Greetings from your Queen (of the Night, that is)

None of the singers has posted on the opera blog yet, so I thought I would be the first. I'm Erica, and I'm in town to sing Queen of the Night, pretty much my favorite role to sing in all of opera. Short, sweet (well, maybe not too sweet), and memorable! I arrived in Birmingham on Sunday night, and thanks to singing a character who is only on stage for 10 minutes, I've had some free time already to explore. Yesterday, I went to the art museum, which I really enjoyed. It's not overwhelmingly large, so I was able to see everything in about two hours. I especially liked the Hip, Hippo, Hooray! exhibit, with images of hippos painted on dishes. Super cute! Then I went to the botanical garden, which was practically empty since it was so cold yesterday (who am I kidding - I'm from NJ!). I'd love to see it all in bloom, but I definitely had a lovely walk. And last night, I had my first taste of B'ham barbecue at Jim 'n Nick's. They were out of pork!! I look forward to trying all the different bbq joints, and hopefully the pork shortage won't happen again!

Today is my first staging rehearsal with Marc Astafan, the director. He won't remember this, but 13 years ago, he directed me at the Bay View Music Festival in Marriage of Figaro. I was singing Barbarina, and it was my first opera role ever. I'm looking forward to working with him again.

I actually know quite a few people in the cast, and I'm very excited to get to work with them. I was at the Des Moines Metro Opera Young Artist Program in 2006 with Kori Jennings, the Third Lady. I was a young artist at Chautauqua Opera with Jan Cornelius, the Pamina. Corey McKern was a groomsmen in my wedding. And the person I know the best is the Sarastro, Harold Wilson, whom I have been happily married to since May of 2010. This is our first time in a production together, and I hope that there are more to come!

Well, time to eat some lunch and warm up the voice!