the audition

If I were OperaChic's blog, I guess the title of this post could be:
"I'm a young American woman who was just in Milan, and you're not.
I just sang an audition for La Scala, and you didn't".

BUT I'm not OC, and I don't really have anything else original to say, so let's just get down to the details.
A. I don't even CARE what happens from this or what the feedback is right now, because TODAY and yesterday I got to go to the Artist's entrance of LA frikkin' SCALA, rehearse with an accompanist in a GORGEOUS GUILDED Salla Rosa with a grand piano and did I mention the golden guilded entire room? and then- sing a STAGE audition.

This kind of came up on short-ish notice (they are doing a specific opera in a few years which happens to have some crazy high notes that I happen to already have studied in my repertoire)...and the date was available, and..why not?

So, the run down-
Wore a new audition dress (silver), sweat through that in like 3 seconds since it was about 35 degrees in Milan this morning at 11am..awesome.
Thankfully no one saw that since it's a thick material.
Nice.
Warmed up for about 20 minutes, rehearsed with the pianist.
WALKED BACKSTAGE.
The stage manager was joking around w/us in Italian (there was one other soprano there...dramatic, so no rep. overlap), we got to walk out onstage to see how it looked before the audition started.
She sang first, then me.
I wanted to start with the 2nd half of Zerb. The Italians had a better idea- the Doll Song.
ALLLRIGHTYTHEN?
It's always ready and always on my list...but...it's a TOUGH sell to show one's 'acting' while being a mechanical doll. I would have MUCH rather sung the pants off of Z, but whatever. I added a high Aflat into the 2nd verse coloratura and ended the final cadenza with the normal high G and nailed it, so I GUESSSSS it was good even though I didn't get to choose.

Then, first soprano sang again, and they wanted to hear 'crazy-new-music' from me (for the specific thing they were planning on programming in the future).
Obviously I nailed that...except that the music is so INSANELY crazy that if these people have never seen or really heard the piece more than once, they would have NO idea whether I was singing it right or wrong.
For example, the first part goes by so fast that you don't even know I just sang 16 high E's in the first 5 measures AND an Fsharp.
the 2nd part is written for 'senza vibrato'...so yea, straight toning high F's and low Ds.
And the third part's final cadenza is totally crazy, but if you don't KNOW that, then you don't know how HARD I worked to learn it, and learn it RIGHT.

So, that was that. In between my pieces, the stage manager came up to me with a NAIL and said here--this is from the backstage, it is good luck.
Turns out Pavarotti also walked the backstage area looking for good luck nails!
I'll take it!
And it didn't get confiscated in my carry on items!

I think I have to post about travel in another post..but let's just leave you with a few fun facts:
Flights leaving from Malpensa- always late.
Flights leaving from Zurich- always on time-
Coloraturaaah- running out the plane onto the bus, into the terminal, through ANOTHER SECURITY CHECKPOINT even though I just got off a PLANE and didn't go anywhere...where I got pulled into a private booth because I beeped (ps, I didn't beep in MILAN- so does that mean the metal detectors in Zurich are stronger?), running to my 2nd flight and boarding in 10 minutes before they closed the door- priceless.
Landing in Deutschland and having the plane park in the FARTHEST corner of the airport from the terminal, waiting FOREVER to get on a bus back to the terminal, having the automatic doors NOT open when we got dropped off from the bus at the terminal, running up an escalator, down two more escalators...HOPPING on the RIGHT Sbahn with one minute to spare and then-- SEEING THE DANG TICKET CONTROLLER on the train! Obviously, having NOT bought a ticket, I JUMP OFF, try to jam some money into the machine in my 30 remaining seconds only to be told that it doesn't take 50Euro notes right now!!! MISSING THE TRAIN and waiting 30 more minutes to take a 6 minute ride home.
ABRIDGED.