Revisiting Marlboro

Waking up in my own bed this morning was heaven. At the end of yesterday's delayed, excruciatingly long (14 and half hours door to door) and turbulent journey, I was rewarded with the best night's sleep I have had in a while. After a breakfast at the local diner and a morning spent unpacking, I ran off to my first rehearsal for the Marlboro tour.

We started with warm hugs and some catching up, and then dove right into Haydn. We set off into the world of Nisa and Tirsi, a world that we only briefly explored two summers ago, opting to focus on Schumann's duets instead. We reminded ourselves of the twists and turns of Haydn's music, trying out ornaments and decorative flourishes as we went. After a while, we shifted our eyes to Schumann, revisiting these pieces that we performed two summers ago up at Marlboro. At one point, I joked that I was experiencing a bit of déjà-vu, Lydia replying that she felt just like we were in the dining hall up in Vermont even though we were in wintry New York City. We finished our second Schumann duet, and I sighed, realizing how much fun it was to be making music with this group again. It not only felt good to sing with friends, but also to make music on such an intimate level again after months of singing opera - music at it's most flamboyant. It felt like putting on a beloved t-shirt – familiar, happy, and comforting. It made me realize just how much I am looking forward to the next two weeks.

I'm Home

I spent the day in the sky above the Atlantic. I'm home now. That's about all I can muster today, unfortunately. Be back with more tomorrow...

Tchüss, Lindoro

I would love to say that today's Lindoro was perfect, but, of course, that is not the case. How could it be? Such is the nature of live performance. What makes it exciting is it's imperfection – the vulnerability of being openly human on stage in front of an audience. No safety net, the possibilities endless. Aside from being incredibly happy with today's very successful show (our best yet in my opinion), what I will say is that today was undoubtedly the most fun I have ever had on stage in Lindoro's shoes. From the first notes of Languir per una bella, his first aria, I felt a freedom and a focus that I had never felt before singing this music. It was exhilarating. And what was more was that I felt the audience react – as I enjoyed myself more and more with each note and just gave over to the music more than ever, I felt the audience join me on the ride and enjoy themselves, as well.

I thought I wouldn't be nervous about this final foray, but I was wrong. I woke up this morning about forty minutes before I wanted to, and as I hopelessly tried to grasp onto a few more minutes of sleep, my mind started to race. It dawned on me that I was nervous, which caused me concern. Part of the reason I felt that Friday's show had been so good was that I felt so calm. I started writing my morning pages, and my nerves about the show started to morph into anxieties about the future and what was next. I had to jerk myself back into the present and remind myself that I should enjoy this final show.

While I was nervous, for the first time I was not afraid. In Frank Herbert's Dune there is a motto that is repeated over and over: fear is the mind-killer. Today's performance really illuminated precisely how true those words are. Free from fear and energized by nerves, I found that choices would open themselves up to me in those scary passages where, in the past, my mind would simply go blank as my fear overcame me. It was liberating, and I really started to have a lot of fun with it. At the end of the first aria, as I lay on the floor (as the staging here has me do), I couldn't help but crack a small, proud smile.

At intermission, I found myself pondering exactly what it was about this piece that struck so much fear into me. Of course, it is nerve-wracking music simply because of its virtuosic difficulty, but there had to be another layer to prevent me from conquering that until now. It got me thinking about visiting the Tate Britain last fall with my friend, Susie, who was invaluably helpful getting Lindoro back in to my voice after a two-year hiatus. The exhibition that we went to see, named Turner and the Masters (which is still on until January 31^st) highlighted his competitive relationship with both his contemporaries and the masters who had come before him. A description on the wall in the first room of the exhibit discusses how "it is impossible to be an artist without engaging in the art of the past." It goes on to say that in Turner's time, it was expected for artists to "aspire to greatness by copying, then trying to rival those who had come before…"

When it comes to the training of singers and musicians, nothing could be more similar. We are surrounded by countless recordings of all our repertoire, performed by both past masters and our contemporaries alike, and we spend our careers trying to rival them if not, at the very least, match them in the level of their quality. A while back, when I was looking for management, I remember auditioning for an agent with Languir, and while she was interested, I immediately received a lecture. "Why are you beginning with this aria?" she asked, "It's an incredibly big risk you're taking. When you sing for people, you will automatically be compared to whoever it is singing this repertoire at the Met, the Vienna State Opera, at Covent Garden, and whoever just made the latest recording of it. This is a massively difficult aria – are you sure you want to put yourself forward for a first impression like that?" While I didn't end up working with this person, their message had wormed its way through my confidence, preyed on my insecurities and stuck with me. Thinking about what I was so afraid of at intermission today, I realized that I had been afraid this whole time that I wouldn't – that I didn't measure up. Today, singing this for the last time, I realized it didn't matter. My performances were mine – that is what makes them unique and special, and having had so many opportunities to do this was not only proof that they were worthy, but also something to be grateful for and enjoy.

Lindoro, more than anyone else, has been the greatest voice teacher that I have ever had. Every time I have encountered him, I have left feeling like I have taken four or five steps forward vocally and each time I am met with more challenges. Today was the wonderful culmination of those lessons, and it felt like, to steal the words of one of the managers I did end up working with, bidding a fond farewell as opposed to running away. Taking my final bows today, I was beaming, feeling a sense of accomplishment that I have never felt before after a run of performances. I am so grateful to him for everything he has taught me – and for helping me conquer my greatest vocal and technical fears over these past seven years. I look forward to taking all of these lessons into all of the incredible music that awaits me – including that other Lindoro, that is actually a count named Almaviva.

Day Trip

On my last free day in Germany, I elected to make a rather long day trip to Heidelberg to visit a colleague and good friend from my HGO Studio days, Aaron. We had tried to get together a couple of other times this trip, but our timings never worked out until today. Every time I come to Germany, I make it a point to see Aaron, as it is so easy to get around here with the train system, my favorite mode of transportation.

We had lunch and caught up on each other's lives since the last time we saw each other, which was about a year ago, and reminisced about Studio days, talking about our friends from those intense times. Oddly enough, it was my second HGO reunion in two days – I spent a large portion of yesterday morning on the phone catching up with another one of my friends who went through the program with me and has since become one of my closest friends in the world. Both yesterday and today, it seemed like those days were really far away even if we only finished 5 or 6 years ago, and it was quite fun to take a trip down memory lane. When we were there, the music director of the Studio, Richard, used to refer to the place a "singer boot camp". Revisiting those memories, I was grateful for the strong bonds of friendship and camaraderie that were forged in the intensity of that experience. They have truly become friendships for life, and I miss going to work with those wonderful people on a daily basis.

Penultimate

A short post today...

Our 4th performance of L'Italiana in Algieri was tonight, and it was perhaps our best yet. Everyone is completely back to health, and we were all relaxed. Perhaps it is because my final Lindoro is approaching rather quickly, but I felt quite calm tonight as I began the first aria - something I have never previously experienced performing that piece. I felt a focus and energy that was exciting, and it opened up some new possibilities. It was the most fun I've ever had singing it, to be honest, and I find that I am really looking forward to having another crack at it again on Sunday.

That paired with an unexpected, yet brief visit with a colleague I hadn't seen in almost ten years who came to see the show made it a really lovely evening.

Time is flying by. I can't believe I have only 2 days left until home!

Falstaff Overdue

These photos are incredibly overdue, but I finally took the time to go through them tonight. I spent most of the day in recovering from a night out in the Altstadt with some friends from the Opera (the beer here is good - and so is the Schwein...) and resting up for tomorrow's show, providing ample time to sift through pictures.

During our final show on the Glyndebourne Tour, I experimented for the first time with taking my camera backstage and trying to snap a few photos. Here are the results of that first experiment.

Me trying to figure out how my camera works in my dressing room

The Ladies reading Falstaff's letters in Act I, scene ii

Falstaff and Ford (Sr. Fontana) in Act II, scene i


Alice and Meg plotting in Act II, scene ii


Nanetta/Elena posing backstage right before our heavy-petting fest behind the screen in Act II, scene ii


Mistress Quickly standing strong in Act III, scene i

Revisiting Pulcinella

Almost a year ago, I arrived in Chicago to begin rehearsals for a project that I had been very much looking forward to for a very long time with the Chicago Symphony. Originally, when the idea was proposed, my manager simply asked if I would be interested in auditioning for a series of concerts with the Chicago Symphony, and I was excited at the simple prospect of singing with them again for the first time since I made professional debut with them back in 2003 during a run of concert performances of Part II of Berlioz' Les Troyens. When I found out that the project was to be Stravinsky's Pulcinella, I excitedly jumped at the chance to audition for it, and immediately ran to my music library where I pulled down my score of the piece that I had inherited from Rosie, my teacher from my Michigan days, who had inherited it from her own teacher. I quickly learned the first movement, and then a few days later traipsed down to the audition, where I sang for all I was worth, determined to nail this. All of this was before I knew who would be conducting or anything else about the concerts. None of it really mattered to me – I had been dreaming of singing this piece since I first encountered the music as an orchestral musician in high school. Stravinsky's arrangements of Pergolesi's music had been entrancing me from the age of 15, and I was not about to let any chance to sing this rarely performed complete version of the ballet slip by, no matter who my colleagues were going to be. I had simply loved this music for too long.

That I would later find out that Pierre Boulez was to conduct or that we would also bring the program to Carnegie Hall after a run of concerts in Chicago was all icing on what was already (to me) a pretty delicious cake. As the concerts approached, and I found out more about who my colleagues were to be and where we would be performing the piece, it just started to become even better than a dream come true. It was becoming to be something more incredible than I could have ever imagined. So, to find out that we would also record our performances that week in Chicago for release on the CSO's own recording label blew my mind.

Yesterday, our recording of the piece was released on iTunes, and it will be released worldwide tomorrow and next week in the US. I must admit that seeing my name on an album cover next to Maestro Boulez, my wonderful singing colleagues, and the Chicago Symphony is incredibly surreal, and I am tremendously excited and, well, giddy about it. It really seems almost too good to be true.

Mood Swing

After tossing and turning until quite late last night, I awoke too early to the dull light shining into my bedroom. Unsatisfied with the time I read on my phone, I tried unsuccessfully to roll over and fall back asleep. I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and opened the blinds to see yet another low-ceilinged, grey day. The sun has shone through the clouds perhaps a total of three days since I arrived here, and – perhaps because of grumpiness due to fatigue – I hit my limit today. I rubbed my eyes and sighed, fantasizing about sunny beaches, my heart aching for the cheer of sunshine.

My funk continued throughout the day. I slogged through some very whiny, anxiety-ridden morning pages. I very grudgingly cleaned up the mess in the kitchen from my culinary excursion last night (tagliatelle bolognese, in an effort to use up the rest of the plethora of carrots and celery that was sitting in my fridge). I half-heartedly made an attempt to empty out my email's inbox. I tried to lay down for a short nap, again unsuccessfully finding sleep. Giving up, I opted to try a short yoga session instead, my tired muscles protesting in earnest as I tried to get blood flowing through them.

My day started to change when I went out to meet a friend and colleague who, much to my surprise and delight, was in town to do an audition. We chatted and caught up on each other's lives over coffees, not having seen each other in a year a half. As we talked, I felt my mood start to lift slowly. We agreed to meet up again after her audition, and then I headed off to the Opera for a coaching to work on some music for upcoming concerts. The minute I started to warm up, I felt myself crack a smile. My mind drifted randomly back to some of my first lessons with Ted Puffer during my early Manhattan School days, and I remembered him telling me to envision a big 'H' in my throat so that it would stay open. His advice suddenly made sense to me in a new way as I had a mini-epiphany physically, and I felt myself cheer some more. The pianist I was to work with came in shortly after, and we started to crash through Bach arias for a concert in a couple of weeks, working his twisting, instrumental lines into my voice and body, finding endless possibilities in the shapes of the phrase and enjoying their flexibility. Our music-making started to feel spontaneous and fun, and I felt myself smiling from the deepest part of my being.

I walked the short path to my home away from home, my step considerably lighter, beaming and marveling for the millionth time at the amazing power music has to bring unbridled joy into our lives.

A Goodbye

My last week in Germany started with a goodbye.

Nadine, one of my best friends in the world, lives in Cologne, which is so very near to Düsseldorf, which has proved to be incredibly convenient. On top of our close proximity, she has been singing in a show that has been playing at the Düsseldorf Theater, so we have gotten to see a lot of each other since I arrived here. We spent a quiet New Year's Eve together with her boyfriend, cooking a lovely dinner together and then lighting fireworks outside in the snow. We also spent my birthday together a few days later, thankfully sparing me from a lonely natal day. Over the past few weeks we have, like always, shared countless laughs and listened intently to each other's life issues, offering validation, support, and more laughs.

Today, we met at our favorite lunch place that we have lunched at many times over the past years – an old fire station that burned down twice, and then was converted into a restaurant. We discussed a variety of things ranging from music, retiring Lindoro, our futures, her upcoming projects, to our personal lives, laughing (as per usual) all along the way. Our meal was brief - she had to run home to teach a voice student and then finish packing for her trip to Spain tomorrow to rehearse fr an upcoming concert. By the time she gets back to Germany, I will have returned home to the States. At the end of our lunch, we parted ways near the main train station, momentarily sad that we didn't know when we would see each other next. We then made sure that one of our little traditions remained in place, and took a picture of ourselves – something we do every time we see each other. We hugged one more time, did some logical thinking, and trusted that we would see each other again before the year was out somehow. And with that, we waved goodbye to each other, and I, a little wistful, boarded my train back to Düsseldorf .

A Retirement

Last night's performance of L'Italiana was great fun, with our Mustafa closer to healthy and very able to sing. The audience last night was especially appreciative and relaxed, and they seemed to greatly enjoy the show's inane silliness and zany antics with hearty laughs and applause.

Looking ahead to next weekend, in which I will sing my final performances of Lindoro here (I leave before the last performance to do the Marlboro Tour – a very talented young tenor from the Opera Studio here will take over for me for that final show of the run), I feel a bit mixed. While I am looking forward to the prospect of going home and reuniting with Marlboro friends, I feel a little wistful about saying goodbye to Lindoro.

As this project as approached since it was proposed since last year, I have given a lot of thought my future with Lindoro and how well are matched. Seven years ago, a very influential manager advised me to take a look at Lindoro's first aria, Languir per una bella, and suggested that it might be a good aria to add to my audition list and an important role for me to consider. Being the eager singer, I went and dug the aria (which is the very first music sung by Lindoro in the entire evening, lasts about 6 and half minutes, and contains more than 20 high b-flats, at least 3 high C's, and pages of fioratura) out of the HGO library and promptly took it to the practice room. So began my very fraught relationship with Lindoro, the single-most difficult role in my entire operatic repertoire.

Seven years later, next weekend will mark my 20^th and 21^st performances of Lindoro, making him the role that I have performed the most to date in my career. This is a bit of a pleasant paradox, as I have countless times struggled in the practice room, in coachings and in lessons, questioning whether he was a good role for me. Because of the struggles I have had in learning how to sing this music, some of these performances have been the most rewarding ones I can think of. Every single time I have stepped into his shoes, I am able to count some step forward, some knowledge gained that feels victorious as I have ascended another level, no matter how small, on this musical mountain that has been the greatest vocal challenge I have ever encountered.

What has always hovered in the back of my mind is the fact that since his music is the most difficult in my operatic repertoire, that also means that he is also on the edge of my operatic repertoire. Being on the edge, I always have known that he would either become more comfortable as my voice grew towards him or he would begin to become more difficult as my voice grew towards other things. As I have prepared over the past 6 or 7 months for this, reviewing his music and slowly breaking down his most challenging passages, I have discovered that the latter has happened. While other things have become easier, like singing Bach, Handel, Mozart, and roles like Fenton, Lindoro has grown more challenging and taxing. And while I feel these performances are among some of the best I have ever given of his music, I can sense that it is time for us to part ways. I've had a lot of debate about this with my teacher and coaches as well as my own inner debate, and, like any break-up, this has not been an easy decision to reach. But it is time, and after our 21^st time on stage together, we will bid each other farewell.

Slow Day So Far

The third of my five performances of L'italiana is today, so I've spent most of the day sleeping in and relaxing. I'm sorry to not have much to report today, but the excitement just hasn't happened yet. If I were following my normal routine here in Düsseldorf, I would have waited to blog until I had something to write about. Normally, I do the show and then come back home, where I make myself a nice dinner and have a glass of wine to relax and would have a moment to report on the show. What is different about today is that I have people coming to see the show! So, instead of coming home alone, I will dine with friends after. As a result, I don't think I will be home in time to post later…

Until tomorrow...In the meantime, send me good thoughts - that first aria gives me hives…

Oops

A mere 5 days into my little project, and I've already missed a post. What are the rules for this? Is there some sort of blogospheric schoolmarm who will come and slap me on the wrist and give me a demerit? Or do I just have to deal with the consequences of my own guilt and shame?

Regardless, I think that primary reason I missed yesterday was that I really didn't have much to say. What happens in the event that I have nothing to say? Do I just write a post saying that I have nothing to say? I guess, according to the rules of this little game, I have to at the very least do that.

Yesterday, I picked up a visitor at the airport, and then spent the day at home, relaxing and cooking. I experimented with this recipe, which caused momentary panic, as I worried it smelled too rich and too much like dirty mushrooms. I proclaimed that we would toss the culinary disaster and eat downstairs at the local moules establishment in the event that dinner was a disaster. Crisis was averted, however, with the addition of a little extra wine to the risotto – it turned out to be quite good and a recipe that I will most definitely repeat.

Apologies for breaking the rules so soon into the game. Although, isn't there a maxim that states something like rules are made to be broken?

Looking Forward

After a show opens, it's unbelievably tempting to go into vacation-mode. After an intense, regimented period of rehearsal, it's hard for my sense of self-discipline to kick in when faced with (as I am here) five days straight of zero scheduled responsibilities. Nevertheless, a brief look at what is coming up right after I am finished here next week, and the sheer amount of music I need to get into my head, throat, and heart provides a healthy reality check, reminding me – not very gently – to get my butt into gear.

I actually find that I am excited by the busyness of the next month and half. It feels good to have a lot of projects coming up, and I get to spend a lot of time engaging in my favorite part of my job: woodshedding new music. There is nothing like discovering a piece for the first time.The prospect of doing that for much of the next two months is a very exciting one, indeed. Especially when it involves Britten, Bach, and Handel - three of my favorite composers.

L’Italiana part 2

First things first – the internet is functioning again, much to my great relief. I don't quite feel as if I am constantly banging my head against a brick wall anymore.

Now onwards to today's post…

Performers universally complain about the second-show syndrome. The adrenaline of the opening night has faded, everyone has sort of settled back into a more relaxed mode, and without that electric buzz of excitement and nerves coursing through the performers' body, dramatic reflexes are a bit dulled. Countless times I've heard or said any variation of the following: "Wow, I am so tired and just can't get into this today – this totally feels like a second show." It's an incredibly surreal feeling, because the sensation of standing in front of 1,000 - 3,000 people, wearing makeup and a costume - and perhaps a wig, singing in a foreign language at unnaturally loud volumes in other people's faces suddenly feels somewhat banal and mundane. Sometimes, the performers blame the audience, but more often than not, it is just the natural progression of things. Euphoria is always harder to reach and never feels quite as good the second time around.

Sunday's show was not your typical second show in the sense that we were prevented from sinking into the second-show syndrome by the fact that our poor Mustafa was sick. Because of the short notice, a guest whose name was Derek came in and sang the role from the side of the stage while Oleg, the incapacitated Mustafa, acted his role. I found out about all of this when the director who remounted the show caught me on the staircase to my dressing room just as I was going to get my hat for my first entrance in Act I. I never found out his last name, and didn't even lay eyes on him, let alone shake his hand, until intermission. He was magnificent, grace under pressure, as was Oleg, who despite not singing, was threw his usual 150% commitment into everything he did on stage. It certainly did keep things fresh and us on our toes!

Off Kilter

After rereading yesterday's rant, I have come to the conclusion that I most definitely have not felt like myself as of late. I've been irritable, tired, cranky, and well, prone to the negative, and I'm not sure why. I certainly do not feel as if I have been putting my most attractive foot forward. All I can say is that, while non-functioning internet is an irritation, it is most definitely no reason to stop enjoying the rest of my life. I've often been asked by yoga teachers during a class to join the two halves of myself together. Lately, I've lost my sense of perspective, and I truly feel as if the two halves of myself are disjunct.

There are probably a variety of reasons for this – I've been feeling a sense of rootless-ness lately, most likely a combination of having been on the road for so long (I've basically only been at home in New York for a total of three weeks since last July) and the fact that I moved into a new apartment back in August (which I have only lived in for two weeks since I moved in). Add to that the fact that the 2008 tax man came and hit me hard towards the end of last year, making things tight financially, and a run of L'italiana in Algieri (the music I find the most challenging in all of my repertoire), and you have a recipe for irritability.

Yet, I don't mean to complain – what concerns me is that while, yes, it is hard to be living out of my suitcase, pinching pennies, and stressing about a plethora of high b-flats, I am working. To be so busy is a big blessing, especially in this economic climate. The most frequently asked question over the holidays? "Have you had a lot of problems finding work with the downturn in the economy?" The answer is no, thankfully. I am living the life that I dreamed of and have worked hard to achieve – so why have I not been enjoying it lately? Why have I allowed it's challenges and pitfalls to bring me down into the doldrums of grumpiness? Is this how prima donnas are made?

I'm going to try to set myself aright and join my two halves – and one way I thought I might do this is by trying one of those 30 day projects where I try to write a blog post every day for the next month. A warning: quantity does not necessarily equal quality (I once had an English teacher in High School say, "Remember - Length does not necessarily equal strength!" which immediately set the whole class of hormonally excitable teenagers atwitter). But I hope that in attempting this, it will help me chill out and I might be able to take a step back from the abyss of negativity and re-adjust my focus.

Internet Withdrawal

Please indulge me as I vent just a little steam here…

So far, 2010 is not getting off to the smoothest start for me. The primary cause? The internet – or the lack thereof.

I know that there are people out there who are technophobes claiming the moral high-ground, not understanding why people waste so much time on the internet. They are the people who don't understand why people don't read books or watch tv or go on walks out in the world instead with their time. In fact, this summer, a friend of mine who has spent countless summers at Marlboro claimed that the internet was the sole reason summers at Marlboro were less crazy than they had been in the past. People used to have to socialize with each other and come out into the real world to play (and get into trouble), he said. Now, they could just sit in their rooms and communicate with people all over the planet without even taking off their pajamas (staying out of trouble).

When I first arrived here in Düsseldorf, the first question I asked my landlady as she handed me the keys was: "How do I access the internet?" to which she replied with her charming German accent: "oh…there is no internet…but we are getting some next week!" A week without internet, I thought. Very annoying, but I'll manage. To add insult to injury, she told me that she would also have to take the phone with her so that the internet could be installed for reasons that I must admit, I still do not understand. Yet, grudgingly, I managed. I did more of the non-internet-related activites I do anyway. I read books. I did yoga. I went out on walks and explored this new city. I cooked a lot. I visited a friend in a nearby city for new year's (which I spent much of using their internet). I watched German TV, trying to improve my German. And then, ten days later, the internet arrived. Finally, for three glorious days, I was able to Skype, Tweet, Facebook, watch American television, catch up on the blogs I follow, do research on some projects I have on the backburner, and email at my leisure. Imagine my horror and irritation when I woke up on Friday to discover that the internet was not working. Imagine how much my feelings of frustration increased when I found out that it will not be fixed until Tuesday.

My landlady told me that I should relax about it all. Yet here is the catch: I don't want to relax. I am not here on a pleasure cruise or a vacation (and, to be frank, if I were on a pleasure cruise, I would certainly have chosen a warmer and sunnier locale then snowy, grey Düsseldorf). I am here to work. I basically live out of my suitcase, and the main way that I attempt to maintain some sense of normalcy and consistency is by utilizing the internet for all that it is worth. It is how I work, communicate with loved ones, and entertain myself – it is how I have learned to cope with all of the challenges that this life on the road entails. The memories I have of sitting in the local internet café these past two weeks, where there is only one working microphone for Skype that I have to fight over with Brazilian teenagers, where I have listened endlessly to Russian women screaming into the phones at whoever it is they are talking to at home, and where I have been harassed repeatedly mid-conversation by drunk, belching Turkish men who want to be my friend because I am an American have perhaps have made this the worst trip I have had abroad in a very long time. I am in a foreign country on a different continent, in a city I have never been in before, working and going about everyday life in a second language, singing the most difficult music in my repertoire in an opera house where I have never worked before. How much more out of my comfort zone do I really need to be?

And how am I blogging right now, you ask? From a Starbucks that blessedly has an internet connection. At least there are no drunk people invading my personal space here.

Supposedly everything will be set aright by Tuesday. In the meantime, I remain frustrated beyond belief, yet hopeful (and perhaps almost on the edge of desperation).

Oh, and the show? We opened on Friday, and it was great. Thank God for music.

2009

As the New Year has approached, I've heard a lot of people tell me how happy they are to bid good riddance to 2009 and welcome 2010 with open, hopeful arms. While I am inclined to agree with that sentiment, there are many incredible and special memories that I have from this past 12 months, as well. 2009 was a year of drastic change that involved learning many life lessons on every level, and while lessons are not always pleasant to learn and growing sometimes involves growing pains, I am so grateful for each and every experience. Thinking back on the past year, many of the happiest and most meaningful moments for me were somewhat quiet ones– their simplicity is what touched me the most deeply:

- A small preview recital that Myra and I gave at Rockefeller University before our recital tour in January. It was one of the most emotionally intense performances that I think we have ever given, and the audience there was especially appreciative. Perhaps because it was early in the morning, I was feeling especially open and vulnerable and just poured myself into it. I discovered a new level of how much one is able to give of oneself in performance that morning.

- Superbowl weekend in Miami – the first real vacation I had taken in a long time. I rediscovered the value of kicking back and doing nothing but soaking in some sun by the pool for a couple of days and exactly how healing that can be.

- Stepping in at the last minute to sing The Creation at Carnegie Hall with Helmuth Rilling and the Orchestra of St. Luke's – That was another day I learned exactly how much I am capable of when I just give myself over to the music and the moment. I felt a dream come true that night.

- Performing Stravinsky's Pulcinella with the Chicago Symphony and Pierre Boulez – need I say more?

- My first St. John Passion Evangelist in Boston in March – It was a weekend of great fun with wonderful musicians who played and sang their hearts out and music-making with a good friend on the podium – the perfect way to experience such a great and important piece for the first time.

- Rehearsing and performing at Marlboro – As it has been for the past two summers, my experience at Marlboro this summer was incredible. My groups worked so hard on our pieces, and I felt like I forged and solidified special musical relationships while working on those projects. It was Marlboro at its best – colleagues and friends working together as hard as possible, for as much time as necessary, and at the highest level with an unparalleled commitment to music. And the audiences are part of what was special, too – so open and attentive in that unique way that is particular to those music-lovers who fill the hall up there in Vermont. It's amazing to see an audience so enthralled by music as strange as Britten's Canticle V or swept up in the stories of On Wenlock Edge or respond so viscerally and excitedly to Monteverdi.

- The cast and crew of Falstaff on the Glyndebourne Tour – The level of camaraderie I experienced this fall while at Glyndebourne was perhaps unmatched thus far. We shared countless laughs, hearty meals, and good times during our three months together. I had the most fun with my new friends as we toured around England, and it was an experience that I will forever treasure.

- Visiting with my family in Glyndebourne – the trips that my mother, aunt, and brother all made to Glyndebourne were some of the best family bonding time we have had in years. It was tremendous fun to show them around what had been my own little corner of England for two months.

There is already so much to look forward to in 2010 that is on the calendar (including the release of this in a few short weeks!), but what I almost am more excited about are the countless unexpected moments in store.

All the best for a happy, healthy, and beautiful 2010!

Fugue

Tonight, what seemed like the never-ending story at the beginning will come to its conclusion as we sing the last notes of the fugue that ends Falstaff, and the 2009 Glyndebourne Tour will come to a close. At Wednesday's show here in Plymouth, I looked up at Elena as she effortlessly sang the first of her three answers to my call of "Bocca baciata non perde ventura…" and felt a twinge of melancholy, sad that we only had one more show to go. It surprised me, because as we had entered the home-stretch of this tour, my homesickness had started to take over, and I was beginning to get excited at the prospect of sleeping in my own bed for this first time since August.

We arrived to start this journey at the very beginning of September, and during a conversation with a friend back in the states the other day, they pointed out that this has basically been like a semester abroad. Yesterday, during a farewell lunch with my dear friend and colleague, Susie, a good friend from my HGO Studio days who has been on the music staff of the tour and also playing the continuo for the Così fan tutte performances, she asked me what I have learned on this tour. It made me think back to student days when our lives were actually divided up into semesters, and our lives changed dramatically in the span of those 12 – 14 week stretches, our minds soaking up new a constant, endless flow of lessons like sponges.

Some of the things I've learned have been new information. Little things like the English have this habit of saying "Are you alright?" instead of "How are you?", which had me thinking that I constantly looked like I was depressed for weeks until I realized what they were actually asking. Many of the discoveries I've made about life and music in the last three months have been a deepening of my understanding of things I already thought I understood thoroughly. I've rediscovered how much I love to perform. After last season's intense study with my teacher in New York, I've had ample practice time to integrate a lot of what I learned there into my repertoire – both new and old – and I have new questions for when I head back. I've learned how to be rooted a bit more in the present moment and really enjoy the positive aspects of my time on the road, despite the great homesickness I feel at times. I've discovered new friends and deepened friendships with old ones. I've dug deeper into Fenton's character, finding more layers to him than I realized were there before. I've learned that we can always give the audience more. At the end of this adventure, I find that while I feel a great sense of accomplishment and pride, I also feel quite humble and more open than ever.

To all of my colleagues in the cast, orchestra, crew, music staff, and chorus these past three months, thank you for an incredible time. It's been an extraordinary three months, and I leave a slightly different person thanks to the good times we have shared together.

Turkey and Stuffing

Trolling through Facebook this morning, I chuckled when I saw a Canadian friend's status that read:

"An American tradition: Kill some Indians with small pox, kill a turkey, stuff your gut till you get indigestion, take Pepcid, trap family members together for an extended period of time destroying relationships, and then get up the next day and trample each other to death as you try to be the first to get the discounted flat screen TV at Walmart…"

There have been times that I have appreciated that sentiment, as I have been stuck in insanely long security lines at the airport trying to get home for the weekend or have nearly been trampled in pushy crowds at Whole Foods fighting over whose tofurky is whose. Alas, not this year. Being abroad for the second time on the day of the turkey, I've actually spent the day alone, relaxing, and mentally drifting towards the more grateful intent of the holiday.

Earlier in the year, amidst all of the personal turbulence that I was going through, I was rehearsing the Evening Hymn with Myra for one of our recitals. I found that I couldn't get much past the first couple of pages of the song without starting to cry. It was one of those magical moments of epiphany – one of those moments when a song suddenly becomes personal and makes sense in a new, clearer, and shockingly more specific way. I had been feeling so exhausted and was so overcome with guilt and heartbreak processing the fact that my personal life had exploded so terribly, and as I sang, my thoughts drifted to all that was still amazing in my life despite the turmoil on the surface of things. The knowledge that, even though I was feeling devastated, there were still so many people and things to turn to for comfort overwhelmed me with gratitude.

It's been a tough year, but it's also been extraordinary, filled with astounding revelations and great lessons. Since that moment with the Evening Hymn, I've been a bit preoccupied with thankfulness. It's so easy to focus on the negative for all of us – it's a really great thing to have a holiday that is meant for us to adjust our focus to the blessings in our lives.

I'm grateful to be loved so deeply by a great many people. I'm grateful to love a great many people in return. I'm grateful for the lessons I've learned over the past months about life, love and music. I'm grateful for a loving and extremely supportive family. I'm grateful for the wonderful and generous colleagues I've had over the past year who have taught me so much and provided so much fun. I'm grateful for my laptop and my iphone, which keep me connected to those close to my heart yet far away on the map. I'm grateful for a new apartment to come home to next week. I'm grateful for Glee, which has kept me laughing at my loneliest moments abroad this fall. I'm grateful for friends and loved ones who inspire. I'm grateful for the unexpected surprises that came my way this year. I'm grateful for a life in music.

And that's just to name a few of the things that I'm thankful for.

To everyone back home (and a few abroad): May you have a very Happy Thanksgiving - I hope you have just as much and more to be grateful for.

Community

During my last two weeks in Lewes, while various members of my family were visiting me to see the shows, I took two tours of the Charleston house – the home of the painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and the summer home of the Bloomsbury Group. The house and the grounds are stunning – sculpture protrudes seemingly from every plant in the garden, and the walls, furniture, doorways all served as canvases for these artists' creative output throughout the house. Objects as simple as lampshades provided ample opportunity for not only painting and upholstery, but even pottery and sculpture. As I walked from room to room , I was awed at the sheer abundance of color, design, and beauty – it was as if these people were so overflowing with creativity, they could scarcely find enough surfaces to paint.

As our guide took us on a tour through the house, she spent a little time in each room relating anecdotes about the group and their various relationships, friendships, and affairs. Later, in the gift shop, I perused the many books about the various members of the group that they were selling, many of which contained letters they wrote to each other – their fierce commitment to their art and to each other was not only astounding but inspiring. While the Bloomsbury group were not a formal society of any sort and their association, it seems, was purely social for the most part, I couldn't help but think that the huge creative output by each member of the group (which included incredibly accomplished artists and intellectuals like Virginia and Leonard Woolf, E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and John Maynard Keynes) must have been spurred on by the great sense of community they obviously had. I imagined their lazy summers spent lounging together, idly discussing literature, politics, and their love affairs, and I felt a twinge of envy.

I've been working at a snail's pace through Finding Water, Julia Cameron's latest Artist's Way book, and a lot of the exercises pose the question: who defines one's own artistic community. I always find that when I think about those people who are closest to me, I am lucky – I find that I repeatedly count the same 10 or 15 people among those people that I trust. It's a rather large number of people who have been and continue to be there through thick and thin. But when I consider where each of these people live – I am saddened by how spread out across the map they are. They live in Washington DC, San Francisco, Chicago, Cologne, Atlanta, Portland, Ann Arbor, Concord, Lexington, and New York – not to count the couple who are musicians and live out of their suitcases, like me. Compound on this my transitory life and a move across country not too long ago, and I realize that I've been feeling a bit groundless for the past couple of years. On the one hand, I am grateful for the travel, as it allows me to get face time with everyone. But it's the regular contact and the sense of home that one finds in loved ones that I long for. It makes me anxious to get home so I can start getting settled into my brand new place that I moved into at the end of the summer (and haven't seen since then) and throw a housewarming party.

Scene Stealers

Here are two shots from one of our balance calls on the road. The first is of Nanetta - Elena Tsallagova - sitting at the bar that is the set for Act I, scene i - a part of the set we only get to enjoy at balance calls. She is not only intensely fun to perform with, but she inspires me with her singing at every performance.

And here is one of the real scene-stealers of the show - he and his feline friends make appearances in each scene, disinterestedly observing all of our antics throughout the opera, seeming quite bored in that manner which only cats are capable of. This one watches as Dr. Caius unsuccessfully confront Falstaff, Bardolfo, and Pistola at the top of the show.

The Most Striking Image I Saw Today

At the Tate Britain as part of the Turner and Masters exhibit.An adventure with my good friend and flatmate-for-the-month, Susie. In the midst of a plethora of stunning landscapes, this one stopped us in our tracks.

Visitors

After the shows opened, I was lucky enough to have some family visitors come visit to see a couple of the performances. One who has come many places to see me in the states made her first journey overseas to see a performance in Glyndebourne - my aunt. Recently retired, she has been able to take advantage of her new-found freedom to do what she loves best - explore the world. She's been all over the world, but has never been able to work it out before to come see me sing when I am abroad. It was nice to be able to be an excuse for her to be able to visit somewhere new. An added bonus of having her as a visitor was that it allowed me to do what I never seem to get to do on the road. Be at tourist.

Here's a picture of her engaging in her other favorite pastime.

Stir Crazy

The other day, one of my colleagues called, begging me to go out with him to Brighton, which is not far from Glyndebourne. He said, "I have to get out of here – I going out of my mind. I mean, I love it here, but I'm just not used to having this much free time. It's driving me crazy – I need to be doing something!" He explained that, accustomed to normally working on a concert schedule, he wasn't used to having to waiting around for so long in between performances and devoting such an long time to just one thing. Instead of having an intense week of rehearsal and then a series of back-to-back concerts, stir craziness was setting in during these multiple days off between shows.

When I first arrived here, I was anything but restless – I felt stimulated and energized by our intense rehearsal schedule that provided a consistent regularity for our first month here. It was nice to be in the same place for an extended period after running around all summer, with a regular regimen to my days and weeks. But by the time my colleague called the other day, as the rehearsal schedule was winding down and our opening approached – I felt very much the same way, and I acquiesced. After a year of only concerts and recitals in which I was constantly on the move, learning new music, and either constantly rehearsing or performing, I could relate to his unease with so much free time and such a long period on just one project. We had a lovely night out filled with martinis, red wine, stimulating discussions about life and music, and a really lovely Italian meal.

A day or two after our opening, the cast's hive-mindedness that I wrote about a while back took an inconvenient turn – we all came down with the same cold. For the second show, six of us showed up complaining of being sick, and while it hasn't (thankfully and touch wood) descended into any of our throats, it has forced me to take it easy most of the last week. With the exception of one mini-excursion that I took with my aunt who was visiting last week, I've pretty much been confined to resting at home in an effort to get better, and unable to really practice on my days off.

The thing that has been most unnerving about all this free, idle time, beyond feeling restless – or perhaps a symptom of my restlessness – is that it allows my focus to drift from healthy pursuits that keep me locked in the moment and enjoying all that I have in my life now towards thoughts of what I don't have. I can slowly feel the goals and dreams that I am aiming for turn into resentments and jealousy of things that I don't have – a general sense of impatience has started to pervade. Once I say these things out loud to one of my closest confidants, I immediately realize how ridiculous I sound complaining when I have so much to be grateful for and proud of. Immediately, everything is put in perspective. Still, it scares me how easily my hopes and aspirations can be pushed across the line to obsessions and expectations.

It's so easy to slip off track, but I'm so thankful that I have such a good network of colleagues and friends to point out when I am going astray and guide me back to where I want to be.

Gay Icons

Last weekend, I traipsed into London to catch the very last day of the Gay Icons exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. The Gallery had asked ten gay, public figures to choose six of their own icons – heroes or people, either straight or gay, who influenced or somehow had an impact on forming who they are in the present day. The selectors' choices were widely diverse, ranging from life-partners and family members to Virginia Woolf to The Village People. I gazed at portraits of people with life stories both familiar and completely unknown to me, moved by their tales of courage, strength, intellect, innovation, integrity, pride, and, at times, tragedy. About halfway through I noticed that in the middle of it all was a table stocked with silver and white cards asking us to write about someone we considered to be an iconic figure. It got me thinking about who I would have chosen as icons. I found it difficult to choose just six, and I found myself wondering exactly what an icon was to me. Was it a famous person or group whose image was ubiquitous who I looked up to? Was it a personal hero who inspired me? I began to wonder if there was a difference.

At times, some people debate with me the purpose of being on Facebook, Tweeting, and having a blog, and question my decision to open myself up to a seeming lack of privacy. I always reply to those people that I only share what it is that I wish to – I, like any blogger or person on Facebook, is as open as I choose to be. Funnily enough, I almost hit one of those boundaries when thinking about this post. While ruminating about the Gay Icons exhibit and thinking about blogging about it, I found myself incredibly shy and self-conscious about revealing who I consider to be important and influential to me, and it has, as a result, taken me a long time to draft this. I thought it was a strange time for my sense of privacy to kick in. Regardless, here are few of the people, a sampling of my own personal heroes that I look up to, that I would have chosen.

Rosemary Russell – Rosie was the first voice teacher that I worked with for an extended period of time – from the ages of 16-22. Over those six years, she not only taught me the basics of singing, but also fostered the love of music that she saw in me. During my study with her, I hungrily chewed through a vast amount of repertoire, from songs to oratorio arias to opera. From her, I learned what it is to be a musician – not just a singer, and how technique and expression serve each other. One of the most valuable lessons she ever taught me was that there are many ways to make a career in music, and that not any one of them is less honorable or less successful than the other. She inspired in me the courage to pursue this passion of mine full-throttle. The lessons she gave me continue to teach me to this day, and I suspect for many years to come. Many times over have I had a moment in which I think to myself, "oh yeah…that's what she was talking about…" She passed away in the fall of 2005, and I have missed her greatly ever since.

Dan Savage – Not only have I been entertained by his column Savage Love as well as many of his books for many years, but I've found inspiration in both the advice he gives and in those varied people who seek it. Listening to his podcast and reading his column, I've learned that both diversity and acceptance are beautiful things to be celebrated enjoyed, and in doing so, our lives will be richer. Also, I greatly admire his political activism and very vocal criticism of the government's denial of our civil rights as gay people. There is great strength and pragmatism in his message to his audience, whether it be listeners seeking sex and relationship advice or viewers of CNN hoping to catch the latest debate on gay politics.

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears – Britten's biography was the very first biography of a composer that I had ever read . I found myself fascinated by the story of his and Pears' lifelong relationship – a partnership that was not only a personal one but also artistic and creative one. Such total synthesis of two lives is a goal I think that most couples aspire to, and to see it achieved in a gay couple makes it doubly moving. Their story, coupled with their incredible artistic output have inspired in me not only a great love for Britten's music, but also the drive to always keep pushing ahead musically and artistically.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson – During my first year in the HGO studio, I was quite busy with many small assignments on stage. On one of the few nights I had off and to myself that first season, I sat down on my couch and put in a tape of the Glyndebourne production of Theodora and found myself transfixed as I watched Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's Irene. I couldn't tear my eyes away as I was hypnotized by her total commitment and her earthy musicality – every note poised with energy and direction. She quickly became one of my favorite singers to listen to. I've striven for that kind of commitment in my own music-making ever since.

Martin Katz – I first met Martin at the University of Michigan as a freshman at the School of Music when working with one of his Master's students. During my time at Michigan, I worked with him through many of his students, sang under his baton in my first performances of Fenton, and studied with him in two of his song classes. The most important lesson I learned from Martin was the relationship between text and music, and how both feed each other - and how powerful the combination of the two really can be when we dig deep as performers. He, along with Rosie, nurtured my love of songs and recital repertoire, and really taught me how to perform them. I have always been grateful to him for it.

Brendon Watson, Jennifer Erb-Downward, Erin Marie Williams, Leah Plunkett, Tory Dicarlo, and Josh Cowen – These six people are the people who have been my closest friends since my days in High School in Ann Arbor. Our friendships were deepened and cemented shortly after I came out of the closet at 15 or 16, and they have supported me at just about every major moment in my life. Each one of them is incredibly successful, accomplished, driven, intellectual, open, thoughtful, loving, caring, insightful, and incredible fun. It is from them that I have learned how to really listen and what the true meaning of friendship is.

Erin Marie Williams and Brendon Watson

Heart

Yesterday, I went to visit Martin Isepp for lunch. Martin is an incredible vocal coach with whom I've spent the past three summers working on various song repertoire at Marlboro. My summers working with him have deepened my love of lieder and reconnected me with my passion for music in general. He's pushed me to demand the best from myself in my work and to constantly dig deeper. The main thing I've taken from him, though, is the importance of conveying the heart of the music. In all of my sessions with him, I am constantly humbled by how great the music we perform is and how much it demands of us, and at the end of our sessions I am always left feeling as if there is always further for me to go in being able to convey all that is there. At one point during our lunch yesterday, I was asking Martin for some feedback about a recital program that I have been thinking about for an upcoming recital tour next fall. After listening to some of my ideas, he considered them for a moment, and then said in his gentle manner, "it sounds like it could be really lovely, but one has to be careful not to get too intellectual about things."

Lately, I've noticed a lot of PR-hype about the booing at the new Tosca at the Met (which I did not see, being in England), and many reviews complaining about how the director's "concept" seemed to get in the way of the emotional impact of the piece and Puccini's vision of the story, leaving audiences, at the very least, dissatisfied. I've also seen many blog posts recently offering young artists as much business advice as possible so that they can groom themselves to be picked up by one of the many apprenticeship programs now that audition season is upon them. It's all had me thinking about being a bit "too intellectual" about things for the past month, so what Martin said resonated with me and struck a chord. It's all reminded me of my young artist days at HGO and at Glimmerglass, when I heard a ton of advice about what to sing in auditions, what to wear in auditions, I reformatted my resume countless times, spent hours in the copy room making sure my audition notebook was just right, fussed over which headshot to pick, and lost many an evening pouring over the internet worrying which manager would be best for me to contact or which program should I apply for. Yesterday at lunch, I recounted to Martin a story about how I used to offer the most difficult and flashy list of arias, trying to market myself as a certain type of singer, of a certain fach. The catch was that I was not really singing the music that I really had a passion for. I over-thought everything in order to fit myself into the box I thought I needed to fit into in order to move ahead. So, rather than have any sort of fun preparing and performing these pieces, I would simply fret and worry. I used to get incredibly nervous every time I auditioned, because rather than focus on my joy in singing, I was trying to sell myself as something. In the end, I realized that I was only selling myself short.

Hearing Martin's counsel, I also thought about a video celebrating Leontyne Price's NEA Opera Award last year (via Yankeediva) that I've watched a couple of times over the past few weeks. In it, Ms. Price said two things that really struck me. The first was: "To sing, I think, is the most human. You are the vessel, everything depends on how YOU feel as a person…you must have JOY to deliver this sound," and the other was: "…it needs ALL of you to be delivered, it needs EVERYTHING you have, but you must ENJOY giving everything you have."

While all of the business ends of this vocation are crucial to know and our intellects are vital, I was reminded yesterday that what is most important is that we not lose our passion in what we put forth as singers and musicians. Every time we open our mouths to sing, it's our responsibility to say what is in our hearts. Otherwise, it's just noise.

Fenton

Inside the front cover of my Falstaff score is a little sticker that states that the score was a gift from the University of Michigan Friends of Opera, an organization that sponsored voice scholarships and opera productions at the University. In the fall semester of my senior year at the University, I learned the very first role I ever performed in Italian out of that Falstaff score - Fenton. The year before, we had staged the act I, scene ii Fenton/Nannetta duets for my scenes in opera workshop, and I was so excited to have a chance to get to perform the role in its entirety. I spent the end of my second summer at the Aspen Music Festival dutifully working Fenton's words into my mouth and emblazoning the notes he has to sing into my brain as I looked forward with anticipation to my first foray into the land of Verdi that autumn. Each time I look into the score, I see all of the notes I made translating each and every word and jotting down the directions our conductor, Martin Katz, gave us in rehearsal.

The wonderful thing about the diligence with which I studied this score the first time is that all of that hard work stuck. I've revisited Fenton couple times since then, in excerpts (in a scenes program at Manhattan School) and as a cover (while at HGO), and every time, coming back to him is like revisiting an old friend. No other role has felt so comfortable and so easy to remember when it comes time to revisit him.

Here in Glyndebourne, one challenge has been to remain open about my ideas about Fenton. Having lived with him so long, I've developed some pretty specific ideas about who he is dramatically and musically over the years, and as I've been presented with some new ones, I've noticed that it has been a bit difficult for me to be open and consider them, thinking instead, "But no! It's this way!" It's sort of been a spin on that age-old adage of it being hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It's incredibly easy to simply fall back on what one knows and just ride the wave, skimming the surface.

Thankfully, mostly due to the wonderful team of colleagues that have been working on this production, I've been able to realize that my knee-jerk reaction has been far from optimal, and been able to give things a good, college try, seeing where they take me. And lo, and behold, they have taken me to so many new places and deeper levels than I thought were possible before. I've had dramatic questions answered that confused me before, musical phrases are taking on a new life, and my perception of Fenton's relationships to those around him has come to a clearer focus – most especially with Nannetta. My experience here so far has left me feeling that I am somehow able to be inside Fenton's shoes with a bit more specificity and richness.

On the day of our opening performance, I cannot express enough gratitude to the Falstaff team and cast for such a great rehearsal process and to wish them all the best for a great run of shows. We have 16 of them (15 + 1 student matinee), so I cannot wait to see just how much more this will take flight and grow with each show.

Pictured above from top to bottom: Harry Nicoll (Bardolfo) and Colin Judson (Dr. Caius); Kathleen Wilkinson (Mistress Quickly); Thomas Blunt (Assistant Conductor), James Gaffigan (Conductor), and Elena Tsallagova (Nannetta)

John Smith Made Me Cry

Being abroad for so long involves a lot of alone time, which, in turn, allows for a lot of time to catch up on TV. As I haven't had cable for the past 4 years, I've mostly relied on watching TV shows on DVD anyway. The day before I left for England, I took a couple of hours to run around San Francisco (where I was vacationing before I came here) to buy some essentials for my three-month tour survival kit. Along with stops at Walgreen's and Kiehl's for things like my facial scrub and contact lens solution, I also knew that I had to stop somewhere to pick up some seasons of television on DVD. I have learned these past few years that TV can be dicey abroad (although I have since discovered that it is not so bad here in the UK, despite having only 4 channels...). As I traipsed around the city, I yearned for the days when Tower Records and Virgin still existed, and then it occurred to me to duck into Border's. I ran around the store picking up some reading material and then browsed the picked-over, messy, small DVD section for things to keep me entertained. Thankfully, I did find one of the TV shows I was looking for - This American Life, Season 2.

Watching the final episode last night with my friend Susie, I found myself holding back tears as they told the story of John Smith - or of many different John Smith's. I was caught off guard at this portrait of the fact that regardless how different each person's life seemed to be, the journey of life is something that each one of them had in common. I'm not really sure how to put it into words, but I found myself relating to these vastly different people in different stages of their lives, feeling some sort of primal connectedness. Somehow, the stories of these vastly different men and boys became the story of everyman. As humans, our life journeys are so different, and yet so the same. It was This American Life truly at their best. Do yourself a favor in case you missed it and rent it. If you are a Netflix member, you can stream it instantly here.

Revelations in the Dreamscape

I dreamt the other night that I was standing on a hill, watching many of the people in my life. I noticed that, one by one, they would get bigger in size, kind of like in that horrible sequel to "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids". At first, I panicked, thinking that they were succumbing to some sort of virus, and the dream suddenly took on a strange, Sci-Fi, zombie-thriller turn. I ran from person to person, trying to pull those people closest to me away from the infected. What confused me was that they didn't seem to be scared of getting infected, and I would watch in horror as they would expose themselves to the infected and then become giants. I ran, confused as to where to go, horribly upset to watch those I love succumb to what I perceived as a horrific disease, guilty that I couldn't save them, and terrified to my core that I, too, would catch it, and that my life as I knew it would be over. Then suddenly, it dawned on me that every single one of these people had clear ideas of what their goals were and it was for that reason they were all getting bigger. Right before I awoke, at what turned out to be the end of the dream, I realized that I didn't need to be afraid anymore, and that getting bigger was a good thing – not a thing to be scared of.

Teamwork

The post I labeled as "Random" the other day was actually more a bit of synchronicity than I let on earlier. In rehearsal here at Glyndebourne, the recurrent theme has been teamwork, and for a show as ensemble-oriented as Falstaff, nothing could be more important to get this show on its witty, sharp feet. My colleagues here have created a sense of camaraderie that I have found rarely paralleled in other operatic experiences that I have had. It's not that I have worked with a plethora of prima donnas or that most of my past colleagues have been a string of difficult personalities – it's more that this particular cast has gelled in a way that I have only experienced a few times before, and I know enough to recognize just how special this experience is proving to be as it unfolds.

One of the odd symptoms of our hive-mindedness has been to show up for rehearsal color-coordinated. Tuesday we all came to work wearing some matching shade of pink, purple (as you can see from the slightly blurry picture above). Wednesday and Monday, we all wore black. It's been happening since the first week of rehearsal – the joke about getting the memo to wear a certain color to work grew old by the beginning of the second week. I've never seen anything like it.

Random, but Cool

I can only imagine the kind of teamwork it took to pull this off...

Oh We, Like Sheep

The view from my "office" these past few weeks:


It's kind of surreal and idyllic all at the same time.

Going to work everyday is...well...unbelievably easy.

Hiatus, Interrupted

It's been a bit over two months since my last confession.

I never intended to take a break from the blog. It just sort of happened. I felt guilty about it. Occasionally, I would sit down to write something, but, inevitably, I'd stare at a blank screen, the cursor blinking back at me, and I would realize that I had nothing to say.

A good friend of mine and I were talking the other day over lunch, while watching at the sheep that graze here in the lawns surrounding Glyndebourne, and she related a story to me about a friend who had just been through a rough time personally and had simply dropped off the face of the earth. "I really hate that – when someone you consider a good friend just disappears, you know?" she said. I replied that I actually sort of understood. Sometimes, after some rocky transitions, one needs to take some time alone, to isolate. It gets exhausting having to explain things over and over, to relate the same stories again and again. It's like a crab retreating into its shell to protect itself and to recover.

This summer, I got tired of thinking about heavy things over and over. I grew tired of thinking in general, frankly. I just wanted to have some fun and to simply live my life for a bit. I wanted to be accountable to no one and just enjoy being in the moment. I dragged my feet responding to emails. I took forever to return phone calls. My blog posts dwindled to nothing. And instead, I immersed myself in the people immediately around me and the music at hand. The most time I spent in any one place was no more than 3 weeks. I hopped around the world, from Oregon to Vermont to Germany to Scotland to California to England. I swam in ponds and kayaked in rivers, I hiked up a mountain, and I sang my heart out. It was liberating, exhilarating, and fun.

Here in Glyndebourne, I'm feeling life taking on a regularity and normalcy. With a pretty consistent rehearsal schedule and an incredibly quaint cottage all to myself, I've found myself starting to slowly come out of my shell of hibernation. I'm finding comfort in being told where to be each day and then coming home and cooking myself dinners after rehearsal. I'm rediscovering the discipline of yoga every morning, and I'm starting to reach out again to those people closest to me. My inbox is slowly being cleared, and I am tending to my responsibilities beyond music after ignoring them for ages (like my 2008 taxes…). And as I ease my way back into the fold, I notice that I am incredibly happy to go to work every day, and I am beginning to enjoy this crazy, nomadic, musical life in a deeper way than before.

And on top of it all, I feel this blog itching inside me, asking to be written again.