Drat! I *did* get ahead of myself!

I'm really disappointed about this, but I'm trying to stay positive! The gig in Scotland singing the premier of Paul Moxon's piece "Endurance" has fallen through. Apparently, one of the sponsors back out and now there are not enough funds to put it on. Sigh. The plight of classical music.

Paul is still confident that it will be performed some day. His agent is trying to place it and is also looking at getting it used for a television piece by the BBC on Shackleton's expedition on the Endurance. That would mean recording it. Paul has assured me that he will hire me to sing the soprano part if and when it is performed or recorded. So there's that.

Post Christmas plans

I returned from 2+ weeks at home in Madison, Wisconsin and Bancroft, Iowa and am raring to go!

First off, I have a consultation/lesson next week with Niel Mackie who is the acting Chairman of the Voice Department at the Royal College of Music here in London. I'll sing 3 pieces for him and then we'll discuss what the best way forward is for me. Every singer should continue to work on their voice and have outside help to do it with. Neil Mackie was recommended to me by my colleague Margaret Peckham from Frankfurt. I also need advice and help regarding auditioning for and getting work here in England. And who knows? Perhaps I'll decide to go back to school and work on a Masters Degree (or whatever the equivalent is here!)!

Next, will be a performance by Elysium on March 4, 2007. We'll be performing in Salem, Oregon, USA at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. We'll begin with Evensong (encorporating lots of chant!) and continue with our program of medieval Italian songs, "Piety and Passion". For more information visit http://www.stpauloregon.org/music%20menu.htm . Have a look at Elysium's website: www.elysium-sings.net and our MySpace Music space: www.myspace.com/elysiumsings

After that will likely be a premier performance in Fort William, Scotland of the work "Endurance" by Paul Moxon. Have a little listen: www.myspace.com/pwmoxon

Elysium will be performing again in May, this time in Berlin. More details will be forth-coming so watch this space!

Date Confirmed

OK, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here, but Paul just wrote to say that our preferred date for the performance of his work "Endurance" has been confirmed. So, if it happens, it'll be on 24 March 2007. However, the financial bit has yet to be submitted to the sponsors so I suppose there could be some hang-up, but I don't foresee that happening. So, Yea!!!! If you can make it to Fort William, Scotland on March 24th then I'll see you there!

The Answer is Yes

So, the answer to the question I posed in my last post, "Do people in the music biz actually end up working together, meeting each other in real life, or is this [MySpace] purely virtual?" is YES! I now have my first official gig in the UK and all thanks to MySpace! As of yet there is no confirmed date, but it will likely be toward the end of March. I will be performing the premier of Paul Moxon's work entitled "Endurance". The piece is 5, 10 minute episodes for orchestra and soprano. The subject, which is programmatic in nature, since I'll have no text to sing, is Shackelton's ill-fated expedition in 1914 to Antartica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition
The occasion is the exhibition of photography, by Frank Hurley, salvaged from that expedition which will be on display at the Lime Tree Gallery in Fort William, Scotland from February 16 - March 24, 2007. I'm really excited about this project!!! I'll keep you posted...

In the meantime, check out my MySpace:

www.myspace.com/divadianesoprano