I realize now that it's been about eighteen days since I posted... time to catch up.
I really enjoyed my time in Canada, as you can see from the photo above. Snow, a wood fire, time to think about the music... Bruce's place was very restful, and he went out of his way to make sure that I had as much calm and quiet as I needed to be in good form for the Bach.
Even so, I was still very busy when in Canada... there were three performances to prepare for, and with all the rehearsing before they finally finished on December 5th, I had very little time to write anything then. Afterwards I had a number of very important social engagements to attend to. We had a very pleasurable evening of roast lamb, cigars, whiskey, and extensive conversation with an opera conductor friend who was stranded in Ontario by the snowy weather; then there was a big Christmas party at Bruce's place, with a chance to catch up with lots of friends and colleagues, and then another one hosted by a major Canadian artist agency, where I saw quite a few familiar faces, and had a lovely conversation with Bruce's agent, herself a former opera singer. As well, I was able to meet with another conductor friend to discuss the 2011-2012 season, and even get in some singing practice. Add to all these professional activities the repair work on our house to prepare it for the new tenants (changing broken door handles, washing and painting bathroom ceilings, etc.), the required shopping for presents, visits with my sisters, parents and grandmother, and other social pressures, and I had no problem filling my time with things to do...
The Bach concerts were quite satisfying; I was well-acquainted with the high standard of Pax Christi's choir and orchestra, having sung with them before, but was very pleased to finally work with Howard Dyck. He's someone who I can honestly say introduced me to opera, since I - along with many, many fellow Canadians - heard for years his smooth voice introducing "Saturday Afternoon at the Opera", not to mention Sunday's "Choral Concert", both on the former CBC Radio Two. It was really a lot of fun, and I was astonished to see him conduct the Christmas Oratorio from memory, with its many choral and instrumental cues. That's preparation for you! There's a chance I'll be down in his part of the world (that would be Kitchener-Waterloo) sometime next season, so I'll be sure to look him and his wife Maggie up for more artistic conversation, and who knows, maybe a glass of wine or two.
It looks as though I have a good crop of concerts coming up in the next eighteen months or so. Glen Fast has confirmed that he wants me to do the Haydn Creation in Kingston, so that will bring me to Canada in late march of 2012; I have a possibility of doing another Schubert Die Schöne Müllerin at the same time, and there are a few other possibilities for that period, falling as it does around Easter. Otherwise I have already three Schuberts in Toronto, Ottawa and Kingston this spring, that follow close on the heels of three Belgian performances of Messiah, with a Bach Mass in B-minor thrown in there for good measure. I feel very fortunate to have almost ten gigs in the pipeline, and in the case of the Schubert and Handel, to have repeats of the music more familiar to me than any other.
Familiar music... after doing eight new Bach cantatas in six weeks, it's really great to come back to such gorgeous music that I know, after having put it away for a while, to see how it strikes me now. Messiah was probably my first oratorio performed, but this tour of it will be my first with a period instrument orchestra, and of course my first time in Belgium, and I know I will sing it differently this time around...
But, to continue with the narrative... after getting home, I suffered from a pretty intense jet-lag, but I'm feeling okay now, despite a stubborn tendency to awaken at 5 a.m., which I'm trying to make use of to get a few things done, first thing, before anyone else gets up. The weather here has been fabulous for the boys, with lots of snowball fights, snowmen, snow-angels and so on. I don't think I've seen a snowplow yet, but there have been lots of sanders out making brown-grey slush on the roads.
In keeping with my preference to find and transport a Christmas tree home on foot, the boys and I walked down to the GB grocery this past weekend, and picked out a big tree for the living room, in part to celebrate Maggie's end of year. She's been off this week while the boys have been at school, and will have to return to work on the 3rd of January, while the kids enjoy their second week of holidays. (As problematic as this might seem at first look, it's actually been a bit of a boon, because we've had some time at home alone as a couple, which almost never happens. I'm sure I'll be tearing my hair out by noon on the 4th of January but for now I'm feeling good about the situation).
We decorated the tree in the interval between the St. Andrew's Sunday morning Christmas pageant, in which the boys acted and sang, and the carol service in the evening, which was brimming with music for the junior choir (which the boys have joined), the choir and congregation. We walked the 3.5 km to the church in the midst of a snowfall that evening, as driving would have been unsafe, and the trams were delayed. It was a beautiful ambiance as we tramped along that evening, but I will say that the promise of a warm, candlelit church, carols, mulled wine and mince pies were necessary to keep us going, and we took care of our share of both afterwards.
Speaking of mulled wine and mince pies, we've been enjoying the other festive foods that are available around this time of year. We ordered our turkey from Delhaize a few days ago, and will pick "him" up tomorrow afternoon, but in the meantime we've had lots of game, which is the tradition in these parts in November/December. It can be very expensive, more than we can easily afford, so I keep my eyes peeled for the last day of sale items, and we do pretty well. Last week it was roast of wild boar stuffed with mushroom, onion, cranberry and pear slices, accompanied by cream and celeriac-stuffed mushroom caps, and then this evening we enjoyed a fabulous reindeer filet, marinated in red wine, juniper berries and garlic, and served very rare with the rest of the celeriac and a fabulous mirepois sauce, thinned out with the leftover marinade. Yum.
Everyone tucked in with enthusiasm, in spite of a few wayward comments from the other end of table, and it was the unbelievably tender, deliciously rare venison that got hoovered first, by all diners. Someone distinctly opined that perhaps Blitzen hadn't made the cut this year... or maybe he WAS the prime cut? In any case it was fabulously delicious, and goes into the "show-off recipes" file for sure.
Maggie is having fun working on her autumn leaves quilt; it's very close to completion now. Tomorrow we have an open house at Piers and Gilly's, and then we'll spend a quiet Christmas Day with our own little family, which I think will suit us just fine. No doubt there will be some skyping going on, so if you are around, send us an invite and we'll catch up, Buck-Rogers style; we'll stay logged in.
Merry Christmas to all!
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