A New Home

I've been recently reminded that this blog exists.  

I was so proud of it in the beginning.  I diligently updated, I had a list of ideas to conquer at some point, and then, as it always seems to happen, I stopped thinking I had important things to say.

A part of it was the fact that this blog was originally conceived to be completely anonymous.  Well, I screwed the pooch on that the instant I created it because I started this blog at the behest of a very good colleague and friend.  Then I was going to try to be cryptic and veiled and generic and hope that my semi-anonymity would be a bulwark against dishonesty.

But writing under a nom-de-plume is a kind of dishonesty.  I'm at the very beginning of my career, and I worry that venting my frustrations will appear unprofessional.  Frankly, though, this industry needs a revolutionary.  Heck, it needs an army of them.  Change will not come because a bunch of sock puppets will it so, it will come because real people acknowledge and openly argue the fact that the parts of the system are unsustainable.

My name is Jessica Lennick.  I just handed in my last assignment for my M.M. from Peabody Conservatory this week--a story you'll hear about later--and deeply mired in the pay-to-play system most young artists find themselves struggling to find a place in post-higher education.  I've always been deeply curious about the world around me, which is how I found my way into classical music.  Nothing else in my life so far has been sufficiently complicated to keep my interest except singing.

My story this year has been a most interesting one.  I sang Pierrot Lunaire, which is the first piece I ever learned that actively scared the crap out of me.  I appeared (mostly) naked on stage.  I had my first nationally-publicized project, which proved to me that cross-marketing in classical music largely does not work (another post for another time.)  I began and ended the best romantic relationship I ever had and suddenly acutely understand the sacrifices this career will require of me.  In the last fiscal year I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on trying to find a place in this industry, and I'm finally feeling it as my loans come due.  I just moved up to Philadelphia both because I was accepted into an (not-for-pay) apprentice program and because Baltimore was growing stale.

I want to tell you about these things.  I don't want to have to say "moved from one East Coast city to a bigger one" or "am singing a role for a new company in the mid-Atlantic region."

Like anyone else in the performing arts, I went into this in large part because I want to be known.

My name is Jessica Lennick.  I am a singer.  I am profoundly in love with what I do.

I'm looking forward to meeting you.