I have had a very good day having been to sleep early last night and got perfectly prepared for the job in hand - this afternoon's auditions. I gave myself a little treat of breakfast in my room - just click that and you will understand. (P.S. Well my wife didn't get it.............can anyone guess?)
This morning was a leisurely walk around Sydney with a few shopping tasks. This is such a charming really small city - everything is within easy walking distance, especially on this early spring day.
There is an excellent large department store called David Jones which has been serving the good people of Sydney with all their needs since 1838.
And there are a number of delightful old shopping malls created long before the mall idea took root - the grandest of which is the Queen Victoria Building. There is also the smaller but no less delightful Strand Arcade. My photographs here may give you some sense of these places. Click on them to see full size.
I then returned to the harbor briefly before going for a quick salad to fortify me for the afternoon. There was a huge crowd of the usual suspects, tourists and street entertainers. Plenty of didgeridoos on parade of course. And the harbor was bustling with water traffic. 
The auditions this afternoon for Neue Stimmen were good, yielding some finalists. There was yet another soprano to add to our list. As you can imagine they have to be very good indeed to make it through.
But we also had a much rarer bird, this year at least, an excellent mezzo. Sopranos of course are the very stuff of Australia, the operatic history of the country being inextricably associated with the two Dames Nellie Melba (seen here for $100) and Joan Sutherland.(Hi there!)
The auditions provided another rare pleasure - absolutely outstanding support at the piano from Sharolyn Kimmorley. The Sydney Conservatorium are so fortunate to have such a hugely seasoned professional from the field to be in charge of their opera department. Even greater sense is that she is a tenured half time staff member so remains, through her extensive freelance work, in touch with the real world where her charges will eventually make their living.
I wrapped up this day at Rinaldo at the Sydney Opera House - not all of it I must confess. The jet lag is getting to me. But I was there long enough to recognize that it had been somewhat cut (no I was not asleep during the missing bits!) and quite splendidly conducted by Trevor Pinnock. And Rachelle Durkin, who was with us in Viaggio last season, was a fiery and brilliant Armida.
I am only committed tomorrow to the Finals of the Opera Foundation Australia New York Study Award. This will give me an opportunity to hear further singers who did not make it to Neue Stimmen. However I see from the leaflet that I picked up from the Opera House this evening that two of their finalists sang to me this afternoon. More about that after the event.
And now a brief look at the cricket between Australia and England taking place in London so still in progress of course at 9.30 pm Sydney time. And then sleep will overcome me.
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