First run with Yoshi in a month... getting ready for Matthauspassion

It's been very nice to be home after a week away.  Today I went for a 7km run plus a 2km walk with Yoshi, the first one with him in a month.  We didn't break any speed records but he was happy to log some kilometers.  I didn't realise that Maggie had already taken him for a 4,4km run early this morning before she went to work, so I expect that he will sleep rather well this evening.  Spoiled dog!

I spent the rest of my time today doing some banking, looking at used cars to replace our Volkswagen, and spending quite a bit of time on the phone.  Bruce is heading to Victoria in a week or so to start rehearsing for Countess Maritza, and so I read lines with him for a bit, and caught up with his news.  I also took a call from Meaghan Larios, a mezzo who I sang with in Toronto last season... she is going to Berlin for a couple of weeks, and so I put her in touch with Manuel, the tenor soloist from last weekend's Johannespassion, and also gave her the contact information for Peter Tomek, my coach who lives in Berlin.  He's the director of the opera studio at the Comic Opera in Berlin, so maybe he has some ideas about who she should audition for while she is there.

Then I had a talk with David Cunningham in Vancouver, before he started his workday.  I miss seeing him and his wife Greta, now that they live on the West Coast, and I wish that we were closer so that we could spend more time with their son Eoin as he grows up.  It's nice that we can chat via Skype, even for a short visit.

After that I got to work on the Matthauspassion.  I haven't done the arias + bass recitative characters for a couple of years, but did the Christus part just last year.  My performance this coming weekend with be the four arias and their introductory recitatives, and all of the other assorted bass recitatives.  It's quite a bit to remember but most of it seems to be there.  It will be really nice to sing it at the A=415 pitch, so everything is down a semi-tone.  I am not too worried about the Christus parts as I don't have to rehearse them until April 8th, and perform it on the 14th April just before our mini-vacation in the Canary Islands.  So I should have time to get those pieces into shape.

We went to talk to the Toyota people this evening after Maggie got home, and we'll be test-driving a car tomorrow evening at 17h.  So far I haven't received the bank payment from the Hungarian auto-wrecker who agreed to buy our old car; as soon as that money appears in my bank account then I can arrange to have the flatbed come and pick it up.  I will continue to drive the Volkswagen until then though, to get to Bruges and back... I hope that the weather is warm enough that I can put the roof down, for old times' sake...