Hello, my wonderful vocalistic folk!
Five weeks in Italy was wonderful, for spirit and tongue. I had a nice long vacation and journeyed to many cobblestoned hill towns, drank far too much Brunello, entered into conversations with *everyone* I met, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Singing in Italy, if you're not a "name" famous singer in the big houses, appears to be impossible. The national laws technically allow for it, but it just never happens. Young foreign singers all go to Germany. Oh well.
I went to a handful of performances, both big houses (Milan, Firenze) and little houses (all over the place). Two observations: native Italian speakers sing with *fantastically* good diction and with unbelievably bright voices. The language is so forward that every voice, whether heavy or not, is lilting and bright, bright, bright. Almost piercingly so in opera choruses. The difference in sound quality (not good or bad, but "muted" softness vs. laser-bright forwardness) between Italian and American/English opera choruses is amazing.
Caio, I don't know how you all make yourselves understood -- Portugese is IMPOSSIBLE to understand! It's like a throaty, almost Slavic version of Spanish/French. I could read almost anything, but hearing it pronounced was something else again. So much for thinking that Italian, Spanish, and French can get you through Lisbon without resorting to wild gesticulations and desperate English.
That's a funky Fleming video (http://www.scena.org/videos.html), even if her voice type sounds squally as Butterfly. But, hey -- if it gets people listening to opera who ordinarily wouldn't, I'm all for it. Bocelli, Church -- bring 'em on. It's great to see how many young people (teens and twenties) are making it to the opera in San Francisco, as first-timers, and are liking it (much to their surprise). I first started liking this classical-type stuff via Gilbert and Sullivan when I was 14. If someone had plunked me down and said, "This is Tebaldi, she is greatness," I wouldn't have been very taken with opera; you have to start somewhere more accessible (especially if you're not from a musical family and haven't been exposed to classical music growing up), and if it's G&S or Bocelli or looking at a beautiful blond Cio-Cio-San, more power to them. I think we shouldn't be too critical of singers who generate new enthusiasm for the art form.
Molly... are you hankering for opera roles, or for art song literature? There is stuff a dramatic voice can sing from the beginning. What is in your repertoire right now, and what sorts of things does your voice teacher like/not like teaching (some teachers won't touch bigger stuff, others teach in a "this is how *your* Butterfly sounds right now" kind of way, others will let you blow through anything and hurt yourself... I personally think the middle method is the best for sensible/monitored progress, but the first method certainly won't hurt you).
I find ClassicalSinger's comments very helpful -- there are some programs that are full of disgruntled students' comments, and they tell you exactly why (i.e., Company X promised me a role with orchestra and 5 coachings, and I sang scenes with piano to an audience of ten and received 2 coachings instead). I take the gushing ones with a grain of salt, unless they're very explicit about what they expected and received. But what's the difference between talking to people who have done these programs and reading their comments on a bulletin board? It's very subjective, but so are face-to-face interviews.
I think that's all I'm caught up to thus far... I trust that everything's been well in Peggy's capable hands.
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y...
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