Auditions, Performances, and Glamour

Within the past few days I was told I won an audition for the Atlantic Coast Opera Festival and that they are interested in hiring me to cover Rodolfo in their production of La Boheme for this July in Philadelphia. I am excited and honored by this opportunity, but it presents some interesting problems. First, I will soon be starting some part-time employment in the Philadelphia region to earn extra money for my next trip to Europe this fall (I leave September 3rd and am there until almost November).

As part of this next trip, I will be visiting the U.K., Switzerland, and spending a great deal of time in France for yet another round of auditions. While this trip will likely turn up some new job opportunities for me long term in the future, it also means in the short term, I am stuck laying out the cash for this trip and most of the traveling expenses. Not a cheap endeavor. Luckily, my wife will be doing research in Paris for the whole fall and I will be able to use her apartment as a home base.

The next problem this Festival in Philadelphia presents is that I just found out today the Chicago Lyric has invited me to audition for their Young Artist program on July 11th in Chicago. Many amazing singers have come out of this program and to even be extended an invitation is truly an honor. As it stands, I plan on offering selections from: The Turn of the Screw (Britten), La fille du regiment (Donizetti), Beatrice et Benedict (Berlioz), the Magic Flute (Mozart), and L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti).

I am hoping to sing much better for them than the last time I sang. Last time, I was woefully inexperienced, much younger, and should not have even attempted to sing for them. Alas, it was a great learning to see how far I really needed to go. I can truthfully state, that I feel I am ready for anything they could possibly ask me to do.

I believe that regardless of whatever happens on the stage, I can now adjust to make anything work. I also feel that performing for me is no longer about 'singing' and being a 'singer', but about intent, intention, and artistry. I believe this is what separates greatness from everyone else. This separation is my defining goal for every practice session I have and also each performance. I think the only way for me to truly sell the audience on my performance is by treating each character I sing as a part of me and striving towards reaching my own feelings and intentions for each thing I sing. In this honesty of my own feelings, there and only there can I be truthful, and thus convincing to the audience as an actor and artist.

Speaking of acting, I had a photo shoot today with my great photographer, Alessandro Valente. He shot close to 500 shots of me in varied locations and these will be used for my new headshots. We are also planning a city scene shot at dusk with traffic passing behind me in slow motion as a sort of alternative head shot. He is a brilliant photographer and I look forward to seeing the proofs. I will put up several of these shots on this website, once he tweeks them a bit to bring out my more positive aspects as a person photographed. I thank the heavens every day for photographers being able to touch up images, because it is not every day that it is possible to not have some small thing wrong (even if it is just some dark spots under the eyes or something). I highly recommend him to anyone in the Baltimore/DC area, as I have never been disappointed.

Chris