Opera di UAB

Well, after much anticipation, I found out tonight what my role in UAB Opera Workshop is this semester. I will be in three different roles at our Opera Scenes "Singer's Showcase" performance on November 9, 2007, 7:00 p.m. at the Hulsey Recital Hall in the Hulsey Center at UAB.

Here is a quick rundown of the various Opera Scenes that will be showcased that night:

Classicism / Neo-classicism

Act III Recitative and Sextet from The Marriage of Figaro
Marcellina: Crystal Whatley
Figaro: Chris Reid
Count: Jonathan Riddle
Bartolo: Howard Hall
Don Curzio: Brian Denton
Susanna: Samantha Pace

Act I Recitative and Duet “La ci darem la mano” from Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni: Jonathan Riddle
Zerlina: Whitney Cummins

Act I Finale from Cosí fan tutte
Fiordiligi: Meredith Foster
Dorabella: Katie Smith
Despina: Marybeth Verchot
Ferrando: Kiyoshi Scissum
Guglielmo: Howard Hall
Don Alfonso: Chris Reid

INTERMISSION

Act I, No. 5 Quintet, followed by dialogue from The Magic Flute
Papageno: Jonathan Riddle
Tamino: Sean Fleischman
1st Lady: Samantha Pace
2nd Lady: Crystal Whatley
3rd Lady: Whitney Cummins

Act III from The Rake’s Progress
Anne: Marybeth Verchot
The Keeper: Howard Hall
Tom: Kiyoshi Scissum
Father: Chris Reid
Chorus: all (including Keeper), offstage

Trio from The Impresario
Madame Goldentrill: Meredith Foster
Mademoiselle Silverpeal: Samantha Pace
The Impresario: Brian Denton

I can't wait to do these. I do, however, need to research them so I can learn more about the various Opera scenes and the characters I'm to portray. I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress.

ALSO, just in case you would like more information on UAB Opera, you can visit the UAB Opera blog at http://uabopera.blogspot.com. This is where our director, Dr. Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk (pronounced Vice-check) writes about upcoming Opera events as well as her Voice Studio classes. ALSO be sure to check out UAB's Choir blog by Dr. Philip Copeland at http://uabchoirs.blogspot.com for more information about performances and interesting nuances about the UAB Choir of which I'm so fond of.

Well, I've got to be up for work at FIVE O'CLOCK in the morning at Starbucks in Vestavia, so I'm about to go to bed.

Goodnight all!

Back in the Groove...

Well, summer is officially over for me. Well, actually, it ended last Wednesday when school started. But now I'm finally getting back into the groove of getting up early and going to class. For those of you who want to know, here is a quick rundown of my schedule for the Fall semester at UAB:

Monday
Woodwind Methods Class: 8:00 - 8:50
Music Theory I: 9:00 - 9:50
Aural Skills I: 10:00 - 10:50
Concert Choir: 2:00 - 2:50
Chamber Singers: 4:00 - 5:15
Education as a Profession: 5:30 - 7:20

Tuesday
Teaching and Technology: 9:30 - 12:15
Concert Choir: 2:00 - 3:15
Opera Workshop: 3:30 - 5:15

Wednesday
Woodwind Methods Class: 8:00 - 8:50
Music Theory I: 9:00 - 9:50
Aural Skills I: 10:00 - 10:50
Voice Lessons: 11:00 - 11:30
Music Convocation: 12:00 - 12:50
Concert Choir: 2:00 - 2:50
Chamber Singers: 4:00 - 5:15

Thursday
Concert Choir: 2:00 - 3:15
Opera Workshop: 3:30 - 5:15

Friday
Woodwind Methods Class: 8:00 - 8:50
Music Theory I: 9:00 - 9:50
Aural Skills I: 10:00 - 10:50
Voice Lessons: 11:00 - 11:30
Voice Performance Class: 12:00 - 12:50
Concert Choir: 2:00 - 2:50
Chamber Singers: 4:00 - 5:15

So as you can see, I've got alot of things going on this semester. I'm also working two jobs right now, Starbucks in Vestavia (throughout the week) and Lakeshore Foundation (on Saturdays). Depending on how school goes the next few weeks, I might have to adjust my availibility at Starbucks to allow for more study time...not sure about this just yet. I know i've got to work so I can pay rent and gas and such, but I've got to have time for studying as well. I'm really enjoying all of my classes right now. I like the atmosphere at UAB. Especially being in the Music Department. Being in the choir at UAB is awesome. We've only had 3 rehearsals so far, but they have been amazing and we've almost learned a couple of songs entirely. IT'S GREAT!!!

Well, I've got to go check on my laundry before I get ready to leave for choir. I hope to get some comments on this.

Later peeps!

The Move

Well, yesterday, August 17, 2007, I moved into my new apartment at the University House in Birmingham. Mom and Dad helped me move (which took up most of the day). But it is a very comfortable apartment. I actually slept really well last night, which was surprising (I usually have a difficult night's sleep on a different bed than mine at home). But everything went well. I think I'm going to like my roommates. They are D.J. Taylor, Jerrell Leonard, and Drew Holden. We each have our own bedroom and bathroom and we share the kitchen, living room, and washer/dryer. The guys seem really nice and easy to get along with.

Roxy Nelson is my neighbor down the hall. Last night she came over to my apartment and I cooked us some frozen pizza and we had salad with it. It was good. I then helped her move some things in her apartment. The only weird thing about the new apartment is that they don't have our cable and internet on the 1st and 3rd floors (which conveniently enough includes me because I'm on the 3rd floor). The office said that it should be fixed today, but i'm not getting my hopes up. I'm currently at work (Lakeshore Foundation) and I've got my laptop here using our wonderful WiFi.

I've got to work tonight at Starbucks after I get off here at 5. BLEH!! But I get off at 10:30, so its not that bad. I'll just be really tired tomorrow at church...which i've got to be there at 7 for music team rehearsal...but thats a good thing! :)

Well, I'm going to wrap this up for now. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon of the new apartment.

Until then,

Brian

Just In Case You Wanted To Know...

If anyone is in doubt of what to get me for my birthday on April 5, I would love to go see Spamalot when it comes to town April 1-6, 2008.



I'm getting ready to go to work now, so I'll probably write more later.

Later!

Oklahoma!: The Aftermath

Well, tomorrow, August 5, it will be one week since we closed with Gardendale Art's Council's summer production of Oklahoma!, a musical by Rogers and Hammerstein. In it, I portrayed the part of Ike Skidmore, a rancher. It always "feels funny" after you finish with a show. You have that weird void in your life that once was filled with hours of rehearsal and preparation each night leading up to a production and then afterwards, it "feels funny." Monday night was especially weird because I thought to myself, "Ok, so now what...what am I going to do now that I've got this free time on my hands?"

But life is back to normal now...as normal as it can be with school coming up, moving in to my new apartment in a couple of weeks, placement auditions for UAB Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, and auditions for UAB Opera, not to mention I'm about to start working a reduced schedule at Lakeshore Foundation (I'm only able to work on Saturdays there because of school this semester) and I'm about to start my other job at Starbucks in Vestavia Hills (I had to find a job that will supplement my income from Lakeshore so I can pay RENT and other things). I start training there on Monday.

Enough of that for now...

So I thought I'd write a little bit about my thoughts after Oklahoma!.

We began rehearsals in June and at first I didn't know quite what to expect. I was in a show with only a few friends in it that I've worked with in previous shows and alot of new people that I had never met before. Well, that soon changed. I don't know what it is about me, but people seem somewhat drawn to me. Not long after we began rehearsals had I began to make new friends, such as: James Whited, Melissa Shirley, Anna Mitchell, Monica Graham, Leah Jennings, and Lee Emond, just to name a few. I also rekindled some old friendships from previous times in my life (high school and other productions), such as: Carrie Couchman, Trent Loggins, Olivia Bannister, Courtney Parker, and Grant Bowen. So, rehearsals began and things started to progress. Lines were worked on first then we began to have music rehearsals, which I assisted our music director, Ginny Hughes, with. After all the rehearsing and all the preparation, it came time for production which was July 26-28, 2007. Production was held at the Gardendale Civic Center Complex's Exhibition Hall at 7 p.m. nightly.

On OPENING NIGHT (which by the way...IT'S BAD LUCK TO SAY GOOD LUCK ON OPENING NIGHT..."if you do, i tell you, it is certain by the curtain you are through..." <--a line from The Producers), SOMEONE ::ahem:: made the horrendous, TABOO, theatrical mistake of saying "GOOD LUCK." Needless to say, opening night wasn't as good as it could've been. We had sound issues all night...songs coming in at the wrong time, large gaps of silence where there should've been music, mic issues, ect. Other than those issues, opening night was a success. Heh, I actually had people come up to me afterwards each night and ask me for my autograph. Afterwards, we went to some place in Fultondale for a cast dinner.

The second night of production went alot smoother than opening night, although we still had some sound glitches. WE WERE SOLD OUT!!! It was a great performance, but the audience wasn't very responsive...er, they could've been more responsive. After that night's performance, James, Melissa, Courtney, Brad and myself went to Waffle House (or as some would call it Vavvle Hovse). Hilarities ensued...canabals!!

And on the third and last night of production, WE WERE SOLD OUT as well!!! In my opinion, the third night was the BEST night of production. We got to act out more on stage...TRENT fell!! That was hilarious...well, not at first, but then we all laughed about it. My accent was SOOO country that night...I mean, it was country because of the dialect used in the performance, but I made it extra southern that night. It was a very "funny" night. Lets just say, we all had a "feel funny" moment on stage the last night [this is one of those things that only people in the play would get...so just ignore it]. Afterwards, we ALL went to O'Charley's in Fultondale to celebrate [which was somewhat dissatisfying due to the restaurant's staff's unwillingness to cooperate with our reservations...it was frustrating].

All in all, this was a great thing that happened to me this summer. I have kept in contact with my new friends since Oklahoma and a few of us actually had a grand adventure last night. Actually, tonight Melissa, James, Trent, myself, and others are going to hang out again. FUN!!

Well, I had better wrap this up. I would like to accomplish some other things here at work today.

Later peeps!!

BE SURE TO LEAVE ME COMMENTS ABOUT THIS!!

;)