Audition 10 - Munich
Ah, what a relief to finally be done with agent auditions! This was my second-best audition, behind Berlin, so I am convinced that all of my 'practicing' has made me better at this crazy game--not worse! However, they don't have anything for a mezzo right now so I was basically dismissed with a nod and a smile.
For a short update on other auditions, my audition in Braunschweig never materialized because the position was already filled before I got my materials in. It happened really fast because they were look for someone to start immediately.
On Friday I am singing in Coburg, which is an extremely picturesque town in the very northern part of Bavaria. That will be audition number 10 and perhaps my last audition. I am going to try and contact the young artist director one last time in Düsseldorf to see if I can audition there before I leave, but I'm not holding my breath.
Let me tell you, when you are relaxed and confident in an audition and not really worried about the pressure behind what you are actually doing, these darn things can be a fun way to practice performing and seasoning your nerves. I know I'm proud of myself and not at all disappointed at the outcome. I have sung for two young artist programs, 7 agencies, and will sing for one main theatre before my journey is over. Not too shabby, if you ask me!
Yet another audition scheduled...
The opera house in Coburg is looking for a first alto to join the chorus starting as soon as immediately (and as late as when the right singer is available) to fill a vacancy. I received a letter from the director yesterday inviting me to audition on Friday, December 1st. This will be my first audition at an opera house for the big stage, so I am interested to see how it will be. I already know that every woman coming to sing is expected to prepare 'Voi, che sapete.' That means that director will hear that blasted aria as many times as they have women. Mom, does that bring back scary memories for you?? ;) Anyway, we have to also bring two other arias that they will hear as a tie-breaker if there is more than one woman they are interested in. More information coming soon...
Audition 9 - Dresden
This was an audition for the young artist program in Zürich, which is also holding auditions over the next few months in three other cities. This was a really cool situation in general because not only is the opera house gorgeous on the outside, I was given time with an accompanis to check the tempi of ALL my rep, I had a posh warm-up room, and the accompanist actually knew where the auditions were taking place.
The actual audition took place in rehearsal room and thankfully there were no tables for me to stand on. After I sang my first aria, 'Non so piu,' the director asked me to start it again and sing it way faster. He conducted me through the first two pages and then cut me off. He said THAT was the tempo people in Europe used. The accompanist piped up and said it was his fault for playing too slow. Then they wanted to hear a second aria (Smanie) and the other person sitting in the room, a woman, was very busy during the aria. I think she really didn't like me because I saw her shaking her head and she kept leaning over and whispering to the other guy. So, this audition may have been a wash, but I did my best and that's all a girl can do, right?
Audition 8 - Cologne
This audition was fast and furious, meaning I was in and out of the theater in about 40 minutes. I found out that the current mezzo in the young artist program in Cologne is pregnant and won't be able to participate after March 1, 2007. So, what I thought was an audition for next year was actually an emergency audition for this year. But, it was pretty much a comedy of errors all along the way, so who knows what will happen.
There was only one warm-up room available and I was supposed to share it with this girl from Delaware, who was in the room when I arrived. Well, she took up almost 20 minutes in the room because our crazy accompanist wanted to rehearse with us and they took a really long time. That left me less than 10 minutes combined to warm up (well, at least to start warming up) and run through one aria with the accompanist.
Then, we were taken on a wild goose hunt all over the opera house to find where the audition was actually taking place. I should say the clueless accompanist was taking us on a goose chase. When we finally found the audition-rehearsal room where everyone was already waiting for us, the accompanist told me that I should go second so I could slip into the bathroom and warm up. But no deal, the young artist director had a rehearsal to conduct, so I needed to sing first...meaning I didn't get the chance to brush my hair, put on lipstick, change into my audition shoes, or finish warming up. And when I got into the rehearsal room they had jury-rigged this stage-type contraption which was just three tables shoved together, and the committee wanted me to stand on that while I sang. But of course, instead of having a chair or steps or a strapping young lad to help me up, I just had to hoist myself in my cute skirt up onto the 'stage' as gracefully as possible. I think I sang pretty well, but afterward the director walked me out and downstairs (he wasn't interested in Delaware girl bc she is a soprano) and he said I had some vocal things to work out because my voice didn't sound consistent from top to bottom. But, he said he had a few more people to hear and would call me either way before I left the country. Very friendly fellow. Very stupid audition situation.
Dresden
Cougardiva and I spent two very enjoyable days in Dresden and saw lots of wonderful things. The opera house is called the Semperoper after the man who designed it. I would say he deserved the honor, because it is truly a magnificent building! Not only is the building itself beautiful and grand, it sits as the focal point in a big, open square with inlaid stones and really ornate streetlamps. And to the right of this photo is the river Elbe, making this one of the most beautiful and serene places to enjoy opera in all of Europe!
There are a lot of really small details around every corner in an old city like Dresden that are really fun to take in. For example, this person (can you see the face on the left?) seems to be guarding entrance to the building behind him. He and his buddies are sitting at the top of every 6th or 7th spire on a long fence. Beautiful and scary at the same time.
Cougardiva and I were lucky enough to come to Dresden just in time to see the construction of the Christmas market and the world's largets Christmas pyramid! For those of you who haven't seen one in person before, a wooden 'pyramid' consisting of several layers is built with a windmill on top. Each layer has a revolving base on which there are Christmas-themed characters. When you light candles underneath the pyramid, the heat rises and causes the windmill to turn, which in turn makes each scene on every level spin as well! It looks like this pyramid has lots of fun people carved out on each layer.
Here is a view of the entire pyramid! Naturally, this particular model is run by electricity. I wouldn't want to see the candles (torches??) one would need to get that huge windmill to turn. Oh yeah, the whole thing is 24 meters tall and took 7 months of straight work to build. WOW!!
This church has probably one of the most interesting stories in all of Europe. Dresden was the victim of a blanket bomb attack just a few months before the end of WWII. Pretty much every single building in Dresden was hit and it is said that tens of thousands of innocent Germans were killed in an attempt by the Allies to break the Germans into surrendering. This city was also called the Hiroshima of the west, if that helps paint a clearer picture... Well, this Frauenkirche was the victim of those bombs and old pictures show that only one wall was left standing, while hundreds of people in or around the church died. What was even worse is that the communists left the church in a pile of rubble for years and years afterward as a reminder to the citizens of just how bad the Allies were and how good communism was. Anyway, the church was just rebuilt within the last few years and they did a fantastic job. The builders managed to use 90% of the old stones AND, using computer technology, put the right stones back in their rightful place. And the inside is absolutely magnificent.
Cougardiva heard that there is an extremely large collection of pretty, sparkly things to be found in a museum in Dresden called the Grünes Gewölbe and boy was she ever right! We weren't allowed to take pictures, but here I am in front of one of the posters.
This museum basically shows what hoardes of excess wealth that was to be found in Dresden in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The jewel of the collection is actually a jewel--a diamond to be precise. Cougardiva found this bad picture on the internet, but you can get a general sense of this monstrosity. The center of this broach is a 41-carat green diamond. The story is that it is green because it ran into some kind of natural radioactivity when it was being created. AND, it is said that the diamond cost about twice as much as the original construction of the Frauenkirche (picture above)!!! Holy radioactivity, batman! Oh yeah, the 'little' diamond sitting just above the green one is over 6 carats and there are dozens of brilliant-cut diamonds all over this thing. Cougardiva almost embarassed herself by letting her drool smear the glass on the protective case. She caught it just in time... ;)
This crown-clad doorway leads into a beautiful castle called the Zwinger. It now has lots of museums inside, but the outside itself is really a work of art.
This little girl is a typical former east-germany stop-walk figure. She is super cute and even after reunification you can still see her around quite a bit in the formerly occupied cities.
Random Pictures and Stories
Cougardiva and I have some fun pictures we want to share that all have a fun story attached!
Here I am in Mannheim. Our friend Desiree took us to a bakery that makes the famous 'Mannheimer Dreck' cookies. As you can see from what the cookies look like, Dreck can either mean mud or poop. But the story goes, the cookies were invented by a baker in Mannheim after the dude in charge declared people were no longer allowed to smear their mud-poop on the streets anymore because they were getting a new system in the city to dispose of waste. Not only did the baker have a good sense of humor, he sure made a fantastic cookie recipe! It tastes like gingerbread with nuts and chocolate. Mmmmm....
This is a picture of freshly-baked bread from an old-fashioned wheat-grinding windmill just a few miles away from where Cougardiva and I are staying. Helmut and Regina took us there for the afternoon last month and we got to take a tour of the mill and smell all the freshly baked goods. After enjoying a snack, we stopped off at the bakery to get this bread. It was still warm from the wood oven and tasted fantastic!
These are actual gut strings that are on a bass in an old church in Venice. There was a display of old instruments, some dating all the way back to the year 800, and they were all very beautiful. Cougardiva wanted all of her students to be able to see how the instruments looked hundreds of years ago. If these strings are any indication, a lot has changed!
Cougardiva noticed this umbrella hanging in the brush across the tracks from her train platform. She had just finished a rather disappointing audition in Hamburg and was waiting to go home. The wind was blowing really hard and it was raining, but this poor umbrella made her smile and cheered her up.
Cougardiva and her friend Amy noticed this girl on the island of Burano while shopping. She appeared to have let her 3-year-old little sister dress her that morning. But, I have to give her props for her brave-yet-comfortable choice of outfit.
Cougardiva thought her sister would appreciate this laundr-o-mat. There were several washing machines and dryers, chairs, signs, etc. all in the same shade of hot orange. Although it was fairly late at night, I didn't even have to use a flash on my camera because everything was so bright!
Cougardiva noticed this leaf pattern carved on a pew at the cathedral in Cologne. So many things we have seen since coming to Germany have so much beauty and detail that it is hard to capture it all. When we get home we will surely miss all of the beautiful treasures that can be found all around Europe.
Wuppertal
On Sunday afternoon Cougardiva and I decided to spend the day indoors due to the bad weather. However, that didn't mean we wanted to stay at home!! Nope, we decided to go to Wuppertal and ride the Schebebahn, a suspended monorail that runs over the Wupper river for several miles.
Here is a shot of the track itself. At first it looks pretty scary to be hanging over a river, but it actually feels like a slow, safe rollercoaster. When you go around corners, the cars tilt to one side or the other and when they straighten out again the car kind of swings back and forth, but I really liked it. Cougardiva felt a little ill because of it and had to eat some crackers she had in her bag, but she did okay after that.
Here is how the cars actually run along the tracks. I wasn't able to figure out how the tilting around corners worked with this kind of setup, but it seems to work just great.
Ooh, look at it coming towards the station. Just like a flying hotdog!
Whoosh, and there it goes! All in all the full trip from one end of the track to the other took about 90 minutes. It is kind of a big green monster, but as the brochure said, the Schwebebahn is immune to traffic jams (Stau in German) and is very safe and efficient. Maybe I should pass along this information to Mayor Nickels back in Seattle... Hmmm... ;)
Bonn
Cougardiva wanted to visit the city where Beethoven lived the first 22 years of his life--in Bonn! It is only an hour away from Hagen and is a really cute city along the Rhine.
Here is the house where Beethoven was born. I think the specific room is up there on the top floor. Awww, coochie coochie, little Beethoven!!
The house actually was a really interesting museum. There were a lot of portraits, and glass cases with cool memorobilia. For instance, there were four examples of hearing aids that a friend made for Beethoven later in his life when he realized he was going deaf. They were all made of brass and looked VERY uncomfortable. I really wanted to take a picture but we weren't allowed...
Hi there, Beethoven. Wow, your hair, it looks so soft and touchable, maybe if I just put my hand out like this, and, awwww, did you condition this week????
Although Beethoven is most famously known as a resident of Vienna, the people in Bonn have really latched onto him as a tourist attraction. There are even tiles in the ground with his face on them. I guess the tourists can walk around them and take pictures, and the locals can step on him if they are sick of hearing Beethoven's music around every corner...
This is by far the ugliest opera house Cougardiva and I have ever seen. Although it is pleasantly located right smack on the shore of the Rhine River, it is really, really, really ugly. I mean, we even looked for better angles, but this one with the palm trees in front (??) was the best we could do to make it look acceptable...
Cougardiva really liked Bonn because there were crepe stands on every single street corner. The man who made this crepe for her (with a banana and Nutella inside!!) worked like a machine and could simultaneously make two crepes at once. It was really something to behold.
Düsseldorf
Cougardiva and I heard on the weather report that the 16th of November would be one of the warmest on record (and was it ever!!), so we decided a nice trip to Düsseldorf would be fun. This city is only about 40 minutes away from Hagen by train and sits on the Düssel river. Along the river is a really long avenue where you can sit on a bench, go jogging on the running path, or start a fun boat trip. We were already here once for Cougardiva to do an audition, so this seemed like a nice location to revisit.
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein opera house is in Düsseldorf. Cougardiva is still crossing her fingers that they will let her audition there before she goes home, even though they normally don't hear singers until February. The opera house is under construction right now and not really photo-worthy. But, there is a really nice park next to the opera and there are lots of pretty swans that live there. This one was close to the walking path and seemed content to sun himself in the warm November afternoon sun.
The sky was so blue and warm that it reminded us of early summer. Here is a nice contrast of blue sky, leaf-less tree and stone church. This church was very beautiful on the outside, but plain concrete on the inside. Hmmm...
Unfortunately, I didn't take any more pictures of the city yesterday. Cougardiva got fairly distracted by the good shopping and beautiful weather (I think she actually got a bit feverish when she found a second-hand store right in the middle of town!). Our Rough Guide book says that Düsseldorf sold its European soul to the capitalist shopping Gods, or something like that, but we still thought it was a nice town. One surprising thing about Düsseldorf was that people were speaking English all over the place! By the end of the day I noticed almost as many people speaking English as German!
Oh yeah, this is the waffle on a stick that Cougardiva is so crazy about. How could we have left the train station without letting her get one??? ;)
Hannover
Cougardiva read in her super-duper Rough Guide to Germany that Hannover created a really neat way for tourists to enjoy the city. It's called the Read Thread, and it is literally a red line that is painted on the ground that goes all the way through town. you can buy this little guide book for a couple Euros and not only does it have a map and cool explanations of the sights, but the numbers on the ground corresponding to each attraction are painted in the optimum place for a photo opportunity! Cougardiva was sold, so we visited Hannover together on one of the first pretty (and warm!) days in a long time.
This is the Hannover opera house. I don't know if it is because I have already seen so many during our European adventure, but all of these large, grand, beautiful houses of music are starting to make me 1) very jealous of Europeans and 2) very grouchy about the look of Seattle's opera house. Ah well, I guess we have our natural beauties in the northwest...
In the city hall building there are two models of Hannover--one from pre WW2 and one from post WW2. This is the 'pre' model. Boy, everything is really small, even from my perspective!
This former church is now a memorial. From my guide the insides were destroyed during the war, but the outside remained standing. The window holes have wires strung horizontally through them and there are pieces of 'stained glass' that are kind of floating in the windows. It is a really beautiful park.
This is the Hannover city hall building. In the back, there is a really pretty park that has a reflection pond, walking paths and a nice, scenic bridge. I don't think an 8-5 job would be so bad if you could eat your lunch out here every day!
This is the street-side view of the building. Everything looks so grand from far away, but as you get closer and see the details in the construction of the walls, you begin to appreciate the architecture even more.
Cougardiva, really, I've had about enough of this! You may think this is a fun photo opportunity, but if this nice solider hadn't have happened upon me at the last minute, this lion would have eaten me for lunch! Sheesh.
This specific architectural style is something that I haven't seen yet in Germany. There is a photo in this kind of style in my Rough Guide, but I was excited to finally see these types of buildings in person. I think they are around 16th century construction...
Cougardiva really enjoyed Hannover. The people are known to speak the most perfect standard German and she loved being able to understand the city dialect spoken on the street. The city itself is also very friendly, easy to navigate, and has a nice mix of old and new cultures.
True Confessions of a Food Addict
Okay, Gumby put me in charge of writing about my continued gastronomic advenutes in Germany, so I'll do my best to make everyone's mouth water (and when I have my camera back in my possession hopefully I can add some pictures).
Adventure 1 - going to the train station
Hagen's train station has a snack stand underneath the train platforms. When you go into the station tunnel to get to your correct platform the scent of WAFFLES immediately makes you salivate. Well, makes me salivate, anyway. The two ladies who work at the snack stand make waffles on a stick and crepes with your choice of tasty fillings. The waffles on a stick are my favorite, although they also make a mean crepe. You can have powdered sugar, chocolate, or chocolate and nuts on your waffle and they all taste just great. But there is really nothing better than dropping down a mere fifty cents and getting a plain, freshly-baked waffle on a stick before jumping on a train. For those of you interested in the nitty gritty, the waffle machine is actually in the shape of a corndog and you put the stick in the machine as well and the batter cooks right around the stick. Genius!!
Adventure 2 - Amy's farewell dinner in Frankfurt
Amy and I had already sampled Apple wine together, which is a Frankfurt specialty. But on her final night in Frankfurt we added a delicious dinner to that tasty drink. Just a few doors down from her apartment, Amy noticed a really quaint german restaurant that she thought would be fun to try. We sat at a cozy table and were happily surprised to find several traditional options on the menu. For an appetizer we selected 'Handkäse mit Musik', which translated means handcheese with music. Yeah, we didn't know what to expect, either. Turns out it is some kind of semi-hard cheese served with oil, a little vinegar and diced onions. On the side was a slice of homemade bread and butter. The cheese itself was really, um, barn-y and kind of reminded me of my aunt and uncle's dairy farm from when I was a kid. The flavor was pretty much the same, so we piled on the onions, ate the cheese with a lot of bread and slurped down a lot of apple wine as well.
The main course went much better. I ordered Jägerschnitzel with a fresh mushroom sauce and Spätzle. It came with a side salad, but I really didn't see the need to waste any stomach space unnecessarily, since the portions were really large and extremely tasty. We finished off our meal with warm apple strudel, vanilla ice cream and coffee. By this point in the evening the half-liter each of apple wine had caught up with us and we were very happy and excited about pretty much everything, including this absolutely out-of-this-world dessert. Ah, the Germans really know how to satisfy a hungry girl.
Adventure 3 - Every bakery I have visited in the last 6 weeks
You really can't go wrong with stepping into any bakery anywhere in the German-speaking countries and picking up something wonderful. Today for lunch I had a bagel-type roll covered with roasted pumpkin seeds and fresh cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes and spices inside. It was really amazing. The pretzels will make you never ever want to buy those dried-out sticks in plastic bags again. The sweets are fantastic because they aren't too sweet. The cheesecake (Käsekuchen) is really light and not dense, so it's really a refreshing dessert. The cakes (Torte) are frosted with a mousse-like frosting that is always delicate. It is really dangerous to even attempt to walk past a bakery without going in to sample something new.
Adventure 4 - Eating in Venice
Amy and I really did eat our way through Venice. Our big Italian dinner was three courses with pasta, calamari and a salad. I have never in my life tasted calamari that were so tender and delicious. Anyone who has eaten a plate of happy hour calamari that are tough and rubbery will be pleased to know that the real flavor of this meat is almost indescribable. And the gelato in Italy almost makes me want to give up eating any other food. Like the sweets in the German bakeries, each flavor is very delicate and natural and doesn't have a sugary aftertaste. The pistaccio-flavored gelato was particularly good because it really tasted like you were eating the nuts and the texture was creamy and fresh.
Pretty much every meal is an adventure for me. Poor Gumby, it's too bad he has to just watch.
Heidelberg
Cougardiva needs a talking to. We left Hagen for a few days to visit some friends in Mannheim and then do a little sight-seeing and she forgot my camera! Cougardiva was disappointed in herself for forgetting it because she wanted to take pictures of some good food she ate (of course), but I wanted to take pictures of all the great things we have been seeing! But, the weather in Heidelberg was actually pretty terrible, so I just stole a few pictures from the Internet to get my point across...
This is the lovely city of Heidelberg. The city itself is only a 15 minute train ride from Mannheim, so Cougardiva and I set out this morning to check out the castle. Unfortunately for us, the rain, wind and cold made enjoying this beautiful city fairly difficult, but we did climb to the top of this big hill (317 steps--good thing I rode in Cougardiva's purse!) and walked around the castle grounds before it rained too much for us. Heidelberg isn't just this castle and old section, though. The old and new parts of town have merged together quite nicely. When arriving in the train station you would never think that this castle is just a couple miles away. But, that's what makes European cities so exciting!
The interesting thing about this castle is the fact that it was heavily damaged in world war 2 and you can actually see where large chunks of the castle are missing. It is a powerful reminder what the real consequences of war are to everyone in the world.
After we visited the castle, Cougardiva and I spent the rest of the day wandering around the old city to do some shopping and find some yummy snacks to eat. Of course, Cougardiva can write about all that herself, it's way too boring for me to waste my time with.
Next I think we are going to Worms and maybe Speyer. Those are two old cities that also have beautiful architecture, cathedrals, and yes, good food...
New auditions
I was invited to sing for two young artist programs before I head back to the US. One program is located in Zürich, Switzerland and I will be auditioning on November 22nd in Dresden. The other is located in Cologne (Köln) and I am pretty sure my audition is on November 21st. Then, if I get this audition in Braunschweig that should be happening sooner than later. And, there is also a possibility that I can sing for a young artist program in Düsseldorf. Added to that the last agent audition in Munich on November 27th and I still have a fairly full audition schedule. So, add these dates to your calendars and please continue to press your thumbs, I know all of the words of encouragement and positive thoughts have helped me a lot!
A new attitude and Audition 7 - Berlin
After my particularly disappointing audition in Cologne on Monday I realized that a change in my attitude was necesary in order for me to survive further auditions for agents in Germany. These auditions really take a toll on your mind and I think I'm starting to realize how that can affect my singing, even though I'm not normally a nervous or anxious singer.
First, there is the duration and logistical difficulty of navigating around a new city. Normally on the day of an audition I take the bus to the train station (25 minutes), take a train to the city where my audition is (1-6 hours), and then need to find a map or tourist office to pinpoint the exact location of the building. Then it's off to navigate buses, streetcars or taking a long walk to find where I need to be (30-50 minutes). After finding the audition location, registration normally includes filling out a piece of paper with your singing history and some personal information. After that you are left to sit in a waiting room with other singers until the agents come and call your name.
In the waiting room you can hear the auditions themselves, which can sometimes be entertaining, but it's usually distracting. What is also distracting are the other singers in the waiting room. At any time there are between 5 and 10 other singers in the room waiting with me. A lot of them are nervous types who stalk around the room like caged animals, alternately slurping out of their water bottles and digging through their bags for cough drops. Some even decide to do a bit of singing under their breath in the waiting room, which is especially distracting. And usually you have to wait for about an hour before you can go in to sing, which is an eternity to be subjected to other crazy opera singers, if you ask me...
So, after Monday's audition, where I had to wait in a particularly difficult room with some particularly crazy singers, I later realized that by the time I went in to sing, I was totally exhausted from the waiting and anticipation, but also from absorbing all the craziness around me.
So, yesterday when I went to Berlin I stuffed my bag full of things to do. I brought books, knitting, snacks, and music. And after the four-hour train ride and 40-minute tram ride to the audition site, I had to wait TWO HOURS to sing. But as soon as I was deposited in the waiting room, I put on my walkman, turned on some Destiny's Child, and began to knit. I must have really zoned out because I hardly noticed the wait, or the other singers around me. Due to my late registration I was the very last singer to go into the audition that day and they were all very apologetic for the long wait. But I have to say that since my mental game was in order, I sang the best I've ever sang since arriving in Germany.
And the result was great. The agents said that I had a beautiful timbre to my voice and they really liked listening to me sing. The chorus agent asked if I would be interested in auditioning for an immediate opening in Braunschweig and I said yes. They told me it would be a great opportunity to get to stay in Germany, find some steady work, and then continue to practice so they could eventually find me work as a soloist. Wow. It was really music to my ears. Finally, on my seventh audition the agents liked my voice.
Venice, Murano and Burano
Cougardiva and her friend Amy decided to take the night train to Venice for a weekend getaway. Boy, was it beautiful there!
This tower was one of many buildings that seemed to be tilting precariously to one side. I had heard that Venice was slowly sinking, and it appears that some towers are going down faster than others...
This is the view from the top of the clock tower in the plaza of Saint Mark's catheral. The hotel where we stayed was just on the other side of this big addition to the cathedral. Not too shabby!
This is the roof of San Marco and another view of Venice from the sky. Isn't it amazing that from so high you can't see the canals at all?
When I looked down on the long plaza in front of San Marco, I noticed that it was under water! Apparently this is the time of year when flooding is fairly common. Good thing Cougardiva and Amy had waterproof shoes on. I rode in Cougardiva's purse to keep dry.
Wow, what a beautiful view. The sunny weather and clear skies let me see for miles!
Cougardiva, are you SURE this bell won't ring? I could have sworn it was close to 11, which means 11 dings... ouch.
Ah, the infamous Venitian gondola. We heard some very interesting singing outside of our hotel window on our first afternoon. It turns out the canal in front of our room is a popular route for gondoleers and we awoke from our nap (sleeping on a train does not lend itself well to a full night's rest) to the sound of an accordian and some fairly rough singing. But it was jolly!
The island of Murano sells beautiful, hand-made glass. It is about a 15-minute boat ride from Venice and is a sweet, smaller version of Venice. Even the canals and bridges are cute and small. Cougardiva and Amy had a hard time leaving this island because there was so much good shopping to be found. And gelato. I swear, those girls ate more gelato than I've ever seen two skinny girls eat in 48 hours!!!
The even smaller island of Burano is a long boat ride from Venice. It took about an hour to get here, but was definitely worth the trip. Burano sells fine linens and is famous for its brightly-colored buildings. Cougardiva and Amy were enchanted with this little island. It was so small, quaint, quiet and comfortable. They spent about two hours just eating lunch there. Actually, they spent most of their time in Venice eating. Apparently the pasta, seafood and gelato are very very good. I just stuck to taking pictures.
If I could have only found a boat my size, I think the canals of Burano would have suited me just fine. With everything so quietly situated, I think I could have made my way as a gondoleer!
The sunset from the island of Murano was absolutely breathtaking. There was no way to really capture the colors and textures in the sky merely with a camera.
The night that Cougardiva and I needed to leave Venice, we happened upon a sleepy street where we heard the most beautiful singing. It turns out that a performance of Madame Butterfly had just started and this window here appeared to be right next to the stage. The sound was so clear and beautiful that we stood under the window for the entire first act! What a treat-- to hear beautiful Italian opera in the most beautiful Italian city!
Audition 6 - Cologne
This process seems to be like a very long game of pass the buck. The private agents tell me to sing for ZBF, and then the ZBF agents tell me varying stories that all mean the same thing--thanks but no thanks.
When I sang today for the ZBF agency in Cologne, the agents only wanted to hear one aria. One of the agents in the room had already heard me in Hamburg last week, so I'm assuming he told his colleagues here in Cologne everything we discussed last week. But, instead of giving me a regurgitated version of why I am a soprano instead of a mezzo, this particular group of agents decided to reject me by telling me why being an American in Germany for a short time really ruined my chances for getting a job regardless of what my voice sounds like.
First of all, the ZBF offices are funded by the state. The agents told me that due to various taxes they have to pay to the government, their priority when choosing singers was to give priority first to Germans, then to members of the EU, and then finally to foreigners outside the EU. The agent elected to do most of the talking told me that unless an American singer had a really unusually beautiful voice and talent, they would choose a German or EU member over me.
Second, they said that my being in Germany only until the 11th of December was a problem. She said that I came to Germany way too early and should be staying through at least February if I had real intentions of finding a job here. She said that coming anytime before the end of October was really unnecessary and most auditions would happen way after I had gone home.
Finally, she said I had a naturally large voice which to her didn't seemed settled into a voice category yet. Here she gestured to the agent who had already heard me in Hamburg and then she said that she agreed with what they said about my voice in Hamburg.
So, after waiting for over an hour to sing my three-minute aria, I was sent away with a gentle pat on the bum and a smile.
I got a cold during a week-long trip through Austria and Switzerland and I'm still getting over it. Maybe this is just making me extra sensitive, but after being told 6 different times and 6 different ways that I'm not what these people are looking for, a part of me wants to give up and just crawl under the covers. But, I have an audition tomorrow in Berlin before I can do that. But let me tell you, the comforters here in Germany are absolute heaven, so tomorrow night I plan on sleeping until at least noon the next day...
Ah, the food along the way
When Cougardiva and I were in Salzburg we had to have a Mozartkugeln. It is a hand-dipped chocolate treat with marzipan in the middle. There was a display of how they were made in a shop window. Boy are they tasty!!
In Vienna Cougardiva had a really nice piece of rum cake that was practically DRIPPING it was so saturated. The pink icing tasted good as well, but it took both of us PLUS our friend Kevin to finish it all. Mmmm...
In Switzerland a typical sausage is called cervela and you eat it with dijon mustard and a crusty piece of bread. Sitting by lake Zürich in the sun and eating sausage with her friend Simone made Cougardiva one of the happiest girls in Europe.
Definitely her most exciting gastronomic experience thus far in Europe, Cougardiva had cheese fondue with her friends Simone and Matthias. First, they went to the cheese store and the lady helped them pick out the perfect mix of cheeses to put in their fondue.
After she ground it up, we took it home and put it in the fondue pot with cornstarch, white wine and some spices.
When it was all ready we served it with slices of fresh bread, pickles, pickled onions, black tea and homemade cherry schnapps. The tea and the schnapps help counter the effects of putting over a half a pound of melted cheese in your belly!!
The three of us were troopers, though, and made it all the way to the bottom of the pot. When you get to the end and see the cow, you know you've accomplished something!
At the top of Mount Pilatus they serve mountain man food at the restaurant. This particular dish is a pile of hashbrowns covered with two large pieces of ham. Then, a bunch of tasty cheese is melted with a top and a fried egg sits over everything as a garnish. Living on a lonely, cold Alp wouldn't be so bad if you got to eat piles of tasty food like this every day!!!
Third stop--Switzerland!
Cougardiva and her friend Simone visited the opera house the morning after we arrived so Cougardiva could drop off an application for their young artist program. This opera house is one of the most famous in Europe because of all the great artists they have there.
The window shopping in Zürich is some of the best in the world. Cougardiva and Simone thought it was especially creative of the cigar shop in Zürich to use cigars as the heels on ladies shoes to sell their product.
Cougardiva almost fainted a little when she encountered the jewelry stores on the Bahnhofstrasse. Bahnhofstrasse means train street, or the street that leads directly away from the train station. This particular street in Zürich has some of the most expensive stores in the entire world.
No, this is not fake. I think it was a 9 carat diamond or something like that. Really almost goulishly large. Cougardiva had to take a rest at this point because she got a little overheated. Poor girl, she is really a raccoon at heart...
The next day Cougardiva, Simone and Matthias took a trip to Luzerne where you can travel to the top of a nearby mountain via an electric train. Mount Pilatus is very steep and at some places the train had a 48% grade! It made me a little nervous, but Cougardiva held my hand the whole way.
Here is one of the train cars ahead of ours about to go into a tunnel. Boy, look at how high we are...
When the train arrived at the top of the mountain we were able to hike even further to get a full view of the area. Here are the two hotels and restaurants located at the top of the mountain. Boy did they have yummy food there for lunch!!!
There were real alphorn players outside of the restaurant where we ate. At one point when we were at the top of the mountain looking down, there were two playing at once and the sound carrying over the hills was magical. The sound of an alphorn is really like on a Riccola commercial, but practically like a muted french horn. It's probably also extremely difficult to play, especially at the top of the mountain where it was windy and EXTREMELY cold.
When we got down off the mountain there was a model of how the train was able to climb up the mountain using a cog and sprocket system. The man who created this design lived many years ago and the train has been going up that mountain for well over 100 years. Wow!
This is a view from the very top. You can see Luzerne behind me in the photo. The view was so clear we could see Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany and maybe even a little of Italy. WOW!!
When we got back to Luzerne, we took a visit to the dying Lion monument. This monument symbolizes the Swiss who lost their lives fighting with France. The poor lion looked so sad that I thought holding his hand would make him feel better...
