newbies

I met a singer today who flew her from SOUTH AFRICA to do her FIRST competition ever!
It was kind of cute how she wasn't really sure which aria to start with- and when I said sing what you sing best or what you have always gotten the best feedback on, she said, well I love all of my arias.
Awww- cuuuuute!
Don't we ALL love all of our arias?
She also was visibly nervous about everything being said in German first, but lucky for her, they repeated everything in English next.
We all picked our numbers (the lottery for the order in which we will sing), and she got number 6- out of 159! So again, nervous and not quite sure what to make of it...
I'm number 25- which I'm happy about because I really wanted to sing on the first day of heats- WERE I to be selected for the next round, it would make a lot of things that have been pre-planned a lot easier.

There was another singer from Australia (living in London) who also seemed to be there for the first time (and with her mom! CUTE PEOPLE, CUTE!) and both were so chatty and wanted to know about the German audition process, etc., so I just shared my 'realistic' stories and views of the business, both in Europe and in the US (as the S.African singer had been accepted to a Master's program in the US, but wasn't given any money and was deciding whether to go or not), and I hope gave them some good advice.

I remember being 'new' to competitions. I never thought of them as nerve-wracking or anything like that, just another audition. But you DO quickly learn that some repertoire works better, some outfits work better, sometimes an ATTITUDE works better (I don't play into that one, but I know a few who do)...

And so, we're off. Tomorrow I have a rehearsal with the pianist, and Wednesday I'll sing around noon.