New York City

Some recent statistics from the life of Allison:

Number of days lived in Manhattan thus far: 50

Number of blisters developed from walking over said city: Probably around 20

Number of chinchillas seen eating pizza out of a man's hand at a local pizzeria while walking: 3

Number of classes I am taking at Mannes College this term: 10 (Ear Training, Dictation, Song Interpretation, Opera Scenes, Vocal Forum, Italian diction, Intro to Grad Studies, voice lessons and coachings, Mannes Repertory Vocal Ensemble, and I'm auditing a first-year French class at the New School, which Mannes is a part of.)

Number of Ear Training classes I missed before I found out I was registered for the class: 3. Normally this is grounds for failure, but the teacher had mercy on me.

Roommates: 2

Commute time to school (walking and subway): around 45 min. each way, but I like to give myself an hour to be safe.

Operas seen at the Met: 1 (Salome, starring Karita Mattila. So glad I will never have to sing that role. But props to Karita.)

Colds: One, and I still have it. Hack, hack.

Time waiting in line OUTSIDE Trader Joe's to get groceries: 20 minutes. Then I had to wait in line inside for about the same amount of time to buy the groceries. After suffering multiple collisions with other customers. It's really unbelievable in there.

Number of different languages, on average, that I hear spoken on the street as I head to school: around 10

Number of times I have spaced out on the train and missed my stop: at least 5

Number of times I have listened to Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder, instead of working on the music I'm supposed to be learning, in the last few days: At least 20.

Hopefully that gives you a little taste of my life. I am loving the city so far and think I could live here happily for quite some time. We'll see... I'm definitely a poor student, but having no money or furniture (Um, okay, I have a bed. And a desk. Otherwise my roommates, also poor students, and I live in a somewhat dark and cavernous apartment because we're too poor to buy couches or lamps or really anything besides ramen, in their case, and toast, in my case.) is an important experience for an artist, I feel. It definitely eliminates the distraction of shopping. Somewhat. I still look...

TTFN! Thanks to all my friends who have written. I'll try to stay in touch as well as I can!

La Bohème pics

I'll be singing "Si, mi chiamano Mimi" and "O soave fanciulla" at the Festa Italiana in Pioneer Square in Portland on Thursday, August 21st at 7:30 p.m. or so. Many of my lovely colleagues from PSU will be singing fun Italian rep as well. :)

Thank You!

A huge thank you to everyone who attended my recital on the 23rd. It was so wonderful to see familiar faces and faces that I hadn't seen in years, and it was especially wonderful to have my whole family there. :) Thank you for the privilege of sharing that music with you. I hope I can do it again in a few years! And if any of you happen to be in New York City...look me up!!
Love, Allison

Summer Recital

Here's the info on my summer recital. Riverside Church is a lovely space with a nice piano...should be a lovely evening!

Graduated!!!

I don't have my diploma in my hot little hand yet, but last week I finished my final term at PSU and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. Wahoo! Of course, I'm already swamped with the tasks of summer--moving, finding a job in Hood River, finding a job in New York, finding money for school, figuring out the cross-country move, and putting together a little benefit recital while I'm home (and I appreciate hearing any and all advice/information you may have on any of the above tasks).

I'll announce the recital when I have the details, but for now I'm working on a program that will probably include the Samuel Barber piece I did for my recital, "Knoxville: Summer of 1915", some art songs and arias. If I can get it, it will be at Riverside Church, since the piano is decent there, and will probably be on a weekday evening in late July.

Mannes

Now that things are official enough, I thought I would mention that I am planning to move to New York City in August in order to begin graduate studies at Mannes College. I had a wonderful voice lesson yesterday with Ruth Falcon, who has accepted me into her studio. Based on what we did and what I hear about her, I believe that she will really help me get my technique on solid ground. Yay! I'm getting excited...

Senior Recital

My senior recital will be held on May 31st at 7:30pm in Lincoln Recital Hall (LH75). I will be presenting Bellini's Sei Ariette, Berg's Sieben Frühe Lieder, Poulenc's Airs Chantés and Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Doug Schneider will accompany and I'm hoping it will be a great end to my tenure at PSU. I hope everyone can come!