Final Concert
Thursday night was the last concert for my program. Many people were finished on Tuesday, so it may not have been widely publicized, but it didn't matter to me. I was so excited to get out there and sing the heck out of my Traviata scene, which was the "Great Scene" in Act 3 (I think its Act 3) between Violetta and Germont, where Germont tells Violetta she must leave Alfredo to seek personal honor for herself and for the honor of Alfredo's family. In a nutshell, this scene was 25 pages, a very difficult acting exercise, about 15 minutes of singing, and considered to be one of the more difficult excerpts from the Bel Canto style of singing. Why they chose to assign this to a vocal bambina, I have no clue, but I would like to state for the record, that I made a huge personal accomplishment. I came to Lucca honestly not knowing it at all, and left with having it in my voice (as much as that is possible, its an extremely difficult and tiresome role that I wouldn't actually sing for another 5-8 years probably), understood the character on a basic psychological level, and feel like I presented it to the audience to the best of my personal ability. From where I came from to where I went was huge, and it definitely was the biggest vocal challenge and accomplishment I've made in my college years. For that alone, I am grateful for coming to Lucca.
Now when we sang it for the concert, I flubbed up in a random spot, mixing up verses, and my partner forgot his words and just didn't come in at one part, and we made the audience sit through the entire scene that had just been poorly blocked that afternoon, but you know what, I don't care. I am thrilled about it. I have not yet watched the video, and I don't plan to for another week. I need to let it cool off.
My final thoughts on this summer program - ill-organized and slightly ill-planned. Had things been thought through on a better administrative "big picture" level, it could have been a truly amazing educational experience. Instead, many small details contradicted each other, resulting in a little touch of frantic-ness every day (Yes, I just made up a word. Sorry.). My voice teacher was excellent, and really only 1/3 of the coaches were top notch, knew everything about everything. Had I the opportunity to start over, I would have just focused on ONE role, as the title of the program implies you are to do (A role study program), and a role that is actually appropriate for me, instead of pushing myself to do stupid things like big Puccini and Verdi roles and then having to deal with skeptical Italians giving me nasty looks for five weeks, like I wasn't worthy of studying the music.
I had the time of my life. I met incredible people and saw incredible places, and would not exchange any of my experiences in Lucca for anything. There were maybe only 4 days out of 5 weeks in which I was anything but completely happy and satisfied with my life. Lucca was a beautiful and relaxed place, and I definitley needed personal time in a place like that to recharge my batteries.
In conclusion - the program was pretty good, the people are what made the experience spectacular, but I really came to Italy to SEE Italy - and boy did I do that. Okay - onto the next chapter - ROME.
Now when we sang it for the concert, I flubbed up in a random spot, mixing up verses, and my partner forgot his words and just didn't come in at one part, and we made the audience sit through the entire scene that had just been poorly blocked that afternoon, but you know what, I don't care. I am thrilled about it. I have not yet watched the video, and I don't plan to for another week. I need to let it cool off.
My final thoughts on this summer program - ill-organized and slightly ill-planned. Had things been thought through on a better administrative "big picture" level, it could have been a truly amazing educational experience. Instead, many small details contradicted each other, resulting in a little touch of frantic-ness every day (Yes, I just made up a word. Sorry.). My voice teacher was excellent, and really only 1/3 of the coaches were top notch, knew everything about everything. Had I the opportunity to start over, I would have just focused on ONE role, as the title of the program implies you are to do (A role study program), and a role that is actually appropriate for me, instead of pushing myself to do stupid things like big Puccini and Verdi roles and then having to deal with skeptical Italians giving me nasty looks for five weeks, like I wasn't worthy of studying the music.
I had the time of my life. I met incredible people and saw incredible places, and would not exchange any of my experiences in Lucca for anything. There were maybe only 4 days out of 5 weeks in which I was anything but completely happy and satisfied with my life. Lucca was a beautiful and relaxed place, and I definitley needed personal time in a place like that to recharge my batteries.
In conclusion - the program was pretty good, the people are what made the experience spectacular, but I really came to Italy to SEE Italy - and boy did I do that. Okay - onto the next chapter - ROME.
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