France, J'taime!!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted!  I've been mainly updating through facebook.  We finished all our staging!  The orchestra arrived yesterday.  Two casts rehearse with them today.  My cast rehearses tomorrow.  We have dress rehearsals this week and we open on the 8th!  4 days.  The time has zoomed by.  Perigueux is the site of the International Mime Festival was here.  Mimes everywhere and lots of cool performances as you walk along the street.  We finished our castle concerts, art song, and Aboulker recitals.  She is a fascinating composer and I've heard several pieces of hers I want to work on when I get home.  

La vie en rose

What a whirlwind first week!  We are already done staging Act I of La Périchole!  It's such a fun opera!  We began music rehearsal for my main scene, the Ladies of the Court, which opens Act 2 today.  It's speedy, trying to fit in all that French on 8th and 16th notes, whew!  Our trip to Bordeaux was lovely.  We went to an outdoor market and ate al fresco in the public garden and then took a short tour of the Cathedral where Eleonore of Aquitaine was married.  I am falling more and more in love with this place.  There was a really cool outdoor market Wednesday night and I got to hear some good live music.  It was a cool brass band from Southern France.  Still trying to figure out uploading video.  I can already hear fireworks from my room!  Happy Bastille Day!  I learned the joys of the Croissant Abricot this week!

Perigueux

Wow!  What and incredible place this is!  I am truly blessed.  The 2 hour flight delay and missed trains were worth the 18 hours of travel.  I am so excited for Franco American Vocal Academy.  We sang for each other today and the level of talent is sky high.  Professor Added said we are apart this program because we each have real major potential to be in this business and because of this it is very intensive.  I've become more hopeful there is a place for me in this industry and more intrigued by the French repertoire.  I have my first voice lesson tomorrow and am excited to learn!  We sing the national anthem at a town gathering for Bastille Day and we are taking a trip to Bordeaux on Sunday.  Pictures to come!!

Summer!!

I am en route to the Windy City today! Headed to Chicago for the Classical Singer Magazine Convention. Follow this blog for all the updates as I travel this summer to NYC and Italy and as I begin my adventures in Orem this fall at UVU. I saw the first two operas in the Robert Lepage Ring Cycle at the Met Live in HD encore broadcasts. Deborah Voigt is an increadibly talented singer and actress. I am hoping it comes out on DVD soon. Can't wait to see Siegfried and Götterdammerung! It is truly amazing what they did with the stage and set. This link is to an interview with soprano Audrey Luna who is playing the role of Ariel in The Tempest next year at the Met. It sounds like a a really interesting opera and role. She does some really new classical music but also has a lot of standard roles in her repertoire. Stay tuned! Pictures and updates to come from Chicago! Also visit my youtube channel www.youtube.com/eloisesant. I am also interested in vloging this summer during my travel too. You can always ask questions or let me know things you'd like to hear about in my updates by emailing operadivaeloise@aol.com.

It's OK

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-rivera/shouldnt-you-be-fatter_b_1474908.html

Recently, I ran across this wonderful article and it got wheels in my head turning...  What would our world look like if more people gave opera a chance?  I'd like to think it would be all rainbows and lollipops, which is unfortunately not true, as there are many performers who even themselves don't learn the lessons taught by the stories they enact.  However, I do think people who live in their heads might build some emotional intelligence.  This is something art, and music in particular, has taught me, for which I am truly grateful.  Music has made me more aware and accepting of my feelings.

My voice teacher recently gave me the assignment to emote and be more aware of my feelings.  During that week, I learned that I am much more comfortable showing how I feel to my family and friends than to strangers and that, even with family and friends, it is easier for me to show positive emotions than display or express negative ones.

Why?  I think we are better at glossing over the negative things than ever and maybe that's why "feelings" have gained such a negative connotation, because we just simply don't want to deal with them.  I realize this is a huge generalization, but I think maybe that's why as Rivera observes "most people don't think of opera singers as people they can relate to."  The best singers I have ever encountered are those who have absolutely no pretense about them and are also people who absorb other's emotions like a sponge.  I wonder if this makes some people uncomfortable, having someone around who has accepted that it is ok to not always be ok.  Just my 2 cents...

I'm headed to Wagner's Ring Cycle at the movie theatre here in Park City.  Looking forward to this epicness!!

Violetta's Valentine

I was recently asked what sparked my desire to sing opera.  As I really started thinking hard about that question, I thought back to my first opera.  When I went to the Utah Opera's performance of La Traviata at 16, I was instantly captivated.  Violetta, a courtesan, sings this beautiful piece after Alfredo declares his love for her.  She declares she will live "sempre libera," always free, and is reluctant to let anyone get too close.  However, her character grows tremendously through allowing Alfredo to love her.  Enjoy the video of one of my favorite sopranos, Anna Netrebko singing.  (Be forewarned the staging is rather modern!)

Allow those who love you to love you and give your love to everyone, as we are dependent on each other for love and support!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Glorious Fall Morning

I just woke up this morning to the crisp fall Park City weather.  There is nothing better than leaves turning and nights getting chilly.  It is getting closer to my favorite time of year.  People look at me like I'm crazy when I say winter is my absolute favorite season.  I love fires, snow, family, an everything else the holidays entail.  I think it wonderful that we have such a beautiful time of year to keep our loved ones warm and focus our energy where it should be focused.  Not to say we can't spend time with family year round, but everyone is less busy than normal during the holidays and less bogged down with life.  Enjoy the fall weather today and make a leaf pile to jump into and mess up!