Once Upon a December...

I'm staring at stacks of papers and piles of clothes, my bed is an ultimate disaster and my suitcases are laid open in the middle of my floor. My wall is half decorated, a random gingerbread man sticks to my window, and my desk is so cluttered I can't see its top.

I'm packing. And it's 2 in the morning. Where did this semester go?

I have been so incredibly busy! In the last 2 weeks, I completed all 7 of my finals, performed in 4 classes, had 2 auditions and a vocal coaching with Victoria Browers, a classical soprano in SongFusion, an ensemble group in New York devoted to art song. She's fabulous. http://www.victoriabrowers.com. Check her out. The coaching was incredible, I was sick through both my auditions and performances and am surprised I'm still standing after the music history exam I had to take. I swear if I hear one more Latin church mass, I'm going to cry. But I made it. Here I am! I'm taking off for Idaho in 2 days. After that, it's England, then Italy, and a semester filled with adventuring is ahead! I feel very confident in this last semester. It was very challenging, but it was a semester filled with immense personal and musical growth.

Speaking of musical growth... I've reached a very exciting place in my voice. I've wanted to share it for the last two weeks with anyone I come in contact with. In my lessons, my voice teacher and I discovered this lovely little pocket that my voice sits so comfortably in. It's a new placement, and I don't know how to describe it except that it has made singing so much more effortless.

On the work front, everything is crazy. Don't work 30 hours during finals week. Just don't do it. If I could give you one suggestion ever, it would be this: don't work retail in New York City during the holidays. Wait I lied. Second suggestion: be overly kind to every salesperson you come in contact with. And hang up your clothes. And don't hide things in piles. And please, whatever you do, don't ask me a question when I have 10 pounds of clothes in both my hands and I'm walking up the stairs.

Christmas is magical in the city. I can never have enough of the holiday markets, music, ringing Santas, decorations and sparkle that everything seems to have at this time of year. I'm a romantic, I know it, but I just love everything about it.

I had the most incredible experience yesterday. The past few weeks have all been mind-blowing, but last night was phenomenal. Stephen Flaherty, composer of Lucky Stiff, Ragtime, Seussical, and the film Anastasia, was featured in a composer's forum at Steinhardt as a collaboration with the Society of Composers and Lyricists. Best of all? It was free to NYU students. So... Lauren and I spent last night listening to Stephen Flaherty talk about his inspiration for Lucky Stiff, Ragtime, Anastasia, his current work on Rocky the Musical in Hamburg (which a previous professor of mine produced). Remember last year when I met Tom Meehan? The writer of Hairspray, Annie, The Producers...? Well, Tom is the writer of Rocky the Musical, and Stephen Flaherty is the composer, and they both work with my professor, who is one of the producers on the project. Anyway, it's a very exciting work, it should be an interesting one to see once it transfers from the German stage to Broadway. So last night, I not only got to hear Stephen Flaherty chat about his life, but the singing voice of Anastasia, Liz Callaway, performed "Once Upon a December", "Journey to the Past", and a new song from the stage production of Anastasia that's in the works. It was fabulous! We spoke with both of them after the forum, talking to Mr. Flaherty about Rocky and Liz about her voice. Ah, it was amazing. It's such an inspiring reminder to me, just of what I'm working towards and what our industry really stands for.

Since I know it's been ages and a day since I last wrote, I'll also catch you up on the other exciting things that I've done. I saw the Mystery of Edwin Drood, and The Heiress. Both were fabulous, I recommend seeing either of them. The Heiress, with Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley of Downton Abbey), Jessica Chastain, and David Strithairn was a fabulous show. I loved the book, and I loved the storyline. My only problem was the line reading. Much of the delivery was very much the same. It sounded too rehearsed. Regardless, it was a fabulous show and David Strithairn blew my mind. Dan Stevens also allowed me to take a picture of him! (Geeking out) ... and I got his autograph. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was a very amusing melodramatic musical based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. The story is unique in that it was the last novel that Dickens wrote before he died. In fact, he left the book unfinished, taking the secret of the murderer to his grave. As many have theorized how Dickens intended to end his novel, others have been busy writing musicals like this one... and letting their audiences choose the ending instead. It was very interactive. We got to vote for our murderer, and the day we went, his fiancee, Rosa Bud, was our killer. It was a fabulous production with Stephanie J. Block (her voice is amazing), who is so fierce, she's incredible. Overall, an amusing tale and a very entertaining show, but my one complaint was that I couldn't understand a word they sang.

I feel confident in this post as a good summation of the month of December, and I again extend every apology for my lack of writing this semester. Since I'll be abroad in January, you can expect weekly posts again, as there will be much to report!

Coming home,

♥ Em