UMKC!

Well, my next audition was at KU, but I will skip that for the moment to talk about UMKC.  I almost didn't make the audition because I got lost in Kansas City...how embarrassing.  But, thanks to my brother, I was able to get directions and make it to the College of Music at UMKC.  I was very excited to sing that day.  I did not have a positive audition at KU and the Michael Jordan mentality was coming out, I was angry, and this was my last audition of my current run - of which I was very anxious for anyway.  I was very prepared to go in there and give it my all.  So, in short, thanks to the water I forgot in my car that lead me to over produce phlegm, which gave a little extra weight in the voice, I gave a great (yet loud) performance.  I gave it my all, as far as the acting went, and I had nothing to lose.  My high notes were entirely free, and very full...awkwardly so because of the phlegm, yet I enjoyed every minute of it.  The audition was very professional, not too much personal interaction.  I started with "Ich trage meine Minne" - killed the high notes, I might add - then they chose "Questa o quella" - a very difficult Verdi aria, which I sang ok - the high note (B flat) was decent, but the very last A flat was gorgeous, and I held it extra long, for showing-off's sake, and finally they wanted to hear half of a difficult Mozart aria that I offered called "Dies Bildniss".  I think they intended for me to just sing the beginning, but I was in MJ mode and I was singing my high notes well, so I asked to sing the very end - the most difficult part - and I just left it all on the table.  Singing is very much a sport to me; you must be very athletic to perform some of the sounds that we have to create, and still be very agile and delicate; it's a very difficult thing to do but it's exhilarating.  I was very happy with how the audition went, and honestly, it was a marker for what was to come.  At that time I was suffering difficult allergy problems that I was unaware of.  Once I figured out that I was having a large allergy problem and got it fixed, I was able to sing with some depth of which I haven't had before.  I will talk about some of my next events in upcoming posts such as my KU audition, NATSAA competition, and KSU's spring opera.  Please come see me in concert in March, April, and May if I am in your area.

BRYAN'S MARCH SCHEDULE

March 23 - KSU Choir Concert - St. Thomas Moore Church - Manhattan, KS 7:30pm
March 27 - I'll be presenting a MASTERCLASS - Kansas Wesleyan University - 2-5pm
March 28 - IN CONCERT - Family Recital Series - University United Methodist Church - Salina, KS 2pm (a concert mostly of art song in English, Italian, German, French, and Spanish - with selected opera and oratorio arias)

BRYAN'S APRIL/MAY SCHEDULE
I will get the specific date, time, location for all these in the next few days

Easter Services - UUMC - Salina, KS
Tenor Soloist - MESSIAH by Handel - Flint Hills Masterworks Chorale
KSU Choir Tour
Schubert  Mass in G and Bernstein Chichester Psalms with KSU Orchestra
Master's Voice Recital
Solo Concert of various pieces by J. S. Bach
Master's Conducting Recital
Singing the National Anthem at my Graduation

P.S. I have just heard the news with in the last hour, and I quote: 

Dear Bryan,

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the Doctoral of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The application pool was highly competitive this year, and we are very pleased to invite you to join us for the Fall 2010 semester.