We want to hear from you! Welcome to a new series on the Auditions Plus Blog. We want to share your experiences with other singers, teachers, and performers. So if you attended or are attending a Summer Program, complete a Young Artist Program, sang in a vocal competition, had a great audition, attend a stirring concert or opera, or performed in new event, let us know about it so we can share it with others. Write your experience up and email it to Alex Stoddard at info@classicalsinger.com.
Here is our first entry from Shiri Hershkovitz. She attended the “Flagstaff in Fidenza” summer program and she shares here experience.
Waking up in Italy every day for a month, inhaling the sweet scent of the air, passing by the old soulful buildings, savoring the simplest most delicious food, and on top of all – practicing, rehearsing, learning, performing, and being surrounded by the greatest of Italian music.
The 200 years-old theatre of Fidenza, its velvety red seats, golden decorated cells, and heavenly ceiling paintings are absorbed with history. All of the above have seen, heard, and felt Verdi’s music reverberates under his own baton. We were very lucky to rehearse and perform in this meaningful and exceptionally beautiful historic venue.
For the third time I was very lucky to be part of the wonderful summer festival “Flagstaff in Fidenza”. This special collaboration between the American university and the Italian city creates an extremely professional and intense, yet fun and colorful experience. In this multi-cultured environment young singers easily learn, grow, and widen their horizons.
This summer I have learned the true importance of support in the opera field. The paths of about 30 very talented, good-hearted singers merged in such an organic way. The bonds were created immediately. I have never encountered in my life such a supportive group of singers; nurturing and inspiring each other, and so eager to learn from one another. On these magical foundations of support a safe environment was created. There, the singers could try new things, make mistakes, succeed, and bloom in the healthiest way.
The devoted, attentive, and caring faculty took us hand by hand through the delicate and profound process of creation. With tremendous patience, each singer received the most detailed supportive personal guidance. During the course of a month one could easily sense the development and growth of the participants on the richly knowledgeable and supportive ground that the faculty has created.
Not very often in our lives we have experiences that feel whole and complete. Not very often in our lives we truly know what it feels like when a dream comes true. This June I was very lucky to experience, to bond, to understand, to create, to grow, and to embody – the place, the time, the dream, the music.
– Shiri Hershkovitz (Violetta), “Flagstaff in Fidenza” 2013.
