I'm in I'm in!!!!!

Today was a good day for me.
I got a message on my phone from kathleen saying that I made it into the Canyon House Workshop. They want me to start by preparing Beth's Aria from Little Women. She said they were impressed with my high notes and ability to learn music quickly. So I'm rather happy today. Apparently they have quite a few sopranos, but I'm the highest. Kinda weird for someone who sang mezzo up to 6 months ago. But I'm totally excited cos I will get some coaching and master classes. I'm going to have to miss the first one cos of my trip to SF, which would be a bummer, but the trip has been planned for a while now and I haven't seen Deb for over a year.
My other piece of good news is that I'm in the chorus for Pagliacci. Kat had received an email from Mary Lou regarding the opera but I didn't; instead I heard about it through Kathleen. I emailed Mary Lou anyway saying I was interested but I thought that it wasn't going to happen. But I got the rehearsal schedule from Mary Lou today! Whoopee! It will be with the newly formed El Dorado Opera, and I believe they intend to cast locally and will be holding auditions for the season in May. It would be a good opportunity for me to check out the company. So 2 opera things that I will be doing from now till the end of May, and then I start rehearsing for La Traviata. It's going to be a real busy couple of months and I'm going to have to budget my time really really well.

Kat's Party

I have known Kat from choir for over a year now, and we chat often during rehearsals. Yesterday she invited me to her boyfriend's birthday party, at a nice little house just south of Hollywood. The people were really nice, very different from the people I normally would hang out with, as they are mostly in the music business. Recording engineers/rockers/cinemetographer etc. It was really neat though, and I was glad I went. It's rare when I am at a party these days and is the only scientist. Perhaps they are as intrigued with me as I am with them. Even banged on an African drum for a few minutes. Had to leave early as I had an audition this morning.

I think the audition went well. Kathleen and her friend Lisa thought I sounded really good, esp at the top. I got a little nervous and I think the rythmn got a little vague at times, but I managed to hit all the notes at least. I didn't sing the piece from Carousel, they decided that the Willow Song was enough. So hopefully I'll get to do this workshop, it will provide me with some much needed coaching. Also found out that I might be able to sing in a production of Il Pagliacci in May. That would be really cool, if I am doing all the opera stuff....Only problem is, all my nights will be taken up and I'll be really really busy.

I'm grateful for good friends. That's all I can say. Recently I have been rather preoccupied, and its good to have people whom I can talk to and who are supportive. Now if only I can find somebody to do my experiments :P

The willow song is turning out great. First time Kathleen felt that she really didn't have any comments....whoo hoo. And the D sounds great (I can't tell with all that vibration in my head, but K says its wonderful). Having a little more trouble with If I Loved You, I have to work on some of the weird vowels and use less effort.

Got all my Lauridsen stuff. Now I have the scores and a CD. Supposed to learn the music before the workshop, but hey, its not till September so plenty of time.

Swan Lake

Eric and I went to see Swan Lake at the Ahmanson last friday. I personally have never seen a ballet before, and this was a version performed by a contemporary dance company, wiht a most unique interpretation of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece. After all, who has seen a male swan before? It was the most interesting, and I couldn't help but be moved in final moments of the show. Eric enjoyed it too, and I think it took his mind off things.

Have to get the things on my "list" taken care of again:

Application for a possible position at Occidental College

Learn and Memorize "Willow Song" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" for the Canyon house auditions on sunday. Willow song has a high D, but I think I can pull it off with some practice. 6 months ago an A flat was causing me great stress, now I'm attempting Ds, whoo hoo!

Experiments, experiments, experiments!

Really need to get back into working out. Am a great big lard ball right now. Even my tops are feeling a little tight around the arms...not a good sign.

Get the details for our San Francisco trip figured out. I know I want to go to the Ferry Building, Exploratorium, Alcatraz, and maybe go visit the bridge. So quite a bit to try to cra into 3 days. Of course, we have to hit Ghiradelli square and the Straits Cafe.

Lauridsen Weekend

After a long indecision process, I finally signed up for the Lauridsen weekend at Asilomar this labor day. We get to sing Lux Aeterna and a couple of other Lauridsen pieces with the composer present to help us with background, interpretation etc. Between Eric and I it was going to cost us $1000, which is a good chunk of change, but I thought, hey, when am I ever going to get a chance to do that again? And I felt that if I didn't do it then I would probably feel a slight twinge regret that I might have been able to do it. I guess I'll just have to live frugally for a while, no clothes shopping that is. Used to spend so much money on clothes, but I don't believe I have bought anything since before Christmas! This must be some kind of a record. For one thing, my closets are about to explode and I certainly have no lack of things to wear. In fact, I am slightly embarassed to say that I still have clothes with tags on. Besides, these days most of my cash goes to music lessons in one form or another, and I guess the Lauridsen weekend can be considered some kind of "musical advancement." My friend Kat is going with her dad, and Barbara will be there too, along with some other chorale members, so I won't be TOTALLY alone. I'm also hoping that I will have a job by then so I will also have more cash to spend :P So I have to work hard on the Oxy application. It's a good job, but I need more details and they are on spring break this week so have to wait I guess. Regardless, I still need a CV, cover letter and teaching statement, so it's not like I don't have anything to do.

Catching up on stuff

Finally finished the job app. Will drop it off tomorrow. Big load off my mind.

Started sending out event alerts for my concert. Now I need to write the extended press release and send that out too. But at least LA Times is done, and they have a 3 week lead time.

May finally have the BAC with the right deletion. Keeping my fingers crossed. Success will result in a paper, so its important that I finally get this to work.

Way behind on the singing and running. Haven't had time to practise for a few days, but it's imperative that I get the other stuff done first.

Rode my bike in to work today. When I left I thought that it might rain, but figured that it probably won't happen (after all, this is LA). Of course, by the time I left it WAS raining, and I got reasonably wet.

All the stuff I had to do meant that I didn't get a chance to watch 24 tonight. Must watch tomorrow.

Booked my San Francisco trip. Will leave 4/7 and return 4/9. Quite excited, as we got a flight/hotel package at the Grand Hyatt hotel. Never stayed at such a fancy place before. And looking forward to seeing Deb, Jill, Terence, Michele and maybe even Mai Thy!