Singing for my supper

By the side of the rural road, high on a hilltop....

Wow. I get to be a singer again for a week! After the enforced hiatus, I appreciate my luck at being able to make a career out of a passion even more than usual, and am really looking forward to this one (for so very many reasons, not least of which an amazing piece to sing, and with colleagues who are not only wonderful musicians but old and valued friends). Of course, with unerring accuracy, my time away seems to hit with THE busiest times at home: in the next week our daughter has: - Girl Scout camping - all-county honor chorus - her children's chorus performance - school orchestra concert I think (hope!) I've managed to line everything up so that my absence won't cause too many logistical problems, but I always worry that something will fall between the cracks. Thank goodness for helpful grandparents, good friends and great neighbours. And now, off to complete the usual pre-gig marathon of laundry and packing. Since this is a concert, I have gowns to get in order as

Wow. Do I get the proverbial FAIL for this long lapse in actual content? It's been a tough winter, no doubt about it. The constant bad news in the world at large and continued traumatic impact on the opera biz, sub-zero temperatures for most of January and February, winter colds and general gray malaise has made it hard to find something to blog about that didn't simply sound like whining. But life goes on and, finally, things seem to be picking up. I'm not sure one can say it's "back to normal" (I think that's a definite no-go for the short-term, and unlikely in the medium- and even long-), but at least the "cat on a hot tin roof" underlying panic seems to be easing. Future seasons are being spoken of with more certainy, and offers are trickling out into the world, however slowly. It's not all rosy, however - among my friends I know of nobody who hasn't been affected in some form, whether through cancellations, fewer advance bookings,

Between family illness (nothing serious, fortunately, just time-consuming) and continued bad news in the industry, there just hasn't been anything positive to say, or much time to say it in, but I'm still here - more substantial posts to come, but just a brief confirmation that this blog is still alive and kicking! More soon....