanks for the Feedback, Singers

December 10, 2007 - It appears that my thoughts on the recent crop of auditioners has become more provocative than I thought it would. I'll just make one final comment with regards to the last comment posted about the matter. In the case of a singer singing something from Siegfried (splendidly or not) when I'm casting a Magic Flute, I would have to say to that singer "Thank you very much. That was lovely. If I'm ever casting a Siegfried, I'll keep you in mind. However, your audition offering leads me to believe that you would not be suitable for any of the roles in Magic Flute. If you would care to disabuse me of that belief by singing something by Mozart, then let's hear it." I also think that repertoire does make a difference when the demands of a particular role are distinctive. For instance, being able to sing "Porgi amor" well does not guarantee that the singer would have the agility or the upper extension to sing "Non mi dir" or the lower register to tackle Fiordiligi. Personally, I feel it would be a great risk to cast a Donna Anna or Fiordiligi without hearing the "Mount Everests" of those roles. Anyway, thank you all for weighing in on the matter.

Audition Rep Redux

November 30, 2007 - Okay, so I've gotten some responses to my audition post-mortem post, particularly my frustration at singers offering arias that are somewhat irrelevant to the repertoire we are casting. I must say it was quite illuminating to find out that just publishing the repertoire for the season is not sufficient. Evidently singers want to be told that I want to hear prospective Donna Elviras sing "Mi tradi", prospective Octavias sing "Addio, Roma", prospective Nancys sing "What would Missus Herring say". Well, besides being a bit too wordy and cumbersome for the average audition listing, I have to say that prior to receiving these comments, I would have thought that such a spoon-feeding would have seemed patronizing to most singers. Isn't it self-evident that the best way to show that you are appropriate for certain roles is to sing a part of those roles? I guess not. So, in future we will be even more specific about what we want to hear. Hopefully that will save frustration on both sides of the audition table. - John Bowen

Audition Post-Mortem

November 18, 2007 - Well, my friends, yesterday and Friday I spent a combined 14.5 hours listening to singers who wished to be considered for our 2008-09 season. While we (I was joined by JoAnn Kulesza - conductor for Albert Herring, as well as Ron Gretz and Braxton Peters from Annapolis Opera) heard some very fine new singers, there were some trends that were so prevalent and so worrisome that I feel compelled to blog about them in the hopes that maybe some singers will read this post and mend their ways. I won't be so ungallant as to name names, but I am categorizing the issues for clarity's sake.

1) No-Shows - To those singers who simply did not show up for their audition times and also did not have the courtesy or professionalism to call or email to cancel, please be advised that your names will be kept on file as people who will not be granted an audition in the future. This may seem harsh to you, but the fact that you didn't have the common decency to inform us that you would not be showing up already tells me what kind of artist you are, thereby making an audition superfluous.

2) Last-minute Cancellations - To those of you who cancelled less than 24 hours before your appointed time (and in some cases, less than 1 hour before), while I appreciate the fact that you did inform us that you would not be coming, a little more notice would have allowed us to contact one of the singers on the waiting list to see if they would be interested in taking your time. Rather difficult to do with virtually no advance warning.

3) Baffling choice of audition rep - Opera Vivente posted that we were casting for the following shows: Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, and The Coronation of Poppea. It is therefore astonishing to me that many, many singers showed up for their audition with no arias from any of these shows, and indeed, in some cases, no arias even by these composers. Your ability to sing "Quando m'en vo" in no way shows me whether you can sing Donna Anna or Miss Wordsworth or Drusilla. This trend became even more baffling when we encountered singers who had actually done some of the roles that they were auditioning for and yet still didn't bring any of the arias from that role. If you've done Nancy in Albert Herring, and you'd like us to consider you for Nancy in our production, why on earth wouldn't you bring "What would Missus Herring say"? It simple doesn't make sense. If there is someone out there advising singers to not bring arias from the roles for which they are auditioning, please cease and desist. If you want to sing Donna Elvira, you better darn sight be prepared to sing either "Mi tradi" or "Ah, fuggi traditor" at the audition.

4) Out of tune singing - This is something that I've been noticing with increasing alarm over the past few years. However, what was originally an isolated problem has grown to epidemic proportions. When a singer singing in tune is actually attention getting rather than being a given then it is time to say something. More often than not this comes from singers trying to sing repertoire that demands more than their voice can give. Please, please audition for roles that are appropriate for your voice.

Okay, I'll step down off the soapbox now. My hope is that singers will read this and at least take what I've said under advisement. The next post will be about something of more general interest, but this needed to be said.

See you at the opera! - John Bowen

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

September 8, 2007 - Okay, so first off, I didn't really have a summer vacation. Unlike when I was the child of not one, but two educators, summer was indeed a blissful, unscheduled sequence of days. Even when I did my brief stint in the special kind of hell known as a "9 to 5" job, there was still the sense of vacation being a set aside (and predictable) period of time that one was guaranteed by contract. If you had cleared it with your boss or supervisor it didn't matter what happened during the agreed upon time of your vacation, you were not expected to fix it. Ah, who would have thought that one day I would be nostalgic for a "9 to 5" job? I'm not really all that nostalgic for it, but the one element that increasingly gets lost in the life of people involved in the arts (particularly those involved in any kind of executive capacity) is the idea that you can actually a) take the attitude that no matter what happens during your vacation, you're off the hook or b) find a time in which your organization is actually not in any way in need of you. So, during this time of "back to school" which was almost genetically ingrained in me by those two aformentioned educators, I'm often left wondering where the summer went and if it actually has any impact on me any more. I think that most artist reach a point in their lives where they realize that our basic modus operandi is "We work when there's work". And we all hope that there will always be work, and consistent work at that, or otherwise we wouldn't be able to actually support ourselves as artists. And don't even get me started on the idea of retirement. That will be fodder for a later blog, a much, much later blog.

But enough of these philosophical musings. I'm sure you're all just on the edge of your seats wondering what's been happening here at Opera Vivente since the last post. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but if you're reading this, you're probably at least mildly curious. So. . .here's the scoop:

Design work for Alcina is virtually complete at this point. The carpenter has been given his first installment so that he can begin work on the set, the costume designer is in the process of getting measurements for everyone, the lighting designer is pondering options for creating light boxes (BTW as a sidebar you might be interested to know that a big part of being a lighting designer is sitting observing the wonderful world of light. I know a fantastic husband and husband team of lighting and set designer, and the set designer has often remarked that it appears his partner is not working at all until production week. But I digress), and I'm working my thoughts about blocking out in evermore detail. The conductor has already had individual coachings with several of the singers, and the chorus will have its first rehearsal on Monday. Speaking of the chorus, we're still in need of one more soprano, so if you're a soprano reading this and you're interested, send me an email.

The first production meeting for Tobias and the Angel has also taken place. This piece continues to challenge us all to think outside the box so be prepared for many things which you may not have seen at OV before: puppetry, abstract choreography, surreal lighting, self-illuminating fabric, well the list goes on. But more on that in ensuing months.

AND - here's my own personal point of pride at the moment - this morning I finished translating the last musical number of Orpheus in the Underworld. WOOHOO! Now to whip through the dialogue, a task so much easier since dialogue doesn't have a rhyme scheme, a meter, or any of those other annoying things mentioned in my previous post about translation. So things look good for the October 1st deadline that was put in all the singers' contracts.

Finally, singers continue to send in their materials to be considered for an audition. Since my blog about that whole ball of wax, the packets have been complete and professionally appropriate. Behold, the power of the blog! Just kidding, it might just be complete coincidence, but whatever the cause, it's very nice.

So that's about it on the OV front. I hope that all of you are transitioning into the "back to school" mode with a minimum of melancholy and regret. Perhaps a trip to the local 5 and dime (now there's a phrase that certainly dates me) to buy a new notebook, some colored pencils, a fresh tub of paste and a protractor will take the edge off. It always worked for me, but then again, I was kind of a "learning geek". Anyway, I hope this post finds everyone reading it engaged in something energizing, empowering, and enjoyable, and, as always, See you at the opera!

John Bowen

Some Thoughts on the Business of Singing

August 31, 2007 - Since Opera Vivente published its audition dates a few weeks ago, I've been processing audition packets pretty much on a daily basis. The beginning of autumn (yes, I'm afraid we all have to face that summer is on the wane now) also always means a ramping up of my vocal coaching duties as singers seek to prepare and polish their "package" for the onslaught of "audition season". So, in addition to slogging through the last musical numbers of the Orpheus translation (see last post for an in-depth discussion of the joys of translation), I've been thinkin alot about the business (perhaps some would say art) of auditioning, self-marketing, and generally getting hired that is, in short, the business of singing professionally. And it occurred to me that whatever insights I've gained into this process over the past 10 or so years of being a general director might be of interest to singers and non-singers alike. So, here goes.

The Audition Listing - for better or worse this is generally the first step in the process which every singer hopes will lead to them performing a role on opening night. OV, much like other companies, will post its audition information in various sources known to be frequented by singers. OV personally uses our own website, Classical Singer (both website and magazine), the Peabody Placement Bulletin, and new this year YAP Tracker (that's Young Artist Program not a slang for someone's mouth as in "Shut your yap!") and Opera Source (sponsored by Opera America). We strive to give as much information as possible in this listing, but after many years of doing this, I'm convinced that many singers cause themselves (and the companies) a lot of unecessary trouble by not reading the listing carefully enough. So, suggestion number one: read the listings carefully before you start throwing together the things that you think we need. Send all the materials requested together. Many companies will simply trash what is in essence an "incomplete application". Also, make note of where the audition is being held. Many singers assume that all auditions happen in New York, but increasingly companies are having auditions in their own city. OV is an example of this. We only audition in Baltimore. We're happy to hear out of town singers (and regularly do hear and cast out of towners) but they have to come to us for the audition. Location is important because you might decide that traveling to an audition may be prohibitively expensive or more importantly, not worth it to you personally simply for the possibility of being cast. Which leads me to some of my next points.

Repertoire - many companies publish the repertoire for which they are hearing singers. Before applying willy-nilly for an audition, make sure that 1) there is a role appropriate for your voice in the opera(s) that are being cast and that 2) you are at generally the same level of accomplishment and experience as those singers that the company has cast in the past in comparable roles. I remember a number of seasons ago when we did Puccini's Le villi. Now Le villi only has three roles: soprano, tenor, baritone. Be that as it may, I had applications from numerous mezzos saying how interested they would be in singing in Le villi. In addition to being an impossibility, the other unfortunate by-product of this is that I began to wonder about all other facets of this singer. In what other ways would they be caught having "not done their homework" so to speak. The second item is illustrated by the number of young singers with very little or in some cases no stage experience who come to audition and refuse anything except a major role. While OV is certainly not the Met or Chicago Lyric, a quick Google search of the singers who have done big roles for us over the past several seasons will quickly reveal that they all have considerable experience with other companies. The other aspect of this issues is one which many singers don't want to accept but which is in fact a reality. It is often referred to as "paying your dues". I prefer to look at it as "risk management" on the part of the small to mid-sized company. We don't have the luxury of cover contracts or pulling in a last minute replacement so generally we are at first inclined to offer a singer a smaller role in order to see what they are really like. The exceptions to this are 1) the singer is truly extraordinary or a very unusual voice type or 2) they have plenty of companies on their resume that we can call for additional information and references. And speaking of resumes:

The Resume (and to a lesser extent, The Headshot) - I continue to be astonished at the sorry state of many singers' resumes. This document is often the only thing that a company initially has by which to judge you and yet they are often littered with typos, inaccuracies, and, to be charitable, "half-truths". So singers, spend time on your resumes. Make sure that they are updated regularly, because nothing causes more errors than a hastily "revised" resume. Make sure that you run them by several knowledgeable people. By knowledgeable I mean individuals who are familiar with the spelling, punctuation, and capitalization rules for opera titles, character names, and composer's names. Also, make sure that what is on the resume is really the truth. Now the obvious example here is saying that you've done a role that you haven't or worked for a company that you haven't worked for. But there are more subtle "half-truths". I find that they particularly occur in that category that's referred to as "masterclasses" or "other study" or some such title. This is where we often see very famous names appear. Now, if you in fact have had numerous coachings with Marilyn Horne or Leontyne Price, that's great. If I can call up Marilyn Horne and ask her to give me her assessment of your abilities and career potential, even better. But if there's no way that Marilyn Horne or whoever is going to know your name because your only contact was that you sang one aria 10 years ago for a masterclass that she did at your university, then don't put her on the resume. Same with the category of "directors". If you were in the chorus of Il trovatore under the direction of Frank Corsaro 15 years ago, I'm sorry, but you have not "worked with Frank Corsaro", at least not in any way that is meaningful for someone trying to assess your casting pontential. Often, simply thinking about the purpose of a resume will sort these questions out for you. It's really about giving a full and ACCURATE accounting of meaningful artistic training and experience. A word about headshots also: if your friends, family, and co-workers can no longer recognize you in the picture, it's time for a new one.

Application Fees - this divides many people at all levels and so I don't expect to achieve consensus here but for what it's worth here's my advice. If the application fee is roughly equivalent to what it would cost you to hire a pianist to play your audition and the company is providing an accompanist, go for it. You're none the poorer. If the company is not providing an accompanist but the fee is still comparable, I'd still say go for it because the company is probably using your fee to offset any administrative costs that they incur processing your application. If the fee is considerably higher, then beware. It could be that the company is just using auditions as an unofficial "fundraising" activity.

Last point:
The Audition - once you've gotten past the first hurdle and received an audition date and time please be prepared in the following ways:
1) Be comfortable with starting with any of the arias on your repertoire list because you don't always get to choose what your going to sing.
2) Have arias listed on your repertoire list that are pertinent to the repertoire that's being cast. Even if you don't have an aria that is from the same show, you should certainly have something that speaks to the vocal demands of that show. Don't audition for a baroque season with nothing but Puccini. Don't audition for a heavily 19th century season with a lot of Mozart and Handel. If the company also specifies certain obligatory aspects, adhere to them. OV is an all English language company. We therefore need to hear you sing something in English, even if it's a translation.
3) Make sure that all your music is accurately and clearly marked for the accompanist. It's disconcerting when you cut and they don't or vice versa.
4) Make sure that everything on your list is completely polished and comfortable for you. Don't learn an aria at the last minute simply because you want to have something from the show. That doesn't do anyone any favors.

Okay, well that's enough labor for the eve of the Labor Day Weekend. Have a safe and happy one. And then brace yourself for the beginning of THE SEASON! (cue dramatic music). See you at the opera!

John Bowen

Life after Little Patuxent Opera Institute

Thursday, August 2, 2007 - Well this past weekend marked the final performances of the maiden voyage of the Little Patuxent Opera Institute. I have to say that every single one of the participants not only rose to the occasion but exceeded expectations. In the context of what is essentially an academic program, the most important thing is that everyone make progress towards becoming a better singing actor. It's not that everyone gets to a completely polished, ready for the real world ratrace of auditions and callbacks, etc, but rather that each person (no matter how inexperienced they were at the beginning of the process) has gained skills, learned things about themselves, unlocked inhibitions, increased confidence, and progressed towards their goal of becoming professional singers. All the students of LPOI experienced this growth, and I'm very happy and grateful to have been a part of the that growth. I look forward to working with next year's crop of students.

On the OV front, we have now opened sales on individual tickets (as opposed to just season subscriptions), set the dates for the autumn round of auditions for the 2008-09 season, and have begun the first parts of our marketing campaign for our 10th season by securing ad space in the Fall Arts Guide of the Baltimore Sun, the inaugural issue of Opera America's new magazine, and by entering our season into various datelines and databases including the Peabody Magazine, and Operabase.com. In conjunction with this marketing campaign, we've been very fortunate to have secured a Marketing Consultant through the Baltimore Community Foundation in order to maximize the long-range impact of this very significant season in our history. The board and I are very excited about implementing the suggestions of this expert.

The designers for Alcina are hard at work crystallizing and finalizing the initial sketches that they brought to our design meeting a few weeks ago. The schematics for the set will go to the carpenter (Fisher Theatrical) at the end of this week for pricing estimates and hopefully will not require much revision so that construction can begin in plenty of time for our October 6, 2007 load-in date. More on that as details become available.

That's about it for now. I encourage all you opera lovers to get your tickets for Alcina, and all you singers to send in your materials for auditions. It's a very exciting time for Opera Vivente, and we want to share that excitement with as many people as possible. So spread the word and as always - See you at the opera!

John Bowen