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Afew final words on Juries and Recitals

I recently had my spring jury for my french art song literature class and was present at the masters recitals here at SUNY Purchase. I realized on vial thing that is important that most poeple over look and I'd like to remind you all. I know it sound corny but if you are goign to sing at all...make sure you mean it and it is from the heart. Do not bother opening your mouth if you are not singing for yourself first and foremost. If you do not feel connected to your art, I suggest you find something else to devote your time to. The roots of artistry are int he ability to evoke emotion through the creation of soemhitng unique. If you are up for that challenge then I say Bravo to you! Congratulations to all the wonderful artists I saw this week!

Magic Flute Sucsess!

The SUNY Purchase Opera Dept. Production proved to be a great sucsess! Although our season is over until the fall please keep a look out for out upcomming fall productions! You can also Join us for the undergraduate German/Italian Opera scenes nights which are coming up Which will be at 7:30pm on Friday April 30th in Conservatory of Music Recital Hall. Here is the link to the Facebook invite

Purchase Opera Gianni Schicchi 2009

Purchase Opera Company

In just a weeks time the Purchase Oper Company will be presenting their spring opera productionof Mozart's Die Zauberflote! The Purchase Opera Company is a company of undergraduate and graduate students who study voice and opera at SUNY Purchase college. We have worked all year and it is goign tobe a great preformance. The singing is in the origonal German and the dilouge will bein English. This production is especially fun because of its coloful comtumes and set of a fairytail land! I hope yto see you there !

Boston singers resource

Above is a link which I found to be a great resource. It has acsess tog reat information and articals. It is also a great resource for networking in the New England area which is AWESOME! I'll be ont he hunt for more sites like these in other areas! KEEP AN EYE OUT FLOKS!

Recital Technique

A couple of weeks ago my classmates and I had the pleasure of giving out junior recitals at SUNY Purchase college. Due to inclement weather we were forced to cancel of original date for the recital and reschedule. As a result we were actually able to give the same recital twice. Once for the faculty and a very, very, small audience and then again for a much larger audience of family and friends. This gave us a very interesting opportunity to learn about ourselves as performers and what we are capable of. I learned some very valuable lessons. Performance is an art in and of itself. it requires its own technique which is different for everyone. I preparation is at the root of every good performance, but the biggest difference i noticed between the two performances was that as we all were more relaxed the second time around we were able to communicate more affectively with our audience. The level of artistry skyrocketed and the confidence levels were lifted. it was a great learning experience. Now that I know hat I am capable of putting out i can build upon the progress the experience allowed me to have.

Hamlet at the MET

A week or two ago I went ot see Hamlet st the MET Opera. Although I was dissappointed about Natily Dessay's cancelation, I was pleasently surprised With her replacement. Though I was nto thorughly impressed, the broadcast on NPR that I had heard earlier that week gave me some prospective. Having learned the stageing in 48 hours, she really did do a good job. I thought the night was full of great singing and I didnt mind the fact that the shakespeaare was completly underminded by the oepr and the french language. Over all I really enjoyed it and would deffinatly reccomend it.

Recital Preparation

As a young singer, I feel it is incredibly important to establish good work and preparation habits. In order to present ourselves in a professional manor we must do the proper ground work to ensure a high quality result. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of learning a new piece. Rushing only leads to half done work that cannot be refined into art. I feel that when preparing anything that will be presented outside of a coaching or a lesson, it is imperative to follow these preliminary steps to insure that your presentation will be of optimum quality. Beginning with understanding the rhythmic structure of the piece is key. Then applying all IPA to the rhythm meticulously. The adding pitch to the rhythm and IPA being careful of elisions and stylistic modifications that will affect the rhythm of the natural language with pitch. LASTLY, rehearse with a pianist adding in any extra markings in the music. This simple ground work will give you the ability to effectively apply style and personal interpretation to you work. These steps should make your next presentation very successful!

Alyssa

Sustaining vocal health

Being a veteran of dealing with several bouts of extreme bronchitis and subsequent laryngitis, I have run into the same lingering dilemmas reguard monitoring the health my not only my body but my instrument. As singers we have the gift and the curse of dealing with our bodies as our instruments and treating it with respect. There are always the stand by remedies of hydration and rest and therapy, but what happens when you've done all you can do? I am struggling with this question which seems pretty easy to answer. What happens when not only is the healing process still in the way of using you instrument to its full capacity but, also your own psychology? What then? How do we keep both body and mind healthy in a time of odvious unavoidable stress?

Its about time that young singers had a place to post there thoughts on in the world of opera. Politics, artistry, health, critiques, audition opportunities ect. Here is where we can all finally share our thoughts and information to help each other grow. I hope that I can be helpful and informative.

Alyssa