Lining up the auditions and performances

Being a performer is a difficult career to manage; you're either dying of thirst or drowning in too much work. While it sounds like singing work is anything but plentiful these days in Canada, due to some pretty short-sighted funding cuts by several levels of government, I've been working hard at filling in the rest of my schedule on both sides of the Atlantic, and have been quite lucky to find some great pieces to explore this season. Right now my schedule looks like this:

• November 22: Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Kingston Symphony
• December 5, 6: Bach Weinachtsoratorium, Cornelius Three Kings, Pax Christi Chorale, Toronto
• December 24: Christmas eve service, music of John Taverner, St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto
• January 24: Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, St. Carolus Borromeus Church, Antwerp
• February 20: Broadway with Heart, Mississauga Choral Society, Living Arts Centre, Mississauga
  

And there are some things in the planning stages on the horizon as well:

• February (date to be confirmed): recital with Andrew Ager, piano/organ, Toronto
• April (date tbc): lieder recital, Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with pianist Peter Tomek, Brussels
• November-December 2010 (date tbc): Canadian-Belgian concert, music of Andrew Ager and Cesar Franck, for baritone, organ, chamber choir and chamber orchestra, Antwerp

As well there are some Canadian summer performances in the planning/negotiation stages. I'm looking especially hard for a chance to do Die Schöne Müllerin again with Dina Namer - she was so wonderful when we presented it in 2006 it seems a waste to not try to do it again - and there are a few more things in the pipe, too far off to mention.

Here in Brussels we are back to our routine, and I've been singing a lot, and reading a lot, translating my texts for the gigs I do have, and calling and emailing with strong purpose. I'm back up to my old swim routine, and did 100 lengths or 2.5 km yesterday, so I'm feeling more energized. There are auditions coming up in Flanders and some leads in the south of France (Toulouse, St. Etienne, and other houses) that I'm avidly pursuing as well. There's also some leads in Dresden, and Leipzig, and Stuttgart that I've got a bit of a connection too, and will be pursuing, so that's exciting: so far I haven't really made any inroads yet into Germany or Austria. Better brush up my German (what little I have)!

We're looking forward to a big brocante tomorrow morning in our neighborhood, and some beautiful weather for the weekend. I'm heading off tomorrow afternoon with a pianist friend from Toronto who now lives in Paris, we're going to do a little tour of the Cantillon brasserie here in Brussels, and then take in a concert at La Monnaie...

Have a good weekend!