Best. Day. Ever.

So I have to toot my own horn a bit. After the nightmare that was last night, finally life is starting to look up for me.

First off, going to see the cattle calls was like the best experience I've had here so far. The voices here are amazing, and it makes me feel so honored to have been accepted here, let alone with one of the highest scholarships they give out to voice majors. There were 183 people who auditioned for the operas, to give you an idea of the scope of it all. Plus, sitting in on auditions allowed me to meet so many cool people, and hear my friends' and acquaintances' voices for the first time, which was very exciting. And I'm going out to the bar tonight to celebrate. THANK GOD!

Then, cute Mark (who I talked about in an earlier post) invited me out to dinner with him and his friends tonight. Sian says she thinks the two of us have very similar thinking processes and that we're going to get along like "two peas in a pod", and I quote. Score!!!

And then, as I said, I was thrilled about my audition last night, and apparently I wasn't the only one. Dr. Penhorwood, who is Sian's teacher's husband asked her to have me talk to him after auditions today. He is a published composer and a very talented accompanist who plays at my sister's church. Firstly, he liked my audition so much yesterday that he put me on his "definitely cast" list, which is amazing. But that's just the beginning.

He likes my voice so much, that in exchange for me singing a few times per month in his church choir (he said like twice a month is fine), he's going to write me a song cycle that I will premiere.

I don't know how to explain what a huge deal this is. He wrote the opera that Sian was in last year (Too Many Sopranos) and he is extraordinarily talented. Having a piece written specially for you by anyone without commissioning them to do so is honestly one of the highest compliments you can receive in the music world, especially if it's by a composer who is actually REALLY GOOD, and makes a living off of it. The number of people who can say that about themselves in their musical career is very low, and already at 22, I'm going to be one of those people. He basically just said let me know if you have any requests for poetry.

I've been so manically happy today that I'm fighting back tears. Life is finally starting to get really good, and I truly believe that I made the correct decision in coming here, despite how much I miss home. I think this could be the start of something really great in my life.