Opening of Die Fledermaus

Well, it's happening today; we open Die Fledermaus and I make my debut as Eisenstein.  We have three performances: this afternoon (the 26th feb), and the evenings of March 1st and March 3rd.  It's a wonderful piece and I've enjoyed working with my fellow singers very much.

As well I'm spreading the word about the performances of Die Schöne Müllerin; in addition to our originally scheduled Kitchener Waterloo performance, on the 17th of March at 8pm, we have added another one in Kingston on March 8th, at St. Mark's Lutheran, at 8pm.

 

I'm quite excited about this newly added performance as it is the first time Dina and I perform publicly in Kingston in five years.

But wait, there's more!  In between my last two performances of Fledermaus, I'm also looking forward to hearing Bruce and Dina perform the Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and the Brahms Die Schöne Magelone, which is very rarely done.  This neglect is a shame, because it is an enchanting Brothers Grimm/Hans Christian Andersen style fairy tale of love, chivalry and adventure, with fifteen gorgeous Brahms "romanzen" interspersed throughout.  It's a fairly early Brahms work, and probably the closest thing to an opera he ever produced.

It's great to see your mentor and your piano colleague sink their teeth into something so challenging, and I'm really looking forward to their concert at 8pm on the 2nd of March at Chalmers United Church, Kingston.

The Revenge of the Bat: week two

Week two of rehearsals for Die Fledermaus have started, and we rather unexpectedly have been given a day off, due to the unavailability of some of our soloists.  It's been a real pleasure to meet these singers, and I think I can say with confidence that we're enjoying getting to know each other on the stage.

The frequency of my blogging usually varies inversely with the amount of work I'm doing, and that relationship has been consistent since I arrived in Canada ten days ago.  I leapt into rehearsals the very next day, and have had only two off days since then.  In both cases I made my way to Kingston to visit with my grandmother Rita; she is undergoing palliative care at the moment, and I am taking every chance I can to spend time with her.

 

Last Saturday I spent all afternoon with her, and we had some lovely conversation.  I left her with a kiss and some belgian chocolate around dinnertime, to attend the Queen's School of Music fundraiser A Night in Vienna.

 

Bruce has been directing and producing this show for about ten years now, and it is a marvelous chance for the music students to explore this very elegant music of a most elegant city.  The students put on a wonderful performance, and I was very excited to hear the quality of voices and instrumentalists that the School of Music is producing.  Bravi tutti!

Today is of course Valentine's Day, and Maggie and the boys and I have a date for a skype dinner at 13h my time / 19h theirs.  I think we're having salmon and broccoli, with a little cava to drink.  I'm looking forward to it!

In all the Fledermaus (February 26th, March 1st, March 3rd) preparations I am still extremely busy with other career-based things, like exploring the english text for Creation (March 24th) music for the No Tenors Allowed concert (March 31st) and do some publicity for the Schubert recitals that are coming up (March 10th, 17th). The Kitchener-Waterloo Record interviewed me by telephone a couple of weeks ago, so that takes care of that, but it would seem that there is the possibility of us doing the Müllerin at the School of Music (March 8th) as well.  That will be great, and it will put me in a good shape for the Brussels performance (May 12th), and the Vienna one sometime next season.

Speaking of Creation, here's a poster for the Antwerp performance...

 

Now I really must go dress for dinner!

Winter

Wow, it's gotten a lot colder in Brussels recently... I don't know if you've heard but there's been a big cold snap all over western europe.  It's going down to -10 C tonight and tomorrow night, and colder temperatures and significant snowfall might be on the way.

Great news for the skiers and snow sculptors, but not so much for me, as the snowy weather is arriving just in time for me to leave for Canada on Saturday morning.  Still, I've been enjoying the crystal-clear skies and dry cold.  Not everyone is enjoying it; a child was crying on the way to school yesterday, complaining about walking in the cold, and her mother was heard to exclaim, "Arrête de pleurer, ça va geler!" (Stop crying, your tears will freeze!).

 
In general people here seem quite surprised by the temperature; it is not entirely normal to be quite so cold here this time of year.  There has been quite a bit of variability, though: our first february in Brussels in 2008 was exceptionally warm.


I have been a bit "under the weather" myself recently, fatigue and shivers, some sort of flu I think.  Fortunately no sore throat or sniffles, so no impact on the voice, apart from a lack of energy.  I'm continuing to prepare for Eisenstein; it's really fantastically funny music and it's going to be hilarious to perform it together with  new colleagues at the end of February.

Earlier this week I met and had a cup of coffee with Paul Dinneweth, the conductor of the Antwerp Die Schöpfung, and we talked through the score together.  It all seems pretty straightforward, with tempos that make sense; I was happy to have the opportunity.  Yesterday I had a brief trip up to the Vlaamsopera in Antwerp to audition for a new project, a retrospective of Wagner that plans to re-orchestrate his music to form a sort of "BiOpera".  It was good to audition there again, to increase my visibility with that company; I don't sing any Wagner, but their invitation to audition shows that they haven't forgotten me.  Tonight I plan to drop in at the Brussels Choral Society rehearsal to finally meet Eric Delson, their conductor, and have a listen to the choir.  Mike and Joyce, friends from St. Andrew's, sing in the choir and I'm eager to hear them.


Well, that's about it.  Most likely my next post will be from Canada.... oh yes, and a big Happy Birthday to my Grandmother Rita, who's celebrating another year today!