SnowSnowSnow

No one knows quite how to handle this snow here in Brussels! It's quite humourous to us Canadians, but we are loving it. According to the locals, we haven't had real snow here for years and years. The first night there was a big snowstorm the boys and I got suited up in gore-tex, hats and mitts and went to the park on the corner to make snowmen. Unfortunately the snow was too cold to pack easily, but we contented ourselves with snow angels, snowball fights, and snowing each other under. Malcolm discovered a practical application to all those afternoons of tossing of the football on the run: it also comes in handy when you are "leading" a running target in a snowball fight. Unfortunately for him, his old man is a little handier with the quarterback position, but that's just practice: I'm sure he'll improve.


We are starting to pack our stuff up and get ready to leave for Canada early tuesday morning. The forecast is for partly cloudy skies tomorrow and tuesday, so we should be ok to leave. Friends of ours have not been so lucky. The Eurotunnel was shut down Thursday and Friday because of cold temperatures and too much snow, and they are talking about emergency use only today. Since it is the first weekend of Christmas Holidays, our British friends may have to take a ferry instead if they want to get "home" to the UK.

Today we're going to get dressed up and head out to the Christmas Market at Grand Place/Place St. Catherine, to see if we can find anything interesting. We are trying not to get too excited about being back in the Great White North, and the weather reports from Canada confirm that the lake is most likely frozen over, which would mean skating and hockey at the cottage... uncle Bruce has the skates in the car, ready to go to Belleville so that we can make sure the boys are outfitted in time to take advantage of this wonderful fringe benefit of Canadian life.

I likely won't post again before we leave, so let me take this chance to say "Merry Christmas" to you, constant reader! Enjoy your holiday, and we'll catch up in the week leading up to New Year's Eve.

Winter Wonderland

I left Maggie at home today, and sent the kids off to school on their own, as I had an important audition with the Flanders Opera in Antwerp. It's great living where we are, where I can get one train to Brussels North station, a second to Antwerp Central, and walk to the opera there in an eyeblink.

The opera house in Antwerp is recently renovated, and the inside is impeccable; it's airy and clean, with excellent fittings for all the doors, windows, washrooms, etc. The elevators all work silently, and the dressing rooms even have a couple of barber's chairs to make the wig and makeup routine even more comfortable. The house inside is hard to see properly from the stage, with lights in one's eyes, but looks like it's filled with the usual red and gold. It seats around 1100, and one gets a good amount of sonic feedback from the house, which is not really necessary but reassuring to the auditioning singer.


I did a little surreptitious recording from the wings of my own singing, and was content with what I heard... even if one sings a good audition, one never knows what the casting team likes or is looking for; it's like fishing. You've got to keep casting out if you want to get a bite. It's also a bit like cars: some people like Volvos, other like Cadillacs; some like VWs, BMWs, or Toyotas, or Hondas, or Mini Coopers... they are each one of them a well-engineered car, but there is an element of personal taste involved in choosing one. I have lots of work for the moment, but it would be nice to sing something on that stage... we will see how it goes.

While waiting my turn to sing, I had a nice chat with Mats Almgren, who auditioned a little bit before me: I saw him sing the Hagen in Siegfried in Toronto a few years back, and he told me he's coming back to do Daland in Dutchman this year at the COC. The Dutchman himself will be played by a 65-year-old baritone, who according to Mats came to this Wagnerian repertoire fairly late in his career, but has all the components to make a compelling Dutchman: brilliant high notes, deep lows, and a mature sound. I'm just sorry I won't see it, but if you get a chance, go.

I got back to Brussels in time to visit a bit with Maggie, and then go to the school and pick up the boys. Today we had quite a bit of snow, and it seems to be sticking around. Certainly it wasn't warm enough for it to pack into snowballs easily, or to make a snowman, so we played in it instead. Good practice for Canada, next week!

Here's hoping you are enjoying your winter as much as we are enjoying ours...

Home again

I spent my last morning in Canada packing, and then working on the Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs with Don and Bruce. They are a lot of work to uncover, and it's been quite a while since I've done them, so I'm really excited and humbled to be preparing them for Antwerp at the end of January.

Bruce gave me a lift to the airport around 15h, and approximately twelve hours later I was walking in the door of our Brussels home, thanks to a pick-up by Maggie and the boys. Transit is great here, but nothing beats getting met at the airport for a great welcome! Now I've sort of got a second (or third) wind, after having a short nap of an hour and a half this late morning, and we've all had our dinner and are relaxing; the boys with the books I brought them and Maggie in playing with the new iPod Touch that I brought back from Canada.

I do feel a bit strange, with all this travelling. Also I am sorry that I didn't get a chance to meet up with or even telephone friends in Toronto more, but I had originally planned on being busy with music until the 10th of December, and then having almost two weeks to coach the next pieces, relax, smoke the odd cigar, and catch up with friends. Instead I've rather unexpectedly had to fly back to Brussels, and we will have to save our socializing to a very tight nine days starting on December 22nd, when all four of us fly together to Canada for time with the extended families.

Some good news musically: I have an audition with the Flanders Opera on the 17th of December, in Antwerp (...and to think that it's only taken two years to arrange!). As well, I was offered a Haydn Creation in December and a middle January opera excerpts concert here in Belgium that I've had to decline because of other committments, and I have been invited to present a concert in the Antwerp suburb of Merksem, commemorating the anniversary of its 1944 liberation from Nazi occupation by - of all things - Calgary Highlanders. How cool is that?

Beautiful Bach

The concert yesterday afternoon went very well; the choir and orchestra sang and played very beautifully, and any of the little minor hiccups that inevitably happen in an opening night performance were ironed out for the afternoon show, so we all had a wonderful time. Stephanie the conductor seemed very pleased.

I was very lucky to have lots of guests at the performances: my parents, sisters, brother-in-law, aunt and uncle, as well as Bruce, John and Pat McMaster, and Eric and Kareena Wilding. It was great to have supporters there, and the church was completely full, with beautiful afternoon light streaming in the stained glass windows. What a treat to get to sing such lovely music!

Now it's auditions for the next few days, and getting ready to fly back home to Brussels.

one down and one to go

This evening's performance of the Christmas Oratorio etc. went quite well... I think everyone bumped things up a notch for the performance, and I do feel that I got to really play with the text a lot more tonight. Having an audience really does make a big difference! Stephanie's great to work with, very clear as a conductor, and when the spirit moved me to be a little more flexible with my phrasing tonight, I followed those impulses without giving it a second thought: Stephanie was right with me all the way, and so was her choir and orchestra. Quite a pleasure.

Now it's off to bed, as tomorrow comes early, and I want to try to sing it that extra little bit better for the second showing.

first rehearsal of the Christmas Oratorio

It's 11pm and I just finished the first rehearsal with the Pax Cristi Chorale and Stephanie Martin, the orchestra and other soloists. Everything seems to be in very good order; the instrumentalists are top-notch, the choir is extremely well-rehearsed, and sing beautifully, the other soloists are well prepared with lovely voices, and Stephanie is very easy to work with. Grace Church on the Hill has a great acoustic: I remember recording the Castor and Pollux with the Aradia Ensemble there a few years ago. It's going to be quite the concert, with a nice variety of music. Along with the Bach I get to do the Cornelius "Three Kings"; then there's a beautiful piece for Dan, our male alto, and then Stephanie's orchestration of a Healey Willan Christmas Anthem from 1906 with two little recit solos for Leonard (our tenor soloist) and me that totally blows me away: when the choir, orchestra and organ come in fortissimo I have a feeling that the whole church is going to lift off the ground! For those interested in attending the Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon performances, practical information can be had on their web site.

Today has been a day "crowded with incident"; this morning I got up (relatively) early, drove Bruce to the train, then came back and warmed up, rehearsed a bit with Don, had an audition with a choral director, split some logs into firewood, then headed downtown to have a lunch meeting with Andrew Ager to plan our February recital in Toronto and discuss our European organ-voice concerts for 2010-2011. Then I came back here, talked with Maggie and the boys on the telephone for two hours, then headed off to the evening rehearsal, which took almost six hours with the driving time. Needless to say I'm a little wiped out!

Tomorrow is a little lighter, but the week is very busy with rehearsing, auditioning, and so on. Such is the "glamourous" life of an opera singer: these trips aren't a vacation, unfortunately.

A bientot!

Brahms completed

The Brahms is done, and I am pleased and feel very priviledged to have had the chance to sing such an incredible piece of music again. To be able to do so with my hometown orchestra and choral society and the choir of my university makes the pleasure that much more deeply felt. Sara Gartshore, the soprano soloist, came from Chicago for this performance, and she was really wonderful to hear, and Glen Fast kicked everybody up a notch, eliciting an exciting perfomance by singers, choir and orchestra. My parents and cousin, teacher, and many friends and musical colleagues were there, and I must say it was great to actually have people that I know attend one of my performances for a change! That frequently doesn't happen, especially when one is performing overseas.

Yesterday was a family day, incluing coffee in the morning with my aunt Judy, and a tour of her workplace, a long visit and delicious dinner with my cousin David and his wife Melissa and their three sons (including the new baby) and then an evening visit with my Grandmother Rita. Today I'm heading back to Belleville for an evening with my parents, and a visit to my other Grandmother, and then I'm heading back in Toronto for the next little while. I've already got two or three auditions scheduled in the Toronto area over the next couple weeks, so that's gratifying, and I hope to spend some time coaching with the excellent Don Tarnawski, and also singing with Bruce. I manage on my own, but Bruce is such a wonderful technician, and so knowledgeable about singers and the craft of singing, that I want to make the most of the time we have together.

Maggie and the boys are good: Malcolm is lucky to get some alone time with his mom this week as Duncan is away at Nettine for the week. We've been in contact pretty much every day; in this age of skype, VOIP phones, the internet, and cheap international calling it seems like they are just around the corner, not far away at all.

rehearsals completed

The two rehearsals today went smoothly. The soprano is a pleasure to hear; she lives in Chicago and has a very beautiful voice. The choir is quite large: 200 voices, combined from the Choral Society and the University Choir, and the Kingston Symphony is playing very well, as usual. It is exciting to be doing Brahms again, and for the first time with Glen, the conductor. It's also very nice to see old friends again.

Tomorrow the concert is at 14h30, and then I'll be staying in the Kingston area for a bit, to work with Bruce, visit some family and try to arrange some auditions in Eastern Ontario, but am heading back to Toronto later in the week, to prepare for the Bach and to try to audition there as well. When I called home this afternoon, Maggie and the boys were doing well, having visited a christmas market with some friends in the afternoon, it sounds like they had a good relaxing day.

I hope you are each having a good weekend!

On the ground in Toronto

What a crazy day yesterday. After arriving in Antwerp to get my ticket for the train to Amsterdam, I went down to the proper track to wait for the high speed train, and another train was still sitting on the track, delayed. No one from the railway seemed to know what was happening, but five minutes before the scheduled departure they started offloading passengers, and when we asked about the 10h25 train to Amsterdam they told us it was changed to a different track three levels up! We all rushed like madmen to track six, to be told that the high speed train was cancelled, and that we'd have to take a long roundabout route via train, bus, etc.

Three of us decided instead to hop into a cab, and 240 euros and an hour and a half later we were in Amsterdam airport. But the fun didn't stop there... despite my having bought my ticket in march, they had overbooked the plane and so I had no seat! It all got sorted out in the end, and the flight was fine, but the rushing around maked it pretty stressful, and it made the day very tiring.

But that's all behind me now, and I'm feeling good today, and looking forward very much to Saturday's rehearsals with the Kingston Symphony.

Getting ready to leave

Last night it was fireworks at the British School of Brussels, out in the forest of Tervuren. It was great, and as Endeaneans know well from our street fireworks shows in Toronto, I like it when stuff gets "blowed up real good". It was a lot of fun, food and music, and we were a little late getting home, and slept in a little bit in the morning.

We continued with a later breakfast, and then had a mid-afternoon dinner of wild duck breast and bok choi with noodles, and a side dish of spicy garlic shrimp... maybe these gave me a little extra oomph for my last coaching with Peter before I leave for Canada as it was a good one. We worked quite a bit on the Brahms and the Bach again today, so I'm feeling very good about these pieces and am looking forward to see what the conductors think about them.

Tomorrow is a day of packing, plus a visit with Duncan's teacher at lunchtime to discuss his report card, which was uniformly excellent. The only thing that lagged a bit since the week off was his comportment, but it's not so bad and I'm sure it will come back up to "status Green" this coming week. Malcolm also got a good report card, and Maggie will attend his teacher meeting next week to ensure that we are on top of any potential problem areas.

Tuesday morning I have to get up pretty early to get to Antwerp on time to get my train to Amsterdam. Travelers be forewarned: KLM/Air France misrepresents their service; on their web site it says that you can buy a ticket from Brussels to Toronto, and do the Brussels-Amsterdam leg of that trip by train instead of airplane, but by "Brussels" they actually mean that you have to board the train at Antwerp! That's 60 Kilometers away! It's not even in the same province. That means leaving the house at 6h45 to get to Antwerp by 8h25, and then leave two hours to pass customs. Crazy. Next time I'm going direct Brussels to Toronto with Jet Airways.

That's it. The boys are in bed and we're going to have an early night. Let's hope each of you is having a good weekend!

Autumn colours

We are quite lucky to have the Bois de la Cambre, a beautiful forested park, within a few minutes walk from our front door. Maggie and I enjoyed some time there this week, and saw - apart from some colourful leaves that almost make us think we are in Canada - the wild parakeets of Brussels cracking hazelnuts, lots of dogs having their exercise, and a lovely restaurant on the island in the middle of the park that you have to take a ferry to visit.


Here's me looking at the dogs...



... and Maggie looking at the parekeets.

Yesterday being a state holiday, we took some chrysanthemums up the street to the Ixelles cemetery and looked around. There were graves from soldiers from the first world war through the second, up to the 1950s. We didn't find any Canadians but quite a few Polish and British mixed in with the French and Belgians.


Then we quickly hopped a bus to the European Parliament to see sections of the Berlin Wall that had been set up around the square. We are getting lots of our local news from Malcolm now that he is an avid listener in history class, and a subscriber to the student newspaper. He was the one to explain to us the context around the recent protests by milk farmers, and was a voluble repository of factoids about the Berlin Wall: apparently it is exactly three metres high. Who knew?


I can't even begin to describe how strange it was to stand there and see these now inconsequential fragments of weathered concrete standing outside of the European parliament like parking barriers. When assembled, they used to form an implacable symbol of partition and dictatorship, a monolith that had predated my birth by some years. Like many of my generation, I assumed that The Wall was a fact of life, that it was forever... I remember my astonishment when it fell, and the tentative hope that emerged from its rubble and seemed to suffuse everyone in those first moments: a hope for a world free from tyranny, of fear, of political repression.


It was a day of hope and optimism for us in Brussels... no matter how large the obstacle, courage and compassion are stronger than fear, and they will win in the end.

* * *

Last night I had a long three-hour coaching with Peter Tomek, and feel very well prepared for both the Brahms and the Christmas Oratorio. I'm very excited to do them both, and have already started assembling my things for the trip. Obviously there are items on the list that are always the same: white tie and tails, shoes, scores, toiletries and so on, but there are always last-minute requests and thank-you gifts to bring along, so I'm starting to get ready now. There will be lots of firsts: first big solo concert work with the KSO; first Christmas Oratorio and first oratorio performance in Toronto, and other firsts. I'm looking forward to them all...

November has arrived...

... and it's getting colder here all of a sudden. We didn't really need to warm our hands by the sparklers in this cake that Maggie had made for my birthday last week, but it still felt like a good idea. I had celebrated my birthday a little earlier when my parents were visiting, but it's nice to have a cake on the actual day, especially when the baker is your lovely wife!

On the music front I have had a productive time. My friend and colleague Peter Tomek and I coached some Schubert songs with Dietrich Henschel, a lieder specialist and lovely baritone singer, which was interesting. I also sat in on his Brahms Requiem rehearsals with the Orchestre de La Monnaie, and got a chance to think some more about my own interpretation of this same piece; that performance is coming up on November 22nd in Kingston. They also did the Schönberg A Survivor of Warsaw, which was interesting and reminded me very much of the experience of doing Zimmerman's Die Weisse Rose, both textually and musically.

Last week and again yesterday I rehearsed with the ensemble BL!NDMAN two pieces, "En je noemt het Liefje (And you call that love)" by the Dutch composer Mayke Nas, and another piece called "Nuits Adieu" by the Finnish composer Kajia Saarahio. Both are very different, but interesting, and the singers use microphones and filters, operated by another musician, to create some quite unusual and brilliant effects. These concerts won't be taking place until January, but these pieces take a lot of time to prepare, and the singers won't be able to meet again until after Christmas. Saarahio is in the news a bit in Canada too since (according to the Globe and Mail at least) her opera L'amour de loin is rumoured to be making its north american premiere at the COC soon, perhaps next season.

What else? The boys are back in school after a week off, and tomorrow is Remembrance Day, a national holiday here. We likely won't make the trek up to Vimy Ridge, but instead will stick close to home. There are almost 1600 commonwealth graves in the Cimetière d'Ixelles just up the street, so we'll head that way tomorrow and have a look round. As well, just five minutes further up the 95 bus line, sections of the Berlin Wall have been set out around the European Parliament as a memorial tribute to the end of East German Communism.

That's it for now. As always I would encourage you to visit Maggie's blog periodically for her take on life here in Brussels.

New gig

A little spot of news for the late audition... or do I mean EDition? I had one of the former in Antwerp this morning, and happily it would seem that I'll be singing the St. John Passion there at this beautiful historic church (St. Carolus Borromeus) on April 2nd, 2010. What a nice thing to close out the week!

The schedule is filling up quite a bit, but then that is what we want, isn't it? Most of these will be debuts for me... as well as this St. John in April, and the Christmas Oratorio, Three Kings and the Taverner piece in December, all new for me, there will also be my debut with BL!NDMAN and at least one premiere of a totally new piece; then in February the concert with Andrew will also feature some new music composed by him to some texts that I've chosen. Lots of new music to learn...

But that's later. Now I'm off to the kitchen to wrestle up something for dinner.

Last day of school before holidays, and Hallowe'en

The boys and Maggie are each off to school now for the last day before the fall break. This year Hallowe'en falls on Saturday, and the boys are excited to dress up. There will be some trick or treating in our corner of the neighborhood, so we are going to carve a pumpkin, give out candies and go out collecting with the boys. I'm pretty sure that we'll see a smurf (Malcolm) and a knight (Duncan) again this year.

Talk about a busy week. Malcolm and Duncan have each had lots of activities; tours to the newspaper office, visits to the farm, cross-country meets and running events, and this afternoon there will be a little Hallowe'en party at school. Yesterday evening it was judo for Duncan, and comic book atelier for Malcolm. Tonight it will be busy for Malcolm too: since we haven't found a babysitter for the kids, it looks like he will go to the opera with Maggie instead of me. I saw the dress rehearsal so that's ok.

Have a good weekend, and Happy Hallowe'en!

Another tooth.

Duncan lost tooth number two on Monday evening... my parents were here this past weekend and just missed the event. They've headed off to Germany to visit friends but will be back this coming weekend.


We took the time during the beautiful weather this past weekend to get in some baseball in the park down the street as well as do some dancing in the living room.


Sunday evening I headed down to La Monnaie to attend the general rehearsal of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, staged by fellow Canadian Robert LePage, and man was it a treat! It was set in 1951 and used all sorts of beautiful stage illusions, tricks from cinema and puppetry to create seamless and elegant scene changes that had me laughing aloud from the sheer pleasure of the thing... there were elements that reminded me of Hitchcock films, of the Rock Hudson-James Dean film Giant and many other quotes and bits of magic that were obviously chosen by a director who simply loves theatricality in all its variety. An oil derrick that morphs into a film crane, an inflatable airstream trailer that emerges from the floor and then floats off into the heavens when its job is done, a red convertible that really seems to drive through vast stretches of roadway, projection screens that actually look like the scenery they are supposed to display; these are just a few of the elements that supported this great performance by these singing actors of Stravinsky's extremely funny score. I was sitting right next to Peter, who as the assistant conductor has to give notes to the conductor, so was in the very front row. I would imaginge that some of the effects will work even better from the second balcony where Maggie and I will see the show later on this month.


The cast was superb; the British tenor Mark Padmore as a Tom Rakewell you could really empathize with, Sally Matthews as a gorgeous looking, acting and sounding Anne Truelove, the celebrated german baritone Dietrich Henschel as a creepy and charismatic Nick Shadow, and four excellent singers in the supporting roles: Carole Wilson as Mother Goose, Tania Kriss as Baba the Turk, the Canadian Bass-baritone Nathan Berg as Anne's father, and an excellent John Graham-Hall as a fabulously sung and acted cameo as Sellem the auctioneer. Afterwards I had a chance to meet Nathan Berg, and Dietrich Henschel, so that was quite a pleasant capper to the evening...

As a matter of fact, Stravinsky seems to be quite a connector for our circle of friends... Kinza and Darcy are in Toronto at the moment finishing up work on another Stravinsky opera being premiered right now by the same stage director, who is of course the wonderful Robert Lepage; this show in Toronto is "The Nightingale and other Stories" and by all accounts it is really great, involving an orchestra pit filled with water (they took the musicians out first), singers in wetsuits in the water singing their roles, marionettes, etc. Who said opera was boring! In another bit of synchronicity, I hear that Colin Ainsworth and Lucia Cesaroni are heading out to Victoria to do their own Rake's Progress with Timothy Vernon and Pacific Opera Victoria, where Bruce just finished a very successful Germont in Traviata. Toi toi to them, I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

Maggie's cake

Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday dear Maggie...

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday for Maggie

One of her birthday presents is a beautiful sunny day. I hope it lasts long enough for her to see some of it, after she gets off work. I'm in the midst of preparing the ingredients for a birthday cake, but I'll let the boys help me when they get home.

Yesterday I went out to do a little shopping and found a few things, such as a pan for the cake, and at les petits riens (the local equivalent to value village) found a scooter for Malcolm to match Duncan's. He was very pleased, and the two boys scooted to school this morning.

Monday I got an offer to replace a very well-established Belgian baritone in a performance of Haydn's Creation... unfortunately it is during the time I am in Canada, and so I can't do it. Frustrating this may be but it is a good sign that my reputation is starting to take shape here, and if a conductor will trust me with something like that once, he or she will do so again.

As I say, it's sunny here and is now 7 degrees outside, but it was very cold this morning, around 2 degrees; I heard that it might freeze overnight, so some of the more delicate plants have to come inside. I can see by the internet forecasts that Toronto is in the same situation, so I hope you are enjoying the autumn weather and the beautiful fall colours.

Happy Thanksgiving

We pulled out all the stops yesterday for our Thanksgiving dinner. Diana and Marion headed home to Paris in the morning, so we were without guests for the first time in a week, but still managed to get in some social time, going to the pool for a swim. We met another family with two sons around the same ages as Malcolm and Duncan, and then came back home to start cooking.

Maggie steamed some pumpkin in the rice cooker, and we pureed it to use in a pumpkin pie that went into the oven to cook while we were preparing the rest of the meal. We did greek lemon-garlic roasted potatoes (in honour of the Danforth) and roasted turkey legs with root vegetables, and green beans. Cranberries with orange zest and turkey gravy were essential side orders, and it was a great celebration, but not a late one, since we don't have today off here in Belgium. That's fine, Maggie and the kids make up for it with a whole week off for Toussaint, or all-saints, the first week of November.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family back in Canada!

Beautiful blue skies... today.

Wednesday it rained cats and dogs, or as the french say, il pleut des cordes, or "it's raining ropes". The Bruxellois have an expression as well, il drache, which is derived from the german word dreschen, which means to hit violently, as a torrential rainstorm does on the roof and windows.

Today the temperature is quite cool but the largest part of the day has been clear and bright. We're really noticing the shortening of the days again; when the boys and I got up this morning the stars and moon were very bright and clearly visible in the sky.

The filming has been going very well for Diana and Marion, and Maggie and I are looking forward to seeing the finished product. The finals of the pageant are tomorrow evening, and they head back to Paris on Sunday morning, and we are on our own once again. It's been nice having Diana and Marion as guests, but we really haven't seen much of them; a late dinner last night was the first time we managed to sit down together.

In other socializing news, this evening we are having drinks with an Irish-Belgian family whose children go to the same school as the boys, but are each one year ahead in grades. It's funny, but we've said hello pretty much every day for the last two years and this is the first time we've managed to get together!

There's be more socializing next week: Maggie's birthday is coming up on wednesday, and my parents arrive the next day, in the evening. They'll be here for two weekends, with a side trip in the middle, and the boys are bursting with excitement to see them.

Today I translated the german text for my Christmas Oratorio pieces, and sang through them, as well as the Brahms Requiem, and listened the the rehearsal of Schubert that Peter and I did last Sunday. That's going to be a good concert, and I'm really quite excited. I'm thinking a bit about how to handle the issue of translation. The last time Dina Namer and I performed it, I did dramatic readings of an english translation of each poem before each song so the audience knew what the text meant; it's a technique that Dina and Bruce had pioneered when they did Winterreise.

I suppose I could do the same in french? The other option is to project the translations on a screen behind me, but that could get a little complicated. What I want is for people to have a good sense of the meaning of the words without having to shuffle their programmes around, and take their attention off the pianist and singer to read the words. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

Bon weekend!

Rainy day in Brussels... yeah, big surprise!

I had an eventful day today, and experienced Brussels weather directly as I was rained on this morning... I didn't let it dissuade me from going swimming, and somehow found a groove, so that I was able to do 120 laps / 3 km in 77 minutes, a new record for me. I'm a little bit sore in the shoulders and ribs but I really feel like my form is improving and I've found a good rythym for long-distance swimming; I hope to do the same later in the week.

I found a newish Yamaha classical guitar in the trash the other day; it had obviously suffered some injury and the headstock needed to be glued back in place. The only missing piece was the "nut" - that little piece of bone or plastic at the end of the neck that the strings pass over before they get wound around the tuning pins - and so I went to Ben's guitar repair shop to pick one up.

After paying 50 cents for a cheap plastic nut, we got to chatting (big surprise there) and I started to try out some of the guitars he had on display. Apart from the several resonator guitars on the wall (that made me think of Ophelia, my 1934 metalbody resophonic, resting safely back in Canada) he had a few arch-top guitars. One was an 1950s-era german-made model that was out of my price range, but in excellent shape and full of great tone. Another was a new-ish Ibanez art-core guitar.

As it happens I bought a similar model last year at the St. John's School sale, and after playing it for a while, adjusting the action and changing strings realized that I just didn't like it. I liked the feel and sound of this one, however, and asked about it. The owner was wanting to get rid of it, and when I suggested a straight swap, Ben telephoned him and arranged it. So in place of this:


I now have this:


...and am much happier for it. Duncan went along with me to make the trade, and loved poking around in the shop, which is filled with harp guitars, some of which Ben himself has built. I have no need for pickups since I'm just playing in the living room, for pleasure only, and this model is a little larger and has a more satisfying colour to its sound.


I mentioned in an earlier post about BL!NDMAN, the music collective based in Flanders, and it looks like I'll be singing with them a bit in the coming months. There's a new programme of music being developed, and so there will be a world premiere in the programme as well as much music ancient and modern. I'm quite excited to be singing Bach and Buxtehude as well as Webern and Saariaho in the same concert, and doing so in Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels and Amsterdam.

But that's not all that's happening musically. Sunday night I went over to Peter Tomek's to sing and play through Die Schöne Müllerin of Schubert, and quite surprisingly, although I haven't really looked at the piece since Dina Namer and I performed it in the summer of 2006, I was able to sing the whole thing through without the music, using only the text of the poems as a guide. Peter and I are both very excited about the chance to do this cycle, so we are looking around for other places to perform it: his diplom from the Vienna conservatory is in lieder interpretation, so this kind of music is as dear to his heart as it is to mine. After witnessing his first reading of the music I can't believe he's never performed it before... we are looking to present the cycle in April or May here in Brussels, and elsewhere (in Flanders, the Netherlands or perhaps Germany or Austria?) if we can. Likewise, Dina and I are keen to do it again in Canada, and are following up some leads for the summer of 2010 and beyond.

I've also confirmed a recital at the Cathedral Church of St. James Anglican in downtown Toronto in February with Andrew Ager, during the same period that I'm back in Canada to do the Broadway revue with the Mississauga Choral Society. We're hoping to do a mostly Belgian programme, since he wants to do Widor, who studied in Brussels, and I've suggested César Franck; Bruce has lots of Belgian songs from his time spent studying at the Liège conservatoire so together we should be able to find something appropriate. As well I've already had some positive response to my request for auditions, so my time in Canada in November/December is already filling up quite a lot, and it looks like much of December will be spent in lessons with Bruce, coaching with Don Tarnawski, auditioning and rehearsing with Andrew for the February performance. In case anyone reading this is interested in coming to hear me sing, for a complete list of my performance schedule, click here.

Speaking of Bruce, he's finishing up a run of La Traviata with Pacific Opera Victoria, and by all accounts his characterization of Germont is very moving, and the show is a big hit, with a very good cast. I'm really very lucky to have as a mentor someone who can still be developing, still giving fresh, genuine interpretations of new roles after forty years on the stage... I want to tell other singers starting out, to look for the ones who practice what they preach, and have the technique and the stability to keep perfecting their craft for a lifetime, for the love of art and a taste for the continuous pursuit of the next, more nuanced, more true performance. In this modern world of celebrity (a phenomenon that is, in my opinion, artistically empty, and to be despised) this type of mentor is rare, so keep your eyes peeled for the real McCoy...

Tomorrow is a short day for the kids, and its also the day that La-Haut! opens here in Belgium. In case you don't know the french title, that would be the newest Disney-Pixar film, entitled "Up!". I saw this picture in Canada last spring, but the kids have been waiting patiently for it to open here, and Maggie and I are taking them to see it in digital 3-D. The children here have recently been going crazy for a promotion that the grocery chain DelHaize has been offering, that involved a gift of five Disney/Pixar trading cards for every 20 euros spent. The machinations and intrigue involved in amassing a full set of all two-hundred and something cards have been byzantine in their complexity, but we are happy to say that we lack only five cards, and Malcolm decided finally to purchase them online for 20 cents each, to complete the set. Talk about a good bit of marketing; now all Belgian children can't wait to see the newest movie, to see the characters they've been obsessed with for weeks...

We have houseguests this week: our friend Diana Lui is an artist, photographer and film-maker, and lives in Paris. She and her camera"man" Marion are staying with us this week while they are in town, filming the "Miss SDF" pageant. This is an unusual project funded by the Flemish community here in Brussels, that means to take homeless women off the streets, help them get stabilized and organized, and hold a competition, like a more realistic version of a beauty pageant. The winner receives free housing for a year, and very generously this prize is extended to all the finalists, so it really will make quite a difference in the lives of these women. For more information about this programme (although I don't think it's available in English) click here.

Happy Tuesday!

mmmm... Bagels...

(Ok, for those who were wondering how long I could hold out, I've broken down, and must warn you that I will mention food in the following post, which was written during the two hours I waited for my internet to start working again. In the end I finally fixed the problem by resetting the router myself.)

Today is another nice day; it's been a nice couple weeks, although a bit cooler than I like. This weekend was great; I dragged the family out of the house on Saturday to go shopping, and we enjoyed a drink on the terrace of La Becasse, a restaurant just up the street. Then yesterday we all cycled down to the Sunday market for some produce shopping. Food quality is always great here and we've been eating well: homemade bagels (see photo), Shanghai red-cooked pork, rabbit stewed in Rodenbach beer, lamb brochettes and grilled zucchini are a few recipes we've tried out recently. While Maggie and I did our tour of the market the boys played, and after we'd sampled a little dim sum, we bought some more flowers for the window boxes (cyclamens and a few others) and I did a little container gardening yesterday afternoon to get them planted properly.

I cycled with the kids to school this morning and then went swimming; got in 2km at the pool before it got just too busy. I've managed 2.5 Km the last two times I went, so I am definitely feeling that I'm back in the groove.

The house is getting outfitted incrementally as time goes by, and feeling more and more comfortable. We've picked up a few things at brocantes over the last few weeks, such as:
plates and serving dishes, an indian carpet, a new kettle and a barometer.



This last is a nice German one, but I thought it was broken because the needle seems stuck at 102.5 Kpa, or midway between "Variable" and "Fair", or at least it's wavered near there for the last two very lovely weeks. I should have realized that barometers in Belgium are usually stuck on "variable" anyway.

The weekend before last we enjoyed a visit from Marc, a pianist friend who now lives and works in Paris; he was in town to see the Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman sing at La Monnaie, with baritone Werner Van Mechelen and an American tenor I hadn't seen before, conducted very elegantly by Marc Soustrot. I really enjoyed the concert, and at a reception/dinner afterwards met Measha and a number of other people including Kevin Skelton, a Canadian tenor who lives in Brussels, and spent a nice hour or so in conversation before hightailing it home at an appropriately early time. (The only one with children, I explained to the others that the kids wake us up at the same time, no matter what time we go to bed).

Stuff to see this season coming up at la Monnaie includes The Rake's Progress, with a Canadian connection: Nathan Berg (bass) and Robert LePage (director). Speaking of Canadian opera, I hear that the COC is doing Dutchman again; I really am quite eager to see it but unfortunately I think it's not during a period I'll be in Canada. Last night I had another listen to George London's unearthly recording of the Dutchman's opening aria, Die Frist ist um, with Hans Knappertbusch and the Vienna Philharmonic; it's got to be one of the greatest recordings ever made, and one that I never get tired of hearing.

While we are on the topic of recordings that blow my mind, another track that rocked me yesterday while listening to the CBC radio online was Fritz Wunderlich's performance of Dein ist mein ganzes Herz from Land of Smiles. Unbelievably beautiful singing.

Fritz's amazing use of the German text in his phrasing of course inspired me to look into my library for his copy of Die Schöne Müllerin, but unfortunately I didn't bring his along and so only have Fischer-Dieskau's and Hermann Prey's. I listened to Fischer-Dieskau's this morning, and then to a few movements of Victor Braun's recording of Winterreise with Antonin Kubalek, just to lighten my mood a little. I seem to have a German thing going at the moment, and it's probably because a) my next gig is the Brahms German Requiem, followed by Bach, and b) I want to perform Die Schöne Müllerin from memory for the first time this coming year with Peter Tomek here in Brussels, and in Canada with Dina Namer. Everybody finds this work difficult to memorize because of the strophic setting (i.e. multiple repeats of the same music with different words) but having done it several times before I think I can get it down by heart.

Lots of Canadians performing in Belgium this season: Carla Dirlikov (in Liege) and Julie Nesrallah (Brussels). Both mezzos, I had the pleasure of singing with each of them in two different productions of Carmen, back in Canada. I hope we'll get a chance to see their performances and have them in for dinner and a little visit... this house is becoming the unofficial Canadian embassy, and why not?

I already mentioned Kevin Skelton, who I'd met two weekends ago; this past Friday evening I went to Aalst, just to the west of Brussels, to hear his vocal quartet, Blindman vox.

The Blindman Collective started in Flanders perhaps twenty years ago as a saxophone quartet, and a few years ago expanded into a larger ensemble made up of four different quartets, one each for saxophone, strings, drums and voice. These different quartets now perform separately but also together in different configurations as needed, and this concert was held in a lovely little chapel in Aalst, using the saxophones and voices to perform music by Schutz, Buxtehude and Bach.

I was really amazed at this distinctly Belgian presentation - Adolphe Sax was Belgian, born in Dinant, after all - of baroque music in an ancient chapel, with four master saxophonists playing wonderfully nuanced and dare I say delicately coloured music that somehow put me in mind of a church organ. It was really quite something, and has to be heard to be appreciated.

Lining up the auditions and performances

Being a performer is a difficult career to manage; you're either dying of thirst or drowning in too much work. While it sounds like singing work is anything but plentiful these days in Canada, due to some pretty short-sighted funding cuts by several levels of government, I've been working hard at filling in the rest of my schedule on both sides of the Atlantic, and have been quite lucky to find some great pieces to explore this season. Right now my schedule looks like this:

• November 22: Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Kingston Symphony
• December 5, 6: Bach Weinachtsoratorium, Cornelius Three Kings, Pax Christi Chorale, Toronto
• December 24: Christmas eve service, music of John Taverner, St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto
• January 24: Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, St. Carolus Borromeus Church, Antwerp
• February 20: Broadway with Heart, Mississauga Choral Society, Living Arts Centre, Mississauga
  

And there are some things in the planning stages on the horizon as well:

• February (date to be confirmed): recital with Andrew Ager, piano/organ, Toronto
• April (date tbc): lieder recital, Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with pianist Peter Tomek, Brussels
• November-December 2010 (date tbc): Canadian-Belgian concert, music of Andrew Ager and Cesar Franck, for baritone, organ, chamber choir and chamber orchestra, Antwerp

As well there are some Canadian summer performances in the planning/negotiation stages. I'm looking especially hard for a chance to do Die Schöne Müllerin again with Dina Namer - she was so wonderful when we presented it in 2006 it seems a waste to not try to do it again - and there are a few more things in the pipe, too far off to mention.

Here in Brussels we are back to our routine, and I've been singing a lot, and reading a lot, translating my texts for the gigs I do have, and calling and emailing with strong purpose. I'm back up to my old swim routine, and did 100 lengths or 2.5 km yesterday, so I'm feeling more energized. There are auditions coming up in Flanders and some leads in the south of France (Toulouse, St. Etienne, and other houses) that I'm avidly pursuing as well. There's also some leads in Dresden, and Leipzig, and Stuttgart that I've got a bit of a connection too, and will be pursuing, so that's exciting: so far I haven't really made any inroads yet into Germany or Austria. Better brush up my German (what little I have)!

We're looking forward to a big brocante tomorrow morning in our neighborhood, and some beautiful weather for the weekend. I'm heading off tomorrow afternoon with a pianist friend from Toronto who now lives in Paris, we're going to do a little tour of the Cantillon brasserie here in Brussels, and then take in a concert at La Monnaie...

Have a good weekend!

Busy week

Well I've certainly had a busy week.

The kids are on a new schedule: we leave in the morning around 8h to walk to school; I'm usually home by 8h45. Then I have another cup of coffee and spend the next three hours or so warming up the voice in stages, researching houses and agents, composing emails and calling around, while rehearsing and listening to the music I'm learning. Twice a week the schedule is a little delayed, as I swim first, and once a week I go grocery shopping by car to stock up on heavy items with our friend Florence.

The same routine holds after a break for lunch and a little reading or part of a movie... the kids are home with Maggie around 17h, which means I have longer in the afternoon than I had last year, to continue working and to make calls to Canadian places... it's working out very well. Malcolm doesn't seem to have a problem with staying for study hall, and walking home on his own with Duncan, and is doing very well academically. He's also found a friend, another boy in his class, so he's not the lone Y-chromosome. Duncan is progressing and doing well at his work, but I think he was derailed a bit by the illness of his teacher, and the supply teacher is having some discipline problems in class in general. We've linked his tv privileges to his behaviour at school and so he's lost tv twice this week... it's mostly not listening properly, and having to be told more than once to do something that he's got to work on.

I've got quite a bit of auditioning on the plate for when I get back to Canada, as well as another gig or two that are shaping up during that time... as well there is a Schubert lieder concert that I'd like to present again, here and in Canada. Nothing else is signed/sealed yet but I'll keep you posted.

I'm really feeling energized now that I can get back at regular singing, learning my pieces for the next six months, and the audition hunt. I have some German audition leads that I'm tracking down, and an Austrian one. Interestingly our friend Keith is moving from Hof, Germany where he was been living, to Leipzig, where there are more opportunities, and I hope to visit him and try to audition there. By a strange coincidence the director in Leipzig is Udo Zimmerman, the composer of Die Weisse Rose, the opera that Marta Matulewicz and I performed in Toronto a few years back. I had spoken with him by email at the time, and want to renew that connection and audition for him. How cool would that be?!

We bought our tickets for the whole gang to fly back to Brussels from Canada on the 31st of December, and will be back in Canada at the end of June 2010 for the summer. Sabena Airlines operates a direct flight in partnership with Jet Airways, and the fares are quite reasonable (for those people reading this who'd like to visit us in Brussels I would heartily recommend their direct flight).

Ok, that's it. The boys are asleep and Maggie and I are going to have a little cheese, grapes and wine for dessert.

Have a good weekend!

Fidelio

Last night I had a great opportunity to hear Beethoven's immortal music brought to life again on the stage... Canadian tenor John MacMaster was singing the Florestan in Rotterdam, and when we met this summer, had offered some tickets to the dress rehearsal. Of course I was eager to accept; it was my first time in Rotterdam, first time hearing John in performance, and the first time I saw Valery Gergiev conduct.

The orchestra was the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and they were really fabulous... this was their first rehearsal with Gergiev, and the singers were mostly marking (although John sang out brilliantly). The assistant had really done a fabulous job, and he was earning his money as well, sitting on the edge of the orchestra pit, and singing the parts of those singers who needed to save their voices for opening night.

There were all sorts of blockages on the highway coming back, so the night was a very late one, and I had little rest, as I rushed off to drop off the car at the rental desk, and then met Wayne, our neighbor from Toronto, who had a few hours in Brussels before catching his flight to Marseille. We had a great time visiting the Grand Place together, as well as sampling some great Trappist beer and catching up on the family news on both sides...

As for our family, the school week seems to have gone smoothly... Malcolm has done very well on his mathematics tests so far, and Duncan is integrating well into the primary section. Maggie is tired from her first week with students so went to bed early this evening, but by all accounts she is looking at another fulfilling year.

My guest at the Fidelio was Peter Tomek, my opera coach, and we had lots of time in the car to discuss the coming year. I'm hoping to do some new piano-voice recordings of my audition arias, and also work on a chamber music project with Peter here in Brussels if I can. More on that later,

Have a good weekend!

Off to school

 

It's eleven o'clock and all's well.  I've already got some singing in, and am just taking a break.  Here's a picture of some gladiolus blossoms that have been gracing our dining room for the last week, I thought they deserved mention.

 

Last night Malcolm was the chef and he decided to make Salade Liegois, which is a warm potato salad with green beans, pieces of bacon and shallots, with a sauce made from deglazing the bacon pan with red wine vinegar.  He read the recipe, chopped the ingredients, boiled the water for the potatoes, and combined everything, with a little help from the rest of the kitchen staff.  We're going to have the kids make a dinner of their choice one night each week from now on, and Maggie and I will take turns the other two nights.  On weekends we'll play it by ear or cook together.

We were all up early and off to school ahead of time.  It was lovely to see the other students and parents after our vacations, and we were pleased to discover that there might actually be another boy in Malcolm's class; there is a new student on the list, but the gender isn't clear from the name; we shall see.  Duncan was very excited to see his old friends, and is really looking forward to being a big boy in the primary section!

Scotland pix #3: Peter and Lynn and family

I have a little breathing room at the moment; it's just after lunch, and the boys have been rewarded for being good this morning with a little tv time.  Duncan has been designing his own board game, and Malcolm has been reading.  Maggie has her first day with students today, and tomorrow the boys go to school themselves, so I can really get down to work again...

Here are some more Scotland photos, taken on our last full day there.  Peter and Lynn, our witnesses at our wedding twelve years ago, were camping in Scotland with their two kids, and we managed to all meet up at Rob and Viki's place for a visit and a big roast dinner on Sunday night.  It was really wonderful, and everyone hit if off well; Rob was overjoyed to have so many Canadians in the house, Viki loved meeting new friends, and the kids played well together.  Malcolm and S., being the same age, were thick as thieves, and Duncan and G., who is twelve, had lots of fun together too.  Maggie and I hadn't spent any time with Peter and Lynn and family for at least four years, but it felt just as if no time at all had passed.

We braved the rain to play on the playground equipment...

...then went berry picking along the road.

 

Duncan found "Toby" the snail, and took great pains trying to feed him some leaves he had found.

 

After the berry picking we headed back to Rob and Viki's to warm up by the fire.  Before dinner we took in a pint and lots of good conversation at the Garvald pub:

... and had our picture taken together.

What a great time!

The next day Viki was kind enough to drive us into Edinburgh, and we caught our 10:30 train to London, and from there home to Brussels.  We were greeted with this sight when we got home:

*    *    *

The past weekend was busy from a social point of view... we had our friends Jean-Luc and Régine over for dinner, with their two kids who are close in age to Duncan.  We had a great time and enjoyed a North-American style dinner with sweet potatoes roasted on the barbeque, baked chicken wings and charcoal-grilled ribs.  We warned them ahead of time that this was a finger-food meal, and they loved it, Jean-Luc being especially interested in the composition of my homemade bourbon-maple-syrup barbeque sauce.

Then yesterday afternoon our friends Kim and Claudio dropped off their two boys for a visit, and headed back to finish the cleanup of their apartment.  Their family is moving to Singapore shortly, and we wanted to see them before they left.  They returned in the evening and we had a big potluck of Thai food, while the kids played together.

This morning Maggie headed off to work, and I began my researches into auditions, both for companies and agents.  While I have some performances lined up my objective for this fall is to find an agent, preferably a Parisian one, so this morning was spent building my list and sending out the first preparatory and follow-up emails to various companies and agencies.  After composing fourteen different ones in both English and French, I thought I'd take a break and do a blog post.

Now I think I'll drag these kids outside... the weather here is gorgeous, and so they should profit by it on their last day before school.

Happy August 31st!

Scotland pix #2: Dirleton Castle, Traprain Law, Glenkinchie and and Céilidh

 

A few more pictures from Scotland.  In the last post I showed some photos of our beach visit; prior to that Viki was kind enough to play tour guide with us, and took us to Dirleton Castle: here's Maggie in the beautifully maintained gardens. 

The castle itself was occupied by three successive families: De Vaux (12th century), Halyburton (14th and 15th cs.) and Ruthven (16th c.); each had a hand in constructing different parts of the castle.
Here's Maggie in the dovecote, used for keeping doves and pigeons as a source of meat, fertilizer and feathers for mattresses.

The next day we toured around with Rob, while Viki was involved in the Garvald Village show, having entered several floral arrangements and some photographs.  We went to the Glenkinchie distillery for a fascinating tour, degustation and a visit to their boutique to purchase some lovely single malts.

Then it was off to climb Traprain Law, which gave us a fabulous view of the East Lothian countryside... pictures don't really do it justice but we'll try.

Next we visited Hailes castle, and being a little fatigued from the climb of the Law, took a little rest on the green there before heading back home to see to the chickens, have some dinner and get ready for the Céilidh.  Viki had won several firsts and a couple of seconds for her flowers and they both won prizes for their photos, so all were in a celebratory mood for the dance.  Maggie and I had a great time doing country dances, much like we did at our wedding celebration twelve years ago... this time the kids were around to take part, and they had a great time too.

Scotland pictures

Today was Maggie's first day back at work after the summer break; she has three days to put in this week and a couple next in preparation for the arrival of her students. The boys and I did a little shopping this afternoon but for the most part were pretty quiet. Yesterday they took a trip to the local library to get a new crop of books; I know that soon enough (next Tuesday) they'll be in the thick of schoolwork so I'm not going to begrudge them a little down time after the very full five days we spent in Scotland.

This post is primarily photos, starting with our arrival in London's St. Pancras station:


...followed by a quick jaunt on foot to Covent Garden, where we saw big posters of Canadian baritone Gerald Finley next to Renée Fleming.


Then we called up our friend Ros and she and her daughter O. met us at the Tower of London. I heartily recommend the tour, given by a member of the Warders of the Tower, still a Royal residence.


We had a good look around despite our short timelines...


And got back on the train for the trip to Edinburgh just in time.


Rob met us at the station, and we headed off together by car to beautiful Garvald, and their lovely house. The boys were thrilled to see Rob and Viki again, and to collect some eggs from the chicken coop.


The next day I went to see Christopher Maltman perform the Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer with the Hebrides ensemble while Maggie and the boys saw some Fringe performances, including street theatre...


...and checked out the local cuisine, including pork-on-a-bun.


We toured a bit around the countryside, and took in the view of fields of reddish earth, green vegetables, and golden barley, wheat and oats...


and toured some castles and gardens, including some with trees planted a hundred years ago, to commemorate the coronation of kings like George V...


... and the boys loved the trees too!


We visited some beautiful beaches, and picnicked, but didn't brave the waters for a swim...


...and in the evenings went out for walks around the village of Garvald...


... to take in the sights of Scotland on a summer evening, and to pick blackberries for breakfast.


... to be continued...