 The Opera Audition is a new blog, penned by Bill Florescu of Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Company. He has a lot to say on the audition process and how to hone those skills, and the writing’s pretty good — although he writes with a sort of stream-of-consciousness style, it’s easy to follow unlike so many other blogs available. You can join and subscribe through Google Friends. Opera Karaoke, a “virtual coach” for the classical singer, offers aria tracks and diction tracks for commonly studied arias across the repertoire. Tracks can be purchased individually, as needed, or a subscription plan is available for unlimited downloading. The tracks are on piano, not MIDI, the recordings are high-quality, and the samples we listed to showed a lot of musicality and knowledge of style. The site also offers two new services, where you can either request a new piece or purchase the rights to a track so it can be used in audition, performance or as part of a recording. Their collection is always growing, so keep an eye out! –LDG
|
|
Originally published in The Links #181, 7/20/09 |
