Das Rheingold; the low-down

Yesterday, Lisa, her sister, and I went to the Indianapolis Opera to see their semi-staged performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold, the first opera of his Ring Cycle. I'd never been to Indy Opera before, and had no idea who was singing in the cast. And I wasn't sure what to expect from this performance.

And, as Wagner always does, I was blown away.

By far the most memorable singer of the opera was Greer Grimsley, who sang Wotan. Previous to seeing Rheingold yesterday, James Morris had been my only Wotan in live performance. And he set the bar extremely high. How high? Check it out here. You almost don't want to hear anyone else sing the role. So whenever I heard of anyone else singing Wotan, I was always a little skeptical, measuring the singer up to Morris.
I had heard wonderful things about Grimsley's voice, especially from his performances of Wotan in Seattle, so I was excited to get to hear him. And he blew me away! His voice cut easily over the orchestra, which was behind the singers. His performance was commanding, and his performance was magnetic. It's good to know that once Morris no longer sings Wotan, there's someone out there who can more than fill his shoes.

The performance was called a semi-staged concert version, but it didn't have that feeling. The "set" was various levels of scaffolding on the orchestra pit that were raised and lowered at the beginning and end of each scene. A screen was almost entirely lowered over the orchestra, showing images conveying each scene's setting; water for the Rhein, a mountain with a fortress for Valhalla, and a descent into a mine for Niebelheim. The only really cheesy moment with the screen was when Fafner killed his brother. A large metal pole-thing twirled across the screen, "hitting" Fasholt, and causing blood to appear on the screen. But the way in which the giants were depicted was very interesting; on either side of the stage were higher sets of scaffolding. Each bass stood on either scaffolding with a light projected on them, casting a large shadow on the screen. It was interesting and it worked well.

The singers were also semi-costumed. The Rheinmaidens wore flowing sparkly dresses, all different colors and teased Alberich (Richard Paul Fink, dressed in jeans, tennis shoes, a tuxedo shirt and vest) with transparent shawls. The gods were all in traditional "concert" attire, although Loge (Adam Klein, who sang wonderfully and acted delightfully) was dressed in a black suit with a bright orange shirt. And there were props too, which gave it more of a "fully-staged" feeling than anything; Wotan's Spear, the Rheingold, the Tarnhelm, and even the Ring itself.

And of course, that feeling of Wagner's music physically overwhelming you is unparalleled. You can't help but be taken in when you hear the giant's Leitmotiv the gods entrance into Valhalla at the end of the opera. One helluva show!

Easter 2009

Yesterday marked my second Easter away from home. Normally, I would go home, since it's so close, but I'm currently in the chorus for The Most Happy Fella here, and this past weekend was our opening. So, I was in Bloomington and away from my family, something that has never been easy. But I think the show went very well, and the chorus had lots of fun in the green room with Catchphrase and card games. And I really like my vineyard worker dress.

But, like the Easter I spent at Interlochen, the holiday turned out to be very nice. I go to church here with some wonderful people who really care about the students here, and two of them were kind enough to invite me to their Easter dinner. Alison is a fantastic cook, and makes some of the most wonderful dishes I've ever had. The dinner party was make up of Alison and her husband Helmut, our choir director Jon, his friend Laura, Brandon (a tenor friend of mine and fellow church chorister), and myself. And as usual, Alison's cuisine was just to die for. We had an appetizer of puff pastry filled with a mixture of sauteed mushrooms, feta, basil, onion, and artichoke. The main course consisted of roasted broccoli, a grain called quinoa (the only grain that is by itself a complete protein!), a cucumber dish, and roasted lamb. For dessert, she made a tiramisu-like dish that was just wonderful; I think what made it different was that it was made with brandy, but I'm not sure. But it was so good! And of course, conversation at the Kaisers is always interesting. We talked about everything from Helmut's job at the cyclotron, where he splits atoms and does experiments with neutrons to the piracy in Somalia to our traffic mishaps. As I've said before, I'm so happy that I've found such wonderful, interesting, and caring people here in Bloomington, especially outside of the university.

The second half of my Easter consisted of going to recitals. Jerome, a baritone in my studio, had his senior recital in the evening. He's made so much progress in the past year, and I'm very proud of him. His Schubert set in particular was very good. He's a very good actor as well, and you can tell how much he enjoys performing. The most beautiful point was the pianissimo high note in "Silent Noon", which just blew me away! Unfortunately, I had to leave his recital a bit early to catch another one. Thomas, a bass-baritone that I go to church with, and who sang both Figaro and Nicolai's Falstaff here, gave his master's recital. I can honestly say it was one of the best recitals I've been to here. My favorite pieces were two songs from the cycle A Broken Arch, which tells the story of a man who has been betrayed by his wife, and kills her lover, his best friend, in a duel. The words of these songs were painfully beautiful, and he sang them beautifully. The highlight of the recital, however, was Claggart's aria from Billy Budd. This aria is fairly creepy, but, like most of Britten's music, psychological and insightful. Congrats to Jerome and Thomas!

But my Easter ended with another happy note. I'm participating in a program this summer called The Italian Operatic Experience, in Urbania, Italy. Yesterday, I received word on what I'll be singing during my 5 weeks there. I'll be in the chorus of L'Elisir d'Amore (no mezzo roles), and I will also be participating in the opera scenes program, singing Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff! Quickly is actually a contralto role, and between that, Cornelia, and the bits of Carmen I've done, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm a pants mezzo, or more of a young dramatic mezzo. Hmm...we'll have to see what happens. =)

Three weeks remain in the semester, and finals week can't come soon enough. This semester has really wiped me out in many ways. I'm very much looking forward to being at home again and having some quiet time to myself. Not much longer!

Happy Birthday Mozart!

If Mozart were still alive, he'd be 253 today.

One of my first encounters with opera was with this duet, and I've been in love with it ever since.


This was one of the first arias I ever learned. It still is one of my favorites.


In my opinion, this is the most seductive piece of music ever composed.


Enjoy! =)

Oranges, shoes, and pancakes

Since it's closing night tonight, I'll post some photos from The Love for Three Oranges.

These are the infamous blue shoes I wear in the opera. Fabulous, no?

Members from my studio in the opera. From left; Jessica as a Romanic, Jerome as an Eccentric, Ariel as a Tragical. Leah as Fata Morgana, me as a Comical, Charlotte as a Romanic, and Kelly as Princess Ninetta.
Towards the end of the opera, the King sings that Leander, Clarissa, and Smeraldina are sentenced to "death by hanging." After one of the dress rehearsals, David (in the photo, another chorus member), being his usual funny self, declared, "death by pancakes". Now it's hard to keep a straight face during that part of the opera. Thanks.

Also, we're having an "all fached up" day in my English diction class. Before I continue; "fach" is a German word that is used to talk about voice types. It's not a curse word. Anyway, for this "all fached up" class, we can sing something we'd never sing in real life. For example, one of the tenors is going to sing "Glitter and be Gay" from Candide. And me? "And farewell to ye, old Rights o Man" from Billy Budd, which is a baritone aria; I'll sing it in my octave though. And be channeling Nathan Gunn the whole time.

"You'll see a performance, a special kind of opera, striking and original..."

Last night was la prima of The Love for Three Oranges at IU. My parents came down to Bloomington for the performance, which I thought went very well. I never cease to be amazed at how much energy is gained from having an audience. The house was fairly well filled up too, which was nice. The group of the chorus I'm in, the Comicals, actually start out in the house, sitting with everyone else. And because of our costumes, we all got some bizarre looks, like "Doesn't that girl realize that dress went out of style 15 years ago?"

If anyone is interested, all performances will be streamed live via the IU website, starting at 7:45 in the evening (central time). You can access it here. =)

But my costume. Oh my the costume. Well, here's a photo.

One of the baritones in the cast told me at intermission "Girl, whenever I see your floral dress, I just want to puke." It made me laugh. Too bad you can't see the cobalt blue shoes in this photo.

Rehearsals

The Love for Three Oranges
Yesterday three other chorus members and myself wiped out while running across the stage. In front of everyone. Thank God people thought it was funny. As one of the tenors told me, "People thought it was funny, or they were worried." Apparently one of the other people running with me slipped on a newspaper, fell, and brought the rest down with us. I was also told it looked like it was in slow motion. Actually, it was kind of cool.
Today, as part of a scene in which we try to make the Prince laugh, I was beat up with giant inflatable swords. While wearing a mask.

Giulio Cesare
At our cast meeting, the director (freaking brilliant man, by the way) told us that as actors we have to believe we can do anything. He turns to me and asked, "Like you, do you think you could ever kill anybody?" I had no idea what kind of a response he was looking for, so, "Sure...no?...I don't know!", which brought on some laughs. He then asks, "Do you ever plan on having a child?" I said yes and he continued, "Suppose some creep tries to hurt or kill your child. Would you kill him?" I said I definitely would. "See, you can kill. Whenever I do this exercise, I try to find a woman who looks like she wants to have a child and ask her." This once again proves my awkwardness. But I am excited to start coachings in about three weeks, first on diction, then adding the music. =)

More freak-outs

Here's what my last week or so has been like:


Monday, 22 September: I receive an e-mail that golden age soprano and former Jacobs School Distinguished Professor of Voice Virginia Zeani (who sang with everybody; think Corelli, Simionato, Domingo, Pavarotti, del Monaco...you get the idea) will be giving two masterclasses here in honor of her 60th anniversary of her operatic debut as Violetta, which coincides with IU Opera Theater's 60th anniversary. And we opened this season with La Traviata. I sign up for the Wednesday masterclass, prepared to sing "Parto, ma tu ben mio". This is big stuff, guys.


Wednesday, 24 September: I sing for Miss Zeani in the masterclass. I was very pleased with how I sang, one of those few circumstances where I walk away from a performance feeling very happy. Miss Zeani turns to me and asks, "Tell me, have you ever considered that you might be a soprano?" I told her that I had, but that I feel more comfortable as a mezzo. She said, "Very good. You have a very beautiful voice, very lyric. Your legato is very beautiful, and your diction is excellent. I just thought, 'She has such a beautiful voice, maybe she could sing Mimi, or "Senza Mama" or other Puccini.' But if you feel more comfortable as a mezzo, then stay there. Sing what you love. You can do Mozart, and someday Werther."
Alice, my teacher, who was a student of Miss Zeani and lived with her for 12 years, talked to her afterwords about the soprano/mezzo debate, since this has been an ongoing thing with my voice. They both agreed that I should stay a mezzo for now, but later on I may move into soprano repertoire. Like, 15 years from now.


Thursday, 25 September: Miss Zeani gives a closed masterclass for students of three specific studios, one of which was the one I'm in. I soaked up every word she said in these masterclasses. She's done so much, sung with so many people, and knows so much that its impossible not to. And on top of that, she's a very fun and sweet person, full of stories about everyone you can think of, and has a great sense of humor. Basically, I want to be Virginia Zeani. My parents considered naming me Virginia, you know, but obviously didn't pick it. Zeani's first teacher's name was Lydia though. So there you go.


Friday, 26 September: I see that I have a new voicemail on my phone, and I listen to it. It's a message from Alice; "Hi Lydia, this is Alice. Please call me back as soon as you can. Bye." Of course, my first thought is that someone has died. I don't know why, but that's what I thought. But then I thought, "Why would she be calling me?" So, I called her back promptly. She tole me, "I got a call from the opera casting committee, and they want to you to do a callback for Julius Caesar next Thursday, singing Cornelia's 'Priva son'." I have never been more stunned and surprised in my entire life, and never never never imagined this would or could happen. I kept saying "ohmygod ohmygod" over and over and feeling absolutely and genuinely shocked.

Saturday, 27 September through Wednesday, 1 October: Prepare for callback. Insert embellishments to A section in the da capo. The aria is memorized.

Thursday, 2 October: I skipped my morning classes to get physically and mentally warmed up and prepared for the callback. When I get to the MAC (Musical Arts Center, where we perform all of our operas), I'm, of course, early. But once everyone shows up, I realized that there have been 4 mezzos called back for this role. That's right, 4. Three graduate students and myself. And since everything is double-cast, this means I have a 50% chance of being cast. I'm not hopeful that this will happen, since I'm only a sophomore, but I'm still thrilled I got called back. I was the first to sing, and despite a less-than-perfect beginning few measures, I believe I sang well. I was very nervous for many reasons, but overall I am happy with how I sang. The casting committee is made up of about a third of the voice faculty (it changes every two years, I think), plus conductors and directors. My teacher isn't on the casting committee this year, but I told her to keep my posted if she hears anything about how I sang. So....we'll have to see what happens. As I said before, I don't anticipate being cast, as much as I would love to be.

Sometimes, my hair color speaks for itself...

A few days ago, I was looking through my desk drawers and came across a program from the Stars of the Lyric Opera Millennium Park concert from 2005. This would have been at the beginning of my junior year of high school. Flipping through the pages, I remembered a lot from the concert; being in the open air with my mom and aunt Jan, the blisters on my feet, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's beautiful voice, hair, and his music nearly flying away in the wind while singing the crap out of "Suoni la tromba" with Quinn Kelsey, Matthew Polenzani stopping in the middle of "Salut, demeure" because of the fireworks from the Rolling Stones concert at Soldier Feild, and Denyce Graves singing one of the most beautiful renditions of "Mon coeur s'ouvere a ta voix" I've ever heard. Oh yeah, and Nathan Gunn singing the first Figaro/Almaviva duet and the Hamlet Drinking Song. But this had somehow slipped my memory momentarily:

Les pecheurs de perles
Act One, Duet: "Au fond du temple saint"
Matthew Polenzani (Nadir)
Nathan Gunn (Zurga)

Obviously I remember it, and yes, it was basically gorgeous. This duet, as with many pieces, really needs to be experienced live to appreciate its total beauty. The Lyric Opera of Chicago is presenting this opera next season, with Gunn in the cast. This is giving me roadtrip ideas...

Decatur has hit the blogosphere...

Opera blogger Susan has found Decatur...all 8000 of us. =)

Little known Indiana fact; baritone Nathan Gunn is an Indiana native. As is violinist Joshua Bell. Indiana rocks.

Juan Diego Florez: Der Supertanker

I was finally able to see one of the Met's HD Broadcasts in movie theaters, today's being Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment, starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez. This was the conclusion to Mary's and my birthday spree. I'm not as familiar with Donizetti as I should be (shame on you Lydia!), but I knew Marie's Act I aria and of course, the famous "Ah, mes amis!" and its 9 (count 'em!) high Cs for the tenor.

Natalie Dessay is a crazy actress, but brilliant. Some actors, like Dmitri Hvorostovsky, draw the audience to them by stillness, but Dessay does the same thing by constantly being in motion. She sang the crap out of tomboy Marie's crazy music, making jokes with the coloratura and making her legato smooth.

Now to Florez...he's adorable. You just want to take him home and feed him a very large meal and then have him sing to you out on a balcony. Maybe comb his hair. He looked cute in the lederhosen in Act I. Yes, lederhosen, you read me correctly. His voice has an incredible ring to it that I haven't heard before, and his high notes are sound ridiculously effortless. I'm generally a baritone girl (Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Thomas Hampson, Nathan Gunn, Sherrill Milnes...) but Florez is one of my few tenor exceptions. I've rarely heard something as thrilling as him singing "Ah mes amis"; sadly he didn't encore it this time. Silly tenor. During the first intermission he and Dessay were interviewed by Renee Fleming, and he really is that adorable. He said a send-out to those in Peru, but then said, "But its not being shown there, but hello!" and then scampered off camera. His Act II aria contained a high D-flat, which Florez said isn't written in the music, but he sings it anyways. And his last entrance in Act II was on an army tank. Why? Because he's that awesome.