While I was there I paid a visit to my voice teacher from my high school days. I still often sing for her when I'm in town and just like the good ole days I always sound better when I leave than when I got there! I also stepped back in time 15 years when I went to my Alma Mater, Loyola University on their first day of school to meet up with a pianist who would be playing for me in a recording session later that day. When I'm in town I often go to Loyola for various musical activities, but there was something about being there on this particular day that took me back to a time when I could never have dreamed what my career path would look like. When I started my undergraduate degree, I knew I loved to perform and that I enjoyed singing classical music, but I had never been in an opera and I couldn't visualize myself performing in that art form. I also keep in close contact with my college voice teacher and enjoyed a quick visit with him in his studio while I was on campus. Since graduating from Loyola I've continued to check in with him with vocally, but I also have a professional relationship with him because he's the Director of Music for the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. I'm thankful every day for wonderful voice teachers who are also very special friends of mine!
I needed to get a couple of arias and musical theater selections recorded for audition purposes so I cashed in on a Living Social deal that my mother had purchased for me a while back. It was super fun to be in a fancy recording studio! In my previous experience making recordings, the singing (along with the piano accompaniment) and the recording equipment was just set up in an auditorium where a normal performance would take place. The acoustics in the room make a big difference in the quality of the sound! All in all, I was really happy with how this recording turned out :-)
While I was home I also promised my parents that I would attempt to make a homemade pizza a la Chef Paul. It came out really great and was surprisingly much easier than I thought it would be!
As soon as I arrived back in NYC I had to go directly to an audition! Singing an audition on the same day as flying is NOT my idea of an ideal performance situation, but with one audition could come work for years to come so I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity! It ended up going really well!
Here's hoping the Maestro who heard my audition thought it went as well as I did....