a third piece…

Berlin 3 – entry 2

So, I got in very late.  Or very early, depending on how you look at it.  I woke up at 8 to the sound of construction in the courtyard.  I really didn’t feel like doing this audition.  It was raining and cold, my hair didn’t want to agree with me, I was exhausted, and (had I mentioned this yet?) feeling beat down.  But I did it – I went.  I scanned the email (in German) before I left, noting that the audition room was not the same place as the office, but close.  And that there was no warm-up room.  Other than that I didn’t translate everything – I pulled the address and time, the cost, and had a cursory glance at the subway map to determine how far I had to go.  I warmed up a little – it was feeling ok.  Not great, but ok.  I didn’t sing all my pieces like I had for previous auditions; I didn’t obsess about this or that phrase, this or that note.  I didn’t obsess over anything, really.

I get to the address listed as the audition room and from the street I can see a man through a window singing.  This looked like the right place…but surely there has to be another door?  I walk around the building, up and down the block a bit – I even get someone to let me into the courtyard behind it.  Nope – that was the door.  So I went back out into the rain (as opposed to under the overhang or in the courtyard) and peered back through the window again.  He’s still singing.  I watch until he’s obviously done and then timidly knock.  A lovely gentleman came to the door and asked if I was there for the audition, I said yes.  He asked my name and a voice from inside the room said something I couldn’t hear…He opened the door wider and allowed me in.

Apparently I should have read that email more carefully….the singers were gathering in the office a couple doors down and then sent here for the audition proper.  Oops.  I missed my paperwork and a chance to settle…There was only one room for the audition with a curtain partition.  I was placed behind the partition until the gentleman was done singing.  I changed my clothes back there (I don’t travel on the subway in my heels and skirt), touched up my lipstick (without a mirror) and tried to compose myself.  No recovering from that!  Between my misgivings in the first place, my shaky health, my exhaustion, and now an error as egregious as that (interrupting another person’s audition because I didn’t translate completely??)  I can kiss this last audition goodbye.

They were very friendly and since I had nothing to lose, nothing to prove I struck up a conversation with them.  We used about half English and half German.  They looked at my resume and commented on Ernestina Money. I laughed and said “While she didn’t require a great deal of finesse, she was quite fun!”  Then they asked if I could sing Climb Every Mountain instead…I wasn’t sure if they were joking or not…so I said “ummm, if I had the notes here I suppose I could…do you want me to try it acapella?”  They laughed and said no – it was just that they really liked that kind of music.  I said that I did as well, and went on to elaborate that Dr Scott had also been fun, and that I solo with a Gospel Choir.  I then continued even more saying that I had been advised to take those things off my resume because it showed me as unfocused, but that it was all part of my experience and growth as a musician.  And that I loved all kinds of singing and theater – it was just that I seemed best suited to opera.

So I started with Dalila and they were unimpressed.  I could tell by the shifting of papers, etc….but the last note made the woman in the middle look up.  There was a new flurry of papers and whispering and they agreed to ask me for Eboli.

I believed all was lost – I might as well have fun, right?  I actually said that to the accompanist!  Not the “all is lost” part, but “let’s have some fun with this one!”.  And I did.  No, every phrase wasn’t where I wanted it to be.  Every note wasn’t shimmering and golden.  But it was fun.  I was a little sharp at the end, but not terribly.  It felt kind of good!

More whispering.  More paper shuffling.  Then the question “Would you like a minute before you sing Ortrud for us?”

A third piece.

For those of you not familiar with the process, a third piece is a good sign.  It conveys a measure of hope on their part.  Yes, I would like a minute!  I had my swig of water (that was more for the psychological effect than the physical!) and came back.  Somehow we were talking about musical theater again and I expressed that Mrs. Lovett was a dream role for me – that I could knock that role out of the park.  They laughed and said “Well, Ortrud and Mrs. Lovett are really quite the same.  You could even wear the same costume!”  Without thinking I sang a little bit of “Worst Pies in London” for the rhythm, stamping on bugs.  If I had thought about it, I probably would have deemed that inappropriate.  I was, after all, at an opera audition.  MY opera audition! So I composed myself, even laughing and saying out loud “I should be finding Ortrud, not Mrs. Lovett.  Give me a minute”.  I put my head down, looked up, and sang the hell out of Ortrud.

The accompanist fairly gushed about how easy it was to make music with me, and how fun it was.  The man who had led me into the room came forward quickly to shake my hand and thank me, telling me it was really quite lovely.  And then the agent herself talked to me.  Elke Wiemer.  I like her.  I really like her.  She reminds me of Sharon Sweet and Jennifer Trost combined, but with a giddy school girl quality.  I half expected her to clasp me in an energetic hug!  She wore beautiful moonstone jewelry – a matching set.   She took me.  She asked me to call her the next day to talk.

I was *flying*.  I actually called Melissa!!  (It’s very expensive).  The farther I got from it, the more unsure I was that she really took me, so I crafted a careful email to my family and closest mentors being cautiously optimistic.  The next day I called Fr. Wiemer and she confirmed what I thought – I have an agent!   We talked at length about my audition, about my voice – what she liked about it (a bright pleasant quality with a natural dramatic depth), and what she thought didn’t work for me (Dalila here is usually sung by someone with a deeper instrument – more of an Alt).  She called my Eboli and Ortrud exciting and said that she thought I had the potential for a career in Germany!  However, she doesn’t know of any openings right now for my fach.  Bummer!  But she is going to look and listen, and wanted to know if I could come back in the spring.  We also talked about my picture a bit – she said “You are much more beautiful in person than your picture shows” and “It makes you look heavier than you are.”  I didn’t mention that I am heavier in that picture…

So there you have it!  I have an agent!  Now what?  I don’t know.  I binged and had lunch out with friends the next day, even going to a different restaurant for dessert!  Then I wandered around Berlin for a while (Kreuzberg) and decided that it isn’t that bad.  Cold?  Yes.  Gray?  Yes.  Schmutzig? Klar.  But really not so bad.  The shops were really cute!! I bought myself a ring.  Ok – I bought myself *2* rings.  But I haggled their prices so it was like buying just the one!  And that was my binge.

I’m currently on the train from Berlin home.  I’m still tired, and the buoy of my success is sinking.  I miss home.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving…I was supposed to visit with friends tonight, but that got canceled (My sore throat is really bad today – my uvula is swollen and actually getting in the way of swallowing).  Tomorrow I have no plans…I should have nursed my American contacts more.  I thought I was doing a good thing by assimilating – my German is certainly better for it! – but it means that I am alone for my favorite holiday.  I’m teary on the train thinking about it…

*sigh

Anyway.  I miss you all and love you all.  I appreciate any prayers and energy you send – I could use it.  I’m delighted to have representation, but I’m still so tired.  Thank God Melissa comes next week.

So bis später…

<3

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