You cannot come in our house!

So, it's been quite interesting the past few days.  I sang in our performance last night in Civittavecchia.  It was amazing, we sung in an archeological sight/park thing.  It was absolutely beautiful.  It went very well too!  The tempos were very different because we have a new conductor and orchestra, but he was easier to follow than our own conductor.  So I sang very well last night.  I also got up the nerve and talked to a cute italian boy :)  He actually speaks pretty good english too, got his e-mail too.  Mainly so he can send me some of the pictures he took.  But he's very cute.  Last night was just a lot of fun in general.  I talked to a lot of people and am getting to know a lot of people a lot better than I originally did.  The show ended around 1, so we were on the road around 1:15 and got home about 2:30.  I finished my stephen king book.  It was sooooo good.  It gave me nightmares the first few weeks I was here.  But not anymore.  It was good.

So this morning, we got woken up around 8 am.  I thought it was the girls next door asking about going to the beach...until I heard a man speaking Italian.  So I jumped up and just sat there listening trying to understand what he was saying.  He was saying something about how he needed to fix our bathroom and he had to do it today.  So we finally woke up our Italian roommate and she basically fought with the guy and shut the door in his face.  She called Claudio to ask him what we should do and he said not to open the door because these people didn't tell us they were coming.  So we bolted the door and fell back asleep.  All of a sudden we hear his voice again and then he starts to bang on our door and then he tried to open our door with the keys he had.  But since we had bolted the door he couldn't get in.  Then everyone wakes up and one of my other flatmates come over and tells us the cops are downstairs just waiting by the front door.  So we just stayed in the house until we saw them leave.  It was so strange.  

Tomorrow Antanas, Paul and I are going back to Rome.  We are going to go into the vatican and I have to buy a few more presents for people.  So that should be fun.  Then on friday everyone is taking a bus to campobasso which is 4 hours away because we have 3 shows there, friday night, saturday night and sunday night.  And possibly another show on the 11th.  And then I come home 2 days later on the 13th! woo

7 days :)

Do you ever take in the sun?

Sorry I haven't updated in a week.  It's been a crazy one.

Friday- It was opening night.  Everything went absolutely perfect.  I remembered all the right pitches and almost all the right words.  I was so proud of myself for just holding it all together, because this whole trip was totally worth all the pain and unhappiness I had to go through.  I got to be in the opening night of a full opera production, in ITALY!  Apparantly the show was broadcast on live television over here, and we also got an excellent review in the paper the next day.  AND there were two agents there!! I'm so proud and happy.

Saturday- This was the second show night.  It went just as well as opening night, the baby spirits were fabulous.  They are just adorable in every way.  LOVE THEM.  

Sunday- Final show.  My roommate was the Queen for the second night in a row, and she was still fabulous.  But overall sunday night was the worst night out of all of them.  They put all the weaker people in the sunday show.  So it was kind of awful to watch, I felt bad for all the people that were up there.  But it's over.  And pretty much everyone that is not touring has already left.  It's really quiet now.  Sunday night was our cast party which was interesting.  A group of 6 of us found a secret room that no one knew about.  So we hid and drank in there while everyone else got stupid and drunk upstairs.  It was a lot of fun, but then people started to find out about our room.  So it got stupid real fast.  Antanas walked me home around 3:30.  Oh, and there was also a dead cat on the sidewalk that my friend Matt stepped on.  It was gross.

Monday- We got up and decided to go to the lake.  So we travelled to Bracciano, and went to the lake, which was gorgeous.  The sand is black there.  It was so cool.  It was really nice to go swimming too.  I unfortunately didn't drink enough water at all, and had been laying in the sun too long, so I felt really sick by the time we left.  Antanas and I went home early to go to dinner for Jeff's last night.  It was fun, we went to a new restaurant, I didn't like my dinner, but it was fun none the less.  After I offered to help Jeff bring his bags from his villa to the hotel so he could spend the night.  It was a rough night cause he was my favorite guy there and now he's gone.  And I had to say goodbye to Karly too.  It was a sad night.

Tuesday- I pretty much just spent the day at the hotel on the computer not updating this :)  Then Antanas and I met up with Andrea for her goodbye dinner.  That was a lot of fun, but I was still sad about my grandfather.  So it was bittersweet I guess you could say?  I stayed the night with Antanas at the hotel because we were getting up really early to go to Sienna.  Except he snores wicked loud and I couldn't sleep, I kept slapping him to make him stop but it didn't work.  So I got 3 hours of sleep.

Wednesday- We went to Sienna for the day.  I was pretty grumpy but it was still fun.  We went to Il Campo which is huge.  They hold horse races there.  We also went to Il Duomo and went inside.  It was gorgeous.  I lit a candle for Boompa and felt so much better than I had the past 24 hours.  We also went to St. Catherine's church and I saw her preserved face and nasty gross fore finger.  

Thursday- Woke up around 11:30 to find out I had to be on a bus at 1.  Then I hear our crazy landlord screaming her head off about something, just like everyday.  All of a sudden one of my apartment mates yells at her to shut the F up.  So my friend from the next apartment comes over to see what's going on, and as she's leaving she tells us a man is running up our stairs.  It was the landlords son.  So Sophia slams the door just in time.  He starts kicking our door, knocking wood off the door all over the floor.  So it comes time for me to leave to catch the bus and I am terrified to leave.  So I open the door a crack, didn't see him.  So I took off my noisy flip flops and ran down all the flights of stairs as fast as I could so he wouldn't come after me.  We took a bus to Frascati where the opening night of the tour was.  I got to be in the opening cast again! :)  It was a good 2 1/2 hour drive to this place.  So while I'm getting my make up done, the make up woman asks me in very broken engligh "Do you ever take in the sun?" meaning why are so unbelievably pale.  So I laughed and quietly said Si, I take in tiny amounts of sun.  The show went ok.  The space we were in was horrible, you couldn't hear anything, but apparantly I could be heard.  The show started at 9:30 and didn't end until 1.  The maestro took all the tempos so insanely slow, I wanted to cry.  We didn't get home until 4.  It was horrible.

So there you go.  That is my crazy week.  I can't wait to come home and see my family.  I love you all.  12 days!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D

Blue Cast :)

So I don't have a lot of time to blog cause the computer is not plugged in and going to die.  Sorry mom :).  But, I found out that I am in the blue cast, which is opening night cast :):):):).  I learned this part in 2 weeks and I'm in opening night.  I am so happy.  There's going to be soooo much media coverage there and scouts.  It will be insane.  I am sorry for all my previous complaining.  I am having a great time, I'm meeting a lot of wonderful singers and teachers.  I just felt like I was working so hard for no reason, no one seemed to notice.  But man was I wrong.  They noticed and put in the opening cast.  So, I feel like it was all worth it.  Plus I know two of the three spirit parts.  Andrea joked that I should go learn the third part just in case.  She also says I will probably sing Pamina some day :)

I just had a really great lesson with a teacher from Longy(sp?) School of Music in Boston.  She was fabulous.  She told me there was nothing she wanted to change or fix.  She said I have a natural voice and have been trained well.  But I have to go.  Love you all!! See you in roughly 20 days!!

Congratulations on a great throw!

So on sunday I went to Rome. Absolutely gorgeous. It was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip. It was just Antanas and myself, we left at about 7:30 in the morning to catch the train. We caught the train around 8 and it took a little over two hours to get there. So we got to Rome around 10:15. The first place we went to was St. Peters Square, it was amazing. It was huge! I took sooo many pictures, there were a lot of people there as well. We hung around for a bit because we decided not to go inside because the line was huge and it would take 3 hours to get into the basilica. So we just walked around. We next went to a tomb that I forget the name of, Antan wanted to go to it. We walked up and down an outside fair thing, and I bought a wicked pretty necklace made from venetian glass and a roma bag to carry my music and what not in it. Our next stop was the pantheon. But we got sidetracked and went to wrong piazza, but we decided to eat lunch in the piazza. I got a sandwhich I did not care for and didn't finish. So I tried to hide it under the napkin on my plate. We finally made our way to the pantheon and it was extremely crowded. The line was equally long as the one to get into the basilica. So we didn't get to go inside there either. But we found our first McDonalds which is just across from the panteon. Our next stop was the Trevi fountain which was huge!!!! It was gorgeous too. The fountain doesn't use a pump either, it's natural water from the mountains. For good luck you throw a coin in over your shoulder. After I threw my coin in, a little old italian lady came over and congratulated me on my throw. This place also had a ton of people, but Antan and I just sat there for a while, people watching and taking pictures. We next found our way to the Piazza di Spagna which obviously contain the Spanish Steps. Also covered with people. So Antan and I played Where's Meghan, instead of Where's Waldo. I ran off while he wasn't looking and then he took a picture and you have to find me in the picture. :) But we also took a normal one of me just standing on them. Our last stop was the Colosseum and it was my favorite place of all. It is absolutely beautiful. We couldn't go inside here either because the line was too long. But we walked around the whole thing and took pictures and then just sat down and hung out for a while. We finally found our way back to the Rome Termini to catch our train back home.

Monday was boring obviously, because all the spirits do in rehearsal is sit around and wait. But we have 3 of our 4 songs staged, and I have 3 of the 4 songs memorized already :). And it only took about a week! I just need to keep on going through them in my head, and I'll be fine. The show goes up next weekend. Part of my hopes to be in the opening night show, and part of me doesn't want to deal with that pressure or stress.

The rest of the week has gone the same, except for an unpleasant surprise. We have fleas in our apartment, and my legs and arms are covered in flea bites. It's absolutely disgusting. I counted 70 on my lower legs and feet a few nights ago, I didn't even count the ones on my thighs, arms or hands. Soooo needless to say I'm very itchy and unhappy. I miss home, I'm wicked stressed about the show and learning my part and I just want to come home. Or should I say, I'm definitely ready to come home. I've had my fun in Rome, I'm all set.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

The Italian James Dean

This week has been absolutely crazy. I've had rehearsal all day, everyday. Rehearsals have been going well, we finished staging Act 1. I believe we are starting Act 2 on Monday. I have a lot more songs in the second act, so it should be more fun. Learning the new part has proven to be very stressful, because I know only have 2 more weeks until the show goes up. But I have 4 songs and already have 2 1/2 memorized already. So I guess I'm doing ok.

Other than rehearsal this week, I have not done that much. I've called my parents a few times and tried calling cori a few times, because I don't have anyone else's number memorized haha. I sang in a midnight concert on wednesday, it went very well. My roommate dressed me all up, she did my hair and make-up and said she wanted me to feel like a diva :). I got a lot of compliments on my piece and that I looked very nice in my gown. So it was awesome. The other nights I just kind of hung out at the apartment with my roommate and watched Sex and the City. We actually had dinner with our neighbors and the boy upstairs a few nights ago, it was a lot of fun. I'm finally relaxing and coming out of my shell and making friends. A boy asked me out to lunch today too, sadly he's American, not Italian. Actually he's hispanic, but from the U.S. He was nice and has an amazing voice.

Last night I went out to Montefiascone to a concert there. It was nice, one girl sang a gorgeous piece that Andrea wants me to learn for my senior recital. It's hard but beautiful. So we'll see. I also went to another midnight concert last night. It was alright, I stayed long enough to watch one of my roommates sing and then my friend Cathleen and I walked back to the apartment and just hung out. This morning I went to a master class with this amazing woman. I wish I had sung something, but I just wanted to watch the first master class, I'll sing in the next one. Then I had Flute rehearsal, obviously, and we finished staging the first act! YAY!

One last thing I should tell you before I go. It's funny. When I was coming here my mom told me I had to watch out for the younger girls that came along with us. And I would have even if she had not said that. So, they are singing the spirits parts as well. They are about 13 and 14 years old. Absolutely adorable. So this show is triple cast, meaning there are 3 people for each part. And what the director does, is run the first act twice and switch the cast up each time. And the girl from my previous post, the one that didn't want to switch, tried to take advantage of one of the younger girls. So the woman has only been to a few rehearsals and just doesn't seem to care about anything. And the younger girls and I have been to every rehearsal, whether we need to be or not. And this woman went through the first act the first time we did it. Then the director wanted to run it again with another cast. So it was one of the younger girls turn to go up and cover the part. But this woman told the girl she wanted to do it because she only got to do it once. So the girl comes and sits down with me and tells me that she said that to her. So I think about for a second and turn around to her and tell her that this woman was just taking advantage of her. She was taking advantage of her because she's only 13 years old and won't say anything and this woman thinks she deserves it because she's the only one that matters. So I tell the girl all this and she starts to get upset, then we look up as our music starts to play and that woman is on stage. The stage director and music director both see her and flip out and say they want another spirit because she already had a turn. So I put my hand up and point to the girl and tell her to run up there. She does and the woman felt like ass because she got scolded in front of the whole cast. It made my day :)

MISS EVERYONE, I'll update when I can!! LOVE YOU ALL!

Sooo much has gone wrong...

BUT...i'm still loving every minute of it.

Thursday-
We landed around 8 AM over here, and we had to wait around for our luggage for a good 30 minutes. Antanas, Leanne and I got our luggage and then went looking for the ILAR people and couldn't find anyone. Luckily we found Nadia holding an ILA sign and we checked in and sat around the airport until 2:30-3 o'clock. The bus ride to Viterbo from Rome was absolutely horrible. I failed to mention that it was about 97 degrees in Italy that day. I was sitting next to Antanas and just passed out from the stupid heat. We finally got to the Piazza Di Verdi in Viterbo and got off the bus and got our luggage. I found out who my flat mates were and we stood around waiting to be driven to our apartment, we waited for an hour and a half. So we finally got to our apartment and chose rooms, showered and met the entire Opera festival attendees for dinner. It was a lot of fun, with really gross wine. But clearly we drank it anyway :). Went back home and slept like a baby.

Friday-
I went to my first press conference :) It was weird, because I couldn't understand a word of it. We went on a tour to Montefiascone, it was absolutely beautiful. We were shown where all our concerts are going to be, and it was just wonderful. It finally hit me that I am here, in Italy for 6 weeks. We finally made our way to the press conference and all we did was file in and sit down and listen to a bunch of Italians talking about us and the program. But it was cool to be in one. After the press conference I went back to my flat to take a nap because I unfortunetaly got a migraine, but we had the afternoon free. So I napped and then we had a meeting at 5 PM. What they neglected to tell us is that this wasn't so much of a meeting as you signing a contract and going wherever you wanted afterward. Everyone was just sitting in a room for a good hour until people started to realize what was going on. So we all made a line outside of Claudio's office and waited for our turn. When it was mine, I went in and he proceeded to tell me that they never received my second check. SO if they don't get my money I can't perform. But Andrea told me not to worry. After I signed my stupid contract all Andrea's students met up for dinner and it was a blast. It was fun just sitting around with everyone and talking.

Saturday-
Woke up and then we had another meeting at 10. They brought us around Viterbo and showed us where all the voice lessons and the shows are going to be. Then we had a Magic Flute rehearsal at 11. We went through quite a bit of the score and we got to my part and they found out that they cast 4 people for my part. There is only supposed to be 3. SO needless to say they had to switch one of the first spirits to the second spirit part. Which means they would have to learn the second spirit music in 3 weeks. So we had a meeting with the 4 first spirits and he let Ashley go because the younger spirits need to stay together. Then he let some blonde go because she's done this before and obviously likes her. So it was between another girl and myself. He asked what we thought/felt about learning a new part. The other girl immediately spoke up and said "I'm just getting into Opera, this is my first time and I worked really hard, so I don't want to switch." So he looked at me and asked me and I said "This is my first Opera and I've worked very hard on learning my part, but if you need me to learn that part for you, I will work my ass off and learn it for you." So the man told me that was the best answer I could have given him. He said that me volunteering is the way to get noticed in this business. So now I have to learn a whole new part, I've given up my solos in this opera to learn a crappy stupid part. BUT I will also be getting looked at with a lot of respect my voice teacher and the director told me. So I will just have to work extra hard and just make the other spirits look like crap :). PLUS I will still be doing my solo concerts. So I guess it will work out for the best. AND the girl who said it was her first opera, she has vocal nodes :) and sounds like crap :) WOO!

Saturday night we went to Andrea's daughter, Alexia, concert. She is in the symphony with professional musicians, she's only 14. She's insane. It was sooo beautiful, in an outside theater. The concert didn't start until about 9:30 and didn't end until 11:30. So afterwards we went out to dinner with Andrea and just about everyone from her studio. It was a lot of fun. Then I went back to the apartment and slept until 12 this afternoon.

Sunday-
Today I went out to lunch with two of my flat mates and then met up with Antanas and Sanjay and we just explored some of Viterbo, I took so many pictures. It is absolutely gorgeous here, I can't even believe it. I can't believe I'm here for six weeks. I'm so happy to be here. I miss everyone like crazy, it's not even funny. I miss my parents and my puppy and kitty :( I miss Cori and Sarah :( And my Laura and everyone else from Salem. I love you guys!!

Website my face is on :)

This is the website where the opera is advertised :) If you're looking at a bunch of different productions, you want to scroll down to Il Flauto Magico (The Magic Flute) click down and you should see my headshot and my name under the part of Primo Spirito!

http://www.tusciaoperafestival.com/festprog.htm