me.will.move.here

First of all, if you ever plan on doing a German audition tour and mostly correspond via email, you should know that the following exchange is normal and not considered 'pushy' or 'annoying'.

1. I write to them to request an audition and send materials along in the email.
2. They write to me saying thank you, how old are you, have you sung XYZ role (which, yes, was listed on my resume)
3. I answer saying how old I am, yes I have sung the role and I'd love to audition for them.
4. They write to me saying can I come on Feb.16th at 3.
5. I write to them confirming Feb.16th at 3.

(This all occurred by Feb.1 at the latest)..and here I am, thinking I'm all set...

but no--

6. I decide to write them a "hello, I've arrived and this is my cell number" email when I got here (13th), and say I'm looking forward to the 16th.

7. Fast forward to this morning- phone call at 9:30 am saying ..you didn't email us yesterday to confirm for today, so we weren't sure you were coming.

Uhhh---yes? I am? Have we not discussed this 6.5 times? And was it not all settled by step 3?
Could you even IMAGINE a US company confirming and reconfirming auditions for 600 young artists?

Ok, yes, there were fewer people here--BUT it WAS three days of auditions, about 10 people an hour.


Oh yes...10. Even though every singer got about 10 minutes.
Let's talk about that.

SO.
I show up to the audition at 2 (my time was 3). I had been warned that I would wait around if I showed up late, so I decided early was better.
I filled out a sheet that asked me how many centimeters tall I was, and for the LIFE of me I couldn't remember how many cm were in a yardstick...I THOUGHT it was a meter...so, 100, right?
Somehow I convinced myself of that, and with MY math skills of cross multiplication came up with 176.
Now...I use 175 for skis...so I was PRETTY sure that I was wrong.
So then I didn't put anything lest they think my answer of 176 was amazonian.
And here I am at 5'3 and a half.

There were about 4 pissed singers there that hadn't realize we were ALL told to show up at 3, and we were all filling out this form as fast as possible to hand it in and get a 'number' order in which we were to sing in.

They were already late from the 2pm group, so...when I arrived at 2pm, I got number 17.
Yep, 17 auditions about 8-10 minutes long.

Fast forward to 4:45--that's when I sang.

The singers in the hall were a mixed bag, but Germans were actually the MINORITY!
3 Americans, 3 russians, one Pole, 1 Spanish, 1 Brit, and 2 Germans.
The language of communication became Italian, because for some reason the Polish lyric soprano and the Russian (born there, living in Spain), spoke fluent Italian, the 2 other Americans spoke better Italian than German, and so somehow through broken Italian, German and English, we all managed to wait around together.

At first the attitude was competitive and secluded, but as we each had over 2 hours to wait it became clear that if we didn't start talking to each other we would all go crazy.

So. The audition.
Go in, show the accompanist my rep, announce myself and my piece (DurchZ), sing.
It was a nice long room with a little stage set up, the auditors were about 20 feet away, and I did well with that piece.
They chose Una Voce 2nd...again, went really well plus the F at the end (duh)...

AND THEN- began the feedback and questioning in German.
O.
M.
G.

Now, peoples.
Der die das?
Flew OUT of my head.
I actually understood a MAJORITY of what they were saying and asking such as:
Where did I sing the Blonda. My voice is bla bla bla, the acting is bla bla bla, etc...
WHY do I want to sing in Germany. What other agents have I sung for so far. Has anyone sent me on any auditions.

I answered NOT like a complete idiot, but it went something like this in my head:

Jeezus H. how do I conjugate this verb in the plural (vous) form?
I think "Audition" is "Der". sure.
Uhh...ok, now I've moved onto using no articles or declensions and I will just say all the words together and hope they put it together by association.
So basically it was like.
Me. Sing. Repertoire. Germany. Love. German and French Coloratura Repertoire. That. Is. My. Type. Because. USA. More Italian. Bigger. Repertoire. Me. Will. Move. Here. Fest. Guest. Work.

The whole time they DID understand what I was saying..and obviously it was more put together than that--but HEY! For my FIRST TEN MINUTE speaking and understanding session with an agent...it was fiiiine.

So- the conclusion of the audition was the following:
They like me.
They want to send me to some middle-of-nowhere town on the NORTH SEA to audition for Fest contract that includes in the upcoming season Rosina, Blondchen, Sophie and others...
soooo we'll see.
They even had me sign a piece of paper (thank GOD I could understand what was on it and I didn't agree to some freaking exclusive contract or something)..that said THIS agency was sending me on an audition for THAT house and it would be set up via phone tomorrow.

Whew.
That was fun.

Onto tomorrow (today).