I spent my quarantine diligently memorizing my dream roles: Nedda (Pagliacci), Mimì (La bohème), Desdemona (Otelo) and Marguerite (Faust). I would do this hours a day and sometimes I would ask myself, “why am I doing this? It’s not like I’ve been hired to sing this!”
After the Austrian lockdown, I was asked to cover the role of Nedda for SommerSalon Wartholz in Austria, just outside of Vienna. Then yesterday I was asked to fill in for today’s rehearsal as Mimì. I only had to review the score a little before rehearsals, since I had already put in the hours of work during the lockdown.
While I don’t really believe in vision boards, I do believe in actively helping destiny. Whenever I have an audition for a role, I’ll sing through the opera and envision myself singing it at that particular theater…admittedly, rarely do these visions come to fruition for me, but it’s still fun to dream!
So far 2 out of the 4 roles I’ve been working on in quarantine have appeared immediately following the lockdown, hopefully my career follows in this direction for 2020!