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