Impresario tonight!
Hi everyone!
Of course the catch-22 is, the more you have to blog about, the less time you have to blog. I’m in Geneva, NY, on the Finger Lakes, sitting on the back patio to our dorm and enjoying a cool, sunny breeze off of Seneca Lake. In an hour or so I have to be at the theatre to prepare for opening night of The Impresario and Trial by Jury.
So here I am again with American Landmark Festivals. Remember, last year we did Fledermaus up here. Last year was a whole nother animal- I still had my blog on MySpace!
I know I haven’t blogged in awhile, and even if I gave you any pretails about this show they were probably spotty and a long time ago. So let’s back up.
First, there was all this drama because we didn’t know what opera we were doing. I was told Orpheus in the Underworld, and dumped a lot of money on recordings, DVDs, and a score. But 1. I was confused over what part I was supposed to do, because I thought I was doing Eurydice, but the other soprano I know from this company was told she was doing Eurydice, and then 2. They scrapped the whole plan and eventually settled on Mozart’s Impresario and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, much to my dismay. I didn’t want to do Impresario because I’ve already done Madame Herz, and I didn’t want to do Trial by Jury because I’m sick of Gilbert and Sullivan. I tried to suggest Entfuehrung instead of Impresario but they thought it was too big or hard or something. So whatever, I’m still happy to do it because Madame Herz is a good role for me and the production I did of it last time was just this tiny thing with like one rehearsal, so I thought it would be nice to be in a big fully staged thing. And I love being up here in Geneva, and I love American Landmark Festivals, and I was- well, I THOUGHT I was going to have a slow year but you know how these things are, everything popping up.
I was sick for so long, remember, so I couldn’t even practice my music. I was actally quite relieved to find that my high F’s were back several solid weeks before rehearsals started- between the double-header cold that wouldn’t quit and forcing myself to squeak out Sorcerer all those times, my voice was pretty gone. I still don’t feel back to normal above a G, but then who really needs to sing above a G anyway? So I haven’t even really been trying, not when I need my voice for more important endevors.
There was some iffiness over whether or not the proposed Silberklang could be up here for the rehearsal schedule, so when the producer brought up replacing her, I mentioned my friend Sara Thomas, who would be perfect for the role (she is a soprano who sings coloratura stuff, but not the extreme coloratura stuff like I do- ie, an ideal Silberklang to my Mme Herz), and who I happened to know was free those two weeks. So I referred her for an audition and she got the part, and I was happy.
So a little under two weeks ago we drove up to Geneva (I love friends with cars) and I’ve been having just a wonderful time. I just love it up here. It’s a picturesque lake town and we stay in a big dorm with a glorious view. I love all the people I work with, I love walking the mile into town for coffee every day, I love going out for bar food with the gang every night, and I love singing in the fabulous Smith Opera House.
The first week I feel like we’re worked really hard, as far as opera goes. We have two really hard rehearsals a day, mostly full run-throughs until our time is up. I don’t mind the hard work but what trips me up is that it doesn’t leave us any time for individual practicing. I mean, as far as hours in the day, it does, but you really just don’t want to be singing that much, especially not working out technical vocal things, which can be trying. Yes, in theory, we should all have perfect technique and everything should be settled in our voices before we get here, but in practice, our voice boxes and our bodies are living, growing things, and there is always something needing adjustment. And then you get to rehearsal, with a conductor, with blocking, with other singers, in a new space, and you find things to which you need to change your approach. So that’s one thing I’d wish for.
Then I went home for two nights to start recording my album, but we’ll talk about that later. It was a big drama- whether or not I could leave, what bus I could take, who would drive me to the bus, etc etc. But it finally worked out- I was exhausted but that’s not an unfamiliar working condition to me.
Starting this week we’ve only had one rehearsal a day, so I actually got to practice. Thank God. Madame Herz is hard!!!! Even for an “extreme sports coloratura” like me. I mean, this is what i DO. But it’s still hard. There’s nowhere to breathe in the whole opera, ever! No, I’m exaggerating, but I do feel like Mozart was trying to kill someone. Death by Coloratura. Today I referred to it as a role with “High F’s and Other Problems.” Problem: long, complicated runs. Problem: extended lines with nowhere to breathe. Problem: Above-the-staff 8th notes that sound like chicken chirps if I’m not careful. Problem: catfighting so hard you run out of breath. Anything I can’t handle? Not at all!!! But I do need to work at it, be in top form- it’s the kind of thing I have to warm up for, and not be sick. I’ve even been trying not to eat much dairy, though that’s hard as a vegetarian subsisting on bar food.
So the dress rehearsal last night went great, and things have been steadily getting better. And now I have to go get ready. Talk to you later!!
Amazing week in Santa Fe
Hi! I just had the most amazing weekend in Santa Fe. Well it was Sunday-Thursday, but it had the feeling like a long weekend.
It was so great. Like, all of it. It was just so great! I usually temper my enthusiasm more than that, but it was really one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken, even though I was working like the whole time. It was all work I love.
It was my first time in the Southwest. I’ve been to Vegas plenty, and Denver for one day, but that’s it. It was so beautiful!!! I have a thing for mountains. I guess from growing up in the Midwest, where there aren’t any! But I just feel so great when I see a mountainous landscape, and the scenery around Albuquerque and New Mexico was amazing.
The weather was great. The first two days it rained on-and-off, but it was never overwhelming. It rained and then it stopped. The sky is so big and long there that even when it’s raining you can see the clear skies in the distance.
I was staying with the son of the producer of the opera I’m doing this summer. He’s a producer, like a producer of like albums, not a producer of like operas. He and his girlfriend were cool, we all went out to a big dinner the first night and they introduced me to New Mexico cuisine, which is its own thing. We had a vegetarian dish called Chiles rellenos which was delicious and didn’t resemble anything else.
Albuquerque I was only in very briefly, it was pretty but I didn’t see much- just had some coffee in the Old Town (is that what it’s called?) before heading to Santa Fe to meet my hosts. Santa Fe was a great town. The Plaza was wayyyy to touristy for me, but once you got away from there the town was just right. What does it remind me of? Maybe Cusco, Peru? Drastic mountains, indiginous people alongside non, tons of tourists but they don’t own the town, lots of local crafts, nice weather, a little altitude chill at night.
Monday I swung by the Opera just to introduce myself. Everyone was so nice! They were going to give me a personal tour, but at that point it was raining so we decided to hold off. That night I played in a sort of open mic at the Tin Star Saloon. It wasn’t really that much of an open mic, though. It was more of one big pick-up band playing standardy stuff. But they let me play solo, so I played a couple songs (they told me as many as I wanted, I played three and they insisted on a fourth- that never happens in actual open mics!), and spent the rest of the time hanging out and chatting. I really liked the people I met. I tried to rustle up an audience for my gig Tuesday, though most of the people I talked to told me they couldn’t come but would talk me up to their friends.
Tuesday was the big day- my interview with Natalie Dessay AND my gig at the Santa Fe Brewing Company Pub & Grill. I hardly slept, though I’m not sure if that’s because I was nervous (very rare for me) or because I had slept 13 hours the night before and couldn’t get on a real-person schedule.
I got to the opera house early for my personal guided tour. Everything is outside! The theatre, all the rehearsal spaces, the cafeteria seating. They have a pool, too. I saw a lot of rehearsals- a really, really promising-sounding Don Giovanni on the mainstage, Alceste with Christine Brewer, and The Letter (a world premier) with Patricia Racette. I should have done my homework- if I’d realized what amazing people were hanging out on “campus,” I could have knocked off a bunch of interviews on one trip! Seriously, it seems like Santa Fe is the place to be this summer.
My host had lent me an insane recording device, the Zoom H4, and I totally totally have to NEED TO buy one, like NOW. It was amazing. I tested it in my room and the sound was shockingly clear. Only problem is it looks like a taser- I’m afraid I’d have problems bringing it on airplanes… Anyways it took me forever to get it set up in a way where I could just leave it on the table, but it wouldn’t pick up too much background noise (it was lunchtime and the whole organization was sitting around the Cantina chatting over “Frito pie”), so I’m glad I had extra that time to get set up.
Natalie Dessay came with her husband, Laurent Naouri- I invited him to join us but he was checking his email. Anyways I spoke to them both in French just to impress them, but we conducted the interview in English.
First thing was I gave Mme Dessay a gift- this French book based on the Dialogues of the Carmelites story that’s so obscure I can’t even find so much of an image of it online. (It’s called “Autres dialogues des Carmelites, qui suivent pas-a-pas le cheminement historique” and it’s a more historically accurate retelling of the story.) Something I bought at the esoterica branch of the used bookstore chain Gilbert Jeune in Paris, randomly discovered half off on the outside clearance rack. I read it and really enjoyed it, and since I had read that Mme Dessay wanted to sing the role of Blanche, I thought she’d be interested. I was right on all accounts- she did a double-take at the book, having never heard of it before, and we talked about the opera and her intentions of singing it.
So then we had the interview, I asked her about Traviata and everything I’d been wanting to ask her. We talked a lot about acting, since I knew that’s what she’s most interested in. I was hesitant to bring up her nodes and subsequent surgery from several years ago, but she brought it up herself twice before I even thought of it, so finally I went with it. The most interesting things she said were about that, but you’ll have to wait for the article to read it!
I usually conduct really long interviews, but I felt that I had asked all the questions I wanted to before half an hour was up. So I let her go, giving her my card in case she had anything to add. When she saw that I was a singer too, she became instantly interested. This was the most surprising thing of all for me. Instead of being like, “Oh yes of course, another singer, I’m surrounded by 50 other singers right now and I’m being interviewed about singing for a singer magazine, whatever,” she became like intensely interested in asking me about my career and stuff. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s interested in how young American singers make their careers (we had talked about American training and opp0rtunities young singers) or if she just had an intuition about me (if only she knew how much we have in common!), but she asked me a lot of questions, and seemed genuinely interested in my story. I tried not to talk about myself too much (I usually try not to let on at first to anyone how insane my life is because it’s just too much to process), but I couldn’t help but answer her inquisitive gaze with some nuggets, musical and otherwise. As a result, we kinda made some plans for next time she’s in New York in the Spring. Sweet. But yeah it was so touching how much she seemed genuinely interested. The most brilliant people I know, though, are fascinated by other human beings. So I guess it makes sense.
She took off suddenly when her husband established a Skype connection with I-don’t-know-who, and I followed her interview up with a briefer one with David Holloway. I’m working on an article about directors who want singers to move around when they act versus those who want you to stand still, and stuff like that. That can all be done by email, but I figured, since I was there, and I do like to talk to people face-to-face, I might as well kill two birds with one stone. So I asked the press office if there was someone I could talk to, and they recommended Mr. Holloway. They were right- he was totally intense. And gave me exactly the information I needed. Wait for the article, people!
Since the interview with Dessay was so short, I managed to transcribe the entire thing before leaving for my gig.
There was almost no one at the Pub and Grill, but two tourists came in in time to hear my set. They were so enthusiastic- one laughed so hard during “The Reason” that I almost lost it myself- that they wouldn’t let me leave the stage when my set was long since over. I played every song I knew, plus some opera arias. They totally made the night worth it, they were so fun. I hung out with them afterwards, while I enjoyed my free beer and sandwich. Mmm, sweet potato fries.
Wednesday, since I had checked off my interview with Mr. Holloway the day before, I had some free time. Everyone kept talking about how amazing the hiking was, but all I had brought with me were dresses and strappy heels, and I was very sad not to be able to partake of the hiking. But not sad enough to buy new shoes. My host recommended I take a drive through Hyde Park to the ski lodge to enjoy the scenery and the view, so I did. It was pretty frickin nice. Just what I needed. Then I went to Burt’s Burger Bowl for a French Coke, which was sooooo yummy. I don’t know how they make something so delicious out of Coca-Cola.
So the opera company comped me a free ticket to see Dessay’s Traviata that night. They gave me a really good seat, plus a press parking pass, use of the press room during intermission (including the bathroom with no line), and even a free poster. 
I got such the VIP treatment all week (they even invited me to use their pool, though that’s not really my scene) that I felt guilty and wanted to tell them I’m not actually important. I mean, they knew I was there to interview Natalie and not to review their opera. But at least I can review it in my role of blogger. I loved the Traviata. Pelly’s production was really cool, it totally worked, most of it was visually interesting, there was symbolism but not to the point that it was too much of a stretch with the staging, the costumes and behavior of the character were of course not period, and very much over the edge in their excesses, but it was what they were going for and it worked. And Dessay was the most beautiful Violetta I’ve ever seen. I’d be lying if I said she was 100% on spot vocally (I’ve only seen her live twice, I don’t know if she’s ever 100% vocally, but most people aren’t, even among the pros), but you didn’t even care. And I’m picky. You just loved her character so much. And I do love her voice.
Look for the interview extremely soon- the cover story of the September issue. You’ll love it. Buy it, order it, get it somehow, even if you don’t subscribe to Classical Singer. It’s a really great interview. I can’t take credit for that beyond requesting to track her down for an interview because I knew she would have just the best things to say.
So, New Mexico, two thumbs up. Santa Fe Opera, two thumbs up. Natalie Dessay, two thumbs up. Pelly’s production, two thumbs up. This is one for the Amanda White annals of history, folks- I never give unqualified approvals like that.
I still am kinda feeling a floaty buzz from the whole week’s experience.
