The Detroit Opera House, home of Michigan Opera Theater, is a remarkable achievement for David DiChiera, MOT's long serving and very high achieving General Director. To have done what he has done in this large city at a time of some decline in its fortunes, is a shining light indeed. This wonderfully restored building was the site of our Met auditions today. My fellow jurors were Mark Graf and Diane Zola. Diane is Artistic Administrator of the Houston Grand Opera and one of the most influential and capable people in the US in the area of the advanced development and training of opera singers. She ran the Houston Studio program brilliantly for the last 5 years and no doubt still keeps an eagle eye on it while she copes with her now wider responsibilities. She is always a pleasure to be with so we had a lot of fun today. And we had a pretty good group - 30 in all as it turned out. Amongst them was that rarity, a truly remarkable Counter Tenor, a 24 year old from the exceptional school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We put three through to the regional finals which take place in Buffalo in January. Dependant on the weather no doubt!
And this evening we all attended the opening of MOT's new production of The Barber of Seville. Tomorrow I leave on a very early flight to Chicago.........
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