Die Schone Mullerin: getting ready for Sunday

This sunday we are presenting a very special performance of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin in memory of my late Grandfather, Adelbert "Del" Zadow (pictured here with his wife and my grandmother, Rita Zadow). The concert will be held at his longtime church in Kingston, Ontario, St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran, and will benefit the church's music fund in his memory.

Regarding the Schubert, I've sung the work several times before, but that was seven years ago, very early in my training, and I haven't worked with this particular pianist before, so it has been a complete rediscovery of the work. I'm struck by how well structured and evocative Wilhelm Müller's poetry is, and upon further exploration, how much Schubert altered it to suit his own dramatic ends. There are subtleties in this music that I (and Dina Namer, my co-performer) could explore forever...

As a composer who strove unsuccessfully all his life to produce operas, Schubert crafted what is arguably the most perfect example of a romantic song cycle on his first try. It's like nothing I've ever sung before, and I realize now that I do try to approach it in some ways as a chamber opera for one singer and one pianist...

This will be my last Canadian classical performance for a while; there is a jazz concert on July 6th in Elgin, and potentially another one the same weekend closer to Kingston, but then all is preparation for the move. As well, there is a possibility that I will be returning to Canada briefly in November, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Regarding the move, I discovered that while my employer does allow me to maintain my life and spousal life insurance policies, the travel and accident insurance provided will not be extended while I am living abroad. Interestingly, OHIP does allow each person to claim a one-time "extended absence" benefit for up to one year while living abroad, but I suspect that we will need to purchase additional private health and accident insurance.

Money sent and contract signed.

So today it's pretty much signed, sealed and delivered. Surprisingly it's pretty easy to transfer money between accounts; we did it at our bank, and for a fee of $30 we transferred funds directly into our landlord's account. I would suspect that we will open our own Belgian account and make some lump sup transfers every few months to try to cut down on the service fees.

Speaking of service fees, I notice when I look at my statement for my advance trip to Paris/Brussels/ Liege this spring, that Interac charged me $5 for every PLUS withdrawal. For an extra $10-12 per month above our existing service plan, I could have switched to a plan that covered out-of-north-america ATM withdrawals, and avoided those costs. It makes sense to do just before you are traveling overseas, and you can always switch back.

We made a minor addition to our housing contract, specifically to mention that repairs to the house or appliances that are required because of regular use (i.e. regular maintenance) will not be covered by us, unless we break something through misuse. Apparently when you rent a house as a primary residence, for several years, you have to cover all of the maintenance costs, such as furnace cleaning, plumbing, etc.; in Canada it is the owner who pays for those. Our landlord family is really very nice, and they've invited us to visit them when we arrive, since we'll be there perhaps two weeks before we can take up residence in their house.

Signing the contract, buying the plane tickets.

We've received the contract for the house in Brussels, and it's interesting to note the differences between standard clauses in Belgian vs. Canadian short-term rental contracts.

One key difference is the number of months deposit; apparently the standard is four months, while here in Canada, it's first and last (2). Likewise the lease expects that we will pay for all maintenance to applicances, the house, etc., while in Canada the landlord is responsible for those costs. It's normal in Canada to insist that the tenant perform routine maintenance on the house, such as snow removal, grass cutting, etc., but the Belgian contract specifies that any maintenance to the house, including repair of kitchen appliances and the furnace, be our responsibility. We've done some negotiation with the landlord to negotiate on these items, and they have been very understanding.

Today I purchased the plane tickets, and because we are travelling in August, they were more than when I flew to Paris in February, but not a lot more. It would have been cheaper to go on the 3rd of September, but we want to be established prior to the first day of school so the transition is less stressful for the kids.