chichisalsa

The Prince Georges Sentinel follow-up article has come out!!! The article talks about my concert in Nigeria, my performances at the Fringe Festival and next steps!!! Check out the article by clicking on the link below!!


http://www.thesentinel.com/314806661178251.php

Also, here is a review by a Nigerian newspaper ( This Day newspaper) of my concert at the MUSON Center in Lagos on June 24th. Click the link below to read the article:

http://www.nigerians-abroad.com/news/headlines/one-lustrous-evening-at-the-muson

School starts in 7 DAYS!!! Wow, how the summer has FLOWN!! I am soooo excited! I am signed up for 18 credits: Voice lessons, Music Theory, Class Piano and Ear training, German, Choir, Comparative Literature of Non-Western cultures, Performance Attendance and MATH! The Math was not my choice, they are making me take it again, everyone is required to have current math credits to get a Bachelors degree from the University. And, after my placement test, the put me in REMEDIAL math for a few weeks before I can go on to regular Math!!! HAHAHA!!! I am not offended, the last time I took Math was in 1998 (Calculus, and I got an A) so I am sure I just need to brush up and I will ace this course. Despite all the Math, being back in school is totally one of my dreams coming TRUE!!!! YAY!!!! And the really cool thing is Curtis Bannister is going to be at Maryland also, getting his Masters in Music!!! Curtis is the awesome tenor with whom I sang a big duet with orchestra at AIMS in Austria!!! Can we say more duets anyone??? ;-)

Check out my website: http://www.chinweenu.com

Check out my myspace page http://www.myspace.com/chinweenu

They are both almost finished! I just need to add recordings to both sites and the rest of my press articles to my website. Let me know what you think!!!

;-)

The Prince George's Sentinel is writing another article about me!!! I got a call from a reporter today and she told me the Sentinel wanted to do a follow up article about me and my concert in Nigeria, and what I will be doing next. She interviewed me over the phone and we talked for almost an hour. I also directed her to talk to my mentor, Charles Williams. She called him and talked to him about me and about what he was doing also!!! REALLY COOL! Can't wait to see the article, it should come out this week!! I will be sure and post the url when I get it. ;-)

I am a featured performer for the show Tokaji: Works for the Living. I am really excited about this opportunity to work with local artists and to be part of the Fringe Festival. I also like the fact that I will be getting PAID!! See details and the flier below, which shows dates and times. Please pass it on! ;-)

Here is news of the upcoming show at the Warehouse Theater Main Stage in DC, part of the Capital Fringe Festival. It promises to be an extraordinary and exciting production of dance, live music, poetry, theater, story, sign language and song. More information is available on the web site at http://www.dianatokaji.com. You can buy tickets at http://www.capfringe.org.

I am just leaving a note to say that I made it to Nigeria safely and I am in preparations for my recital on June 24th at 6 pm. Here are a few highlights (and low lights of my trip so far):

High lights:

1) I start rehearsals this Saturday and will be rehearsing pretty much everyday this week. I have met with the orchestra conductor, he seems competent, but it remains to be seen how the orchestra sounds. The pianist is decent though, I have worked with her before.

2) There seems to be a real positive response to the concert! MUSON has made me some lovely fliers and there is a big banner of me (like the flier, but WAY bigger) up by the MUSON entrance (kinda freaky, but really cool).

3) I am getting lots of PRESS! Google me!I have had 4-5 newspaper interviews, and they are holding a press conference for me next Monday! They are also supposedly working on television coverage. They also want me to give a lecture/master class to younger singers at the MUSON school on the 22nd and the Chairman of the Artistes committee is holding a reception for me on the 29th of June! I have even been blogged about! It is sooo coool! I feel so diva! I can't get a swelled head though, cause of course, I don't have the diva cash! ;-)


Lowlights:

As wonderful as all of the above is, I AM in Nigeria, so there have been some well, "issues."

1) The day I arrived in Lagos, British Airways lost my luggage. That sucked. All is well though, because they found it and I have picked it up.

2) Electricity and running water were pretty much non-existent when I first arrived. So I was welcomed home....in the dark! And as for water, we had to buy it, both for drinking and bathing. This went on for a couple of days, but all is well now (mostly). The generator is working so we have electricity, which is good so I can plug in my key board to actually PRACTICE.
The water pump is pumping (after Badmus the plumber, and Electrician, the well, electrician, [he doesn't seem to have a first name!] extracted lots of money from my mom. Real electricity is sporadic at best (at the internet cafe I am, they (as in Nigerian Electric Power Authority, NEPA) have taken the electricity twice since I have been here, so they are now running on generator) but then that is the way it always is!

3) I seemed to be covered in mosquito bites. I hope I don't get malaria. I have been taking my malaria medicine though, so it should be fine (cross fingers!).

That's all for now! Will try to keep posted if I can!

I got my acceptance letter into the University of Maryland's School of Music!!!!! I will be studying with the AMAZING Carmen Balthrop, whom I am already working with and who has totally helped me change my sound. I am sure this new improved sound (and my hard work to develop it!!) is what got me in!! I will be getting a 2nd Bachelor's degree in Voice. (Yes, I know I am already a lawyer, shhhh!!) I am soooo happy!
For those of you who don't know, I was supposed to have my big audition on January 23, 2007. But I got SICK! Really sick, I was out for more than a month and after that I had to let my voice recover. I missed the audition and was told I had to wait a YEAR to audition again. I was sooo upset about missing the audition, but Carmen (who I have been working with since October 2006), helped me realize that I wasn't in the right place to audition. She told me to just focus on recovering and reworking my technique and the opportunity to audition would come. AND IT DID!!!
In April and May, after I had gotten better, I found that I had been accepted into the University of MD's general program but not the Music School (because I didn't audition). That University acceptance however, gave me standing to contact the Music school and ask them about taking music classes. They told me that only music majors could take music classes, BUT they had ONE spot open during vocal juries on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 and DID I WANT TO AUDITION????? Well......duh!!!! ;-)
I immediately called Carmen, who gave me her blessing, and the rest as they say is HISTORY! I had my audition on May 15th at 11 am and it went great!!! I sang "Sure on this Shining Night" by Samuel Barber and "Quando men vo/Musetta's Waltz" (La Boheme) by Giacomo Puccini.
Carmen told me later that I had really impressed the voice faculty with my singing and my acting skills (I am all about the sassy Musetta! I don't know whether Puccini wrote her that way, but that is totally the way I play her!)
I start in the fall of 2007 and will get a BA in 2.5 years (or less).
This is awesome, I should sooo frame my acceptance letter! This is a DREAM come true. A major milestone in my life, OVERCOME!!!
HAPPY!!!!! ;-)

In a bid to move forward with my singing career, I am finally having glamor photos done. My friend, Frances Brooks (also another FAB soprano) introduced me to Joe Shymanski, an AWESOME photographer in the DC metro area. We worked for 5 hours (8-1 pm)and I wore 5 different outfits. The photo shoot locations were inside and outside my boyfriend Atiba's great house in NE DC, inside and outside National City Christian Church at Thomas Circle, NW, a BEAUTIFUL space, where my choir, the Heritage Signature Chorale, has often sung in. The shoot was amazing, Joe is so GOOD. In end, he gave me 6 pictures CD's of color and black and white, of 600 pics!! AWESOME!! Check out some of the pictures, I hope you like them!!!!

The date of my concert at the MUSON Center in Lagos, Nigeria has been set!!! It is June 24th 2007!! Check out the flier below! This is AWESOME!!!!

I MISSED my big audition for University of Maryland School of Music because I am SICK. I was told they cant reschedule me and I won't be able to audition again till NEXT year. I am SO SAD and I feel awful.

I auditioned for the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Artistes Committee earlier this month at Agip Recital Hall at the MUSON Center in Lagos, Nigeria. I sang Quando men vo-Puccini, Sure on this Shining Night-Barber and The Black Swan-Menotti. They really like what they heard and they invited me to give a concert at the MUSON center in Lagos in 2007! Accompanied by pianist Maria Asseeva and the MUSON Symphony Orchestra!!! We haven't set the date and we still have to arrange details, but this is soooo cool, my first BIG concert, with orchestra!!!

So I went to a concert on Saturday at the Lyceum in Alexandria, VA. It was an opera gala recital given by some of the people that I knew from AIMS, namely Heather Bingham (soprano), Amy Call (soprano) and Stanley Weber (baritone). The fourth guy, Alvaro Rodriguez (tenor) goes to UMD and studies with Carmen Balthrop!! How cool is that?? Such a small world. He has a great voice too, it is huge! Poor Heather was feeling ill so she substituted some of her more difficult arias for easier ones. She did well despite the illness though, I really enjoyed her rendition of "Ain't it a pretty night."

They were accompanied by Michael Crabill, an opera coach who seemed really cool. He also knows Charles Williams and Betty Bullock, because he teaches at the Levine school, so he must be good. We had a great conversation on the way back home about Italian coaching and he sounds very knowledgeable. I am going to call him at some point for a coaching. Curtis Bannister, the tenor who I sang the operetta duet "In dieser nacht" with in Austria was there as well. He was so skinny, I am so jealous. He said it was because he was no longer in Austria eating salty food. Well, I am no longer in Austria myself, and you don't see me twenty pounds thinner. *Sigh*. Why is it so easy for guys to lose weight??? And we girls struggle! Most guys don't even WANT to lose weight!! AAAARRRGGGGH!!!!!!!

But I digress. I must say I was quite impressed with all the singers. It was an ambitious program, they each did several arias, such as Avant de quitter ces lieux (Faust), Il lamento di Federico (L'arlesiana), Ach ich fuhls (Die Zauberflote), Non mi dir (Don Giovanni), Ain't it a pretty night (Susannah), Bella siccome un angelo (Don Pasquale) and Kuda, Kuda (Eugene Onegin), among others. There were also a couple of duets, Sull'aria (Le Nozze di Figaro) and the Act 1 Duet from La traviata. They pulled the arias off very well and it was a very good show.

My favorites were the arias done by Stanley Webber and Amy Call. Stanley has such a warm, luscious baritone, with a yummy timbre, like Barry white meets opera! And it is so much fun watching him sing. Amy's coloratura is heavenly. She did "Die Holle Rache" from Die Zauberflote and "Sempre Libera" from Traviata in addition to her other stuff. Both times,I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. She puts such emotional force and power behind her coloratura, showing that there is a REASON she is doing the coloratura. Which of course is why composers write coloratura, to convey real emotion, passion, madness, laughter etc, but not many singers will or can put good emotion behind it. They sing coloratura just to sing it. Watching her was such a treat. And she had these GORGEOUS high note pianissimos in Sempre Libera, Curtis and I were looking at each other like Oh MY GOD!!! Not to mention the coloratura and the acting! Whew! I hope this girl "makes it", because she is ready.

And I also hope I can sing like that someday because she is electrifying to watch. Oh well, guess I had better practice!!! I also HAVE to get into UMD and keep working with Carmen, I HAVE to, I HAVE TO!!
Okay, calm down, Chichi. After the concert, I talked with them, and hopefully I can sing in their next program if/when they do this again. Yay! ;-)

I totally forgot to include this. In late October, the Prince George's Sentinel did a feature article about my journey towards becoming a singer, and it was on the front page!!! It was really cool and they did a picture and everything! Check it out, here is the link:


Hyattsville singer follows her dreams:
http://www.thesentinel.com/314070100492544.php

Hope you like it!!

Woohoo!!!
;-)

I had an AMAZING voice lesson with a new teacher, Carmen Balthrop, who teaches at the University of Maryland. She is sooo good! Yesterday, we worked on my breathing and she was like you need to breathe this way. Let your diaprahm go up on the inhale, and go down on exhale. And as you exhale it pushes the sides of your stomach out and THAT is where your support is. It totally explained what all these different voice teachers had been trying to say about my (not so good) breathing technique. I had been holding the air in and pushing on my vocal cords to get the sound out. The result was that my voice would shake more than it was supposed to (I am not talking about my natural vibrato) because I was not supporting. And that would have eventually led to a wobble which would have been BAD. It also causes intonation problems and a whole host of other issues. My vocal cords and throat are NOT supposed to do the work, my BODY is. So I finally GET IT!!! Ofcourse, now I have to apply it, but at least how to breathe properly is finally in my head!! Woohoo!!!

It is been so long since I wrote an entry so I am writing one now. I put a video of myself singing Musetta's Waltz on Youtube.com. I LOVE that site, talk about free publicity!!! Even though the video is rather dark, I am gonna add brighter videos of my performances!! Completely fab, technology makes things sooo easy, I had better get on the ball and become famous!!! If you havent seen the video already, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFkMgXE_i-A

Yay!!

Hello all!!

So, my last week in Austria begins tomorrow. I CANNOT believe how quickly it flew by! Crazy!! I leave here August 14 and go on to London. I return to the US Aug 20. Okay, here are some highlights from the past few weeks:

My lesson with Ms Bumbry in Salzburg went quite well. She had nice things to say and said she was happy with how well my voice was developing (THANK YOU Charles!!), she said it was bright and far forward, which is a big deal since that is what I have been working on for the past year, since SOMEBODY told me I used to since like 3 mezzos (;-)) Anyways, it was a really cool compliment coming from her, she does NOT compliment easily, and I was happy to hear her say what she said. She also said that I grown up to look like a lovely young woman (I dressed up) and that was gratifying to hear as well. She did tell me to pay alot more attention to style though, and she is right, I need to work on that. I have been so technique obsessed, I sometimes forget that I have to sing an aria in a certain way because that was what the composer wrote. Puccini did not write like Mozart and Mozart did not write like Debussy etc. So that is something I need to begin to really focus on.

I arrived in Salzburg the night before my lesson (it is 4 hours from Graz by train) and I stayed at this charming little place called Hotel Schwarzes Rossl which is in downtown Salzburg. Even though I was tired and it was kind of late, I decided to walk around the city a bit. It was realy nice, like visiting an old friend ( I havent been back to Salzburg since 2003). I went to a couple of old haunts including the Domplatz where they showed outdoor movies, and the river and the music store. It was quite nice. Most places were closed, but there alot of people and it was cool to walk around.
After my lesson, I took the train to Vienna (2 hours from Salzburg) and met up with a couple of other Aimsers. We stayed at the Hotel Porzellaneum. Vienna was fun, we had dinner at this space called "Summer Stage" full of lots of outdoor resturants. They even created a "beach" with lots of sand, where people were playing volleyball. It was a really cool space. IT was one of the girls, Marisan's Bday so wee bought her drinks and dinner and took lots of pictures. We also went to this Cuban salsa club in downtown Vienna called "La Floridita". I swear, it was like being in Miami, it was really fun. I have many pics. The next day , we went to the graves were Beethoven, Strauss, Schubert, Brahms, Hugo Wolff, Robert Stolz and Arnold Schoenberg were buried. It was really cool. Schoenbergs' grave is kind of like his music, VERY modern and kind of strange. It was very peaceful and emotional. My friends started crying. It didnt feel like crying at all. I was just happy to be there, and feeling the good energy. I took pictures of the graves, it was really nice there, I wished we could have stayed longer. If I lived in Vienna, I would take work and do it there, it was so peaceful and I am sure I could have focused there. And speaking of people who passed away, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, a famous soprano, died today at the age of 90. So Austrian radio is doing a retrospective of her famous opera arias, everything from Der Rosenkavelier to Hansel and Gretel to Le Nozze di Figaro to Verdi arias (I think Gilda in Rigoletto). So that is what I have been listening to. They also have interviews with her, but all in German so it doesnt help me much.

Back to Graz. The Meistersinger vocal competition was the weekend after Salzburg/Vienna. I decided not to do it. I am here to study and learn, not to win competions, and there is no one aria I feel so amazingly solid about that I thought could get me to the semi finals. I agree with most of the choices for the finalists, they picked 8 women finalists (2 mezzos) and 2 men as alternates. The final concert, where they pick the winners, is with orchestra is this Thursday, and I agreed to usher, it should be really interesting. I am rooting for a friend of mine, Andrea, a really good mezzo who is also very down to earth. Also she went to the University of MD ( see why I want to go there??) and I have been pumping her for info about the opera program. I have also herad good things about the Univ of Greensboro in NC. I am all about in-state tuition!

The first operetta concert was on Wednesday (Aug 2). It was at another Schlossberg (Castle). We had a dress rehearsal in teh morning and the concert was 8pm that evening. We sang at this huge outdoor stage that had a covered dome. It was fun, we sang the final 3 times!!The Schlossberg was high on a huge hill where there is also a clocktower and we took this tram thing to get there. I could technically have walked up the hundreds of stairs fashioned out of the the hill face, but I thought it was a bad idea since I need to be able to BREATHE to sing ;-) I did walk back down though after the morning reharsal, and it was quite a trip!!
The concert went really well, even though it was so cold that most of the audience was freezing! We were miked and that was also quite an experience.

Thursday we had off, and I basically stayed at home all day. It was fREEZING cold and raining (so much for summer) and I was already starting to feel a little sick so I didnt want to chance it.

Friday, I had a voice lesson in the morning (I am working on a French aria!!) and then at 4 pm we went on a bus to Weiz with the orchestra, for the 2nd concert. This was also a large space but (thankfully) indoors. The concert went well, but Curtis and I had an issue with the tempi on our duet towards the end, so we were not too pleased, but other than that things were fine. We were miked again. The performance was given by the Lion's club of Weiz and they gave us gifts! After several speeches in German, they gave us all chocolate, and the gave the women roses and the men mini bottles of Schnapps! (Guess which gift I wanted?) And then they treated us to a fabulous dinner and we were so happy. The cafeteria food at AIMS is not the best and it was great to be eating WONDERFUL, FREE food!

The third concert (saturday) was given by the Lion's club in Furstenfeld. Again we were bused there. It is nice cause I am getting to see all this Austrian countryside. This was a smaller venue (indoors as well) but I think our duet went the best. We were also miked, which I thought was kind of odd in a small space. Again there were more speeches in German, we sang the finale 3 times. There were also more gifts. THIS time they gave the women roses AND bottles of wine (hahahaha) and the men also got wine. Again we were treated to another good dinner. 10 different kinds of Gulash, but it was really good!!! The bus ride back was a tad rowdy, since we were all happy that the concerts were over. We did not get back till 1.30 am!

So that is pretty much it. Tomorrow, I am performing "Quando men vo" at the AIMS Artists in Recital at the Festsaal (concert hall) of the Odilien-Institut. That should be my last performance. The rest of this last week will be spent trying to learn the French arias (I have 2 actually-"Voyon, Manon" by Massenet and "Air de Lia" by Debussy), maybe going to a couple master classes and trying to scramble to get packed and ready to go to London and then the US. I think I am going to have to ship some stuff back to the US but I am not sure. I think my voice has improved alot since AIMS, but I will let you all be the judge!!

;-)

Hi all!!! Ok, ok I know, I have been in Austria since July 3rd and I am just posting now, but I have been busy!!!! So without further ado here are details: I arrived on July 4th and we were bused directly to the dorm called Studenteheim. The flight was uneventful (thank God) and I got my luggage and everything. Studenteheim is located on Elisabethstrasse 93. (Strasse means street, see I am getting GOOD at German!). Elisabethstrasse is one of the SCARIEST streets to cross, traffic goes both ways and European drivers are CRAZY!!! I fear for my life everytime I have to cross the street, which I often do because the Spar grocery is across the street, and so is the Bio Market where I get my soymilk they have like 8 diffrent flavors of soymilk from Strawberry to Banana, very yummy! But I digress. Oh apparently, I got hooked up in my room! I have awesome furniture from Ikea, like a dresser, and cool table and my walls are painted a bright yellow etc. NOBODY at the Heim has this furnitire, everyone who comes into the room is soo jealous, including faculty members! It is really funny, the whole world has been in my room :-) The first week was basically spent getting acclimatized to the place. We had a walking tour of the city of Graz, and it is so lovely. There is this huge clock tower you can climb up, cobblestone streets, and several market squares. The ones we visit the most are the Hauptplatz (the main square) and the Jakominiplatz (where the H & M is - yes I SAID H & M and where all the fun resturants and GELATO places are). I have become a gelato fiend. Is it possible to eat gelato after every meal...., YES!! Mmmmm.. Okay, focus. Why is it that during the walking tour the first day I stepped in dog poop! In front of everyone and the tour guide. It was really funny though and the tour guide offered me a tissue. Oh well, Wilkommen in Graz!! On thursday, I did a masterclass with Gabriella Lechner, I sang "Quando men vo". Musetta's waltz. Gabriella was really cool, she was the leading dramatic soprano at the Wiener Staatsoper. She had nice things to say, but she said I should really connect more to my support and I wasnt opening my throat enough. (All stuff I have heard before, so more work needs to be done!) I also had my faculty hearing, where I sang for ALL the faculty and coaches. It was kind of scary but they were really nice. I sang "Quando men vo" again and "What will it be". It also went well, they really like d my Quando and said I looked beautiful. I had on a black dress, dangly earrings and a pink pashmina wrap. I was assigned the teacher and coach I wanted. I am working with Elizabeth Mosher (voice teacher) and John Simmons (coach). They are both really cool and helpful and we have the same "vision" so to speak. The second week we started classes. I have German Level 1 5 days a week at 10.30am. Then German diction on Monday. I have a voice lesson Monday and wednesday at 15.15 (3.15, they use the 24hour clock here, kinda of weird). I have a coaching at 13.00 on tues and Thursday. I have Audition training seminar on Tues and thurs at 13.45 and voice studio class at 4 pm on Tuesday and Thursday. I also have statge artistry on Wed and Friday. I love that clas cause it is all bout the acting in your arias!! In between that, I try to practice, it is alot of stuff!! There is also French, italian and German personal diction coaching that you sign up for. Then there are lectures and seminars and concerts...there is SO much stuff here, half the time I feel so overwhelmed and like I am missing something!! Trying to get a practice room is a mess though! All this singers warming up, it is SO loud! It sounds like a mad house!! Oh the coolest thing ever!! I got selected to song in an operetta concert with orchestra!!! I am singing a duet from this operetta called Zuigenebaron (the gypsy baron). I play Saffi, a young gypsy girl, and my duet is with Barinkay (played by this tenor named Curtis Bannister). And we sing about (ofcourse!) love. It is a thrilling duet, the high point of the operetta. It is really a big deal that I got chosen for an operretta concert. There are many awesome singers here and only 3 orchestra concerts, so it says a lot that I was chosen for one! AND, unlike the other orchestra concerts, we get to go on the road! So we are performing 3 times instead of once. Awesome!! We had a gala opening thing on Saturday at this CASTLE called Schloss Eggenberg. They were peacocks and beautiful art work and a string quartet and lots of wine. I sang with AIMS chorale for a member of the Styrian parliament. It was great. We all dressed in ball gowns and tuxes. I tool lots of pics. So I have lots of music to learn and lots to do and it is awesome! And I am also tired but trying to maintain!! I am going to Salzburg on Friday to have a lesson to Grace Bumbry, then to Vienna on Saturday night for some fun. Cant wait!! Okay I am done for now!! ;-)

So I sang my first solo with my choir, the Heritage Signature Chorale! It was very exciting. I sang this spiritual "Deep River" and everyone was really complimentary, including our conductor. We had a a concert today at the Church of the Epiphany on 13th and G. AND Roland Carter was there! For those of you who dont know who he is, he is a very well respected composer of spirituals and sacred music. And he invited Heritage to sing for him on in July at some convention! Really cool, ofcourse I wont be there cause I will be in Austria singing in the AIMS program but still Heritage's glory is my glory! Yay!

ps for anyone reading this, come to the Heritage Signature Chorale's final concert, June 25th at 4.30pm at the National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, NW). It promises to be a wonderful time! And I may be reprising the solo. Oh and valet parking!!!