The best perk

After three to six hours of rehearsal, taking a dip in the pool on the campus is a most refreshing way to end the day. I'm being extra careful about sun exposure, but I am determined to have a tan by the end of the summer!! 

Home away from home

This is my room. You can see my desk by the window, and my makeshift practice station. It all works very well. I can watch KD chasing geckos in the garden while I sit at the desk. The framed pictures on the wall are costume sketches that Pam, my hostess, made while she worked at the Met. 

Who's that diva?

Here I am, looking like a real live opera singer - in black, with a scarf, wearing full makeup, and holding my little dog!  

Naumburg

If you are in New York City, or nearby and love art song, take a trip to Lincoln Center tomorrow night for the finals of the Naumburg Foundation Competition. Two colleagues of mine, one real and one in the computer, will be singing! There are only four finalists, two sopranos and two baritones, and each will be presenting a 35-minute recital program. (Tom lists his program and notes on his blog.) I know it will be an amazing evening of music.

The concert is at 7pm in Alice Tully Hall. Tickets are only $10!! Buy them here.

I so wish I could be there to cheer them on! Good luck to all!!

The Diva Inside

I was paid a great compliment yesterday. I was talking with two new colleagues, baritones both, about Santa Fe’s season next year. I mentioned that I intended for this to be my last summer away from home, but that when I saw that they were doing Magic Flute, I was tempted to reconsider. DG asked if I wanted to sing one of the Three Ladies, and I said, no, that I’d want to cover (or sing!) the Queen! He then replied, “Oh, you’re a soprano? I thought you were a mezzo – you’re so grounded. You’re not flighty enough to be a coloratura!” Haha! I was amused and flattered.

Then today I had a coaching with Nico Castel, a wonderful resource to have “on hand” for part of the summer. I sang through “Qui la voce,” my newest aria and first real attempt at bel canto style singing. Whenever I would get to a cadenza (an interpolated passage of notes, usually not written by the composer, and usually very florid), Mr. Castel and Pedro, the accompanist, exchanged glances and raised eyebrows. I was pretty sure that was good, but you never know! Then, when I got to the sustained high note at the end, I chickened out and didn’t hold it very long. After complimenting me on most of my singing, Mr. Castel said, “But that last note? It’s too short. After all those fireworks you gave us, we were left wanting! I call it ‘cantus interuptus.’” (Get it?)

So, what to do? I’m still nervous about sustained high notes, and I think he may have hit on a big reason why. I am so proud of my non-diva attitude offstage, that I don’t bring out the Diva that needs to be there to sing those notes. Mr. Castel talked of the anticipation that can be built in the audience when a singer has given them thrilling moment after thrilling moment in an aria and the brings them to what they know will be the final high note, the climax. By taking some time to really prepare yourself to sing that note well, you can also create a feeling of expectancy in that moment. And so I gave it a shot. I sang the penultimate passage, which ends on a high C, then took a moment as Pedro held the dominant chord in tremolo. I brought my hands in front of me, in true diva style, took a big breathe, and let it rip. And I could tell by Mr. Castel’s reaction that it was just what he’d been waiting for.

So while I’m maintaining my “Diva Next Door” persona offstage, it’s time to embrace the Diva onstage. The Diva who leaves her audience breathless, who makes them wait for the notes she knows they came to hear. And who can deliver them every time.

Santa Fe vs. Seattle

Anne Carolyn asked me to post a blog entry about my time in Santa Fe and the past couple of weeks. I have happily been playing the role of husband-in-tow. A role I wouldn't mind making a more permanent position.

I have been struck by both how different Santa Fe is from Seattle, and how wonderful it is. I thought I would go over some of the differences.

• In Seattle, Anne Carolyn makes me breakfast and coffee while I get ready for work. Here I am the house husband and our roles are reversed. While she is off staging blocking and coaching arias I've been doing laundry, and running errands. (lots of reading and vacationing too)
• In Santa Fe bread does not mold. Your sandwich will however start to get dry like it was slightly toasted before you finish it. The humidity here is currently 16%.
• In Santa Fe at night with the windows open you can hear crickets. Where I grew up in the Seattle area you could hear frogs at night. I do not envy the frog that finds itself in Santa Fe.
• In Seattle a drought means that we are several inches short on our rainfall and the snowpack in the mountains isn't what it should be. In Santa Fe a drought is where it is so dry that half of the extremely hardy Pinion trees die off. (with the help of a bark beetle that can do some damage when times are dry)
• Speaking of water, there is no standing water to speak of in Santa Fe while Seattle is between the Puget Sound and Lake Washington with a half dozen other lakes in the city limits. On the maps here there are dry riverbeds marked. "Arroyo" is the special name for these.
• From what I can tell there may be only one tree indigenous to this area: the pinion. A big one might come close to 2 stories but most of them are less than 15 feet. The amount of trees native to the Seattle area is too long to list here... Fir, Cedar, Maple, Alder, the list goes on and on.
• In Seattle you can tell the age of a house by it's architectural style. Not so here. The majority of structures (not just houses) could be put in the broad category of "Adobe". There is a smattering of other SW styles as well as your typical doublewide, but adobe is the clear winner.
• Seattle: traffic? -oh yeah. Santa Fe? -not so much.
• While I am sure they exist, it is hard to imagine a cube-farm in Santa Fe. Cube-farms are rampant in the greater Seattle area. (if you are fortunate enough to not know what a cube-farm is, think Dilbert)

Don't get me wrong, Seattle is a beautiful and wonderful place but I have discovered that so is Santa Fe.

Cross-Training

Some wonderful quotes and thoughts on practicing over at oboeinsight, the blog of Patricia Mitchell, principal oboist for Opera San Jose and freelancer in the Bay Area.

Some of the best quotes are from golfers! Here are two great ones:

Practice puts your brains in your muscles.
-Sam Snead (1912 - 2002) US golfer

The formula for success is simple: practice and concentration then more practice and more concentration.
-Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1914 - 1956) US sportswoman, golfer

I have enjoyed golf the few times I’ve played. A friend once recommended that I simultaneously take up tennis, rather than tackle the sports one at a time, as the two would offer cross-training possibilities. Looks like there may be cross-training between golf and my current profession…

Does that mean golf lessons would be tax-deductible?

A Santa Fe sunset

It almost looked like a forest fire! About ten minutes after it faded, a strong wind picked up. It was so blustery I almost expected it to hail! 

Erik and Friends

Doesn't he looked well rested! Erik in our "summer home" with KD and Madison. His two week vacation ends this weekend. I will certainly miss him...  

The blushing bride

This is a picture of my mother's mother (Mamma), her three daughters, their daughters, and my mother's daughter-in-law and granddaughter! We certainly all look related. 

Are you sure you're going the right way?

KD was a tireless navigator! 

On the road!

Erik seems to be catching up on some sleep...  

In Santa Fe!

Where to start? The past two weeks have been, as expected, very full and not a little stressful. Our drive from Seattle to Santa Fe (via Boulder, CO) went fairly smoothly. KD was a fabulous traveler, but we did manage to get a flat tire in eastern Washington while it was 95 degrees. All in all, it only added about two hours to our trip, and we made it to my folks house with no further trouble. Two days were spent in Boulder helping to prepare for the Event of the Year - Sally's wedding! She and Steve were married on Sunday, but before that, Erik and I made it all the way to Santa Fe for my first few days as an Apprentice.

We arrived Wednesday evening to meet Pam, my host for the summer. She and her sweet puppy, Madison, are sharing their beautiful home with KD, Erik and me. There is a fenced yard with lots of room for the dogs to run, and there are several seating areas all around, so there is always a spot in the sun or in the shade, which ever you'd prefer. I'm enjoying getting to know Pam, who had a 20 year career as an opera director in houses all over the country, including the Met. There are prints of Zeffirelli costume sketches in the living room - a gift for an opening night of Tosca. She is now working as a graphic designer, having opted to leave the opera world "while [she] still loved it." I think we will be very happy here.

Then, bright and early on Thursday morning, I started my Apprenticeship. It felt like the first day of school! Butterflies in my stomach, and so many questions:
* What should I wear? (I decided on black capris, white cotton blouse, and a teal shawl.)
* What will we do today? (General meeting and tour of the grounds, followed by a read through of the Turandot choruses, lunch, and more Turandot.)
* Will the people be nice? (Of course they were. I have several old friends and colleagues here already, and am quickly making new ones. There is a general atmosphere of fun and enjoyment of our work, but with an understanding and expectation that all the hard work will get done. It feels like a good place to work.)
* Am I prepared? (Yes, it seems, at least for Turandot. We start Peter Grimes rehearsals in earnest tomorrow, so we'll see about those tricky choruses.)

After just two days in Santa Fe, we started our 48-hour Wedding Marathon. We left Santa Fe at 5:30 Saturday morning, flew out of Albequerque, and arrived in Boulder in time for the Bridesmaids' luncheon. We pretty much stayed at full throttle for the next two days! The luncheon; a rehearsal with the church pianist, Kris, for my song Sunday morning (I sang "The Holy City," a favorite song of my granddaddy); the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner; church Sunday morning, at which half of the sanctuary was filled with family, half of whom cried while I was singing. I kept my eyes squarely on the back wall and thought of random vegetables in order to keep froom getting choked up myself!); then preparation for the wedding (I did a lot of makeup, including the beautiful bride); the wedding; the first reception, large in guest list and small in scale (cake and punch); lots and lots of pictures; the larger reception, smaller in guest list and larger in scale (buffet, dancing, etc.); and then we hit the road and flew back to Santa Fe! Erik was a invaluable helper, keeping me sane and taking care of last minute tasks. There was so much family there, I think I only spent about 15 minutes with each of them. It was a crazy weekend, but full of love and happiness amidst the madness.

Yesterday, we started staging rehearsals for Turandot. I really like the director, Douglas Fitch, who is the main set designer, also. I was surprised to learn that this is his first time directing an opera, because I think he is handling rehearsals very well. He has a good team, and we wrapped up Act I today. Tomorrow brings Act II and another working rehearsal for Peter Grimes.

I'll write more soon about costumes (I have three for Turandot alone!), altitude adjustment, and some new trouble with my jaw. And I'll post some pictures!

Just a quick note to say two things

One, it should NOT be this hot in Seattle. I think we got up to 85 today… Estimated high for tomorrow is 87, which means it will probably reach 90. If it’s this hot here, what’s it going to be like in Santa Fe??!! And if it keeps getting hotter here in Seattle, my poor Nordic-blooded husband is going to melt.

Two, I hate packing. Love unpacking, hate packing. And today I feel like I’m packing for three things: the week of travel to Santa Fe, three months in Santa Fe, and the move downstairs. (Did I tell you that we are indeed buying the duplex we’re currently renting? We close June 30th, at which time Erik and I will move from upstairs to down, and S&L will move in upstairs. We’ll share the large basement. A “simple” move, in theory, but it still requires packing.) There are boxes everywhere, and still so much stuff to go in them.

And it is too hot to do anything.

A bit of everything

I’m in the Oakland airport, finally heading home after a long two days of traveling. In the past 36 hours, I’ve been in at least one car, cab, train, bus, trolley, and airplane. I was actually on the first airplane twice, as they loaded us up only to have us wait on the tarmac for 45 minutes before unloading us all again. This after a two hour delay before loading up in the first place. All told, the flight departed 5 and a half hours late. The afternoon I’d planned to spend doing some shopping and writing in San Francisco was instead spent in the Seattle airport.

At least I had some company. I was on my way to the West Coast Opera Auditions (a joint audition for 20-30 Western companies), and there were two colleagues of mine on the same flight. Misery loves company, yes? Actually, not being alone made the day much easier. One of us could walk or wander for search for food while the others watched the bags. Much nicer than pulling my little suitcase behind me all day. MH and I were also staying at the same hotel, so we navigated our way together from the Oakland airport to our hotel in SanFran via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Once we got going, it was a fairly smooth trip.

Despite being in a “bad part of town,*” the hotel was clean and the staff was very friendly. Absolutely suitable for a one-night stay. I slept very well, and awoke feeling rested and ready for my audition. I got a little coffee and had some breakfast with MH and JH at the hotel, then we shared a cab to the audition. And my internal debate began…

What aria to start with? At most auditions, the singer is allowed to choose his first aria; the panel then selects the second (if they want to hear a second) from the list provided by the singer. I ran through all my arias on Friday with a coach in Seattle, and she helped me come to the decision to start with the Queen’s Vengeance Aria. Why? If that aria is on a soprano’s list, the panel will almost certainly ask for it. So why not sing it first and get it out of the way? That way I can be in control of my nerves and I can get the “hard aria” out of the way.

I began to question this logic, however, when I heard that the panel may only be hearing one aria. I have so much more to offer as a singer than just the Queen, and I wanted to be sure that they got a chance to hear some of it. So I decided that if the singers before me (two colleagues from Seattle) were asked for one aria, I’d start with “Qui la voce” from I Puritani, a delicious bel canto aria that I fell heads over heels for the first time I sang it. If they asked for two, I’d start with the Queen and they would get to pick something else. Well, wouldn’t you know, one singer sang two arias and the other sang only one!! What to do? I hadn’t come up with a strategy for this situation…

I didn’t decide what I was going to sing until I was ON THE STAGE!! The panel asked, “What would you like to start with?” I clasped my hands and said, “Ummm… hmmm…” I’m not kidding! I finally opted for the Queen, but it was a very strange moment up there while I decided. I sang it well, and they asked for a second: “Be kind and courteous” from Midsummer, another aria from a role I’ve performed. All in all, after the first hesitant moment, it was a good audition. All my friends sang well, too, so we are hopeful that at least one of us will get a nibble!

(* San Francisco is quite possibly the most integrated city I know. Everything and everyone seems to be blended into the definition of “metropolitan.” People of differents races, classes, and sexualities every where you look; different cultural attractions – Symphony Hall and strip clubs – within blocks of each other; million dollar properties on the same block with run-down buildings. It seems that everyone is comfortable everywhere. A wonderful feeling.)

Then lunch with my friends, and then coffe with MC of The Standing Room! It was my first real-life blogging encounter, and it was great. We talked about how strange it is that we know details of each other’s lives (he complimented my hair (it’s still red!!), I asked after his headshots (he wouldn't show them to me)), even though we’d never met. MH, who knows nothing of the blogging world, was fascinated by the whole thing. It's a unique social phenomenon, the Blogosphere, if that doesn't sound too trite, and one that I imagine we'll be reading studies on in a few years. MC prefers to remain anonymous, so I won’t divulge too many details of our coffee talk, but we have friends and colleagues in common, and others who I hope will be colleagues in the future. He had some great ideas for my CD project; I look forward to exploring them.

MH and I then killed a few hours before heading to the airport. We explored the Ferry Building, which is basically one big gourmet food market. Yumm. We got gelato (blood orange and chocolate sorbet for me) and sat in the sun, watching the water traffic under the Bay Bridge. A nice end to a wonderful day.

But as I write this, our flight is delayed 30 minutes. That’s how it started yesterday…

Pampering and Cramming

So I’m striking an interesting balance these days between overworking and being self-indulgent. I’m pretty stressed about all I have to do and learn before leaving for Santa Fe in a week, and so in order to not let stress make me sick (as it has a few times this year), I’m trying to pamper myself a little more than usual. Yesterday I was feeling really run down, complete with the fuzzy head that is often a sign of an impending cold. So, instead of studying the fabulously complex choruses of Peter Grimes, I took a nap. I woke up feeling clear-headed, and was able to get some good studying in after dinner.

In years (ok, months) past, I would have just pushed through the fuzzy-headed-ness, working and stressing and ignoring my body’s warning signs until I just shut down. It’s been a hard lesson to learn that by taking an hour (or two!) to just be still, which is easiest for me to do if I’m asleep, I can be more productive in my day, not less. Of course, I can’t take an hour nap everyday, but I’m learning to do so when instructed by my overworked Self.

More pampering is scheduled for this afternoon: I’m getting my hair cut and colored, most likely back to my former (and natural) dark blonde. Sigh. I love being a redhead, but I am not ready for the commitment and maintenance required. My well-bred mother taught me that I should never show my toes if my polish was chipped, so I can only imagine what she would say about undied roots! We never had lessons on root-maintenance, as my mother is au natural and beautiful, but somehow I don’t think an inch of dark blonde at the crown of one’s red head meets the standards of the Pabor women.

But speaking of toes: I got a pedicure a couple of weeks ago with my friend Chiara, and now I’m hooked on them. I mean, seriously, no chipped polish. Ever! My mother would approve. And, for some reason, I would much rather spend $40 every six weeks to get a pedicure than spend $50 (or more) every two months to keep my hair colored. Call me crazy. Maybe it goes back to that “never been good with my hair” thing. But I love my feet.

Anyway… Somewhere in amidst all this pampering I have two operas to finish memorizing. I’ve never had to memorize a chorus part before, and it’s tricky. I think choruses often have more music than individual characters, for one thing. And we need to be much more precise. For better or worse, soloists have a little leeway with precision. The recording of Turandot that I’ve been listening to incessantly is a live recording from the Met, starring Placido Domingo and Birgit Nilsson in 1970, and it demonstrates this fact. When you add stage business, distractions from things going differently night to night, and the energy of performing to the music you’ve memorized and rehearsed, you’re bound to come in half a beat late or early hear and there. But you catch up, get back with the conductor, and move forward, no one the wiser. But in the chorus, you don’t really have this luxury. The chorus is a mob, usually acting as one voice, and therefore has to sound like it. Staggered entrances and cut-offs are the mark of an amateur group, and I just don’t think that will make the grade at Santa Fe. So I’m doing my best to be prepared. But what worries me? I won’t have any idea how ready I am until that first rehearsal…

Phase I complete - with an oops!

My new website is up and running! Well, up, anyway. All the “running” stuff will be added later this week. I was too anxious to get the new look up there to wait until all the technical stuff was done. So check it out! Feedback is always appreciated. I’m pretty happy with it, especially considering that Erik and I did all ourselves, and neither of us is really a designer! We’re considering this my “intermediate” site that will serve me very well until I’m ready to pay somebody big bucks to design me a site like this or this. My previous site was designed for me by Erik’s aunt DeeAnn, and was a wonderful first step. She was so generous, and I am very grateful. Thank you, Dee! (Check out her other design and photo restoration work here.)

Phase II will include streaming MP3’s – a little Bach, a little Strauss, and of course, some Mozart – and photos, along with downloadable materials (bio’s and headshots for administrative stuff) in Word. Singers have recently started using their websites for this sort of thing. It’s so easy to direct an admin to your website for materials, rather than sending hard copies through the mail that must then be retyped. Same thing with headshots: it’s going to have to be scanned in order to be added to the brochure/website/program, so why not just deal with the digital image? A website can be useful, not just as a promotional tool, but as a means of simplifying communication. And who doesn’t appreciate that?

Thanks, as always, for looking and reading!

Edited: The "oops?" We forgot to move the images for this site, which were hosted on the old ACB.com site, over to the new one! Hence the ugly red X's at the top of the page. I'll see what I can do about that...

Edited again: I fixed it!! I can't believe I actually knew how to do that. I mean, two years ago phrases like WinSCP and he.net made absolutely NO SENSE to me. And now I can use them! So proud. I'm not about to leave opera for web development, though. Not even close.

Must be Prom Time

Twenty-nine of the last 100 referrals that brought people to my website have been web searches (Google, Yahoo, etc.) for “hair-do,” or “easy hair-do,” or “long hair-do,” or my personal favorite: “how-to hair-do.” I love it! Granted, I have a post entitled Hair-Do’s, but I find it ironic that all these folks are coming to me looking for hair help! My post is all about how bad I am with my hair! Makes me chuckle.

Other referrals include searches for Andrea Gruber (in various forms: “Andrea Gruber,” “Andrea Gruber addiction,” “Andrea Gruber opera addiction”), Benjamin Luxon, “a very merry unbirthday,” and “high f O zittre nicht.” I know I mentioned Ben Luxon sometime during last summer's Tanglewood entries, but I can’t find it! You’ll have to trust me on this one. There is also the occasional search for “Anne-Carolyn Bird,” which, I have to say, weirds me out a little! I mean, I know I have a career in the public eye (or at least, I’m trying to), but it feels a little stange – and a little good! – to know that folks are using “the internets” to learn more about me.

I also get a lot of referrals from other blogs, most notably Alex Ross’s fine collection of music blog links. Ionarts, Prima La Musica, and The Standing Room have also sent folks my way. I also got slammed the other day when Chiara mentioned me. Seriously, my hits were doubled that day! Of course, she is a Diarist Award winner, so she has a following... Thanks to all who’ve referred their readers here! I try to return the favor, although percentages are still in your favor. But my readership is up! That makes me happy.

However you get here, however long you stay, I’m glad to have you. Happy reading and blogging!

Unexpected

I gave a short lunchtime recital yesterday at the new Central Branch of the Seattle Public Library. It is truly an amazing building, architecturally, but I found it a bit cold. Not in temperature, but in feeling. Lots of metal and concrete and odd colors. Not really the sort of place I’d want to curl up with a book. They do have an amazing collection of musical scores and recordings, though, so I’m sure I’ll be back.

Before the recital, I went up to the 8th floor where they have several small practice rooms equipped with nice electronic keyboards. I was able to reserve on for noon (it was 11:57 when I checked in), so I went to wait by the door for the last three minutes. The gentleman who emerged when the librarian knocked on the door at noon had been playing beautiful music on the piano, sort of a mix of classical and jazz. He had obviously had years of training. So imagine my surprise when he gathered up his old backpack and plastic bags, put on his dirty coat, and shuffled out, eyes down, not responding to the comments of “That was beautiful!” or “You are very talented” from the people in the hall. From the librarian’s brief encounter with the man (when he opened the door, he said, “Sorry, but time’s up. You know how much I love to hear you play…), I gathered that he was there on a regular basis. Maybe even daily.

This massive, strange, beautiful place isn’t just a place to read newspapers from around the world, listen to five different recording of Debussy’s Pélleas et Méllisande, or pick up the latest blockbuster to read on the bus. It is a place where all the people of Seattle can feed their souls.

A new project

A new project idea is brewing. I’ve been thinking about recording a CD project for some time now, and next year seems like a good time to do it. I’m planning on lightening my load next year, taking on fewer gigs in order to focus on taking better gigs. (All part of the “recognizing that I’m a professional” stage!) This will make time for voice lessons and coachings in new roles, something I was woefully lacking this year, and for a “career-development” project like a CD.

I’m in the very early stages right now, but I think I have a theme in mind: American composers and poets. This idea came to me as I was thinking about the kinds of art songs I love to sing, and 20th C American songs are always at the top of the list. I know this next thought will be blasphemy to some, but I’ve just never been able to get into German Lieder. I’d say that French is 2nd after American/English, then Russian, and then German. I know, I know, the “Schu’s” were genuis, but their songs never move me the way Bernstein (“So Pretty”), Ives (“Memories” – so fun!), Debussy or Poulenc do. So, I won’t be recording any Lieder any time soon.

Another reason for this theme is that I have relationships with composers with whom I can collaborate to bring a new work to life. I have presented some poetry to a young composer colleague, and he has agreed to take a look and see what moves him. It is a thrilling prospect, let me tell you. No names yet, not until I know for sure that I have the money lined up to pay him!

Yes, money. That’s the big detail to work out. Erik (my husband) is a recording engineer, so that aspect of the project is in good hands. He also has a degree in Music Business, so he knows all about copyrights and licenses and all that jazz. But how to pay for it all… I’m looking into grants, but those are so hard to win these days. I’m thinking of approaching my grad school and Tanglewood to see if they can get me in touch with people who like to give money to young and upcoming musicians. Tanglewood, especially, with their focus on new music, seems like a great place to find a sponsor. I’m also thinking of ways to approach patrons of the arts here in Seattle, people who maybe have seen me perform and would be interested in helping me take this next step in my career.

After the CD is completed, it would be available at some of my concerts and on my website, as well as in local record stores. I might even get it up at Amazon, if possible. The composer and I have talked about a little concert tour before recording, in order to build up some “buzz” and give his work a proper premiere. We’d have vouchers available for buying advance copies of the CD, kind of like buying the next Harry Potter book six months before it’s due for release… =]

Like I said, very exciting. I’m sure I’ll post more details as they come up. Oh, and feel free to email me about making a donation!

An Off-Topic Post

When I started this blog, I told myself I’d stay on topic – my life as a singer. But I just have to vent for a minute! I came across this article this morning about the current and intensifying drought in Washington state. (Insane, I know, to even put the words “drought” and “Washington” in the same sentence, but it is true.) Rainy winters have never bothered me here, but this winter, I would get depressed if I woke up and it was sunny! It just wasn’t right. Cool, cloudy, misty days. That’s what Seattle winters are supposed to be. Sweaters and jeans and clogs. No tank tops allowed until May!

But, it was a sunny, gorgeous winter, and now we’re in a drought. And yet, so many people seem oblivious to this fact! Our neighbor spends an hour (I’m not making this up) watering his driveway!! At least, that’s how it seems from my side of the fence. I’m sure he’s washing away pine needles and saw dust and dirt. But, honestly, has he not heard of a BROOM??!! Two evenings in a row, now, Erik and I have had to close our windows while eating dinner, not to shut out the white noise of I-5 three blocks away, but to close out the incessant and depressing sound of waste.

At least it’s his water bill.

"Sing something!"

An Alert Reader™ sent me this singer-themed Miss Manners column the other day. This complaint is heard over and over in singer circles!

It’s not that we don’t like to sing in public. I mean, that’s our job! But that’s just it – it’s a job. And like everybody else with a 9-5 job, sometimes it’s nice to not be working. Instead of asking singers to sing on the spot, ask when they will be performing in your area. We will gladly plug our performances! And you’ll probably enjoy the experience a bit more, as well.

(On a side note, Bird-family favorite Dave Barry, the originator of the Alert Reader™ brand, has a blog!)

Passion

A while back, I alluded to some big gigs in February of 2006 and 2007. I still can’t talk about 2007, but it’s finally time to get next year’s big gig off my chest. It’s been “official” for a couple of months, now, but it didn’t really seem real until I saw this website.

Next year I will make my European debut singing Osvaldo Golijov’s Grammy-nominated Pasiòn Segun de San Marcos. This is thrilling for me in so many ways. First, LONDON! Enough said. The two week tour will also make stops in Atlanta (three performances for the hometown crowd!) and New York. The NYC performances are part of Lincoln Center’s Osvaldo Golijov Festival. Second, I am so honored that Osvaldo chose me to sing this piece. I will never forget my first encounter with him at Tanglewood in 2003, guiding us through Ainadamar. His intensity was almost off-putting at first, but by the end of the summer I knew I had found a kindred spirit. He loves my singing, but I think he will always have a soft spot in his heart for my dancing in Ainadamar! He calls me his “beautiful horse,” which I choose to see as a term of endearment.

The London concert is six days before my 30th (un)birthday. I was in Los Angeles for my birthday in 2004, singing the West Coast premiere of Ainadamar with Dawn and Osvaldo. Is this the start of a trend? I don’t think I’d mind spending every other birthday singing his wonderful music!

So here we go. Next season is an international one.
Somebody pinch me . . .

Voice Lesson

WARNING!! Serious tech talk within. Enter at your own risk!

Yesterday I had a voice lesson with Carol Vaness. She is good friends with Vinson Cole, who I call my teacher, even though I’ve had only four lessons with him over the past two years, and she was in town to see Vinson in dress rehearsals for Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Seattle Opera, which opens this coming weekend. (Looks like there’s an interview with Vinson on the the SO homepage; very interesting, and good prep for those of you who will see the opera.) I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was very excited to sing for her – and to have some “hands-on” help with these damn high notes!

We met at Vinson’s beautiful Capitol Hill apartment, where she was finishing up with another student. When it was my turn, we settled into some chairs for a few minutes and she asked me to tell her a bit about myself. It was at this point that we also talked about our love for cute cheap shoes and the gorgeous greens that are in fashion this season. Fabulous! We talked a bit about my move into Coloratura Land, and she understood my hesitation immediately. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here before, but coloraturas often get a bad rap, viewed as the pretty little songbirds that aren’t too bright. Not how I want to be viewed! But she reminded me that the great coloratura roles – Lucia, Zerbinetta, Adina, even Norina – are not cutsy. They are fierce, strong, wily, and smart. Yeah, yeah, I know all the bel canto ladies go crazy when they lose their loves, but still! She joined her voice to those others who have been telling me this for a year now, and, slowly but surely, I’m starting to believe it myself. I can be a smart coloratura!

She led me through some vocalises, not to warm me up, as I had done that before I came, but so that she could start to get a sense of my voice. After a few exercises going up, we turned around and headed down the keyboard. Somewhere around A or B below middle C, she asked me if I ever used my chest voice. I don’t really, although when singing low I imagine adding on a lower resonating chamber; I just never settle my voice fully into my chest cavity. Carol said, “If you’re going to sing Lucia, you’ll have to use your chest voice!” So we worked a tiny bit on that part of my voice, singing gentle five note scales (do re mi fa sol fa mi re do) starting at the bottom of my range and heading up. She spoke to me while I was singing, guiding me through the passaggio (literally, “passage,” or the section of the voice where you move from one resonance to another; most voices have three or four) between chest voice and lower head voice. Fascinating. We went all the way up without changing exercies, and when we stopped she talked about how different my voice was when I allowed the colors of my chest voice to permeate the rest of it. (Wow, this is hard to put into words!) Basically, she encouraged me to not cut out any part of my voice, not to disregard it. Of course, that doesn’t mean I should start belting my way through Mozart. Rather, simply let my voice sing with all its colors.

When we moved on to repertoire, I knew exactly what I needed help with. I told her that, while I knew I was a coloratura, I was still terrified of my highest notes. Right now, I can sing up to the Queen’s high F’s, but it scares me, which inhibits singing, right? Right. So I started singing. I could go on and on (as I already have, a bit!) about how much she helped me with the Vengeance Aria. She got me to let go of the consonants and to really sing on the vowels, she helped ground my body so I wasn’t getting caught in my shoulders, and (drumroll, please!) she helped me find those F’s! For the first time, I sang all four with no fear, and even I could tell that they were great. Again, it was all about the vowel. Even though I sing an “ah,” if I think “oo” it flips the high notes into the magic spot, and they are easily right on pitch. So great.

We also worked a bit on another Mozart aria, Durch Zärtlichkeit from Abduction, which I would be singing that evening at an audition. It has three high E’s at the end, and she helped me gain confidence here as well. Her tip? When you get to the difficult phrase, disengage and go into robot mode. Don’t try to act, don’t try to color it, just let it come out. Trust your technique to get the notes right, and trust Mozart to get the emotion/acting/interpretaion to come through in the music. She assured me that my E’s were great, but that I was judging myself so harshly that, even if the first one was great, I assumed it was bad and tried to mess with the next two. And let me tell you, at my audition, I was able to put her words into action. When I got to that phrase, I put my hands on my hips (a pose very appropriate for this character!), and “disengaged.” Hell if it didn’t work beautifully! After those notes were out of the way, I was able to really get back into character, because there was no voice in head saying, “those E’s were awful.” It was a great feeling.

Carol will be coming to Seattle semi-regularly for the next few years, as she will be an adjunct professor at UW. I can’t wait to work with her again.

I couldn't resist

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

I could have told you that... =]

All dolled up

Anyone who has ever been around me while I'm getting ready for a concert knows that my least favorite part is doing my hair. Since my hair was naturally curly when I was in jr high and high school (don't ask me what happened; hormones are crazy things!), I never really played around with curling irons and blow dryers and product. Imagine my horror then, when my hair grew back straight after a drastic cut my freshman year in college! As it grew out, I realized that I knew nothing about how to make it look good. So I kept it short, grew it long and straight, or just left it to its own devices. Each look managed to work with my overall style at the time, but when I entered grad school and started my path to Divahood, I knew I was in trouble.

I mastered makeup thanks to very helpful women at the Clinique and Lancôme makeup counters. I slowly moved away from my black, vintage, and generally shapeless wardrobe and have embraced color, cut, and timeless styles (timeless, not dated!). But my hair has still been the thorn in my side. I've been known to style and re-style my hair four times before a concert, each time dissatisfied with the mess on my head.

So, imagine my joy when this appeared on the back of my head yesterday:


I know it doesn't look like much, but for me it is a huge step forward! It is a variation on a style that my Pamina wore in Flute, and it seemed to be way beyond my reach. But I did it!! Hopefully I'll be able to repeat the 'do, and my days of swearing at my hair are over.
 

Mailing List

If anybody has tried to join the mailing list on my website in the past few months, you may have noticed that it was broken. Well, it works now! New and improved, too. So, if you’d like to receive semi-regular updates about upcoming concerts and news, sign up now! Of course, there probably won’t be anything in the email that you wouldn’t have read here first…

Now to update/overhaul/redesign the rest of the website…

Not so pretty

It is somehow easier to write about the good things here – the new gigs, the successful gigs, the fun stories. The past month has been, while not exactly bad, a bit harder than most. A persistent cold that has only just left me; a long trip to NYC where I had to muscle through the cold to give a concert and two auditions (thank god - or, rather, Phyllis! – for good technique); coming to terms with being overbooked, and, hence, having to bow out of a commitment; and the general malaise of springtime. All in all, not stuff I want to dwell on. But they are part of this life of performing, so they deserve a mention.

I think I’ve talked enough about being sick. I will say two things, though. First, I have become determined to get to the root of the causes of my frequent sickness. The mental, emotional and physiological causes; I suspect that all those aspects are playing a part. Stress management, a few holistic health professionals, and continued therapy should help me get that part of my life under control. (A word on therapy: Everyone should do it! I’m determined to help remove the stigma of being in therapy, to help people see it as a part of overall “health care” and not something for crazy people. Although, we’re all a bit crazy, aren’t we?) The other thing about this bout of sickness: my husband finally caught something from me. He gets sick maybe once every two years or so, but this one was too fierce to be ignored. The difference, though, was the he lost his voice! Scary. I have never – knock on wood – lost my voice like that. I know several other singer who did this season, and the idea is so scary. All the more reason to get my health in order.

I ended up giving two auditions while I was in New York; I had only been planning on the one. But while rehearsing with my pianist (a fairly connected NYC native whom we’ll call R), he mentioned that he was playing for another manager’s auditions that evening. He called their office and got me in. I was still coughing and had very little middle voice, but my line and high notes were there. So I did the audition. It went well enough for a last minute thing. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the company (he was late and a bit disorganized), but they haven’t called me, either! All in all it was just another opportunity to sing for someone in the business.

The second audition – and the one I was most concerned with – was the next day, and I was still feeling pretty crappy. My voice felt weak and my uppermost notes were just not there. But I decided to leave the “high note arias” on my rep list, trusting in the adrenaline factor to help out if need be. At the audition, R and I decided to change my starting aria from “O zittre nicht” (Magic Flute) to “Come, now a roundel” (Midsummer). (In most auditions, the singer selects the first aria, then the panel chooses from the remaining selections on the singer’s repertoire list.) I’d started all my auditions this winter with the Flute aria, and it was a great starter for me, but that day I knew I’d be too worried about the high F at the end to give a great performance. The Midsummer aria is slow and shows control, and also has a great high note, even though it’s “just” a C#. It went very well, and then, the heavens really smiled on me. Instead of asking for another opera aria, Mr. W asked for Bach!! I couldn’t believe my luck. Bach is like a balm, both for the voice and the soul. I nailed the aria (“Ich folge dir” from St. John), and afterward we talked about Tanglewood and my upcoming events. It was very pleasant conversation, not at all forced. All in all, a great audition, even with the stress of not having all my notes. Now, we wait.

This is a long entry, so I’ll write more in another post about being overbooked, and also about the drama at the airport on my way home from NYC!! Sheesh.

Confirmation

Just in case any of you think I've been exaggerating the way most singers are viewed by instrumentalists, check out this post at in the wings. At least she thinks some of us breath well.

(I enjoy this blog quite a bit. So this is not meant as a dig, merely as evidence that I haven't been making things up!)

On the homefront

Often when I’m away for these medium-length trips (10 days, in this case), things at home pretty much stay the way they were when I left. This time, though, I have really felt out of the loop, as big changes and big opportunities are happening at home.

The first is that our stolen car was recovered! Not a scratch, nary a dent. Only covered in pine needles after sitting on a quiet street for a month. It was found near our old house, oddly enough, with and 1/8 of a tank of gas – 1/8 less than the 1/4 tank it had when they took it. The fuse panel is off, and the radio doesn’t work, which leads us to believe that they used the radio fuse to hotwire the car. But other than that, it is fine. Thank god I hadn’t settled with our insurance company yet! (That was just one of many things on my To Do list that got bumped by this trip.) So all is well in that department. I was not looking forward to going thrrough the classifieds or craigslist again, looking for another cheap car in great condition. Now I don’t have to!

The second, and more far-reaching, is that our landlords have decided to sell the duplex we live in. They live in the downstairs unit, and we’re upstairs; she has also been our realtor while looking for our new house. You may recal that about a month ago we decided to look for a duplex or triplex to share with S&L, Erik’s sister and her girlfriend. After a heartbreaking losing bid on a great duplex, we were ready to put aside the house hunt until the fall, when (hopefully) the market will be a bit calmer and I’ll be home from Santa Fe. Well, that’s all changed! I think our landlords would be very happy to sell the duplex to us, and we would certainly be happy to buy it. We will all save money this way, as we will avoid the 6% realtor commission, and they will be happy knowing that their home of 25+ years will be in good hands.

I’ve missed out this week on the talks with the girls and Erik, though, about what we like and don’t like about the house/location/yard and about all the things we would need or want to change about it. I’ve been sad to be away from that. It’s so fun to sit around and dream out loud, to say “what if we …” and have everybody say “ooh, that would be fun!” I know those talks have only just started, and I will get to be involved in my share, but the first few are the most exciting.

This is the part of a life “on the road” that I don’t like. I know it’s inevitable; life goes on whether I’m at home or not! And thank god it does. We have phones and emails and blogs to maintain connection, to try and share the ups and downs of life on my end or theirs. But there is no substitution for a knowing look, an impish glance, a warm hug, or daydreams over a simple meal. At least I know that those things, too – and more – will be waiting for me when I get home.

A dry spell of writing, heavy weather otherwise

I haven’t posted in the past couple of weeks because I’ve had too many things to write about and not enough time to write about them. So I’m afraid it’s time for another bullet points entry. Some topics may reappear in future posts with more details, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Life has a way of moving forward, not stopping and looking back… So here’s what I’ve been up to:

• After my trip to Boulder, I had five days at home to get ready for my trip to New York. In those five days I attended a rehearsal for Orpheus in the Underworld at UW; had a crucial, grounding breakfast with a good friend; hid in a closet and yelled “surprise!” at the appropriate time; came down with a cold, right on schedule; crammed more atonal melodies into my head; and celebrated my 5th Wedding Anniversary.

• The celebration included an exquisite – and exquisitely presented – dinner at The Georgian (ironic in that our wedding reception was at The Georgian - in Athens, GA) and a pampered night at the Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle. We have decided to occasionally give ourselves glimpses of the luxurious life we ultimately want for ourselves, and what better time than a milestone like our 5th. Like our wedding, big nights out on the town can serve as public statements of our intent – we are Together and in this for the Long Haul!

• I arrived at JFK on the JetBlue redeye and got a ride to Brooklyn with a very, umm, colorful driver. I stayed in my brother’s apartment last week while he was in Amsterdam and E and S were visiting E’s family in Wisconsin. It was very strange being in the apartment without them, but I had a friendly and affectionate cat to keep me company. I nursed my cold by eating in, drinking tea, and not calling any friends! I continued to cram.

• Rehearsals started on Tuesday for Thursday night’s A.R. Thomas Profile Concert at Miller. I was a guest artist with Alarm Will Sound, a new music ensemble that formed when most of the members were students at Eastman. Since they have known each other and worked together for almost 8 years, they have an easy rapport and rehearsals are efficiently run. Talented individual performers coming together to form a top-notch ensemble dedicated to giving new music a voice in the concert hall.

• The concert itself went fairly well. I missed a couple entrances – and no telling how many notes! – but the desired affect was achieved. A friend of mine said that when the piece was over, she and her friends said that they wanted to hear it again right away. That’s a good sign! I know that Augusta was pleased; she thanked me for learning her piece “so well,” so my little slips must have been little indeed. She asked for my contact info so that she could put other organizations in touch with me when they wanted to program In My Sky at Twlight. Read a review of the concert here.

• After a very large martini (too large, honestly, if there is such a thing) Thursday after the concert, I slept in on Friday. In the afternoon I walked around the neighborhood, practicing fiscal discipline by not purchasing the beautiful, brightly colored dresses in the shop windows, and eating a decadent chocolate croissant with my afternoon coffee.

• A mini-Tanglewood 2004 reunion occurred on Saturday. Two of the Fellows, both tenors, were singing in the finals concert of the Oratorio Society Competition at Weill Hall, and one of the Piano Fellows was playing. It was an exciting concert, in general, with a couple voices that thrilled me so I almost jumped out of my seat and yelped. There was a baritone who sang rapid-fire Handel coloratura while looking so relaxed he could have been yawning and a gentle young mezzo who walked on the stage looking scared to death, but as soon as she started to sing transformed into a young Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. It was wonderful. Neither of our friends placed in the top three, which was a travesty, in my mind. But I won’t go into that here.

• The NYC Bird family got home on Sunday, and we’ve been hanging out and catching up. Syliva is darling as ever, and the next little Baby Bird is present in the slightly wider hugs to E. I’m still nursing the cold, and hope to have all my high notes back by Wednesday when I audition for the folks at Dispeker. I’ll let you know how it goes…

A Family of Performers

I am the only professional musician in my family. Although we are a family of musicians (the stereotypical Von Trapp-style singing in church, paired with coffee shop open mic sets of Simon & Garfunkel and Jim Croce tunes with me on vocals, Dad on guitar and lending his easy tenor to harmonies, and Mark on bass), I am the only one sick enough to take it on as a full time job. But I am not the only performer.

My father is a minister and my sister is about to be certified as an American Sign Language interpreter. Yesterday at church, I got to see them both at work, and they are performers! Communication is their profession, as it is mine. Our media and messages may differ, but we thrive on sharing information and affecting people emotionally.

When I talked to Dad about it on the way home, he said that ministers often have Myers-Briggs’ test scores that are similar to those of actors, and that both groups are often Introverts. Something to do with our level of comfort in front of people: give Dad a podium and a robe (a set and a costume), and he is in his element. He can turn a phrase and deliver one-liners (comic and dramatic) in a way that has his congregation (audience) really understanding the heart of his message. But put him in a room full of strangers who don’t know him as “The Rev” (as he is lovingly called at his church), and he is a fish out of water! I don’t feel quite so out of place in similar situations, thanks to the person-to-person communication skills I learned (inherited?) from my gracious Southern mother, but I have discovered that I often enjoy being in a quiet corner at a party, instead of always in the center of the room.

My sister, Sally, has really found her voice, so to speak, as an ASL interpreter. Even though her hands are tiny (she’s not so big, herself), they are full of expression. She graduates this spring, and yesterday was the first chance many of us, including her fiance, have had to see her in action. I was scheduled to sing “I know that my Redeemer liveth” near the end of the 10:30 Easter service, and about fifteen minutes before I was to sing I thought “Oh, I should have asked Sally to sign while I was singing!” So during the hymn after the sermon, I motioned her to follow me out of the sanctuary. I sprung the idea on her, and she didn’t even hesitate! With ten minutes ‘til show time, I wrote out the words and she figured out her signs as I watched. I was so impressed at how she used her face and body – in addition to her hands – to tell the story. Her facial expression on “And though worms destroy this body” was awesome! She used her face to describe both the worms and the destruction, the grossness of decay. I couldn’t watch her while I was singing, but I’m sure it was a very effective performance.

It is somehow reassuring to have made these realizations about my family members. To know that I am not cut from a completely different cloth. My cloth is just a bit showier!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

(I know, I know, all the best pictures of my family members also have Sylvia in them!) 

Away from home, going home

For the first time in about three years, I am on an airplane and NOT on my way to an audition or job. It’s kind of nice! I’m going to spend Easter with my parents in Colorado, and, while I will be singing in church on Sunday, it doesn’t even remotely count as a business trip. How refreshing!

I brought plenty of “work” with me, though. I leave for New York a week from Sunday for the Augusta Read Thomas profile concert at Miller, and I still have a lot of prep work to do. I’m starting to get really comfortable with the piece, and coming up with a game plan for the best way to get the most out of rehearsals. A personal game plan, that is; I have no intention of trying to run the rehearsal! It helps that I have worked with the conductor before. Alan Pierson, of Alarm Will Sound, was a Tanglewood Fellow with me last summer. We met when he saved the day on a chamber music concert that we just couldn’t get together. It was a very small ensemble of excellent musicians, and with two or three more rehearsals we would have been able to “conduct” ourselves, which is often best for small ensembles. For intimate chamber music, I think it’s best not to have an extra body standing between the ensemble and the audience. It’s supposed to feel like we’re in your living room! But, due to a strange set of mishaps and misunderstandings, we just couldn’t get comfortable with the piece in short order. Alan stepped in and gracefully guided us through to a great performance. In NYC, he’ll be conducting his own orchestra, so I assume he will be even more comfortable and in control.

I can’t remember if I wrote last summer about all the things I learned about the singer/conductor relationship at Tanglewood. Don’t ask me why, but before last summer, I viewed the conductor as a crutch, as something to lean on only if I needed help. This feeling was probably another by-product of all the “singers aren’t good musicians” comments I endured in college. Well, I’ll show them! I’ll be such a good musician that I won’t even need the conductor! The idea makes me laugh now. Unless I were doing a one-woman show, performing music is about collaboration. I have learned that I can communicate with a conductor – verbally during rehearsals, and in the mysterious non-verbal way during performance – and that together we can present a synthesis of our ideas of the composers work. It’s fascinating. The same thing applies to pianists during song recitals. I know it seems elementary, but it was a real discovery for me.

Well, I have digressed! What I was trying to say is that I have my ART score with me, and that I intend to step away from family craziness (meals at our house were once described as an “insanity refresher course!”) a few times a day to review notes. I also have Act I of Orphee aux Enfers, which starts rehearsal next week. Incredibly fun music, and very tonal! The perfect counterpart to the ART piece.

I’ll try to post again in a couple days, but if I don’t: Happy Easter! Mmmm, Cadbury Crème Eggs…

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Here's to many more stories read to many more grandchildren. Well, maybe not many, but at least a few!

Love you! 

Pesky question

I’ve been in a bit of a funk since last week, when, as you may have guessed, we didn’t get the house. Someone was willing to pay a lot more than we were, plan and simple. I am very disappointed to not have that problem neatly wrapped up! (Obviously, I’m also disappointed not to be living in a great house with my friends with more friends across the street. That goes without saying.) Since we leave in two months to go to Santa Fe, I think the house hunt is on hold until the fall. Kind of depressing, while at the same time a relief. One less thing to worry about, but at the same time, I think I’m dealing with that pesky question that pops up from time to time: how does this crazy career fit into my life?

In the same calendar year I (we) plan to buy a house AND spend three months temporarily living in a different state. Does that make any sense at all?! No, not really. And then the stress of house-hunting and car thefts and making dinner and doing laundry gets in the way of learning music for concerts that are rapidly approaching. Add to that mix my darling little dog who is training me for the day I have a three-year-old following me around the house saying “Play with me!” I get a bit freaked out; I wonder if I can do it all.

I guess any self-employed person faces the same challenges. I can’t just go to an office for 8 hours a day and deal with the rest of life on evenings and weekends. (Yes, I know “real” jobs aren’t so easily boxed up like that, but humor me.) That is something that I treasure about my job - the flexibility. I can give a concert on a Sunday night, drink two glasses of wine, and sleep until 10am. But that same flexibility can bite me in the butt when I have so many opportunities to procrastinate.

Maybe I feel like I’m still a student, and that all my musical pursuits are still small potatoes. That somehow the To Do List in my non-musical life is more important than my musical one. I don’t think I’ve fully realized that I have taken a big step recently, with an international concert booked for next year (I still haven’t written about that… soon.), offers from established singers to help get me in with bigger companies, and a New York debut next month. I am a professional singer! Maybe I’m in denial…

I think I’m just scared that all of my dreams won’t come true. Or that I will do something that causes a dream to not come true. I know that no one gets all of their dreams, I just want to get as many as I can. I mean, I have so many dreams already, why stop now?

Off to bed, and on to a more productive day tomorrow.

A different kind of nervous

We're putting in a bid on a house today. A duplex, actually, that we are hoping to purchase with Sonja & Laura. It is in a fabulous neighborhood, with a beautiful view of downtown Seattle (from the street, not the house), room enough for a small garden, and right across the street from our dear friends, the Taylors. We are all holding our breath until about 8 tonight, when the seller should have reviewed all her offers. And hopefully will have picked ours...

Practicing

This week my internet friend and fellow blogging singer, Tom, catalogued the books currently stacked on his piano. These are the projects – current, future, or just wishful thinking – that take up space in our minds and time in our days. I thought I would borrow the idea from time to time; I think it’s a great insight. Thanks for the tip, Tom, and good luck with all that music!!

Bach, St. John Passion Performance next Sunday (Palm Sunday) with Orchestra Seattle, at Benaroya Hall. I don’t know what it is about Bach, but his music finds it way into my voice so easily. I can move very quickly through the “what’s my next note?” phase into the music-making phase. Maybe it’s because I’ve been singing Bach from my earliest days as a voice student; his is a consistent presence through all my development. I’m putting together a demo cd right now, and I’m including a couple arias from Bach’s Cantata 202 that were recorded three years ago. Even though my voice has grown in many ways since then, I think this it some of my finest singing ever. Hopefully the St. John next week will join the ranks.

Augusta Read Thomas, In My Sky at Twilight Fabulously difficult piece of “new music” that is having its New York Premiere on April 7th. So nervous! I’ve never had to work on a difficult orchestral piece with neither a) a piano reduction or b) a couple weeks of rehearsal. In this case I have neither, but I do have a wonderful recording of Christine Brandeis singing the piece with Pierre Boulez at the helm. It is a sexy, sensual piece, all about love and desire. I hope I can get to the point with the music where I can be sensual. This is NOT a piece for the deer-in-the-headlights, “what’s my next note?” look! (That purple dress would help, yes?)

Offenbach, Orfée aux Enfers I’m working on the role of Eurydice, who enjoys her trip to the Underworld and doesn’t want to leave when (a very reluctant) Orpheus comes to claim her. Two fun arias and a fabulous duet with Jupiter, who has been turned into a bee. Lots of buzzing! I’ll be covering this for the University of Washington’s spring production.

New Arias: “Qui la voce . . . Vien, diletto,” from Bellini’s I Puritani; “Par la rang et par l’opulence,” from Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment. I’ve been instructed by my teacher to get some bel canto into repertoire, and I am loving it.

Osvaldo Golijov, Tenebrae I’m trying to build a chamber music recital cd around this piece. Possible themes it could work with are “Light & Shadow,” religious texts, or string quartet rep. The score was given to me by Osvaldo, with a very sweet inscription, after the premiere of Ainadamar at Tanglewood in 2003. I’ve been looking for a performance opportunity ever since!

Opera scores for Santa Fe: Turandot (chorus), Peter Grimes (chorus and First Niece), and Ainadamar (ensemble, which is kind of like a chorus but generally smaller and each voice has moments in which it stands out; I don't think my role as Horseman made the final revision. No more dancing!).

So, you can see I’m keeping busy… If only there were more hours in the day.

Wearing Art

How much would you pay for this dress? A few things you can't tell by looking at it (unless you're a connoisseur of high fashion) that might affect your answer:

It is one of a kind.

It was designed by John Galliano.

It makes me feel like a goddess. (Well, maybe you can tell that just by looking.)

Discuss!
 

where, oh where has my little car gone?

I had planned to spend some time today writing about the rest of the operas this weekend (I was, overall, very happy) and about "Phase I degeneration" of the discs in my neck (won't that be fun?). But then we woke up to find our "new" car, a '94 Saturn that we bought two weeks ago, gone. Erik came in from walking KD and said, "Where did you park the Saturn?" Not a great way to start the day.

So I've been a big funk all day, not getting much done at all. Amazing how losing one's (newly acquired) mobility can but a damper on the day. On the bright side, it is another gorgeous day, so instead of driving out to the big dog park, KD and I just walked to the ball field a mile away. Cleared my head a bit.

But I'm still mad.

One down, two to go

Well, my first Queen of the Night is in the books! Not sure yet which books, but it is over and done. I was happy with how it went, although I still have a ways to go before I will be satisfied. I still have to focus a bit more on technique to get through the arias than I would like. I prefer to get to a point with my music where all I have to think about is the story I am telling. The monologue that runs through my head when singing the Vengeance Aria goes something like this: “Ok, keep it light. Don’t try to take the whole voice up to the stratosphere, just let it float. Right out the top of your head, that’s it. Keep those ribs expanded, sternum up.” And so on. It’s Phyllis Curtin’s voice that I hear, and it is comforting. Although I would much prefer to be able to stay completely in acting mode, as I can with so much of my other music.

Please don’t get the idea that I zone out of character while singing! That is a great fear of mine, having started life on the stage as a straight actor. I think I generally do a fair job of blending the disciplines. It’s just that now, while the Queen and her high notes are working themselves into my body and voice, the percentage is shifted a bit more to the singing side. Let’s say ideal balance for me is 80% focus on acting and 20% on singing; I feel that the Queen is at 40/60. Hopefully, though, still enough acting to be scary! View these photos and let me know what you think. (I'm the washed out redhead with the black antennae...)

I’m looking forward to two more chances to sing the role this weekend. Then, hopefully in the next couple of years, I’ll get to sing it many more times, and I can relax into this delightfully wicked (or callously betrayed, depending on your interpretation) character.

The rest of the cast is outstanding vocally as well as dramatically, as the above photos will attest. I have enjoyed working with them all, and feel I have found a kindred spirit in my Pamina. It’s not often two sopranos can ask each other for counsel on getting through difficult scenes in an opera! I know she has helped me progress, and I hope my advice has served her well.

So I say again, if you live in Western Washington and love opera, there is a gem hiding in Mount Vernon this weekend! More next week on all the other goings on…

Frida?

Put me with some brightly patterned fabrics, add a ribbon to my hair, and all of a sudden I'm a Northern European Frida Kahlo. Who knew? 

A Very Merry Un-Birthday!

To me!! I'm celebrating my 7 1/4 birthday today, along with 29 years of life. Someone asked me if I went a year backwards on my unbirthday, as they do in Wonderland. I've only had 7 birthdays! If I went backwards, I'd never make it to the legal drinking age...

So raise a glass to un-birthdays today. Cheers!

New laptop and a pain in the neck

I’m writing this on my new laptop. Erik and I each got some money from the sale of our house to do whatever we wanted with, and I decided to get a laptop. (It was actually Erik’s idea, and it was such a good idea!) It is really nice not having to kick Erik off of our PC whenever I need or want to do something, like write a blog entry. Funny how computers, like cell phones, have gone from “nice to have” to “must have one in the house” to “everyone needs their own!” I will also use this when I travel. I’ve been using a PocketPC with a fabulous roll-up keyboard and my cell phone as a modem for email while on the road, but it is a bit cumbersome. Right now I’m in my dressing room at the theatre. I got tired of working on my crochet project on my downtime, and as Queen, I have lots of downtime!

It turns out that my fabulous costume is so heavy that it has sprained my neck. I’ve had a steady severe pain in my neck for about two days now. I thought maybe it was caused by our new car, which doesn’t have power steering. (Don’t laugh! My mom pulled a muscle driving a car with no power steering. We’re delicate little flowers!) But after having this dress back on, I can actually feel it pulling on my neck. It has a lot of material in the back, so I must be overcompensating forward, so as not to fall over. I’m in a lot of pain today, which makes me grumpy, which is actually great for my character! I’m looking forward to a quiet ride home, maybe some Ray Charles, but that’s it. No talking, no singing, no unnecessarily loud PA system calling people to stage ten minutes before they’re actually supposed to be there. See what I mean? Grumpy.

But, on the bright side, I look amazing. I have died my hair deep red; think Debra Messing. They originally wanted black hair, but I talked them into red. I’ve been looking for an excuse to dye my hair again. And besides, this time, it’s tax deductible! I start the show with simple tight curls, which then become frazzled and frizzed as my true colors come out. My makeup also starts out very plain and white, with just a little shading (not even any eyeliner or lashes); in Act II, we add severe shadows in purples. It looks hideous face to face, but under the lights on stage, I’m told the effect is very scary.

Mary, our hair & makeup lady (and impromptu costumer, as the official woman has been awol), just came in to check on me. When she asked “how are you doing?”, I just about cried. She’s the kind of person who really wants to know, so I felt no need to put on a brave face. I just said, “I’m in a lot of pain, and it’s making me grumpy!” She loosened my dress and rubbed my shoulders a bit, and repinned my headpiece. Bobby pins sticking into the scalp don’t do much for grumpiness, either. She encouraged me to get my husband to rub some Tiger Balm into my shoulders and neck tonight. That sounds good to me; I hope Erik is up for it...

February Teaser

I have so much to write about, and no time to sit down and get my thoughts on paper. Rehearsals for Flute (That’s the third time today that I’ve almost typed “Glute” instead of “Flute.” Can you imagine?! The Magic Glute!! Love it!) are going very well. It’s going to be a wonderful show. I’m in the middle of a maelstrom of bookings for NOISE, the elementary school opera outreach group I’ve sung with for two years. This year my schedule was too busy to perform, so I took on the bookings. Now I’m beginning to realize that my schedule is too busy for this, as well!

I’m having to work hard on focusing, doing one thing at a time. When I have half a dozen tasks in my head, I’m always tempted (and often I give in to the temptation!) to try and multi-task. But all that ends of doing is streching all the tasks out longer than they would have taken if I had tackled them one at a time. Like just now I picked up my phone to make a call for NOISE, when what I really want and need to do is finish this post.

So, another teaser post for now. Here are the things I am wanting to write about, and I promise I will. Just as soon as I can breathe.
• Taxes! Self-employed folks, and artists of all ilk (ilks?), dread this time of year. What a headache.
• House-hunting, and Santa Fe housing.
• February as the Best Month of the Year. Yes, it has my birthday in it (un-birthday this year), but I also have had amazing gigs in February. And will have in February 2006 and 2007! Yep, I have an offer to do an opera in February of 2007. Like I said, teaser!
• A precious gift that was given to me by a retired singer at my Port Angeles Symphony concert.

Ok, now that I’ve put all this out there, I’m obligated more than ever to get it all down in a post. Pester me until I do it!

Two more things

I forgot to mention another case of discipline and dedication I encountered this past week. If you read the PI review, you might have noted that our music director, a lovely gentleman I’ve known for about two years now, played harpsichord and conducted with his right arm in a sling. The details weren’t known by the reviewer, and had they been known by the audience, he surely would have gotten the greatest ovation.

Wednesday (maybe it was Thursday) morning, when he went out to get the paper, Fred slipped on his icy front steps. He fell, breaking three toes and his collarbone and fracturing his eye socket in three places! He wore a patch over his right eye for two days, and the right side of his face was absolutely purple. But, he came to rehearsal that evening anyway, playing one-handed continuo and conducting as vigorously as he was able. We were all amazed! Then I learned that he did it all without any painkillers, because they made him too “cloudy” to conduct properly! Amazing. The show must, truly, go on. Fortunately, he had already scheduled six months off after the opera! If anyone deserves it, Fred does.

The other thing I have to share is rather embarrassing. It’s one thing to post a link to a review, it’s another to copy a flattering review into a post. Brazen! But I feel that I should, since, along with the strangers who I now know are reading, my friends and family stop by for news. This review didn’t make the online edition of the Seattle Times, so I copy the highlights here for your perusal…

“Guild steps to success with rich talent pool”
John Sutherland, special to the Seattle Times

[…] Even with the Purcell added, the entrire performance barely broke an hour and a half, a good thing for the short attentions spans of our age. [Come on, give us some credit!] The Purcell had other benefits: It brought some marvelous singers out of the blend of the chorus and into the spotlight as soloists, particularly alto Teresa Clark and the very impressive Bruce [really Brian] Cummings.
The extremely strong cast featured Amanda Jane Kelly as Venus and Glenn Guhr as Adonis, who both exchelled vocally and dramatically.
But no one shone brighter than Anne-Carolyn Bird, who played the trouser role of Cupid with such sprightly energy, she practically floated on stage. Not only is her mellifluous voice enough to lead the children out of Hamlin town, her vocal ornamentation is extremely tasteful, and her stage presence nothing short of magnetic.
Bird had excellent help from her “Little Cupids,” [yea!!] . . . These dancing roles were among the most impressive and elaborate children’s roles I’ve seen on stage, and it is to their credit, and the credit of choreographer Anna Mansbridge, that the parts were so dramatically effective. [. . .]

Like I said, embarrassing. Mamma and Granddaddy, that’s for you! I’m so glad my LC’s got a mention, too; they deserved it. The reviewer also looks forward to the EMG’s next opera, as do I.

EMG Wrap-up

The Early Music Guild opera is over, with a couple of great reviews in the Seattle papers. Here’s one, from the Post-Intelligencer. The audiences loved it, we had three full houses, and the EMG Board of Directors was happy. Happy enough that I think they’ll plan on another staged opera in two years. L’Incoronazione, maybe? I can dream…

I had several wonderful colleagues in the opera, four in particular. They were some of the most dedicated, disciplined, and focused performers I’ve worked with – and they’re all in elementary school! There were four children – Kyra, Madeleine, Emmy, and Carlin – who danced as Little Cupids. My little Army of Love, if you will. I was constantly impressed with their performance. They never missed a cue, were always the first ones in costume and makeup, and were extremely well-behaved and alert, even through the longest, most tedious rehearsals. At one point, the director (James Middleton) asked the chorus to take a step forward on the word “Weep” in the final chorus. There was some confusion as to whether or not he wanted us (the Little Cupids and me) to do the same. He didn’t, but the girls didn’t get the final note, so when the time came, all four of them took a step forward, in perfect time! Less than half of the chorus did the same. I had to stifle a laugh! All of us, the “mature grown-up professionals,” could really learn something from that kind of attention to detail.

I also had my first experience with (attempted) self-sabotage. I know a lot of singers struggle with this, the fear and feeling that you are going to fail, accompanied by actions that might ensure that failure. Mine was based on an actual event, but I think a lot feelings of self-sabotage come from what we imagine will happen. And the imagination is so strong! As I was recovering from my cold and cough, I had a moment in rehearsal on Wednesday where I started coughing in the middle of my scene. I was trying too hard to sing with my full voice, even though I hadn’t recovered it all yet. The pushing led to dryness and tension, which triggered the cough. We kept plowing through the scene, with Amanda (Venus) singing my part until I could recover! It wasn’t pretty. So, from that point on, I was terrified about it happening in performance. Even if I hadn’t coughed at all during the day, my throat would get tight and I would start coughing right before I had to go onstage. Nerves had never, up to this point, been a major problem for me; I’ve generally been able to channel the nervous energy into performance energy. But this was different. I was really scared! Fortunately, I made it through the performances without mishap, but it wasn’t until Sunday’s matinee that I realized how much of my fear was a self-imposed mental hurdle. Once I recognized it, I was able to put it aside, and I think I sang my best show on Sunday.

This is just another example of how large a part the mind plays in one’s success (or failure). You can be supremely talented, but if your mind is convinced that you are mediocre (or worse!), you’ll never survive. The mind must be conditioned for success along with the voice!

On The Air

I’ll be featured tonight on KING FM, Seattle’s classical music radio station, in an interview that we taped last week. It’s mainly a PR spot for the Early Music Guild show this weekend. Gigi Yellen is the evening host, and she said it will air sometime after 8pm (that’s PST, remember). If you’re interested in listening but don’t live in Seattle, check out the live streaming audio on the webpage.

This was my first real publicity interview, and I liked it! I think I’m a pretty good interviewee; my mom would say it’s because I like to talk about myself (who doesn’t?!). Mostly I enjoyed being asked thoughtful questions that allowed me to expound on my work, in both general and specific terms. Gigi and I talked a bit about the connection between early music and new music, and why so many singers sing both. I also talk about getting to play a boy. A rather androgynous, Baroque-y, elegant boy named Cupid, but a boy, nonetheless!

4 Shows in 2 Months

More on the reason I’m sick, other than the technical germy reasons. I spread myself a bit thin this spring, and I knew it months ago. I should have spent January resting up, quietly reading scores and listening to my study CDs on the couch. Instead we sold our house, found a new place to live, moved into that place, and put the rest of our stuff in storage; I also sang in a Tsunami Benefit and took a trip to New York. Ha! I just reread that post, and I said, “It’s a pretty low-stress move, since we don’t have to out of the house completely until February 10.” Hahahahahahahaha! There is no such thing as a low stress move!! I’ve moved at least 20 times in my 28 years; I should know that by now.

Anyway, January was far from restful, and then everyone around me started coughing. Not a good combination. I couldn’t just go to bed, though, and tough it out, because, as the title of this post implies, I’m working on four shows in February and March. Two operas, each with three performances, and two concerts. A full singer’s schedule, which is something I’m not used to!

The first was this past Saturday, a concert of arias with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. My cold hit hard on Friday, but with a visit to the doctor on Saturday I was able to make it through. Fortunately I didn’t lose my voice until Sunday! The folks at PASO were outstanding. Very generous with their time, and flexible with the program. I asked to cut one number and be moved from after intermission to before. I sang five arias (The one I cut? Olympia’s aria from Les Contes d’Hoffmann. I didn’t have the energy needed for that kind of vocal precision.) for a wonderful audience, with a wonderful amateur orchestra, and a very sympathetic conductor. It was a great night. But, boy, was I glad to make it home and sleep in my own place.

No rest for the wicked, however. This Friday is opening night of an opera with the Seattle Early Music Guild, in which I am one of three leads. Thank god for early music being low! The piece isn’t taxing, since it’s all on the staff, and is actually quite fun. I get to be a boy (Cupid, without the diaper), which won’t happen too often in my career, so I’m enjoying playing with that energy. Mostly I love being in an actual theatre again. The dressing rooms, green room, stage manager, makeup, costumes, lights, all of it. It’s where I love to be.

Then March has the Magic Flute (rehearsals start in earnest next week) and the St. John Passion! Busy, busy. I will do my best to stay healthy. That might need to entail getting a massage every two weeks… darn.

When a singer gets sick

This is what happens when I try to do too much. Serious illness! Well, not serious in the big-picture-sense, but enough to relieve me of my voice for a few days. A cold that started as a tickle turned into a full-blown chest and head cold. Thanks to Zicam (and many other wonderful drugs), it is moving quickly, and I feel much better today than I did yesterday. Yesterday I was phonating around C below middle C! Cool for an effect, but not practical.

I need to get back to bed. I'll get back when I can and tell you about all the things on my plate that have gotten me to this point! All good, all fun, all taxing in their way. As my good friend and fellow musician said, "I'll tell you, kiddo, we're just gluttons and we keep doing it because we love it, no? But when the log jam comes, we sometimes wonder..." Don't I know it.
 

As if to prove her point

Mother Nature provided me with this amazing sunset at the end of a crazy day. Somehow, going to this rehearsal tonight just got easier. 

A Room of One’s Own

In our new apartment, I have an office. Techinically, it’s an alcove off the living room, but it’s big enough for the piano, my desk, and two bookcases. There is also a closet, which has a rod high enough to hold my gowns. (I had been storing them “off-site” at a friend’s house, because our tiny house didn’t have room to dedicate four feet of closet rod space to gowns. Now they’re back, and I can gaze at them any time I want!)

I’ve been amazed at how having this space has increased the efficiency of my practice. I used to have all my books in one room and the piano in another, so when I would leave the piano to get some music, I would inevitably get distracted and not make it back. Practice became a chore, so I did it less and less. Now, with music, dictionaries, reference books, piano, et al, in one space, I’m getting much more done. As I work through warm-ups and a specific song or aria comes to mind, I can find it and sing it. That piece may lead to another, also at the ready. Now, I have to force myself to stop and take breaks, or else I’ll spend all day at the piano!

Part of this new practice habit may stem from a big gig I’ve been hired for next season. (Details will be forthcoming…) It is being organized by a very large management company and has potential for some great exposure. So I’m starting to think about getting my “house” in order! I want to be ready for anything that may come out of it – other concert or even opera gigs, interest from other management firms, etc. – and that means being on top of my game. I have roles that I want to finish learning and have performance-ready to add to my rep list. (It is very lean in the standard repertoire department…) And I need to keep checking in with the technique, making sure every facet of it is ready to come to my aid when needed.

The room also has a window with a beautiful view of the Olympic Mountains, the brilliant sunsets, and the amazing cloud cover we have here in Seattle. Never a dull moment in this sky, and I am grateful to have such an inspiring scene in view everyday. Phyllis Curtin encouraged me to always “sing to the universe,” counsel easily heeded in this room of my own.