Last evening in Antwerp

Well this week has certainly flown by... We are coming up to our last rehearsals in Antwerp tomorrow afternoon, and by the evening I should be back home with the family and looking forward to a day off on Tuesday, prior to the orchestra rehearsals this coming week.

These will be held on a more civilized schedule of afternoon/evening, in Dworp, near Brussels, so I will be the one working close to home for a change.

The last couple of evenings have involved large enough breaks that we've had a chance to get little tours around the central part of the city from our local cast members, and actually dine out a little; before now it's been so many hours in the rehearsal hall each day that one has no chance to eat anything after 10pm but instead one has to go to bed and try to rest for the next day's 10am start.

This apartment has been great for me: inexpensive, clean, completely quiet, and in a safe area. I haven't missed the internet, television or radio that much, as I haven't really had any time to miss it, and now I am comfortable with the layout of the place, and of the city itself. I am now looking forward to the next time I am here in Antwerp for an extended period... Now that I know the city a little more I like it very much!

It's just starting to hit home to me that I am debuting two roles in this production of Don Giovanni... It was one of the first operas that I saw, definitely the first one I saw at the Metropolitan in New York, and Bruce gave me a copy of the score as a present very early on in our association. Up until now I've been so busy thinking about the logistics of the words, music, motivation, character, stage business etc. that I haven't had time to get excited about it, but as the last pieces are put in place the energy is starting to build.

In other news I've added some performances of Brahms Requiem in Lier, near Antwerp, with Geert Hendrix, the new director of the Antwerp Conservatory, and a conductor I have only worked with once, on a 'scratch' singalong Messiah a couple of years ago. These will take place in February, so that means that I'm occupied with musical projects straight through from September to May, with only January free at this point, which will be necessary for preparing for Canada...

A break in rehearsals

We staged the wedding of Zerlina and Masetto this mornig, followed by the interruption by Don Giovanni and then Masetto's angry aria as he's hustled off by Leporello. That means that what is left for me to still do is: the reconciliation with Zerlina, then the trio and following ensemble finale that closes act 1. The it's the scene in act 2 where Masetto plans to kill Giovanni but gets beat up by him (disguised as Leporello) instead. Then the act 2 confrontation ensemble; then the graveyard and banquet scenes as the commendatore, followed by the denoument as Masetto. So we still have a long way to go but I at least have a little time to myself now.

I am interested at the integration of smartphones and sms technology here in Antwerp. To ride the tram or metro you simply send a text and for 1,50 you have one hour paid. This morning I decided that it would be nice to bicycle around the city, and for eight euros and two minutes on the internet I soon had my codes for one week, and was riding a bike home in five minutes instead of 25 minutes of walking. You just drop the bike off at the destination place, and if it is no more than 30 minutes usage at a time it's free.

I am just poaching the wifi from the courtyard of the public library here, and now will head back to the apartment for a litttle while before going back to the rehearsal...

Apartment in Antwerp for Don Giovanni

Hey, listen, I've been meaning to talk to you, neighbour. You know that kind of strange looking guy, moved into that short-term furnished rental around the corner? You know who I mean, the one looks kind of suspicious? Haven't you seen him? He's always coming home late in the evening and cooking weird meals... I don't think he's from around here, I don't think he's even from this country, you see what I mean. Yes, definitely a foreigner. He's always mumbing things under his breath in some strange language nobody understands, walks around like he's in a daze, or hearing voices. He's sitting right across from me on the bus last week? I looked right at him and smiled, but he was mumbling under his breath and making these frightening faces, he didn't even notice I was there. I swear, the next day I peeked in the side window and saw him striding around the living room and talking, like one half of a conversation, but get this: there was nobody else there. Seriously. And there are the noises: at strange times of the day it's I honking and shouting, coughing, gargling, strange sounds, like he's going through some weird ritual... bizarre.

And there's more, I saw him at the café as well, he's there a lot, always scribbling in this book he has, and writing things down, reading obsessively over and over, sometimes shaking his head and then laughing maniacally. Last night I peeked through the kitchen window and he's looking exhausted but is still at it, putting all sorts of papers up on the wall, they look like diagrammes, and photos and lists... it's like he's involved with some sort of strange plan, like the walls of evidence that psycho killers put up that you see on tv and in the movies.

I even saw him lurching around his living room in a strange sort of dance, but there was no music that I could hear, it was creepy, and it seems to me that he's trying to impersonate someone... He was even waving a sword around, and cursing the other night at 11 o'clock, can you believe it? I have a feeling that the intensity is getting worse, it's like something terrible is going to happen...

Relax! The guy in the short-term isn't a terrorist or psycho-killer; just an opera singer in town for a gig.

We had our music sing through yesterday and today had two services of staging. It always takes longer than you think, especially on the first day, but the cast is very cool and the artistic team as well. It will be a great show, I can tell already, I just wish that we had a little more time to prepare.

Here is the list of the players and the artistic team:

Werner Van Mechelen, Don Giovanni
Norman Patzke, Leporello
Lisette Bolle, Donna Anna
Peter Gijsbertsen, Don Ottavio
Liesbeth Devos, Zerlina
Britt Truyts, Donna Elvira
Matthew Zadow, Masetto/Commendatore

Korneel Hamers, metteur en scène
Julia Weisbrich, costumes & décor
Bart Van Reyn, direction musicale
Le Concert d’Anvers
Choeur de chambre Octopus

So if you google some of these people you will see that they are of a very high quality, and I'm very glad to be here. Still it's a little disorienting, being away from home on my own for an opera. You really have no time at all for anything else, you don't really mnow the city and it's very tiring mentally and physically to be in rehearsals all the day long. On top of that you miss your family very much, and having reliable internet so you can have a skype call gets to be a very high priority, although you don't usually have so much time to call when they will be at home. I have been lucky to have had lot of work at home in Brussels in the last eighteen months, and also before that in Toronto, where Bruce's home is a very comfortable and familiar place for me to stay, and although he is away teaching much of the time it's much nicer to dine together than to shop, cook and eat for one alone. It's not been since Cork, Ireland, in 2008 that I have been away on my own for a week or more, so it's good practice for Amsterdam.

Okay then, off to bed! Three services tomorrow!

Don Giovanni et al

It looks as if I have found a good apartment for an affordable price in Amsterdam, fairly close to the Hetmusiektheatre; by bicycle it should be only ten or fifteen minutes away.  Kris Belligh (with whom I collaborated on La Traviata) and I were initially planning to rent a houseboat on one of the canals, but this location is very quiet, newly renovated, and as it belongs to two teachers at the international school there, it's kind of in the family.  We move in there on the 20th of October, to begin six days a week of staging rehearsals until the show opens in early December.

Right now almost all of my thoughts are occupied with preparing the Don Giovanni.  I've had a couple of meetings to go over the staging with the director, and met the singer who will play Zerlina; Liesbeth Devos is her name and she seems very nice, so it will be lots of fun to work with her.  I have had a number of coachings with Peter Tomek and also with David Miller, so hope to be well prepared.  We have a musical rehearsal next week prior to five days of intensive staging, so having some clear sense of the stage movement ahead of time will help us all work more quickly that we would be able to otherwise.  Quite the opposite of the six weeks of rehearsal in Amsterdam!  Because of the long hours of staging in Antwerp next week I'm thinking it might make more sense to stay there through the week, rather than try to get home each night.  It might actually be cheaper also.

I'll post more pictures as they become available but the costumes are going to look quite beautiful; I think this is Donna Elvira's dress taking shape above.  She is played by Britt Truyts, with whom I sang the Brahms Requiem in Holland last fall, and she will be great as Elvira.  As the Commendatore I will be dressed as an old soldier with a ram's-horn helmet and a spear... a bit Wotan-ish, but hey, that's cool.  I'll share those photos later.

I have a nice poster to put on the window downstairs for the Don Giovanni, and another for Duncan's show, Evita, which the Brussels Light Opera Company is presenting this November.  He's part of the children's chorus, and will get to work a bit in English instead of his usual French, so that's a good thing.  We are all thinking of him, and missing him quite a bit, as he is away all week at Nettinne with his class.  He returns tomorrow so that's good news for us!

We had a big moment last Sunday when Malcolm sang his first service in the senior choir.  There were four tenors and five basses/baritones for a change, so when they ripped into the big hymns it made the place really rock, and their anthem was a lovely one.  A number of the men and women came up to afterwards and complimented me on his accurate reading, good intonation and solid rhythm; I have really had very little to do with any of that, but accepted the good wishes on his behalf.  I'm glad that he's found something else that he's good at...

Maggie has hopefully survived her parent-teacher night last evening; I'm sure that she will be tired tonight.  She's happy to be back in the swing of things but I am sure she is dreading my long absences that are quickly approaching and the lack of support around the house that that entails... unfortunately it's just what has to happen.  Fortunately the boys are very independent and can even help out with the cooking so that should make things a little easier for the family but I do wish I could sing every role here in Brussels so I wouldn't have to go away from them!

On that note, to find something for dinner.  Have a good weekend!

La Rentrée

At last the summer vacation is over and it is "back to the machine" for everyone...  this week saw Duncan's return to classes, Malcolm's receipt of his textbooks and assignment into his classes, and Maggie's shift into higher gear as her students began their first full week.

 

Malcolm was the only other person here during the day for most of this past week; since his chief daytime activity as an adolescent is sleeping or reading I got a few things done, and outside of home study spent some time meeting with Peter Tomek to coach the Don Giovanni, and with conductor Bart Van Reyn to prepare for the upcoming performances.  Our staging rehearsals will begin in earnest on the 25th of September, and that is fast approaching; as well I will be working with Bart before then, singing a small part in Mendelssohn's Paulus, to be broadcast live over the Netherlands National Radio from Maastricht.

Everyone has been trying to cram in as much socializing as is possible prior to work beginning in earnest.  Duncan was very happy to spend time with his friend Hugo, for example...

 

... and our whole family had Penni (our conductor/singer friend from Newfoundland) and her husband Damien over for dinner, and then enjoyed a nice Chinese food dinner last week at the Gardner's house.

 

I don't have a picture yet on this topic, but we have some great news: our new King Philippe has now signed the papers, so our friend Gediminas has now officially been named the next Lithuanian ambassador to Belgium!  Gediminas and his wife Rasa are now finalizing things in Vilnius and arranging for the house rental here in Brussels; older sister Austeja is here temporarily but is heading back to Paris to resume her university studies, so we have their son Simas as our guest this weekend.  He and Malcolm were both in the same grade in primary school, and so they are looking forward to renewing their friendship, and have headed off in search of adventures downtown this afternoon; I hope they stay out of trouble.  I think a movie is in the offing, and then we hope to see them in time for pizza tonight.  Simas is here prior to his parents because of the start of the school year; he is in the Lycée Francaise, not the Belgian system, but his school isn't far from here and I think the house that his family has chosen is also in our vicinity, so we are greatly looking forward to resumption of our friendly activities together.

I get teased if I post too many food pictures, but my Irish-Canadian grandmother would have been proud of my first recolté of potatoes from our garden allotment, so I really can't resist.  I remember as a youngster, being sent out to dig a hill potatoes from our backyard garden, so that little skill has been passed on to Malcolm.

After so much time away from home we were happy to have something typiquement Belge and so I made a salade Liègoise.  This is really a delicious, cheap and simple dish, provided you have fresh green beans and very smoky bacon, two things that are always in good supply here.  The bacon is cooked in a frypan with a tiny bit of oil (it's so lean that you have to add something for it to brown) and the potatoes and green beans are separately boiled or steamed.  Then you place everything in a bowl, and deglaze the pan with some balsamic or red wine vinegar.  Mix while everything is still warm, then garnish with a lot of fresh parsley and chopped red onion.  Delicious!

As nice as time with the family has been, it's been a challenge to get things done for myself.  I have had a schedule that has been absolutely packed with meetings, to arrange the music, dance and theatre schedules for the boys at the Academie, doctor visits, teacher reunions, bank business, orthodontic appointments, school shopping, and so on.  This next week will finally calm down so that I can focus more clearly on my upcoming season.  Obviously the Don Giovanni is the priority:

On Thursday afternoon we heard that Margaret Atwood was in town for a lecture and book signing at Place Flagey to promote her latest book MaddAddam, the last volume in the Oryx and Crake trilogy.  We piled into the car and headed down there to see her.  She was very funny and wise, and I am really happy that the boys had a chance to see and hear such an important Canadian literary figure.

There was an unusually high concentration of Canadian English accents in Flagey that evening!   Maggie went home with the boys but I stayed behind to meet Margaret and get some books signed.  Interestingly, her first opera libretto, Pauline set by Tobin Stokes will premiered this coming May with City Opera Vancouver.  Depending on the timing of my audition visit to the west coast of Canada, I may get a chance to see it.

This weekend the Grand'place is taken over by the Belgian Beer Weekend.  I've never managed to make it down there to sample the beers provided, many of them from smaller producers, and very rarely available on tap, but it will have to wait until another year.  I have too much to do today and also coach tomorrow evening.  Singing under the influence of strong trappist beer might improve the voice for some people, but I don't think I'm one of them!