Amsterdam is nice; first few rehearsals were good; Rembrandthuis

Report from Amsterdam

All seems ok.  I had an unremarkable train journey from Brussels to Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon, and was established in the apartment a few hours before the first rehearsal.  The location of this apartment that I am sharing with Miguel, one of the tenor soloists, is really ideal.  It is just steps away from the Opera House; if only I had lived here during the production of The Gambler back in 2013, it would have been fantastic.  It has been secured for me by the organisation; I can't imagine what it would cost to rent myself for another opera contract...

Speaking of opera contracts, I am remembering my time in Amsterdam back in December of 2013, and having a good time checking out a few old familiar haunts.  Today was quite a full day: in the morning Miguel and I went to see the Rembrandthuis museum around the corner from the opera.  It was much as I remember it although there are a number of changes.  Certainly it seems that the admission fee is being spent to upgrade the museum in a number of subtle ways.  This year is a Rembrandt year, and there are a number of famous paintings on display in several museums, including the Rijksmuseum, so I am hoping to go see that special exhibition while I am here.

Yesterday evening we had a quite long rehearsal, and I was very impressed by the choir.  They are the national youth choir of the Netherlands, I think, and they are maybe 16-25 years old?  They sing the entire Johannespassion from memory, and really do a fantastic job, with great intonation, text clarity, energy, and so forth.  I am amazed.

We had two rehearsals today; the first in the afternoon was the arias rehearsal, held in a newly renovated rehearsal hall of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, just a few metres away from the famous concert hall itself.  What a beautiful place to rehearse in, and I was thrilled to be shown to a gorgeous warm-up room, with its own Steinway piano...  I hope that it inspired me; by the reactions of the staging and musical director, I am well prepared, and delivering something good, so that is a credit to my coaches and to my diligence in my own rehearsals.  It's gratifying that they are pleased and I am looking forward to the performance this weekend and then again next month in the Canary Islands.

This evening was a long and tiring rehearsal, going over the recitative bits.  The Evangelist is unique in this production as he has the score in front of him, which is a bit of an advantage.  The rest of us have to have everything by heart.  I have worked hard to memorise all of the interjections of Pilatus; he really sets up a ton of what the choir has to react with, so it has to be clear, dramatic, and confident.  It's quite a big project, and I wish we had more time to prepare it, but I'm sure that it will be okay.  The staging director is a now-retired ballet dancer from the National Ballet here, and he knows what he is doing; his staging is not too difficult to remember.

Tomorrow will involve a long rehearsal in the evening starting at around 18h and carrying on until perhaps 22h30... it's the last chance before we do the "raccord" on Saturday, before the actual show.  I am dreading the fact that we will probably have to do the whole thing twice on that day: once in rehearsal and then again in the show.  I will have to "mark" my arias (that means sort of half-sing them), that is for sure.  It's a peculiarity that I have only discovered in Europe, that they rehearse the piece in its entirety earlier on the same day that they perform it.  In Canada no one has ever asked me to sing on the same day as a show.  I think it is a stupid idea to over-rehearse on the day of a show, as it tires out the singers.

I have also brought along some other pieces of music that I have to start thinking about... there will be a lot of things coming in quick succession over then next six weeks or so that I really have to have learned perfectly.  There is no shortage of materiel to work on while I am here.