It is hard to believe it has been just over three months since I resigned from my job at the ASO. It is even harder to believe we are already on day seven of the new year! Didn't we just celebrate flipping the calendar yesterday?!
I will try to make this short, but a whole hell of a lot has happened in the last 90 days! I finished out my time at the ASO, took three weeks to sing a recital and prepare to move my entire life to a foreign land, then flew to Italy. I arrived in Rome on 12 November 2018. Since then, I have learned to get around on the Roman transit system, which is very rarely on-time. I have lost weight, despite eating pasta, bread, and cheese practically every day - I assume because I am constantly walking. I've visited Stuttgart, Germany, Bruges and Brussels, Belgium, Vienna, Austria, and Milan, Italy. I've also done a very tourist-y tour of Rome. I'm learning enough Italian to get me around but am studying German more strictly, since that is where I'll be living. I move to Berlin in T minus 25 days!!! Side note: I often speak a weird combination of Germishian (German, English, and Italian LOL) for the first few seconds of basically any conversation.
On to the career... Yah is so amazing. Within the first ten days of being in Rome, I was offered a job to sing a series of concerts in Berlin the last week of December. Over the course of eight days, I sang twelve concerts with Donna Brown and the Golden Gospel Pearls. It was a lot of work, but it was SO MUCH FUN! I will be a featured soloist with them again this coming Thursday, 11 January, at the Berlin Philharmonie! Additionally, I was asked to serve as the Soprano Soloist in Haydn's Little Organ Mass for a concert in July in Vienna, Austria at St. Stephen's Cathedral (yeah, the super famous one in the middle of town)!!! I have a voice over audition coming up soon, and I have been asked to do a 15-minute "not-so-TED" talk at an event this week. I've never done either, so I'm expecting to add fun and successful experiences to my memoirs :)
Most importantly, however, I have made great progress on the voice lesson front. Each day, I get a little better, a litter closer to where I need to be. I LOVE my voice teacher. Not only is she an amazing teacher, she is an amazing human. I'm so grateful to know her and even more grateful to learn from her. Although I've decided to present Lyric Soprano rep at the moment, which is where I currently feel most comfortable, Delia (my teacher) says I will be singing more dramatic rep, after the technique is solid.
This post is getting long, so I'll wind it down with this: I am so blessed to have the opportunity to learn, study, and focus on my artistic career without the distraction of a corporate job, family responsibilities, or the like. I am doing my best to make the most of it, while taking advantage of living in this beautiful space. My foundation is Yah and knowing that He has taken care of all of my needs. It is this knowledge that allows me to live freely, without stress and worry, and to live joyfully. Praise the Mighty Yah, from whom all blessing flow!