fbpx

It’s been awhile – in so many ways!

Posted byMezzoid Voice StudioPosted inUncategorized

I have not written for awhile, and in that time, much has happened:

  1. I finished my certification for Somatic Voicework™The LoVetri Method at Shenandoah Conservatory.
  2. I decided to give a recital at Carroll, which is looming on the horizon (September 23)
  3. Out of nowhere, I got hired at Cardinal Stritch University as an adjunct voice instructor, working with musical theater majors and music minors.
The latter is thrilling me. The penultimate is scaring me, but not too badly. It has been at least 12 years since I gave a solo recital. Memorization is coming much less easily than it used to, and I don’t think it’s because of my age. I am out of practice. The last stage work I did was in 2004, and I haven’t done opera chorus in over 10 years. I have done cabaret, but usually the music I’ve selected for those shows has been music I already knew. Or knew of, at the very least. For this recital, I have only recycled a few pieces – one from my grad recital (“Jugend und Alter”), one older audition piece (“I am easily assimilated”), two Rossini pieces from last November’s MacDowell opera recital and three Weir pieces from the March Classical Celtic Concert – and I didn’t memorize either the Weir nor the Rossini.
For this program, I am doing 3 Rossini pieces, all of which I intend to memorize, 3 Marx (ditto), the Chausson “Chanson perpetuelle” (not), the Weir (not), 3 musical theater pieces and Corigliano’s “Dodecaphonia” (yes). I have two weeks – I think I’m getting there.
It’s been awhile since I gave a recital; it’s been awhile since I did a classical performance of any substantial length. It’s been awhile since I auditioned.
I feel like I can attribute this stagnation to 9/11/2001.
I had an audition for an agent scheduled for 9/15. I didn’t sleep the entire week leading up to the audition. I didn’t practice. I just watched the cable news obsessively and trolled the internet looking for people who felt the same way. (It also was a few months after a competition in which I sang didn’t go as well as I hoped – I was having some major performance anxiety in that year.)

The audition went poorly. Not a completely train wreck – just a half-hearted, un-invested effort. And after that, I just didn’t care.

So on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I resolve to care again. To sing because I’m happy, to sing because I’m free, and to sing because by GOD, I’m good at it. 

Published by Mezzoid Voice Studio

Christine Thomas-O'Meally, a mezzo soprano and voice teacher currently based in the Baltimore-DC area, has performed everything from the motets of J.S. Bach to the melodies of Irving Berlin to the minimalism of Philip Glass. As an opera singer and actress, she has appeared with companies such as Charm City Players, Spotlighters Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Opera North, the Washington Savoyards, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Theater, The Young Victorian Theater of Baltimore, and Skylight Opera Theatre. She created the role of The Woman in Red in Dominick Argento’s Dream of Valentino in its world premiere with the Washington Opera and Mary Pickersgill in O'er the Ramparts at its world premiere during the Bicentennial of Battle of Baltimore at the Community College of Baltimore County. Other roles include Mrs. Paroo in Music Man, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both Hansel and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and many roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Her performance as the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha was honored with a WATCH award nomination. Ms. Thomas-O'Meally received an M.M. in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She regularly attends master classes and workshops in both performance and vocal pedagogy, and is certified in all three Levels of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method. Her students have performed on national and international tours of Broadway productions, at prestigious conservatories, and in regional theater throughout the country.

What do you think?

%d bloggers like this: