It's taken me 28 years to know who I am. Listen to me.
I like singing Poulenc more than I like singing Faure or even Debussy. Listen to me.
I know that Beethoven is one of the cornerstones of Western music but I still don't want to sit through one of his piano sonatas or his string quartets. Listen to me.
I don't care if you think that there's no difference between Coke and Diet Coke, I can taste the difference so don't try to pull a fast one. Same with Pepsi. I know the difference. Listen to me.
I like the Red Sox better than the Yankees. Why? Because I do. And the rest of Red Sox Nation agrees with me so don't try to tell me that the Yankees are better. Listen to me.
I make my bed every day and when I change the sheets, I still fold the ends with hospital corners like my dad taught me. I know it's OCD, but it's what I do. Listen to me.
I like real butter, but the unsalted kind. You may not think it tastes as good, but I like it better. Listen to me.
I say [pI 'kan] and not ['pi kan] and I say ['pra lin] and not ['prei lin]. I make them and unless you've stood over the stove with the candy thermometer, don't correct my pronunciation. Listen to me.
I'm a soprano. A high one. I sing high soprano repertoire. And it's taken me a long time to figure out that I should do this, how to do it well, and exactly how much I can juice up certain parts of my voice without sacrificing my super high notes. Trial and error, lots of practicing, lots of listening, lots of mistakes, but I've taken a lot of time to get to know my voice. So what makes you think that you can make pronouncements about my voice and my attitude toward the 'narrowly conceived scope of what my voice can do' from a fifteen minute tape and a seven minute live audition? What gives you the right to tell me that I need to throw caution to the wind and blow out my chest voice because that's what is in the score? You're not the one with binding executed contracts that tell me I have to show up and sing that high F the number of times that Mozart put it on the page or else they won't hand me the paycheck at intermission.
It's taken me 28 years to know who I am. I've spent the last eight weeks questioning that because of coaches and pianists who presume to know better. Well I'm closing the question/answer portion of this segment. Your ticket is no longer valid. And not everyone has earned the right to give me their opinion. So step off.
Listen to me.
