Singing for my supper

I am regularly reminded by my Dad that I have taken blogging Epic Failure to a whole new level. Five months without a post? Pathetic. I've thought long and hard about why I've found it so hard to write this year. I've half-started any number of posts (at last count, I think there are at least 6 in my "drafts" folder, and those are only the ones I actually got so far as to start writing down), but none of them seemed to gel. Part of the logjam has been diverted attention: 2011 was unquestionably our "Year of the Puppy", and that young, fluffy bundle of energy has taken up A LOT of time. Last puppy we raised was in 1994, and we lived in the middle of nowhere in the UK, with loads of footpaths and hills at our disposal; there's no denying that doing the same thing (with the same high-energy breed!) in a US suburb has been a very different - and time consuming - experience! It's been wonderful, though. For those who've only known me since univ...

1. Very important open letter regarding the future of New York City Opera over at Musical America, and a statement from Maestro Julius Rudel at the New York Times 2. Cf previous post .... anybody know any good recipes for mulberry wine?

I generally avoid discussing politics in public, having taken to heart sage advice given to me as a student that the three things you should never talk about on the job are politics, religion and vocal technique. Well, I've never managed to keep my mouth entirely shut about the latter, and apparently I'm now going for a two-out-of-three failure rate, but so much is going on that I'm finding it impossible to keep stumm. Even as the US government was threatening shutdown of its own, there was news again this past week of more opera companies suspending seasons, and symphonies filing for bankruptcy; in the UK, eyebrows were being raised over the recent Arts Council of England cuts . All of which has resulted in a great deal of activity in the press and blogosphere which needs to be shared and rather than paraphrase, I'm taking the liberty of linking to some of these articles and interviews. Much food for thought. From the Guardian Stage blog: Why do some theatre cr...

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...

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....

I've thought long and hard about what to write at the turn of this particular New Year, following one of the hardest years in a long time. Just about everybody I know has kicked gloomy, broody, unpredictable and unkind 2009 out the door with considerable relish, and is passing on hopes for a better 2010. While I heartily agree, I hesitate to repeat the same message yet again so I'll just take this opportunity to wish everybody a VERY Happy New Year with renewed commitment to face whatever challenges come our way. And leave you with a slideshow of images from 2009 ... a reminder to myself that perhaps it wasn't all bad.