The Dates:
Feb.15-March21
The travel route:
Berlin
Leipzig
Berlin
Oslo
Vienna
Amsterdam
Munich
Vienna
Erfurt
Hagen
Paris
Frankfurt
Nantes
Hagen
Dusseldorf
The auditions:
3 Agents
8 Mainstage (9 with one callback)
The arias I started with:
Durch Z- 4 times a starter, followed every time except ONE by a request for Der Holle Rache. The one exception was request for Una Voce.
Zerbinetta from So war es mit Pagliazzo (and ONCE in its entirety)- 7 times a starter- followed 3 times by Der Holle Rache, TWICE by Durch Z and ONCE by The doll Song, once by "thanks very much that's all we need to hear".
O zittre nicht, followed by Der Holle rache- once, for a specific audition for QOTN.
The travel:
EASY with the Eurail pass--get on any train you want, sit in first class, get served chocolate balls and face wipes without request, get offered international papers, plug computer into train power system and watch movies, see the lovely scenery as it whizzes by, HOWEVER---be VERY aware that SOME trains do require reservations and seat reservations. ALL International trains do. This means an extra 7 to 35 Euros for each reservation. I think about 6 of my trains (paris/oslo/nantes--and back to Germany) required reservations ranging from 7 to 50 Euros for the overnight couchette or just the space for a seat.
The surviving on food from the HbF (that's the main train station) at most cities:
Brown bread plus cheese slices plus german chocolate plus apple plus bottle of water equals- enough food for a 9 hour train!
Rinse and repeat times 15 (the number of rides on the Eurail I took).
Vary: The KIND of cheese slices, the KIND of bread (roll/slice), the KIND of chocolate, and you're golden.
The cost:
RT Airfare: $650
Eurail Pass: 800Euros
Audition Fees: 65 Euros (20/25/20--for agent auditions)
Ubahn/Tram/Sbahn/Metro Tickets: Probably a total of 25 Euros
Hotels in the 5 cities that I couldn't find a friend to house me: 250 Euros
Entertainment (2 operas, 5 Euros each)...10 Euros
Food from HbF- probably 30 Euros or so....
The better way to do this is track my withdrawals from my bank account (which there were only TWO of): 150 Euros, 50 Euros. Total: 200 Euros--which paid for all of the cash needs like the Ubah/Sbahn/audition fees/operas/food, etc.
Plus the 100 I came with that were left over from the LAST time I was in Europe, 2 summers ago.
So that totals--something like--1250Euros plus the flight for $650...so rounding UP that's 1700 dollars plus the airfare.
Total: $2350. For 5.5 weeks of planes, trains, travels, auditions, housing, and everything involved in planning this kind of trip.
In comparison with what I know others to have spent, I did this on the cheap. It seems like a lot of money- but hey, if I was in NYC for one month, I'd be paying 1250 JUST for rent...no food, no travel, ...and...no auditions.
Sooo--it seems like an insane amount of money to be spending and to see deducted from my bank account. But actually, I'm quite happy that it's no where near 3000, which is what I expected.
More about individual thoughts and performance breakdown later...
1 comment:
Great breakdown and great attitude about the expenses. Loved your play by play and found it really helpful for my young students!
Good luck and continue to keep us all posted!
Elizabeth
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