First Dress Reh

Our public full dress reh was on today and the feedback was that its a fantastic show. Exhausted and have rehearsals tomorrow as well with opening night on sat. Was supposed to go out for pizza tonight but am too tired to do anything other than veg at home. Have coaching with the Kurt Weil guy tomorrow anyway so better make sure I'm well rested. Met him for a few minutes today to run through the duet with my "hubby". A bit worried as he seems to want a rough edge to the singing. He was quite happy with our progress tho. Looking forward to our session tomorrow. Going to have to work out where that sits in my voice and how to sing it without straining.Am cooking some Sri lankan curry for a few friends on sat lunch. Bit of a potluck just to give us all a little boost for the nights show. XiaoTing ( Taiwanese sop) was our camera woman today. Must make sure I get the photos from her. Will try and post some here.

Its snowing!

How cool is that! Its snowing this morning. Its not really that cold and the snow looks like someone is having a huge pillow fight. Came in early this morning to do bursary work and then when I got in was told it was cancelled. Bah! Now waiting to get a practice room to work on my music. Got a lesson with Lynne at 1. Opera rehearsals all afternoon and then this evening am gong to watch a masterclass for our sops run by Jane Eaglen. Quite exciting. Having my first coaching for the Threepenny on thurs with a Kurt Weil expert from Opera North. A little nervous and will be running through the songs with Lynne today.

Almost opening night

Its getting quite tiring now with all the rehearsals and waltzing. The opera is shaping up quite well and looks like it will be a wonderful show.Also been working hard to get the new ways to sing that I 've been told to do. It really helps but have to keep vigilant that I don't fall back into old habits. Looking forward to a break tho esp Christmas. A couple of us went on Sunday for a walk in the country ( Edale). Apparently there is a this lovely hill walk that takes about 3 hours to complete. Thought it would be a good break and so went along with my shiny new reeboks. It turned out to be way harder than a little mountain walk. We were climbing on our hands and knees on rocky slopes and slippery mud at some points. It took four hours for us to get up and down and by then I was quite muddy from getting stuck in the mud and my shoes were a disaster. But I had a fab time and really felt invigorated if utterly exhausted.Had a great sleep that night and surprisingly not too achy in the morning

La di da

Had a email today from my teenage composer I'm working with for the edu project . She's really enthusiatic and has found some really nice verses to set to music. Looking forward to seeing the finished song. Have an acting class in a bit and am supposed to have prepared a monologue. Found one but haven't memorized it. Should be fun. We are now more or less focused on our opera rehearsals and are busy waltzing for all we're worth. The whole of Act 2 is basically us running around frantically or waltzing while remembering our lines. Its fun but exhausting. Gotta get into shape:) Am working on a great American aria at the moment with words by Gertrude Stein. Quite a feminist piece and loads of fun although the timing is awkward. The girls and I have started belly dancing classes to keep fit. Was lots of fun and then we started to miss the guys are so we're now alternating with salsa classes.Excercise should be fun after all. Also trying to get to a pilates class each week for my breathing and expanding middle..booo hoooo. Its almost Christmas! Where has the time gone? Sheesh...

Edu outreach

Had a big of a breakthrough in my voice this week. Was told by Lynne to remember to vibrate through every note I sing and when I sang in class today, the gang told me later that I had never sounded so good. Hmmm...gotta work on this.
Have signed in to work with opera north on an educational outreach project. Will be working with some student composers who will listen to my voice and write a song specifically for it. Not sure what I'm getting myself in for, but willing to give it a go. Have to decide what to sing for them on Sat. Have to be in Leeds at 10..phew
Oh! its confirmed that I got the role in next years production. I am working on my voice but also need to get as much performing experience I can to build confidence.