Tuning In

It is April 2020 - almost two years after I wrote the last blog post for Tuning In. In this very moment, I am sitting on the balcony of my flat in Konstanz, a small, picturesque city in the south of Germany. How did I get here? Well, that is kind of a long story.
 

Tuning In traced an eight month journey: from my relocation to Berlin to chase the dream of being a working opera singer to winning full-time work at a theatre in Thüringen, Germany. Two years on, I am delighted to write again from Meiningen where I have been based since May 2018.

“Nothing can beat Wellington on a sunny day” is a popular, if somewhat facile saying which one frequently comes across when living in Wellington. Despite its rather vague meaning, once you’ve lived in Wellington for a little while, it becomes pretty clear what the proverb is all about.

If you'd told me several weeks ago that I'd sing at Wartburg Castle where Wagner set the opera “Tannhäuser”, I would have laughed politely in disbelief. Yeah nah, or some kiwi-ism. As it turns out, a lot can change with one phone call...

Even though Wellington claims to have more cafés, bars and restaurants per capita than New York City, a good deal of its thriving (nightlife) culture takes place “behind the scenes”

Over the past six months, I’ve had the pleasure of auditioning in Germany and Austria for agents, project work, an opera studio, and several full-time roles with opera houses. From singing in a tiny carpeted room to the mainstage of an opera house, auditions come in all shapes and sizes

One of the best things about doing research on music-making in Wellington is that I “have to” go to numerous gigs, shows and musical festivities throughout the year. There is definitely no shortage of live music events

Berlin offers an incredible volume of diverse live musical experiences. Proximity to other European countries opens even more opportunity. In my first visit to Austria, I attended a production of “La Damnation de Faust” in Linz

Learning German while living in Germany has its challenges. At the core of immersion is making conversation, from everyday pleasantries to sharing ideas and hopes

Moving to a new city means creating new social networks. When Katie arrived in Wellington to start her doctoral studies, she knew only a handful of people. A few years later, she was playing her own gig for her wider “musical family”

Celebrating the festive season with modern jazz...

Picnics with glow-worms, containers for live art, and a street party: Christmas is only the start of the festivities… 

A first experience of collective music making in a foreign language

Learning how to teach – and teaching how to learn

Going off rail: exploring sites of German history 

Birdsong to buckets on Wellington’s streets...

Kiwi singer Imogen embraces the freedom of uncertainty...

Katie looks for the sources of Wellington's creativity...