The worlds collide. Again.
Sunday, we opened the Poe recital. It went extremely well for a first outing, I'm happy to say: a momentary glitch as the page-turner grabbed 3 pages at once resulting in the usual flurry and slapping of paper that accompanies such things, but otherwise it went pretty smoothly. The Poe-settings were well received, and we can also now say that we have taken Erlkoenig and nailed it to the wall! Actually, if I'm honest, that was probably one of the most enjoyable pieces of the afternoon for me - I've wanted to sing it for many years but never had the right occasion or quuiiitte the courage to ask a pianist to learn it for me, so I'm thrilled to have done it at last! Similarly, it was a real pleasure to finish the program with Sondheim's A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd - while it is a memorizing nightmare ("Wait - was that verse vicar or friar? Is this the one about beadle or rear admiral?!"), it is an absolute delight to perform; it was rewarding that the audience seemed to have as much fun with it as we did! Special kudos, too, to my wonderful husband for being able to both play it AND sing Sweeney Todd without dropping a beat or syllable - the man's musical versatility is beyond compare!
As soon as that was over, I immediately switched hats and got ready for Tuesday's photoshoot, an opportunity to meet and work with David Hobby, the genius behind www.strobist.com. I'm delighted to say he's even wittier and more brilliant "in real life" than he is on his blog and, while the shooting requirements were definitely outside my comfortzone (one of the reasons I wanted to do the event, to stretch myself!), it was day well spent crawling around the woods and frost-covered fields taking pictures. I can't imagine a better way to have spent my birthday! Look for a full post about it soon, but in the meantime, a small teaser...:
And now, tomorrow, back to singing: we're performing a shortened version of the concert - just the actual Poe settings rather than the "Poe and Friends" of the full program - for a lunchtime event, details here.
There's certainly never a dull moment this week!
Sunday, we opened the Poe recital. It went extremely well for a first outing, I'm happy to say: a momentary glitch as the page-turner grabbed 3 pages at once resulting in the usual flurry and slapping of paper that accompanies such things, but otherwise it went pretty smoothly. The Poe-settings were well received, and we can also now say that we have taken Erlkoenig and nailed it to the wall! Actually, if I'm honest, that was probably one of the most enjoyable pieces of the afternoon for me - I've wanted to sing it for many years but never had the right occasion or quuiiitte the courage to ask a pianist to learn it for me, so I'm thrilled to have done it at last! Similarly, it was a real pleasure to finish the program with Sondheim's A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd - while it is a memorizing nightmare ("Wait - was that verse vicar or friar? Is this the one about beadle or rear admiral?!"), it is an absolute delight to perform; it was rewarding that the audience seemed to have as much fun with it as we did! Special kudos, too, to my wonderful husband for being able to both play it AND sing Sweeney Todd without dropping a beat or syllable - the man's musical versatility is beyond compare!
As soon as that was over, I immediately switched hats and got ready for Tuesday's photoshoot, an opportunity to meet and work with David Hobby, the genius behind www.strobist.com. I'm delighted to say he's even wittier and more brilliant "in real life" than he is on his blog and, while the shooting requirements were definitely outside my comfortzone (one of the reasons I wanted to do the event, to stretch myself!), it was day well spent crawling around the woods and frost-covered fields taking pictures. I can't imagine a better way to have spent my birthday! Look for a full post about it soon, but in the meantime, a small teaser...:
And now, tomorrow, back to singing: we're performing a shortened version of the concert - just the actual Poe settings rather than the "Poe and Friends" of the full program - for a lunchtime event, details here.
There's certainly never a dull moment this week!
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