Kathy Geary, Soprano - European Audition Tour 2008

Life on the Opera Road

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:00:00 GMT

I've had about seven auditions for various Opera Agents and have gotten consistenly good responses. I now have three agents who have agreed to represent me, two of them in Munich and one up in Hamburg. It's very gratifying that I have been recognized for my singing. If this leads to work then that's great, but just knowing that I have sung as well as I can is so important for me.

I have an apartment in Vienna, beautiful on the top floor with huge skylights looking up at the stars at night. It's my home away from home as I travel to various cities for auditions.

Today I'm in another Hotel, staying in Cologne for three days. Typically I take the train on my Eurail pass, but this time I flew on Germanwings, very comfy and very fast. It's hard to find spaces to practice singing, except in Munich there was a Violin maker with a fabulous attic space with a huge concert Steinway. I'll probably have to warm up in my room here for tomorrow's audition.

I always start with the same aria, Elizabeth from Tannhauesser "Dich teure Halle" (Wagner), it's exciting and fast. I pick the first one then they ask for the next one. Hopefully they ask for Strauss, "Es gibt ein Reich" from Ariadne auf Naxos, it's my best but very hard for the accompanist and very long, so that's why I don't start with it. I've sung everything on my aria list so far at least once for someone, including "Einsam in trueben tagen" from Lohengrin (Wagner), "Pace, PAce mio Dio" from La forza del destino (Verdi) and "Io son l'umille ancella" from Adriana Lecouveur (Cilea).

I've been to an opera performance in every city where I've stayed and have seen some unusual concepts being done here in Germany. The two most outstanding productions so far were "Faust" at the Wiener Staatsoper with Robert Alagna, however his wife A. Gheorghiu cancelled for the evening I was there. He was charming with a beautiful voice and tons of charisma on stage. The orchestra was breathtakingly good and the chorus was as good as the leads. There was practically and literally no set, no backdrops, just a barebones setting with lighting effects, but great costumes. This seemed to put the music in sharp focus and probably saved them tons of money.

But my favorite so far has been the production of Die Walkuere at the Hamburg Staatsoper. I saw Deborah Polaski for the second time and was very impressed with her Brunnehilde. Also the Wotan, by Falk Struckmann was outstanding, even more so than the James Morris performance I saw two years ago at the MET in NY. The staging was incredible and immediately conveyed the meaning of the drama, even though it was set in a completely comtemporary way, in an apartment, sitting around a kitchen table, or in a ghetto run-down building with peeling paint. The final immolation scene had real flames coming around the stage, very scary and unexpected. The singers gave great performances and the entire cast was a equal ability. Yvonne Naef as Sieglinde, Inszenierung: Claus Guth, Buehnenbild und Kostueme: Christian Schmidt

European Audition Tour

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:00:00 GMT

I'm in the midst of preparations as I write, working with my agent Chris Davis. He's setting up a series of auditions for opera agents in Germany and Austria. Plans are still being finalized and my departure date is in October. I'm preparing arias from Wagner, Strauss and Verdi and I expect to fulfill a specific repertory niche, known as a Fach in the German opera houses, a Dramatischer Sopran, also known as a Spinto Soprano in the Italian.

Performance Ready Repertoire

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:00:00 GMT

I'm working on a fascinating array of music. This summer I have been finishing work on the role of Wagner's Sieglinde, with my voice teacher Carol Kirkpatrick and my coaches Nico Castel and Mitchell Cirker. Act III is the only unknown territory at the moment, but I'm putting it aside briefly to work on another opera. This week I'm looking at Chrysothemis in Strauss' Elektra. I've requested an audition with the One World Symphony for there performance of this opera. The Dirigent, Sung Jin Hong, has specified certain measures he wants to hear. So I have a short time to learn this new music.

Opera Performance - Audio Recordings and Videos

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Take a look at my opera videos from reccent performances of Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera" or Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" and others. I recently posted a video of a Master Class with Carlo Bergonzi on youtube. It has been getting alot of attention and people seem to enjoy seeing this master at work. I was fortunate to have worked with him as a young artist fresh from the university in 1986.