It’s not "The Voice" or "American Idol," but there are some vocal tryouts coming soon. No, you can’t expect to be dissed by tattoo’d rock stars, but you just might get to travel internationally if you pass the audition.
“We are looking for all kinds of singers, all kinds of voice parts," said Chancey Blackburn, the vice-chair of the San Antonio Mastersingers. "The chorus is made up of singers who have been masters of music performance, all the way to singers like me, with no formal training.”
I asked her what someone who is thinking of coming to try out can expect.
“They would meet with Dr. John Silantian, our director, and he would run them through a series of vocal exercises," Blackburn said. "There will be a piano there, and then once all the auditions have been completed he’ll select the right balance of voices for the right sections of the chorus from the available auditions.”
The Mastersingers are the official chorus of the San Antonio Symphony, so their level of expertise is quite high.
“I think that the person that’s going to be successful at the audition will have performed in choruses at some point in their life," she said.
They’ll be performing next at the newly-opened Tobin Center with the symphony.
“We’ll be part of the Mahler’s 'Symphony No. 2 Resurrection' performance in the beginning of the season," Blackburn said. "We’re also doing Mozart’s 'Requiem' and Grieg’s 'Peer Gynt.' Next Easter we’re doing Handel’s 'Messiah'; we usually do it at Christmas, but this year we’re doing it at Easter.”
I asked her to tell us about the groups' international travel.
“We’re so excited! We’re going to be performing in several venues in Spain and Portugal starting in late June for a 10-day trip," Blackburn said. "We’ll be in Lisbon, Granada, Seville, Madrid.”
- How you can audition here: www.samastersingers.org
