Internship!

I have officially started my internship at the Staatsoper! So far, all I've done is observed rehearsals, but it's been great! I'll be working on a production of Viva la mamma by Donizetti, performed by the "Opernstudio", which is a program for young opera singers. The director of the program/the man who set up the internship for me is really nice. All the singers are really great, too! It was really neat, because they are from all over the world! We usually speak about half German/half English, which is nice, because I can understand both!

I started on Wednesday, and I felt at home as soon as I walked into the room. Everyone was so nice and friendly, and I walked in to a conversation about German grammar... way cool! So far the rehearsals have been very similar to the way we do rehearsals at Tech. The first rehearsal was a dialogue rehearsal, in which a dialogue coach worked with the singers on their spoken dialogue to fix any subtle diction problems and to work on word stress in the sentences, since German is, for most of them, a second, third, or fourth language. That being said, I am so impressed with how great their German is- diction-wise, and conversation-wise. I am also impressed that they know English so well, too! I think it's incredible that they were able to learn a whole script in a foreign language! I don't know that I could even memorize dialogue in German at this point!

The second rehearsal I went to was a music rehearsal. They pretty much just ran the arias, duets, and ensembles. I really enjoyed this one because I got to hear them all sing! I also learned a lot from the rehearsal about musicality, what is expected of such singers, and just how much work from the individual really goes into these performances. They all sing absolutely beautifully, and I'm really looking forward to the upcoming rehearsals!

The next rehearsal I observed was a private coaching in Italian. One of the sopranos in the studio had a coaching for her Italian diction. (Because it's a comdey, they will perform the dialogue in German and the arias/ensembles in Italian.) I learned so much about Italian diction-especially about open vs. closed vowels and how to sing double consonants effectively. I know this is probably stuff I should already know, but it was great to hear it and have it all clarified.

Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to the rest of this experience! It's been so much fun so far, and I have learned so much already. Plus, I'm getting some really great German practice!