PBS Opera "Auditions"

I didn't think I'd like to watch this, but now I wish I had. I only caught Michael Fabiano singing and oh, now I wish I'd been watching! That man has the most beautiful natural tone. I didn't hear anyone else though. But his tone was beautiful. A little too much crescendo-descrecendo drama without a real heart backing it, seemed more technical to me, but gorgeous tone and pretty song.

oh no. I like this show. What does that mean. Crap. I wasn't even going to watch it, it sounded stuffy and boring. but then i heard these voices. The one guy didn't do as well on his practice. i liked hearing the tips about even carriage, not raising your head back bc you're bending your pipes. So true! I have this bad habit myself. the male voice or heart i liked best in the practice was this guy in a grey coat with a black shirt beneath (everyone wears a 'chris' shirt these days...what is up?). But he sang 'a mes a mi' and I wanted to sing along with him it was so lively. I liked the feeling he's able to emote...

So now they're onto the women practicing. I like the first woman, her voice already sounds pro, but I don't know for sure...I'm so used to hearing that Madame Butterfly song done by kiri te kanawa and it's hard to hear it by someone else. Who else? Maria Callas maybe?

Wow, so I guess being larger is actually better for opera. They actually have larger lung capacity. She still sounds good. she's right, she doesn't have as much power, but if she scaled back and kept it delicate it brings out the beauty of her tone. there was a huge difference with and without a trainer for this small blond woman.

There is a man named Ryan who has a very nice feeling to his rhythm and yet i don't like his tone as much because it's a little more nasal, but he is able to work the...exactly what these coaches are saying, he is able to tell a story. He's a little bit behind the others in technique, and it shows there, but if he'd had all the opportunities at a younger age, or if he keeps working at it, I think outstanding. I wouldn't vote for him at this point and just don't like the more 'back of the throat' quality but he's very fluid. A lot of the women are pretty much fat but the men are not. I wonder if men just have larger lung capacity anyway so don't need the weight. It seems so backwards, that being large you would have better lungs.

The guy singing a mes a mi is good, sounds like breathing is the main thing to work on.

The guy i liked in audition, I don't know if I like his practice song as well. But when I stopped watching him, I could feel it at some part. Watching him the second time he seemed to have heart, but it...I don't know, drama more drama but the feeling sort of not there until maybe I quit watching and am not distracted. At one point, it hit my heart, so he did something right. i don't know what it is. If he's not moody enough, I think no heart, and too much drama, I think too much drama. but I like him. he reminds me of John Malkovitch.

Duffy: the blond who is thin is named Duffy. I think. ? very pretty. Heart missing. It was gorgeous technically in its way but I didn't feel the emotion.

Michael Fabiano: i feel the emotion with michael for some reason, even though i cannot watch him. his voice isn't even as strong as I want it to be in some places, but the feeling is there. i know he belted out that one note,...gosh, he really knows how to hone his art. even his more extravagant theatrical moments are more sophisticated now. i want these people, always, to be thinking about the story they are telling and feel it like they lived it. gorgeous. I think with him, it's not perfect, at all, but he grows a lot. he improves so much.

now the guy doing mes a mi...His tone I love--he is a tiny bit flat or strained on the high notes. you can hear a bit of strain. what a great song though and nice tone. He did better in practice i think.

so they are one day to the finals. Oh, ryan improves too...it will be fun to hear the finals.

The cattiness is much more restrained here than in American Idol. I wonder if any opera singers ever hit the bottle before going onstage.

Oh good, finally names. I guess duffy is her last name. She has a gorgeous ability to trill the high notes. I don't think i love her though. oh, very well done high high notes, now she has my attention. she has a rarer clarity and delicacy. I feel it's still technique though, and not in her heart. I mean, technique and natural beauty, but heart is still lacking for me. The way she was able to nuance her high notes was beautiful.

Matthew Plenk: I like him but more of a choir singer type. like, he'll always be in the opera but i don't know if i see a break through. maybe later.

the larger woman in black dress, i didn't catch her name, she sounded good but again, still lacking something for me. more of a throaty voice.

The guy with curly hair following, missed his name too. Fine but I almost thinks he needs more rhythm to sing that song.

missed name again! the larger woman in red. i like watching her. I want to listen more than watch, but I like her perfomance. I have never heard that song, but the way she blends the laughter with the music is quite good. It was entertaining and her German was actually pretty good! I liked it. if I'd gone into opera, i would have loved to try this one! it would be fun.

Michael fabio...kuda kuda, tchai...Oh gosh I love this. i love the melody of the music first of all, no wonder, it's tchaikovsky and I didn't know. i feel it in my heart when he sings. even if his technique isn't perfect, I feel it. But is it him or tchaikovsky? i think a combination. i heard him singing other things and like him in that. He said he felt tears, and that's it...he felt it and so did I.

wow, this long haired blond too. I don't know if it's the melody and the song though? I didn't catch her name. I like her. I like her voice and she emotes some feeling too. Oh, don't know if i love the fake crying though. no. do not like fake crying.

Ryan Smith...excited to hear him after his practice. Wow. i mean, for such a late start...his more powerful notes combined with his tone, which i now like for some reason, at least here, he can pull this song off. Oh my...that high note! He did it. I mean, he really did.

Ryan following... Sounds very good on his deep notes, harder in the beginning.

Angela...gorgeous voice. i've heard this one by kiri though too, and oh, i can never hear it by anyone else after. But this is very good...slightly less emotion. gorgeous voice, in every respect, but doesn't quite hit the top, not in the way of not hitting the notes, but could go further. i guess she's so good otherwise, i wnt perfection. I just keep hearing kiri and compare.

Alex: I like his tone, it's very youthful. He's hitting his higher notes better. His high notes are so improved. Somehow, I don't know if it's the right song for him completely but I love his youthful exubberance in this song and he did almost or barely? hit the notes...I like his tone really, very clear. I think his looks sort of come into play though too. I still think there was a little more feeling or heart with some of the others even if I somehow prefer his voice in a lot of ways. i keep getting him confused with fabiano and it was the fab guy that got me to watch this.

Jamie got into the finals! with the great song which i would love to sing! i'm not surprised. Amber did as well, who had the pretty tone but I didn't like the fake crying, and then ryan smith and fabiano.

i think the ones i liked made it. i think they chose the right people.

My favorites were fabiano, jamie, angela, the icelandic woman, and perhaps the ryan smith. maybe fabiano the most even. i loved that song by jamie. i liked them for different reasons and some improved more than others so it would be interesting to see what they accomplished later. i think duffy reminded me most of myself. I had an opera singer on the East Coast, who for some reason i met while a nanny, at the jersey shore, and i went to her house and she heard me and recommended julliard. of course i couldn't afford julliard. she didn't think i had anything special until i hit the top notes and then she changed her mind. that's how i felt about duffy. of course i had no training. but looking back, i probably would have enjoyed getting into opera.

i sort of feel if i had an alternate calling, or a main one even, it was to sing, but not everything that would seem to be, can be, and i really feel a lot of it has to do with what others allow you to do and whether you are supported or not, and/or if you know what you're doing with your opportunities. so much is just about being "found" or what one can make of opportunity or realizing their own worth and potential. it is true that some who have more money have more opportunity and are made more aware of their talents but i think there is so much talent in the lower classes and so many people go by unnoticed in a lot of ways. sometimes not even knowing their own worth.

Now it's onto a show about making pianos? no, I will not watch this! argghhh and then I hear the first few notes of the piano and it catches my attention. But no, really, this is quite enough. I am not nerdy enough to be entertained by piano making. i swear, I'm not! I have to change the station before someone strikes up interesting conversation about it or gets into some sob story about how they were living in a tent when their forefathers first made a piano out of a hewn log.

I think about it, and I did have pretty unfortunate luck when it came to music aspirations. I had a couple of chances and then something always screwed it up. I think there was a lot of jealousy too. I remember going back to my high school even, after being on the East Coast for just a year and one former teacher mocked me in person, and went on and on abuot how some other girl had gone on to opera and was making a career out of it. I couldn't believe it. i was so stunned because I had never once bragged about singing and i downplayed if anything, when discovered, and yet this teacher had been jealous of me! or not liked me for some reason and thought she was rubbing something in when actually i thought it was wonderful that this really shy girl had gone on to do something wonderful. I do feel I was held back quite a lot, by others, for various reasons.