Mardi matin: the first calls

I was talking with my mom on the phone last night and she asked "so how are things moving on the audition front?" I had very little to tell her, so I decided, now that the kids are in school and our house is getting set up, that I should make some calls.

I talked first with an accompanist who lives in Chaudfontaine, near Liège, whom I met in 2004, and she played for a lesson for me then... she has no schedule yet for this week but next week looks good for me to take the train out to Liège and do some coaching with her. It will be good to sing with a pianist again; it's been since the Die Schöne Müllerin in June that I've coached with a répitateur, although I did sing a few times with Bruce in August.

It will probably make sense after I've sung a bit with her to ask for some friendly advice for my next steps. I'm not sure what the situation is at the Royal Opera of Wallonia (based in Liège, where my mentor sang for twelve years), because there are a lot of changes afoot: the new director, being Italian, has brought along a ton of Italian singers, so it's pretty much an all-Italian roster, with a few Americans. I will try for a chorus audition there at the very least.

The accompanist suggested that I call Opera Zuid in Maastricht, as they hire singers who are getting established. I just called Danielle at Opera Zuid, and she told me that I could send my documents but that they don't offer auditions for people who don't have EU passports. Apparently it is very difficult for them to obtain a permit for someone without an EU passport... it may be that for a small company like theirs it just isn't worth it... I'll do some research online and see what I can find out. This might make things a little difficult, but perhaps I have a better chance in a chorus job in Belgium for a start.

Maggie said something very interesting yesterday... she has been researching things at SHAPE and also at Brunsum (NL) and AFNORTH, which is the base in Maastricht. When my mom asked "for when" she said, for next year! My mom said that was a cool idea for our family, but not cool for her, she already wanted our family to come home to Canada... it's interesting that she is already thinking about a longer stay...

Now I can hear the kids arguing downstairs; I guess that means that Maggie is back, and has brought them home for lunch! More to come later...