Henry Cowell's The Banshee

About Banshees:

The Bean Sidhe or Banshee makes her appearance when someone in the household is about to die. She haunts only the families of the "high Milesian race" - those whose names have an "O", "Mac" or other prefix. One exception to this rule has been granted by virtue of the Irish poets who have given her to some of the Norman-Irish families - the FitzGerald's for example. In any event, she heralds the demise of only those who are of authentic noble stock and it is with great dread when her piercing "caoine" or keening is heard. In many respects, this mysterious creature resembles traditional Irish keeners or mourners of old; as with her mortal counterparts, those who have seen her describe her as drawing a comb through her hair, similar to tearing the hair out in anguish, which the ancient mourners used to do. Incidentally, or maybe not, while the Banshee is considered benign, she supposedly has a sister force who isn't; this force is called the Lianhan Sidhe and her sole purpose is to seek the love of mortal men. Their desire for her ultimately destroys them.

Henry Cowell performs in this 1933 Folkways recording.



A quick warning to anyone performing this work: do NOT clean the piano strings beforehand. Dust and dirt on the piano strings increases friction and helps to create a much bigger sound. Clean off the piano wire gunk and you'll lose over half of your sound in the piece.

The Choirmaster's Burial

The volume levels aren't too good on the transfer of this recording with Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Graham Johnson, so it might be worthwhile to follow along with Thomas Hardy's text once the video starts...

He often would ask us
That, when he died,
After playing so many
To their last rest,
If out of us any
Should here abide,
And it would not task us,
We would with our lutes
Play over him
By his grave-brim
The psalm he liked best—
The one whose sense suits
“Mount Ephraim”—
And perhaps we should seem
To him, in Death’s dream,
Like the seraphim1.

As soon as I knew
That his spirit was gone
I thought this his due,
And spoke, thereupon.
“I think,” said the vicar,
“A read service quicker
Than viols out-of-doors
In these frosts and hoars.
That old-fashioned way
Requires a fine day,
And it seems to me
It had better not be.”

Hence, that afternoon,
Though never knew he
That his wish could not be,
To get through it faster
They buried the master
Without any tune.

But ’twas said that, when
At the dead of next night
The vicar looked out,
There struck on his ken
Thronged roundabout,
Where the frost was graying
The headstoned grass,
A band all in white
Like the saints in church-glass,
Singing and playing
The ancient stave
By the choirmaster’s grave.

Such the tenor man told
When he had grown old.

The Ghost of Class Piano Studios Past

Via jesiiii on Flickr, a multi-keyboard monstrosity in vomitous yellow...

The Field Marshall from Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death

Death's triumphant ride over the battlefield, chillingly performed by Dmitri Hvorostovsky. [Hallowe'en hive call: who is the pianist in this video? He is awesome, but unnamed in the video's description.] Update: A huge thanks goes to Pamela for the positive ID on the pianist: he is none other than Ivari Ilja, a long-time collaborator with Hvorostovsky and head of the piano department at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Vladimir Horowitz Plays Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Liszt's program note on a scene from Lenau's Faust that was the idea behind Liszt's Mephisto Waltz #1:

There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song.

Vladimir Horowitz, piano

Franz Schubert's Der Doppelgänger

The narrator of Der Doppelgänger (text by Heinrich Heine) has a dark past he's dealing with and comes face to face with it in one of Schubert's darkest songs. He's not over his girlfriend yet, and even after she's moved away, he still stalks her former residence. To make matters worse, he comes face to face with the specter of his former self, also stalking his girlfriend's residence at the height of anguish. Face to face with the enormity of how far he has fallen, the ending of the song could not be more ambiguous. Is this a scene that he has repeated before? Or is the tonic major that ends the song a return of hope that might help him move on?

Jan Martiník's performance at Cardiff in 2009 (with Alexandr Starý on piano) is a brilliant reading of this dark and complex psychological portrait, one of Schubert's last.



You can find the English translation of Der Doppelgänger here.

Felix Mendelssohn's Hexenlied

The text of Hölty's Hexenlied is really a paganistic celebration of spring, but all the imagery of witches, goats, dragons, broomsticks and Beelzebub places Mendelssohn's setting perfectly into any Hallowe'en-themed festivities.

Gudrun Sidonie Otto, soprano
Wolfgang Brunner, Hammerklavier

Abandoned Piano, Desert Center School, California

(Via SoLostAndFound on Flickr)

Sviatoslav Richter Plays Le Gibet

Le Gibet from Gaspard de la Nuit: 3 Poèmes pour piano d'après Aloysius Bertrand

Sviatoslav Richter, piano

Ah! ce que j'entends, serait-ce la bise nocturne qui glapit, ou le pendu qui pousse un soupir sur la fourche patibulaire?

Serait-ce quelque grillon qui chante tapi dans la mousse et le lierre stérile dont par pitié se chausse le bois?

Serait-ce quelque mouche en chasse sonnant du cor autour de ces oreilles sourdes à la fanfare des hallali?

Serait-ce quelque escarbot qui cueille en son vol inégal un cheveu sanglant à son crâne chauve?

Ou bien serait-ce quelque araignée qui brode une demi-aune de mousseline pour cravate à ce col étranglé?

C'est la cloche qui tinte aux murs d'une ville sous l'horizon, et la carcasse d'un pendu que rougit le soleil couchant.

--Aloysius Bertrand (you can find the translation here)





(Image via neonwilderness)

Samuel Barber's Now I Have Fed and Eaten up the Rose

Over the next few days, the Collaborative Piano Blog will be celebrating Hallowe'en by posting videos of some of the spookiest vocal and instrumental works with piano. Hope you enjoy the orangy redesign, which will revert back to its regular look on November 1.

What a better way to start than with Samuel Barber's Now Have I Fed and Eaten up the Rose, with a text by James Joyce. A recently re-animated corpse remembers his lost love and munches on a rose, although no longer able to tell if it's a red or white one. Ángel Rodríguez Rivero is joined by pianist Laurence Vernà in a creepy song that might just make one reconsider burial in favor of cremation...

Collaborative Piano Studies at SUNY Fredonia

The School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia has just approved a Master of Music Degree in Collaborative Piano. The new program is currently accepting students for the 2011-12 academic year. Dr. Anne Kissel sends along the following information about the program and how you can apply:

The Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at SUNY Fredonia is an intensive program for pianists interested in developing an expertise in the vocal and instrumental collaborative repertoire. In addition to weekly lessons and coachings with Fredonia¹s esteemed performance faculty, students in the program take coursework in lyric diction, opera coaching, instrumental chamber music, and song repertoire. Students may have the opportunity to assist in productions of the Hillman Opera and to perform with Fredonia¹s distinguished large ensembles. SUNY Fredonia¹s collaborative masters students perform frequently with Fredonia¹s top student singers and instrumentalists in concerts and master classes, honing their craft as flexible performers of varied repertoire. Graduates of this select program will gain a breadth of experience and knowledge, enabling them to pursue a variety of different career paths on the stage, in opera, and in academia.

Auditions for the 2010-11 academic year will be held on February 26 and March 26. Candidates will select repertoire to prepare from a given list, which will include two contrasting instrumental sonatas, four songs, one aria, and one short solo piece (memorized), as well as sight reading. Collaborative partners will be provided at the audition.

For more information, please contact

Dr. Anne Kissel
2171 Mason Hall
(716) 673-3479

http://www.fredonia.edu/music/

Complete list of Degree and Diploma Programs in Collaborative Piano

Win 1 of 3 Free Copies of Gretchen Saathoff's Goal-Oriented Practice

I've always been a big fan of books about practicing. The combination of quick tips and longer narratives from different authors have been really useful to me in finding a practice process that works.

But the problem with many practice books is that once you read all the inspirational passages and put the book away, you can often forget how to put their ideas into practice once you get into the studio.

Being a gadget junkie, one of the first things I did when I downloaded Gretchen Saathoff's Goal-Oriented Practice ebook was find out how I could transfer it to my iPod Touch. Once I added the .pdf file to my iBooks shelf, I found that I could read and refer to the ebook right at the piano, which made all the difference.

Gretchen takes the physical set up of playing very seriously, and is a strong proponent of a healthy approach to the mechanics of playing. She spends a valuable amount of time looking at ergonomics, eliminating distractions, warm-ups, and learning processes. Her method of interspersing practical tips in bulleted form with slightly longer meditations and anecdotes helps to vary the flow of the ebook. Subsequent sections deal with a variety of useful tools, with titles such as "Practice Tools You Already Own", "Activate Your Practice With Your Animated SELF", "The Little Coach On Your Shoulder", and "Outside the Box".

If you actually spend the time reading this book at the piano (or other instrument) as a counterpoint to practicing, you'll get a much better sense of the questions that this book poses about the way you play and practice. If you decide to take the journey into the heart of the issues that Gretchen raises, it will probably take quite some time to really get the import of her words. Throughout the ebook, Gretchen's calm and guiding hand helps you towards the eventual realization that the ultimate guide to gauging your own artistic process lies within yourself, and can be accessed through tools you already possess. She also states that she is available at any time to answer your questions if you own the book.

The $24.95 price tag for Goal-Oriented Practice (available both here and here) is around the same as many competing books on practicing. Unlike paper books, once you own the ebook, you can read its .pdf file in many different ways (ie. from printed copy, on a computer, iPad, or smartphone), and I recommend a format that allows you to use it right at the piano. Compared to what a single lesson with Gretchen would cost, the ebook starts to look like a very good deal, and comes with customer support from Gretchen as well if you have any questions or further issues.

But wait.....

For the Collaborative Piano Blog's upcoming 5th birthday, Gretchen has graciously offered a free download of Goal-Oriented Practice to 3 lucky readers.

Here's how you can win:

Send an email to collaborative piano [at] gmail dot com with "Goal-Oriented Practice" in the title. The first three people to respond will win.

Update: 


Congratulations to the three winners, Ron, Andrei, and Tina! The competition is now closed.

A huge thank you goes to Gretchen Saathoff for making this deal available to CPB readers.

Dancing Under the Gallows

The world's oldest living Holocaust survivor is also one of the world's oldest pianists - this short documentary clip about 106-year-old Theresienstadt survivor Alice is required viewing for anyone interested in the power of music to overcome humanity's darkest moments.



(Thanks, Sheila!)

Collaborative Pianists in the News

Some recent mentions of collaborative pianists in the news:

• Pepperdine University's Shari Raynor performs with cellist Andrew Janss at a fundraiser for the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic
• Anita Pontremoli, head of the Cleveland Institute of Music's collaborative piano program, performs with violinist Andrew Sords at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio.
• Jeffrey Uhlig performs at Tel Hai in Honey Brook, Pennsylviania with harpist Andrew Tarantiles
• Dickinson College faculty members Eun Ae Baik-Kim and mezzo soprano Lynn Helding present Poetry into Music, Music into Poetry
• Condolences go to the family of Celia Rowley, who recently passed away at the age of 94. Celia was a pianist who worked with Noel Coward, Vera Lynn, and Julie Andrews, among others.
• Simon Estes reunited with his long-time pianist Harold Brown (no relation to Vancouver's Harold Brown, to the best of my knowledge) for two fundraisers in Cedar Falls, Iowa

Job alert: Billie Whittaker sends word of a staff accompanist position at Kentucky State University, to be filled ASAP.

Finally, here is pianist Liz Ames with the Arizona State University Schola Cantorum and trumpeter Randolph Lee performing Calwell and Ivory's Joshua, conducted by Kira Rugen:

Nikola Aleksic and Hilda Svan Play the Beethoven 7th Violin/Piano Sonata

Sonata for Piano and Violin in C minor, Op. 30 #2, first movement

Nikola Aleksic, violin
Hilda Svan, piano

Recorded at the SANU concert hall in Belgrade, Serbia

Call for Pianists: Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, May 2-22, 2011

The Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, once again happening in the beautiful campus of the University of Western Ontario, is once again looking for young coaches interested in participating in COAA's Pianist Program. Some details:

The Canadian Operatic Arts Academy offers an international program for pianists who aspire to excel in the world of opera. Pianists will gain experience as repetiteurs playing for masterclasses, musical rehearsals, staging rehearsals and private coachings with singers. In addition, pianists will have the rewarding opportunity of working with our distinguished faculty pianists in private lessons and classes to become skilled at the art of vocal coaching and more proficient in their operatic keyboard technique. This year we have the honour of welcoming back as our special guest internationally renowned pianist Martin Katz. This program provides an invaluable opportunity for pianists with a vocal accompanying background to further their training and prepare for professional opportunities in the operatic world.

Prospective pianists will need to audition with two arias with a singer, two operatic excerpts to be played while singing the vocal lines, and a short solo work. Applicants will also need to provide a vocal repertoire list.

The cost for the program is $700 CDN, and the audition fee is $45. The deadline for auditioning applicants is October 28, and if you want to send in a DVD instead, you have until November 15 to have your application received.

The Canadian Operatic Arts Academy
Pianist Application Form

(Thanks, Carolyn!)

Call For Singer/Pianist Duos: Tapestry's New Opera 101 in Toronto

Being a singer or pianist in the world of contemporary opera is a highly specialized affair. Singers need to be not just fluent sight readers and fast learners, but at the same time be able to use their body to create a character from the ground up, respond to direction, and be able to make text, musical, or dramatic changes on a moment's notice. Pianist need to be sight reading ninjas, as well as expert score readers so they can play both piano/orchestra parts and vocal lines at the same time from a score that might have been written the night before.

Up to now, learning the skills to excel in this field has been somewhat difficult, as the musicians who do this work tend to be the ones who have previously done similar work before. However, companies such as Tapestry New Opera are starting to realize the importance of training the next generation of singers and pianists in these specialized skills so that in the coming years, more of them will have the skills to create and interpret new operatic works.

Part of my work this last summer as Leadership Legacy Intern at Tapestry was to create an ongoing studio series program to bring more musicians and audiences into the company. Part of that project was New Opera 101, a day-long master class for singers and pianists, culminating in The Tapestry Songbook, an evening of arias from Tapestry's recent repertory. Although I'm not listed below, I'll also be one of the clinicians and will work with both the singers and pianists.

The day of the workshop will be January 22nd 2011, which is none other than the International Day of Collaborative Music, and this project is part of my participation in MTNA's IDCM initiative.

From the New Opera 101 page:

On January 22, 2011, Tapestry New Opera will offer an all day event for six singer/pianist duos. Managing Artistic Director Wayne Strongman and Studio Company members Xin Wang, soprano, and Peter McGillivray, baritone will be the clinicians for the Master Class and Workshop components.

They will discuss the role of singers and pianists in the process of creating, developing and producing new opera. Each duo will be coached by the clinicians in two assigned arias from the soon to be published Tapestry Songbook. Clinicians will share their techniques of new opera score preparation in an ensemble reading workshop. Following the master class, duos will be given the opportunity to perform in the first ever concert of The Tapestry Songbook, open to the public.

New Opera 101 is intended not only as a tool for the growth of artists but as a way for Tapestry to discover emerging talent.

Applications are available online (as of October 1) with submissions due in the Tapestry offices on Friday October 29, 2010. Singers and pianists apply as a duo.

Applicants must jointly submit an application form, two letters of recommendation, one CD of the duo performing two contemporary works, one of which must be in English, and an application fee of $10 payable by cheque, Visa or Mastercard.

Successful applicants will be notified by email on November 5, 2010.

Each duo will be assigned two arias from the Tapestry Songbook. Music will be sent upon receipt of a program fee of $200 per duo. Program fees must be paid no later than November 19, 2010.

New Opera 101 participants will receive free admission to the Tapestry Songbook concert. Otherwise, tickets are available for $20 for students/arts workers and at the regular rate of $25.

A limited number of auditors will be admitted to the program at a cost of $25 (or $45 including concert admission.)

Once again, singers and pianists will need to apply as preformed duos. The deadline for applications will be Friday, October 29, so get going on those demo recordings if you want to have it in on time.

Singer/Pianist Application Form
Auditor Application Form

RIP Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Sutherland, one of the legendary sopranos of the opera stage, has died. She was 83.

(This post will be updated as more articles and remembrances are published.) Below are some tributes that have appeared in print over the last few hours:

Updated Wikipedia article
Anthony Tommasini's notice in the NY Times
Obituary by Anthony Tommasini in the NY Times
Obituary in the Telegraph
Opera Chic's remembrance
Obituary by Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian
Joan Sutherland: the greatest soprano ever? by Martin Kettle
Addio, Stupenda by Anne Midgette
Notice in the WSJ Speakeasy
Norman Lebrecht's notice in Slipped Disc
Norman Lebrecht's commentary on BBC's coverage
Graeme Leech in the Australian
Matthew Westwood in the Australian
Michael Shmith in The Age
A remembrance in the Sydney Morning Herald
Manuela Hoelterhoff in Bloomberg News
BBC News notice
TheaterMania notice


Here is a 1982 video of Joan Sutherland with her husband Richard Bonynge on piano performing "Tornami a vagheggiar" from Handel's Alcina.

Bartok's Contrasts featuring Paul Blöcher, Tibor Varga, and Géza Anda

Contrasts for clarinet, violin, and piano by Béla Bartók

Paul Blöcher, clarinet
Tibor Varga, violin
Géza Anda, piano

I. Verbunkos (Recruiting Dance)
II. Pihenő (Relaxation)
III. Sebes (Fast Dance)





You can find more information about the Bartok Contrasts on Wikipedia. Anda's recording of Contrasts can be found on Edition Géza Anda - Vol. IV: Bartók.

Contrasts (for Violin, Clarinet and Piano). By Bela Bartok (1881-1945). Edited by Nelson Dellamaggiore, Peter Bartok, and nelson Dellamaggiore, Peter Bartok. Piano trio. Parts. BH Chamber Music. Book only. 82 pages. Boosey & Hawkes #M060115004. Published by Boosey & Hawkes (HL.48012224) ...more info

Warren Jones' Collaborative Pianist of the Year Acceptance Speech

Here are a few remarks from Warren Jones, Musical America's 2010 Collaborative Pianist of the Year, on receiving his award in December 2009:

Thomas Oliemans and Malcolm Martineau Recording Schwanengesang in London

Thomas Oliemans and Malcolm Martineau are releasing a CD of Schubert's Schwanengesang next month (I'll update with more info once it becomes available). Here they are recording and talking about Schubert in All Saints Church in London earlier this year:

Claude Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis

Even today, many people are surprised to learn that Pierre Louÿs' "translations" of Bilitis aren't actually translations at all, but a very clever fraud foisted upon the literary establishment. Even though Claude Debussy only set three texts from the entire Louÿs/Bilitis collection, they are some of his most memorable songs, both brilliant and enigmatic. The video below features soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalish.

I. La flûte de Pan
II. Le chevelure
III. Le tombeau des Naïades



Maggie Teyte's 1936 recording with Alfred Cortot is also worth a listen, if only to hear one of Debussy's favorite singers performing alongside one of the great Debussy (and Chopin!) interpreters of the early 20th century:



If you're performing Chansons de Bilitis, it's worth reading Pierre Louÿs' Songs of Bilitis in its entirety, which you can find here. A very clever case of literary fraud indeed.

Songs of Claude Debussy - Volume II (The Vocal Library). By Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Arranged by James R. Briscoe. Medium Voice. Vocal Collection. 184 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.660283) ...more info

L'invitation au voyage faceoff: Duparc vs. Chabrier

The year is 1870.

Construction on a bridge linking Manhattan to Brooklyn has just commenced. Rome is announced as the capital of a newly unified Italy. Louis Riel flees a failed Red River Rebellion in Saskatchewan. The Third Republic begins in France with the expulsion of Napoleon III.

Two French composers, each of whom will be lauded as a great composer of French art song, set a poem by the newly emerging symbolist poet Charles Baudelaire.

A setting by the 22-year-old "neurasthenic" Henri Duparc will be one of only a handful of songs, but one that ensures his reputation, to be performed by legions of young singers and pianists for the next 140 years. This recording features bass-baritone Jose van Dam with pianist Maciej Pikulski:



Emmanuel Chabrier, nearly 30, perhaps drew much of his inspiration from the Impressionist painters whom he spent time with, namely Claude Monet and Édouard Manet. Unlike Duparc, Chabrier chose to set the entire Baudelaire text, and added bassoon for further color. This performance features soprano Felicity Lott, bassoonist Ursula Levaux, and pianist Graham Johnson.



Which setting do you prefer? Why?

The Song Recital, Reimagined

One of the interesting ways forward for the song recital may involve reinventing the relationship of new to  old. A recent recital by soprano Julia Fox and pianist Keith Weber in Houston featured the juxtaposition of Aaron Copland's 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson with the music on the rest of the program. From Bruce Robinson's account of the recital:

The performers divided the program into six sets, three each before and after intermission. Sets 1, 3, 4 and 6 consisted of Copland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. The interior sets of each half leavened the mix with songs of Bernstein, Monteverdi, Purcell and David Evan Thomas, as well as an improvisation by Mr. Weber.

At the end of each set the performers paused and sat down, perhaps sixty seconds each time. Did they need rest? No. Did the audience? Absolutely.

Update:

Erica Sipes sends word about a similar approach she will be using in an upcoming Love.Songs program in Whitewater, Wisconsin. A quote from Erica's Twitter feed:

@TheodoreSipes & I did something like that on a recent program of ours. Before each Respighi song we did, he stepped 2 side of stage, we projected the entire poem up on screen, had some sound effects in background that related 2 upcoming song after about a minute, I started the intro. It was so refreshing 4 both the audience and ourselves. A neat experience.

You can read in much greater detail about Erica's recital concept at her Love.Songs blog.

Wikio's Top 20 Classical Music Blogs for October 2010

Here are the top 20 classical music blogs for October 2010, courtesy of Wikio's blog-ranking algorithm:

1	Clef Notes
2	Nico Muhly
3	Adaptistration
4	The Opera Tattler
5	Musical Assumptions
6	Sandow
7	Opera Chic
8	Sequenza21/
9	Opera Today
10	oboeinsight
11	Intermezzo
12	PostClassic
13	Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog
14	The Collaborative Piano Blog
15	MusicaSacra
16	Prairie Oboe Companion
17	Proper Discord
18	Andrew Patner: The View from Here
19	A Beast in a Jungle
20	The Stark Raving Cello Blog

Ranking made by Wikio

(Down to 14th this month...must....blog.....harder....)

Pedal Like a Ninja

Sometimes my students have better ideas than I do.

A few days ago, one of my students was pedaling accurately but heavily, with a telltale thunka-thunka-thunka every time the pedal went up or down. I told him that with pedaling, you need to hear its effects but without hearing the pedaling itself.

“You mean Ninja pedaling,” he calmly said. “You never hear them coming, but you know when they’ve been around.”

A brilliant analogy.

He tried it. It worked first time. The same correct pedaling, but this time without any extraneous sounds.

Now when any of my students pedal too loudly, I calmly tell them that they need to pedal like a ninja. The same syncopated, rhythmic, or flutter pedaling that they're used to, but silent. Furtive. Invisible.

Call for Auditions - Tapestry New Opera

Collaborative Piano Blog readers will know about my ongoing engagement with Tapestry New Opera, one of the world's leading creation and development centers for new operatic work.

As part of Tapestry's current studio season, they will be auditioning singers from October 19-21 in the Ernest Balmer Studio in Toronto's Distillery District. October 19 and 20 will be Equity days, and non-Equity singers can audition on the 21st. From the audition posting, here's the type of singer that Tapestry is looking for:

Singers interested in working with the company should have a strong interest in participating in the development and performance of new works of opera and demonstrate excellent acting skills.

Applicants should ensure that they are familiar with Tapestry’s mandate prior to applying and should keep the mandate in mind when choosing audition repertoire.

You'll need to bring two arias, one from 1950 or later. I'll be playing for the auditions on Tuesday the 19th and Thursday the 21st.

To arrange your audition, send an email to audition [at] tapestrynewopera dot com. Hope to see you there!