I spent this afternoon digging into the score of my dear opera pal Suor Angelica with an amazing coach, thanks to Stephanie Weiss. It is a gift to be able to work with varied professionals with highly trained ears as we continue to bring the music off of the page. My takeaways to implement in my own practicing were significant, thanks so much to @arms_n_ivory.

More immediacy and less Perryman “sneaking into the sound.”
Detailed work regarding when to apply rubato as informed by text.
Making the needed shift to move the phrase by text; less so melodically. I have been guilty of popping a squat eg sitting on a pitch and not reaching with legato/moving the phrase.
Multitasking while taking a needed breath=no bueno.
Keep challenging myself to lead and not be the polite follower; no tempering feelings and personal honesty out of fear.
Align vowel spatial/height relationship; my epsilon E enjoyed joining the rest of the Italian vowel crowd.
Engaging the r, isolating specialty text, asserting a brave artist presence….heck, Suor Angelica talked back to mean ole Principessa, let’s do this…..giddy up.