Inside the MET auditions -- a page from Jamie Barton’s diary
Photo by: Ric Cradick
Jamie Barton, (right), performed the role of Mrs. Soames in the 2006 production of "Our Town" at IU Bloomington.
Last week, Jamie Barton, a mezzo-soprano from the IU Jacobs School of Music, kept a journal of her experiences while competing in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York. Barton, who was one of six Grand Prize winners at the competition, is still reeling from the experience.
"It's still unreal -- it hits me in waves," she said. "I'm not going to lie. The week was exhausting, but incredibly rewarding. It was nice to have an outlet [in the form of a journal] to help me unwind and process all of the information and experiences."
Barton shares some of her experiences in two journal entries from late last week.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
I've just gotten back from having dinner with a friend, and boy, am I tired! This past week (since last Thursday when I arrived) has been an absolute whirlwind. There is just so much to process! Here's an example of my day yesterday:
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
7:00 a.m.
Wake up early to clean the room, get a shower, pick out clothes and jewelry, and do makeup and hair. The documentary camera crew is coming at 9:00 a.m. to interview me, and we are later traveling to another one of the singers' hotel rooms to have breakfast and "converse normally" while the cameras just happen to be there. I am not a morning person, so getting pretty and being able to hold a coherent conversation in the morning is doubly difficult for me!
After the camera crew follows us out of the hotel (believe me… even people in New York City are distracted by seeing two girls being followed by a camera crew) we hop on the subway at 72nd Street to get to the opera house. We arrive just in time to get through security (with our cute little security cards!) and go up to the fifth floor for a session on how to breathe properly as a singer with breath technician Deborah Birnbaum. One would think that this would be natural and we would have it down pat, but you'd be amazed at how much we get in the way of ourselves when we're singing.
The session was fantastic; she worked with a few of us one-on-one with our arias and did some exercises that we all could do. I was one of the three she worked with, and she noticed right off, in my Handel aria from Giulio Cesare ("Priva son"), that I hold my breath when I'm getting ready to sing long phrases. The first line in that piece seems to go on forever, and I had gotten into the habit of trying to tank up breath and not let a lot of it get out. To get a feel for exactly how long the phrase is, Deborah had the class count seconds while I sang it. What I thought was a marathon of breath control was only nine seconds long! That's all! It really put it into perspective, and since singing it for Deborah I have noticed that my body just doesn't freak out like it used to.
After the class, I went to get some lunch in the Metropolitan Opera house cafeteria. Yes, the Met has its own restaurant. It's always neat to see who is in there -- I've seen David Daniels in there quite a bit, Jill Groves, Lawrence Brownlee, Chuck Taylor, Ruth Ann Swenson, Stephanie Blythe, Krassimira Stoyanova, and many other people whose faces I don't know but whose names I surely do. Yet, we all sit amongst each other and the hundreds of other people working to make the Metropolitan Opera the place it is, and we don't really think about it too much. Well, ok… by "we" I mean "they." THEY don't think about it too much. As for me and the rest of the Met competition singers, we have to constantly wipe the drool from our gaping mouths as Deborah Voight walks by!
After a brief "re-warm up session," I went to meet the conductor to run through my arias. This year's competition is being conducted by Maestro Marco Armiliato. He is so nice! He is such a wonderfully inspiring and uplifting conductor, and just knows what we are going to do (musically) before we begin to do it! We ran through both of my arias ("Priva son" and the Witches aria from Haensel und Gretel), and he was very satisfied with both. He even complimented me on my Italian!
Finally, I get to leave the Met at about 4:45 after a day full of nerves and high tension. Of course, that's not to say I'm staying away for the night! The Met has given us all tickets to see La Traviata, so after meeting up with a friend for dinner I refresh my makeup and take the subway back to the Met. Because I have the security pass I just go in the backstage door to avoid the crowds (which is nice because I'm running just a little bit late!). I get to my seat (on the second row!) and what follows is hands down one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen.
The tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, sounded phenomenal with his dark, baritone-ish timbre, and the soprano (Krassimira Stoyanova) was absolute butter. The first act seemed to pose some problems for her… perhaps the coloratura isn't her strong point… but the second and third act had the audience on the edge of our seats. The show was actually a Franco Zeffirelli design, so the details in the sets and costumes were incredibly beautiful. It was truly a night I won't soon forget.
After the opera, I took the subway back to my hotel room and got online. Since I have gotten to New York I have had many e-mails from friends and family. Many, MANY emails! I love getting them -- it really keeps my confidence up to actually read or hear messages from people who love and support me -- but sometimes it's difficult to respond to them all.
Also, within the last week or so since I've been here I have had several e-mails from different opera companies. These are always very flattering to get, but my responses require some time and finesse to formulate. Sometimes that takes time if I've had a day like I've had for the last week! So, at about 12:30 a.m. I'm finally off to bed after another long, stressful, and blessedly glorious day in the Disney World of opera houses… "The Happiest Place On Earth!"
Many of my days have been like this. Camera crews calling at random times to ask for interviews, and coachings with world renowned conductors and coaches taking the time to make sure my makeup is perfect and that my wardrobe is appropriate. I often wonder why I'm so tired after having days like this, where in actuality all I must do is a class with a breath technician for an hour and a half, a coaching class for 45 minutes, and then go see an opera for free!
However, it's more than just that. Just keeping myself healthy and not dead on my feet is a challenge because there are so many people to impress around here. We aren't just working for the grand prize in this competition; rather, we're working for a job in the future.
Chuck Taylor, a baritone, told me the other day that he didn't end up winning the Met competition, and he said, "…that's ok. I got hired. The Met takes me in several times a year, and you know what? I win." It's true. He may not have gotten the big money on his competition year, but in the long run, he won. I can only hope for his kind of fortune!
