Singing for my supper

To start at the end instead of the beginning... June 29, 2012 brought some pretty awful storms to the region. Our area was one of the worst-hit, with trees down pretty much on every block; we consider ourselves beyond lucky that neither of the two big elms in the front yard came down on our house and that we suffered no material damage.  Still, no power for 4 days and 16hrs - during a 3-digit heatwave - is a whole lot of not fun (and, at writing, some people are STILL waiting to be restored nearly a week after the event).  Short version: never underestimate a thunderstorm, and if your weather channel ever says the word " derecho ", check your insurance policy, hunker down, and make sure you have somewhere to go after the fact.  Every bit as bad - or worse - than a hurricane, and more like tornado damage. Earlier in the month, our daughter graduated middle school and moves on to high school in September. When did THAT happen?! Last time I looked she was a cute littl...

It's another of those periods where I've had so many thoughts rattling around my head that I struggle to write them down in any coherent manner. This isn't helped by the fact that I almost always think of blog posts while I'm driving, and by the time I'm somewhere I could actually write it down, I've forgotten what it was. (No wonder businessmen love to dictate!).  In any case, this morning, a moment to try and pull these thoughts together.   The steaming race to the semester finish line has been a doozy.  Our scholarship auditions were earlier than usual to accommodate some staff schedules, which meant for the first time students had to be ready for this important performance before finals/juries/recital week, with necessary extra rehearsals and lessons; I had 5 in for that (and am delighted to say they all did very well indeed).  Immediately following that event, eleven students performed in our end-of term recital, by far the largest number of people I'...

(Disclaimer: Mom, I adore you, and am grateful to you for everything you've ever done to educate me to this point, and for allowing me to continue to challenge things, to learn and to grow .... even when you vigorously disagree with my opinion!) It's been typically busy (seems like it's seldom anything else these days, with both the pros and cons which come with it!), but my parents somehow managed to find a date when we could all go and see a splendid production of Sondheim's Into the Woods together.  We all enjoyed it immensely - my husband and I have long been fans of Sondheim's work in general, and particularly this show - it was a treat to take our daughter to a top-notch performance of a work she hadn't seen before,  and even my Sondheim-resistant parents agreed that perhaps they had been hasty in describing him as "tuneless" and "not their thing" as they loved absolutely every minute of the performance as much as we did (kudos to the...

A well-timed nudge expressing pleasure that I'd "finally posted again" (!) reminded me I hadn't yet posted my annual roundup for the year. Somehow while working on that I was also moved to experiment with a "new year, new look" for the blog so apologies for any glitches - work in progress! So, without further ado: In 2010 ..... I finally caught up on about 5 years of British television I'd managed to miss; this project started out merely as entertainment, but quickly became something much more artistically important and, in a way, prompted the theme of dramatic exploration that drove my performing year. We started the year with North & South and were bowled over by this amazing production - it would be hard to overstate what a tremendous artistic "reboot" it prompted (it even warranted its own blog entry ). Impressed as we were, we decided to give some of Richard Armitage's other productions a try which led us first back to S...

Nul points for me on the blogging front this month, I think. Student juries and recitals, a delicious string of Messiah performances, Christmas preparations and a feast of food and family (groovy alliteration, huh?!) have kept me good and busy. It's been an unexpectedly joyful season this year, which was a lovely boost - good music and good people do a lot to restore one's faith in humanity, and I had ample supplies of both this month. Looking forward to adventures in January with a family trip to the UK, and a new production of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro starting rehearsals in February, giving us much to be excited about - hopefully this time I'll have enough energy at the end of the day to write about it! In the meantime, the happiest New Year to readers: 2010 has seen things start to look up again after such difficult times for so many in 2009 - keeping fingers crossed that 2011 continues the trend!

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 perfo...

or, perhaps, "La Jeune Fille aux iPod Violet" I'm enjoying a couple of days off before the likely maelstrom which will be June begins next week, and this idea dropped into my head for a photo challenge with the theme, "Yesterday or Tomorrow". I couldn't resist....

Inspiration is a funny thing. I've written several times about taking it where you find it - however unlikely the source - and, in general, I've been lucky in that way. I've always felt motivated to go above and beyond just because something, somewhere, made me think about how I could go further and how I could use that thing which inspired me in my own artistic efforts; a kind of "paying it forward". Whether it was a new interpretation of a poem or character, a director's vision, an exciting "catches fire" performance , some kind of extraordinary musicmaking , a colleague's commitment , or just the music itself, there's always been something out there to feed my artistic imagination and keep me coming back refreshed and motivated for more. Hardly surprisingly, last year was too destructive to leave much room for being inspired. Sure, a flicker here and there, but I guess the comparative lack of performing opportunities and my own gloomy ...

I admit it - I've felt hard done by and hard hit, and there have been times in the last days where everything seemed pretty futile. The grim news headlines are enough to make anybody want to pull the blankets over their head and stay there, and the continued bad news for us personally was getting pretty hard to weather. But this week, pinpoints of light ahead. Only small, but they're there. The first real light emerged yesterday with a small offer for the spring - it won't completely "fill the gap" left by the cancelled contracts next year, but it's an opportunity to sing wonderful music with extraordinary colleagues, and I have no doubt it will be a great experience (and a lot of fun!). I'd have been happy to do this particular gig under any circumstances, but at the moment it's particularly meaningful. Continuing to try and look at the glass half full, my audition season went well and is done for the time being (no more frantic trips up to NYC ...

But, like just about everybody in the US and possibly even around the globe, this week has by necessity been about politics. It has been a whirl of election mania, activity and emotions, somewhat foreign in a country which in recent years drifted into civic apathy. Strangely, there were fewer lawn signs and stickers than I have ever seen before, but perhaps people were putting their energies into action instead of banners, or perhaps passions were running high enough that nobody wanted to risk causing problems (this community in previous elections has been almost precisely 50/50 on both sides of the party divide, so while good fences make good neighbours, perhaps quieter politics make even better ones!). But lawn propoganda aside, I have never seen this country as committed, as passionate, as attentive as I did this past week; there was nowhere to go and nobody you could speak to where The Election wasn't mentioned or didn't in some way to make its presence felt, and people...

There was something very special for me about last weekend's performances. I've sung Beethoven's 9th symphony several times now and, of course, known the piece for years as An Icon of Western Music. But (true confession) I've never liked it. Even the most die-hard fan of Ludwig will usually concede that the vocal writing is ungainly, but my detachment from it has been more complex than that: I have genuinely never quite understood quite why it has such a profound impact on people, because it has always - ALWAYS - left me stone cold. I enjoy other Beethoven, but the effect of the 9th has always been a mystery to me. Until Sunday afternoon. This was different than the excitement usually generated by the sheer volume, speed and frenzy of the work (particularly at the end): perhaps it's the uncertainy of the times and the underlying emotional tension that doesn't seem too far beneath the surface that made the sentiment more meaningful. Perhaps it was the ca...

... and even if the livin' ain't "easy", it's certainly a slower pace than it has been for quite some time. Posting may also be slower this month as "vacation mentality" starts to take over! Recently occupying much of our time has been the fantastic (and fantastically under-broadcast) Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows . For anybody involved with the theater at any level, it should be required watching. And for any non-theatrically-connected readers who see it and think it's merely a clever and affectionate caricature of theatrical eccentricity, I am here to tell you that it is one of the most truthful depictions of the performing life I've ever seen and (give or take the occasional ghost...) far closer to documentary than drama! It's also quite, quite brilliant. A genuinely funny and engaging script, interesting characters, stunning performances and blazing insight about "the craft of the art" - and the problems that go wit...

ex·pec·ta·tion 1. the act or the state of expecting: to wait in expectation. 2. the act or state of looking forward or anticipating. 3. an expectant mental attitude: a high pitch of expectation. 4. something expected; a thing looked forward to. 5. Often, expectations. a prospect of future good or profit: to have great expectations. 6. the degree of probability that something will occur: There is little expectation that he will come. 7. Statistics . 8. the state of being expected: a large sum of money in expectation. I would add 9. The high level of consistent achievement assumed the minimum base line after a great opening and lavish reviews. Once the glow had worn off after Sunday afternoon , I realised that we were faced with an interesting challenge for our our second (and final) performance nearly a week later: how to recreate the magic which had happened, even though I think we all knew that the "something" which had made it so exceptional was one o...

Yesterday's concert was the kind of experience we all dream of having onstage: it was one of those occasions where everything just took off. The chemistry was there not only among the singers, but between stage and pit (in this case, stage and stage since it was an operatic concert performance with the orchestra behind the singers!), and between audience and stage too. It was an honour beyond measure to share the stage with colleagues - ARTISTS - such as these, and to know that I was part of the small moment of musical history being made. The minute-long ovation in the middle of the performance was indescribable - I feel like a rank n00bie all over again admitting being intoxicated by an audience reaction, but I think this was pretty special, and certainly like nothing I've ever experienced before! Cheering, screaming, stamping, thunderous applause.... Even our leading lady said she was taken slightly by surprise by the spontaneous passion the audience returned to us at tha...

I read the most wonderful quote yesterday: "One of the supposed virtues of gardening is that it teaches humility. The plants are going to do what they are going to do." I've recently discovered a passion for growing things. The elderly previous owner of this house had obviously neglected it in latter years, and when we moved in it was essentially a jungle of overgrown weeds; we had made some modest efforts to keep the nameless - and aggressive - vine which grows in these parts in check, but doing the full job was on the "eventually" list. Last year, since I was going to be at home for the entire summer, I decided "eventually" had arrived and it was time to come to grips with the project. Well, what started out as "getting the weeds cleared" turned into "wouldn't it be nice to plant that area for real?" and before I knew it I had borrowed a friend's rototiller, was poring over catalogs, learning all I could about the pla...

I love rehearsing. Performing is wonderful too, of course, with its different kind of energy and buzz and that genuine excitement of being in front of an audience. And practicing of course has its place and satisfactions: when it's on track and going well it can be an almost meditative experience but, when things get frustrating, it can also lead to near-penitential acts of self-obsession, self-analysis and self-criticism! Kidding aside, that process is important since the analysis and critical faculty are vital to continued improvement and just plain "problem-solving" when working out the kinks in particular passages, but it's so solitary that it can sometimes lead to tunnel vision.... But rehearsal combines the best of both worlds: the "roll up your sleeves and get to work" aspect of practicing combined with the same kind of stimulation from other singers and musicians as performance, made even better by both the opportunity and encouragement to e...

Today was A's Children's Choir performance, and watching these children and young adults singing at a high standard with excellent choral technique, all I could think was: this is where I came from; this is how I started. I admit it, I sat through most of the concert crying my eyes out both moved and nostalgic. How could I have known in my choir days that performing would eventually become my LIFE (and for how many of them may this be the beginning of something bigger than they can currently imagine)? In high school, I was fortunate to work with prominent US choral conductor Linda Allen Anderson, quite possibly one of the most extraordinary musicians and people I have ever encountered. Demanding, dynamic, and passionately committed both to the music and her students, she seemed capable of creating musical excellence out of rawest materials and against all the administrative odds (looking back with adult eyes and knowing what challenges she faced I still wonder how on eart...

My cast was interviewed by the local paper last week, and I was surprised to find myself answering the question, "What are some of your favorite roles?" by describing with great enthusiasm my previous role, a role which at best could be called secondary (and at worst - and in a different kind of production- a complete throwaway). But, to my surprise, this small supporting role which before we started rehearsals I had expected be a "paycheck" gig (and little more) turned out to be a genuine inspiration artistically and, in some ways, a personal turning point. Since this show was uniformly good with excellent singers and an easy camraderie among the entire team it seems almost unfair to single anybody out, but one of my colleagues in particular demonstrated how important it is to go beyond "good enough"; to say it was a powerful reminder of just how important it can be is an understatement. This is a singer who plays leading roles just as often as not a...

So, a big day for us in the show as we get to our first orchestra rehearsal! This is always one of my favorite moments in "the process" - after working with a piano (both on our own in preparing a role and in the rehearsal room), it's always a real lift to finally sing the music as it will be performed. Singing with an orchestra is a very different experience: there's the difference of sonorities in the form of overtones and the much larger sound 50 instruments can produce than 1 piano, and also the different energy of that many musicians all focused on the same music, even though we all have our own distinct part in the fabric of the whole. No matter how many times I do it, whether the rehearsal is good or bad (and I'm happy to say this one was good!), this moment is always magical for me, kind of like watching a static picture coming to life right in front of me. I get an incredible buzz from the sounds, the group dynamic and just the sheer FUN of that ki...

Leaving last night, all dolled up in our party duds, none of us really knew what to expect for this development party. We usually wind up donating our services to benefit the company (although not on this occasion - we were all delighted to note we would get an honorarium, which is very unusual for these events!) and then spend much of the evening schmoozing and answering questions from opera novices.It was about 50 miles away from where we were staying so we carpooled, but even so, we were all expecting a long evening, and one that was likely to be rather dull for us. These events are vitally important for the opera companies to extend their profile to new audiences as well as offer some added value to their existing sponsorships and none of us really "mind" doing them - we want people to support the art form as much as the companies want and need them to do so! - but typically they can be a bit of a bore for the singers, with little artistic satisfaction in being trotted...