Audition of my lifetime!

Hello all!

So sorry to have not been posting very much.  Such is life I guess.  But, I have an extraordinary story for today! Today it was like everything just magically came together by meeting one person.  Mary Sue, and I don't know her last name, was presenting a check to St. James Episcopal Church here in Florence this morning.  She had actually sat two rows behind me the whole service and I could tell she had some sort of musical experience when we were singing the hymns.  It was an extremely musical day today!  There was a wonderful tenor there today who sang three very lovely pieces, the last of which was Panis Angelicus as a duet with our music director.  He sang from the altar and she sang from the choir loft in the back of the church.  A-ma-zing.

Anyway, my morning was filled with music.  After the service, Mary Sue and I began talking about what I do and where I went to school.  She almost went to CMU for voice, but decided on Curtis instead.  Yeah...but she was a great friend of Lorenzo Malfatti and was actually in Lucca when I was there two years ago, we just never met!  I gave her my card and she saw Rotary and said, "hey, I'm a Rotarian!" and I proceeded to tell her that I'm an Ambassadorial Scholar and she demanded that we meet again sometime this week.  She also wants to go to a meeting this week, so I just sent a quick e-mail to try and find a meeting to go to this week and I'm very excited.  We talked off and on a bit more and it was all fantastic.

Afterwards I went with our guest tenor, Grahm, to grab a drink with Mary Sue and a music director at the music school in Fiesole.  So, Mary Sue and I began talking more about what I do, what I want to do, etc.  I talked about my senior recital and the recital I just did here so that she could get an idea of my rep, and when I mentioned the Old American Songs by Copland she taught me an amazing lesson.

Aaron Copland, Lee Hoiby, and Lorenzo Malfatti were three of the first Fulbright Scholarship winners EVER and they all studied in Italy at the same time.  Copland wrote the Old American songs FOR Malfatti, who did their world premiere at St. James Episcopal Church WHERE I SING IN ITALY and I sang six of the twelve on my recital, in St. James Episcopal Church.  O-M-G!  Chills when she explained this to me.  She also knew Copland and still knows Hoiby.  She thinks I should meet Hoiby and perform some of his work....

So, she said that she has to hear me sing.  Thus, we are meeting up on Tuesday of this week and I'll sing for her.  SO NERVOUS!  To me, this could really be the audition for me.  She knows so many people, and is so gracious, a Rotarian, graduated with Dr. Page's daughter from Curtis (yes, they're friends and were in the same class I believe).  And she wants me to come to Arizona, where she lives, and perform for like Rotary or something.  Ugh, overwhelming.  Anyway, that's the newest and biggest news.  Hopefully I'll have a great follow up this by the end of the week!