The Joshua Bell Experience: Footnotes

So here are a few things I forgot to mention about the Joshua Bell recital of awesome yesterday.

For one thing, Kelly, Stephanie, Joanna, and I were in the second row. The second freaking row. About twenty feet from the man himself. We could see the sweat and hear him breathe. From our angle, we could mostly see the side and back of him (not exactly a bad view, mind you), but we could also see his music. As soon has he pulled out the last movement of the Saint-Saens piece, I knew it was going to be wild; there were so many notes it looked like one big blurr.

Also, while we were getting Jeremy Denk's autograph, the manager of the MAC (dont' remember his name) inquired him about the reception at Mimi's (that would be Mimi Zweig, current IU faculty member, and Bell's first teacher). Denk said that he didn't have a ride, to which the manager said he could drive him there, and added, "I think Josh's mom is taking some people there." And yes, that would be Bell's mom he's talking about, for she still lives in Bloomington, to my knowledge.

Here are some photos of my autographs:

The Recital Program; this one isn't autographed, but I thought I'd include a photo

Jeremy Denk's autograph on my Red Violin Concerto CD

Joshua Bell's autophrah on the same CD. It is harder to see in a photograph.

Joshua Bell's autograph on my The Romantic Violin CD.

The Joshua Bell Experience

So, the day finally came, after much anticipation...the Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk recital. The tickets sold out in a matter of hours, suprising no one. Not to mention is was a free concert, when tickets to see him other places go for hundreds of dollars. So...this was something to be excited for.


I'm not going to lie, I was way more than excited...or ecstatic...or overjoyed. He's a great violinist (obviously), but he's also an Indiana native (from B-town) and an IU School of Music graduate. So, he's won a place in the hearts of many Hoosiers just because of that.

But on to the actual program!


The first selection was Tartini's Sonata in G Minor, the "Devil's Trill" sonata. After hearing the piece, the title is obvious; there's more trills in it than I think I've heard in a piece. The next selection was Prokofiev's Sonata in F Minor, a beautiful and still piece. One of the reasons I love Russian music is because it has so much passion and soul in it, and Bell is especially good at bringing out those qualities in whatever he plays. But a few bars into the second movement (Allegro brusco), he turned around to the people who were seated on stage and said, "Excuse me, but what is that noise? Is somebody unwrapping something?" Indeed, a noise could be heard. He continued, "This movement needs special atmosphere. Please excuse me." I know in writing it sounds very jerk-ish, but believe me, as a wittness, it wasn't. He began again and played through the movement. And indeed, you really do need a totally still atmophere for it, and I think his concentration had been broken, which could have ruined the piece. He played it beautifully.


The first piece after intermission was Dvorak's Four Romantic Pieces, which were all short, sweet and pretty tunes with, in great Bell tradition, a lot of passion. Its obvious why they're called "Romantic" (do I even need to explain?) In everything he played, you could hear him breathe between the phrases. The last piece was Saint-Saens's Sonata in D Minor. Of course the whole thing was beautiful, but the last movement was the most impressive. Let's just say he played so fast you couldn't even count the notes. Your pulse literally sped up to the tempo of the music. When he finished, everyone in the MAC got to their feet within 3 seconds.


He played 2 encores; the first, his own transcription of Faure's vocal song "Apres un reve" (After a dream). The second, the march from the opera The Love for Three Oranges, a very trippy opera. But it was thrilling, absolutely and totally thrilling.


Right after the performance, Kelly, Stephanie, and I went downstairs to the Green room of the MAC to get some autographs (Stephanie and I knew the back way). The only thing was that we weren't sure if we were allowed to be back there. We saw Jeremy Denk wander back from the stage area and got his autograph; he's a very nice guy. =) The page turner walked by and knocked on the door of the conductor's dressing room, and from within we heard Bell say "I'll be out in just a minute." Mental freak out begins. We wait there as a line forms, with us at the beginning (yes we're that awesome), and a few minutes later, Bell came out of the room, Stradivarius with him (in the case of course). Stephanie was the first of us brave ones to ask for an autograph, and then it was my turn...freak out continues. So I ask him to please sign both (yes I brought two) CDs and if I might have a photo...more freaking out. Apparently, my hands were shaking as I turned on the camera...but I got the photo. Right after Kelly took the photo, Bell patted my back between the shoulder blades and smiled at me. Freak out concludes.

Baisically, I've been giddy ever since.

Counting down...

Approximately 53 hours until Joshua Bell!

What?: Joshua Bell in recital
Where? The Musical Arts Center, Bloomington, Indiana
When?: Sunday, February 10, 4:00 p.m.
Why?: Because he's that awesome

And where will I be during this recital?

Sitting in the second row...

First Semester Overview

I won't lie; this post is woefully overdue. I have several drafts of other posts saved on my account with Blogger, but I had very little time to complete most of them. So instead, I'll give an overview of my first semester at IU.

So far, IU has been a wonderful experience. I received my grades yesterday and was more than pleased with the fruits of my hard work. I believe I have enough credits at present to be considered a sophomore, resulting from AP credit I earned in high school and a heavy first semester. And of course I'm now laughing at those who said I studied to much. Laugh on. I believe I've worked harder in this semester than I ever have before, and I know I've made progress. I was not especially surprised at the difficulty of the classes nor the amount of work involved; Interlochen prepared me for that in a way no other high school could. My German class was by far the most challenging course I've taken, mostly because it was two semesters of German (the 100 and 150 levels) crammed into one semester. It was by no means a class for the weak, it bringing some graduate students to their knees. But my German requirement is out of the way by a large margin.

As to IU itself, I'm very satisfied with it. Looking back on my college choices from last year, I'm so glad that I ended up at IU. Many large universities get something of a bad reputation in high school, with counselors, teachers, and other students that probably don't know what they're talking about saying that no one will pay attention to you or care about you, or that mentioning alcohol will turn you into a drunk. Not true. I can see how it's possible to get lost in a student body of 37,000, but it's also far from difficult to make your presence known. The Jacobs School of Music in itself is large, but it doesn't feel that way. Because it is such a big school, it gives more of an outlook of what the competition in "the real world" will be, and therefore being a little more realistic than a smaller school. I've had many opportunities to perform, being at "cattle calls" or holding my own with grad students, and show what I can do, and so far, the feedback has been positive. Besides, I'd much rather make an impact on faculty by actually accomplishing something rather than being noticed because I'm one of a small group. It makes successes much more rewarding than if I was at, as some call it, "a glorified high school" smaller than my dormitory.

This semester has also brought on new and exciting things. I signed my first lease a few weeks before Christmas break for the house I'll be living in next semester. Finally I'll be rid of dorm food and creepy cleaning people. After two years in a dormitory, I'm ready to have a single room again and no more half plastic food.

Over break I'm not planning on doing much; learning a lot of music, finishing reading Anna Karenina, and preparing for next semester. And as always, its so nice to be home again. =)

My second semester as a freshman (or I guess my first semester as a sophomore) is something I'm really looking forward to. Since I'm done with German and I'm waiting to tackle my next required language (those being French and Italian) until next fall, I'm taking Russian, something I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm also getting a Russian lit class in, as well as the usual music theory. I'll also be taking the undergraduate opera workshop class with two-time Grammy winner Sylvia McNair, one of the industry's most talented and courageous women.

Also, it was just announced that the Lilly Endowment is giving $44 million to the Jacobs School of Music for the funding of the North Studio Building, which is hoped to be completed by about 2010. Just in time for the JSoM to return to the Metropolitan Opera in 2011, as its rumored to be. Also, to walk in the same halls that people such as Leonard Bernstein, Virginia Zeani, and Joshua Bell once did is quite amazing, if not overwhelming (in a good sense) at times. I also had a slight freak out when I saw Andre Watts crossing Jordan Avenue on my way to the Music Annex to practice. IU's great.

Fern Hill

Dylan Thomas's poem Fern Hill was yet another work that I was unfamiliar with until recently. Composer John Corigliano set the poem to music for chorus and orchestra in 1961, making an already beautiful text become even more powerful. Not only do I enjoy this poem (and the music) for their artistic value, but they also describe nearly everything that I've felt in the past year or so. It makes me nostalgic, but at the same time churn up hope and a sense of newness in me.

Once again, I am simply posting a website link, because I was unable to get the format of the poem the way I wanted on the post.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15378

Random Poetry

I've only recently come across the poems of Wilhelm Muller, mostly because of Schubert's settings to his work. This however, is one of my favorites: "Des Bachens Wiegenlied", which is the last movement of Die Schone Mullerin, one of Schuber's greatest song cycles, and certainly one of my favorites.

For some reason, I'm not having much luck with copy and paste, so I'll post the link to the text and translation.

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=11917

The Countdown Begins...

March 14, 2008. Eugene Onegin at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth...

...I'm just at college. Week three of classes is almost done and over with, and I survived the deluge. But back before classes began. It was hot. And I mean hot. Over 100 degrees for a few days, and my dorm room has no air conditioning. My parents and I felt disgusting after moving all my stuff in, and rightly so. At least everyone else was equally as horrid, which *sort 0f* made the situation feel better.

The rooms here are much bigger than the dorm room at Interlochen. Its at least twice the size of the old room (which really, if you ever saw the Interlochen rooms, isn't saying much. A cardboard box is almost bigger), and the storage space is wonderful! The closets are also very large, which isn't something I'm very used to, but I do like it. The girls on my dorm floor seem to be very nice so far. Most of them are biology or chemistry majors (or in the case of my roommate, a double bio and chem major) with hopes of medical school, although there are a few anthropology majors, as well as about five music majors, including a girl I went to Interlochen with. But overall, at least as far as my observations go, the girls are focused students who actually care about their education, which comes as a great relief to myself.

Already I've been introduced to many new things; eating sushi with Jimmy (he taught me how to use chopsticks, therefore making me cool), nearly getting run over by a bus and car at the same time crossing Jordan avenue ("Crossing Jordan" has a whole new meaning after coming to IU), trying to hold my own with grad students (more on that later), and new and interesting people. I found it difficult at first to meet people, given the size of the campus, but IU really is as big or as small as you want it to be. I've made some very good friends already, thanks to things like Facebook, and I know I'll get to know more people as the year goes on.

So, the heat continued for a few more days after moving in. I'll freely admit that those first few days were horrible; I woke up feeling gross and continued to feel gross throughout the entire day, I felt homesick (although not nearly as bad as last year), and I had no clue as to what I was doing. But things began to turn around when I went to the "Spirits and Traditions of IU" event at the Stadium, which is really a clever way to get students to want to come to sporting events. I had thought that buses were taking students to the stadium, but I was very wrong. The walk to the Stadium from my dorm takes about 15 minutes, and it was well above 95 degrees that day. Not a fun walk, and I don't think I'll do it again. But on the way there, I met a very nice girl who reminds me very much of one of my friends from Interlochen, and we've hung out quite a bit ever since. It made me feel quite happy, because as a friend of mine said "Its hard to meet normal people here who aren't losers." meaning that its hard to find people who are normal, but also have a personality.

Classes started on Monday the 27th, bright and early at 8:00 a.m. I freaked out a bit after seeing the week's schedule for my first class; read 40 pages of the textbook the first night. Lovely. My German class was also a bit overwhelming. Its an accelerated class, which means that the first two semesters of German are put into one, and the pace is very quick. The class is fairly small, about 15 people, and most of them are graduate voice students. There's a few undergraduates (about 4), so I feel very much like a little kid in there. But its not a bunch of freshman, which is quite nice. As the Dean of Music said "The best thing about freshman is that they become sophomores."

But perhaps the biggest event of the first week for me, besides the visit of my parents, was the so-called "cattle call" auditions for the Opera Theatre. The first two operas of the season were cast last spring, so for those I wasn't able to audition, obviously. Most freshman are very much discouraged from doing the cattle calls fall semester, because A) freshman hardly ever, and I mean hardly ever get cast B) You sing on the stage of the Musical Arts Center, who's size is second only to the Metropolitan Opera, and it can be very intimidating C) Most freshman just aren't ready. However, my teacher said that it was perfectly fine for me to go ahead and sing. I'm not anticipating getting anything, but I just wanted to do it for the experience and to prove that I could do it. I really had nothing to loose, so why not? I signed up after seeing posters saying that it was the last day to do so (freak out, in other words), and with the help of a nice tenor grad student, figured out where to go the day of.

Despite my nerves, I think I remained quite clam during the whole process. I warmed up a little too early, something that I've always been guilty of, but this time it was more to have time to find a practice room, which I've discovered is nearly impossible. I warmed up slowly, making sure that I didn't overdo anything or blow out my vocal cords and ruin the audition. After taking plenty of time, I went to the MAC and took a deep breath. I could hear several people warming up in the dressing rooms, including one woman (who's name I didn't get and who I didn't hear perform), who has a voice like Jessye Norman (just found out this week she's in my sutdio!). There was another freshman singing that morning besides myself, but otherwise the singers were either graduate students or older undergrads.

Most of the stage was blocked off, and we only sang on a space a little bigger than the orchestra pit. The rest of the stage was the "green room" of sorts, and even though I knew that the stage was more than large, I was still surprised at its size. Some random set pieces from Rigoletto were on the stage behind the curtain as well as stage lights and other construction pieces. I waited for a while before I sang, listening to the other students, feeling some intimidation, but also remembering that there had been some singers who had done rather poorly on Thursday night.

But finally, my time came. The pianist who was playing for me was already on stage when I went out there, and I handed him the music, stated my name, audition number, and piece, and began to sing. Overall, I feel that I sang very well. Of course there were things that I wish had gone better, like not having to swallow at the beginning of some phrases (bugger), but my high notes were in place, and I didn't push. I was also surprised to hear my voice bounce back, which I had not expected. Makes me wonder how loud I am. After I was done being Cherubino (I sang "Non so piu" from Le Nozze di Figaro), I walked backstage to get my bags and go. As I was walking out, the pianist took my arm and said I had sung well, making me feel happy about what I had done. My teacher called me later that afternoon and told me that she felt I had done well, and that the feedback had been very positive. For that, I am very thankful and humbled.

That being out of the way (finally), I waited for my parents to arrive. IU played Indiana State (my brother's university) in the first football game of the season, so the whole family was coming to B-town. For those of you who don't know, IU sports is almost a sacred thing in the Dahling family. Its not just athletics, its a way of life. Well, only for some. But I was more excited to see my family than to go to a football game, much more excited. The game was fairly dull, since IU smothered ISU, but it was fun regardless. Its very nice to be able to see my family this often, and this weekend I'm going home, which I'm more than excited for. Even though I like it here, it will be very nice to be able to get away for a while.

This photos in this post were taken at the first orchestra concert of the year. It was a all Beethoven program; his 5th Symphony and later his 5th Piano Concerto, played by piano faculty member Andre Watts. I wasn't able to see his hands as he played, but I could see his face and all of his talking to himself whilst playing and other interesting quirks. It was beautiful, and the applause lasted for close to five minutes.

More updates, about the operas, dorm life, the buildings that look like the Harry Potter film set (which I think is fantastic!), will come eventually.

Addio...

1935-2007

Harry Potter....

I don't see how anyone who has a clue of what's going on in the world could have escaped all of the Harry Potter mania this past weekend with the release of the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I spent the weekend in South Bend with friends Anne and Katherine (Katherine's taking a class at Notre Dame this summer, having sold her soul to the Latin department). After an amazing Potter party (and I've been to quite a few of those), the book was released at 12:01 am, and the mania became ever more intense. There were all sorts of people in line, from children to adults, dorks (like myself), college-aged jocks (surprised me!), and everyone else in between. I more than admit that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, no guilt there! Yes I know I'm just as much of a Hugo and Dostoevsky person, but Harry Potter is a thing of my generation, and I really have grown up with these books. I was about the same age as Harry when I read the first novel, and in the last one, he's only a year younger than I am now. I'm crazy about it.

So after standing in line for about an hour waiting to get our book (the line ended up being about a quarter of a mile, and we got in fairly early), we got back to Katherine's dorm at about 12:05, started reading at about 12:10, and finished at 9:30. Yes of course there were breaks, I'm not that crazy. But reading a Harry Potter book in one night was something I had never done before, and since it is the very last novel, there seemed to be no reason not to do so this final time.

And it was more than worth it. I am deeply satisfied with how Rowling ended the series, being slightly nervous about half-way through at the direction she was taking with the plot and characters. However, she turned it around in the darkest novel of the series (if you're under 12 years old, please don't read it.) and emerged, in my opinion, victorious. I am more than pleased with it. A great ending to nearly ten years of imagination, the endless questions, magic, and mystery. But I'm satisfied.

For anyone that wants to know, I am doing a recital here in Decatur. It begins at 2:00 p.m. this Sunday, July 15, at the First United Methodist Church in Decatur. The recital, consisting of songs by Bellini, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Elgar, and arias from Le Nozze di Figaro, Rodelinda, and Julius Caesar, should last about half an hour. Please come!

Here's to the great ones

The world of opera suffered a double blow in the past week with the deaths of two beloved sopranos: Beverly Sills and Regine Crespin, who died within days of each other. Sills, of course, was one of the greatest champion of the arts, and did more in her lifetime than many of us could ever begin to dream about, making the general public more appreciative of the arts. Baritone Sherrill Milnes said it perfectly: "Before the three tenors were making opera more accessible, Beverly was doing it all by herself.” Personally, I had not discovered Crespin until I heard the Solti recording of Wagner's Ring, on which she sang Sieglinde. I admired Crespin's self-security and openness on a variety of topics musical and not, and her willingness to share her opinions.



The deaths of Sills and Crespin made me think of all of the singers from their era who have gone before them, especially in the last four or so years; Franco Corelli, Robert Merrill, Birgit Nilsson, Astrid Varnay, James King, Thomas Stewart, Renata Tebaldi, Anna Moffo, Lorraine Hunt Leiberson...their era is slowly passing away into history, their legacies bearing witness to the work they have done. After all, every tenor who sings "Di quella pira" is compared to Corelli, every Verdi baritone follows in the steps of Merrill, every Violetta put next to Moffo. Its daunting to have had such talented singers pave the way for the next generations, realizing what large and well-worn shoes are to be filled. Still, their voices will be with us for the generations to hear; Tebaldi still changes lives, Nilsson still inspires, Sills still encourages. They are forever singing...

B-town

Last week I found myself once again in Bloomington, this time for college orientation and to register for classes. In some ways, this visit to B-town was less stressful than others, because this time, I knew I was going to the university and the Jacobs School in the fall. The program was two days long, although I believe everything could have been squeezed into one day.

Thursday I retook the music theory placement test to see if I could get a better score and test out of one of the classes. Afterwords, a large group of incoming freshman Jacobs students were taken from program to program, telling us things from how to use our student id card to how to use our brain and not be attacked. There were more placement tests to be taken as well. Everyone took a math test, which was simple algebra that I couldn't do. Out of the 26 questions, I remembered how to do about 5 of them, and I don't think any of them were correct. The German test was much more doable, but a few minutes into it I felt like I was going to throw up. The base of my skull throbbed and my head was spinning, and I found myself looking at the same question for about three minutes at a time. I left about half-way through and sat in the bathroom, but nothing happened, and I returned and finished the test. Somehow I almost tested out of the first semester of German, so I'll be taking an accelerated German course, which is basically two semesters of German into one.

I spent some time both days with friends of mine that go to IU. Thursday night my parents and I met up with a friend from Youtheatre and walked around B-town. We passed John Mellencamp on Kirkwood smoking a cigarette; he's shorter than me. Friday in between my piano test and registering for classes, I got together with Laura and her friend Marla for a few hours. Speaking of piano, I tested out of all of the piano classes and the proficiency test, taking a huge chunk out of the courses I'm required to take. I've heard tales of horror about amazing musicians who are terrified they won't graduate because they can't pass the piano test. My academic advisor tried to recruit me to be an accompanist, but I'm nowhere near that level.

I also had the chance to see a room in the dorm I'm living in. The room is at least twice the size of the rooms in TJ, with nicer furniture and lights that actually illuminate the room, and the walls looked like they had been painted in the last ten years. In other words, it won't be like living in a jail cell.

So, I'm officially a college student. There are still some things that I need to take care of, but for the most part, I'm ready for IU!

There are some things only a baritone can do...

Leather pants falls into this category. Proves once again that Dmitri Hvorostovsky is, well, amazing.

Graduation!

I did it! High school is finished. I graduated from Interlochen last Saturday at the end of a very exciting and busy week. Classes finished up on the Wednesday before graduation, with finals and other tests. Thursday and Friday were what is known as Festival; in other words, as many performances as can be fit into a day, each drawing very good-sized crowds. Opera Workshop on Thursday was totally full, making my entrance and exit a little difficult; thank goodness I didn't trip over anyone running out of the house. But the performance went very well, especially by Festival standards. The choir concert on Friday also went well, giving a final farewell to my days at Interlochen.

But of course, Saturday was the big day; graduation. I was given the Senior Honors cords Friday night at Honors Convocation, which I proudly wore on Saturday. The ceremony was beautiful, with performances from three of our five valedictorians, the other two giving speeches. Yes, we had five valedictorians. Five. President Kimpton's speech to the class was more than thoughtful, encouraging us to remain true to our art, but to also live in the real world. After all, art is meant for the fulfillment of the masses, not exclusively the artists.

After graduation, I said good-bye to my friends and teachers, packed up the remainder of my luggage, and drove the long drive home. I was able to go to my friend Emma's grad party (she's a day student) and say good-bye to her, and Mrs. Gaede (aka God) was also there. I sort of freaked out.

Am I glad that its finally done with? Yes, because it burnt me out from the intensity. But also no, because there is the possibility that I may never see some of those people again, and I miss them. But even after going through the misfortunes of a crazy roommate, extreme homesickness, a pseudo-Siberian winter, letdowns, there ended up being more positive than negative. I am most definitely glad that I chose to spend my last year of high school at Interlochen, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Opera again

Just don't ask.

The spring program for Interlochen's Opera Workshop class was presented on Saturday night, and an encore performance will occur next Thursday, during Festival. This program was very different from last semester's; we performed in the Chapel instead of Corson, there were few costumes (don't worry, we wore black, no nudity involved. It wasn't Salome), and instead of full chamber operas or acts of full scale operas, we performed scenes, which included everything from Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea to Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella.

Some of Interlochen's finest just "Standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by."

Last semester's program consisted of tear-jerkers; women dying of TB and Irish men drowning. But once again in contrast, this program was gnerally happy or touching, with the occasional touch of the bizarre. The only piece not sung in English was "Bei Mannern wilche Liebe fuhlen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Really, its too good to sing in English.

Sarah Powell as Pamina and Garret Rubin as Papagano. This duet was certainly the most adorable piece on the entire program.

Big kudos went to tenor Austin Barret, who stepped in at the last moment as Nanki-Poo in a duet from The Mikado; the tenor originally cast was expelled last week. Lucky for us, Austin is the biggest Gilbert and Sullivan fan around, and already knew the piece by heart. And not only did he learn dialogue and staging in a day, but he performed the role with amazing high notes and humor.

Austin Barret as Nanki-Poo.

I sang in Scene Seven from Britten's The Turn of the Screw. It was perhaps the most bizarre piece on the program, and certainly the most disturbing; the whole opera is more than creepy, but the music is mind-blowing. I sang the role of Miss Jessel, the dead governess who is trying to claim the soul of her former charge, Flora. The music for Jessel sits at the top of the staff most of the time, but it fits my voice perfectly, and I hope I get an opportunity to sing the entire role some day.

Emma Grettenberger as Mrs. Grose, Sarah Powell as Flora, and Erin O'Leary as the Governess. I made my entrance from the back of the Chapel, and put Flora into a trance-like state. So, in this picture, we are maintaining eye contact, which turned out to play out very well.

As Miss Jessel. Heck yes I got to be creepy.

Opera Workshop Crew, 2007.

Recital Fever...

Recital season is up and running at Interlochen, with about five senior recitals every weekend. I gave a recital last Monday night, the result of months of work. My parents were able to come up here for the recital, driving in the day of and leaving Tuesday morning after a cup of coffee at the Melody Freeze. Overall, I felt that the recital went very well. I was nervous (obviously)at the beginning, but the nerves slowly went away, and I felt more confident as the recital progressed. I felt that my Elgar pieces and the "Seguidilla" were my best performances of the evening. The Elgar pieces are more than difficult, and I had to pace myself so that I didn't run out of vocal resources by the time I got to "The Swimmer". And after that, I was on a vocal high that enabled me to loosen up for the "Seguidilla" and become Carmen for a minute and a half.

I was pleased with the results of all my hard work. After all of my stuggles this past year, I still made progress and survived. Not only have I survived my year at Interlochen, but I thrived. I'm very excited to say that I will be graduating from Interlochen with Honors, something only 55 of us are doing. It's strange to think that I'll be finished with my time at Interlochen in a month. It's a month I never thought would come, but here it is, and I've made it through!

Lydia's going to college!

I'm going to college! After many days of not getting the mail for fear of getting rejection letters from colleges, I finally got the letter I was looking for. "You have been recommended for admission to the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music." IU has long been my top choice for college, so getting in was very exciting for me. I guess my audition went better than I thought it did. So, next year I will be attending IU, majoring in Vocal Performance. I'm beyond excited! I'll be the fourth generation of Dahlings to go to IU; I think the first time I was on campus I was two years old or close to that. IU's always been part of the family legacy, and I find it difficult to remember a time when I hadn't heard of the University. I'm just so ecstatic that I've been accepted to IU!

Mozart, recital juries,learning Britten, falling down...all in a week's work

The last two weeks have been some of the busiest this year. Choir had our sacred music concert last Friday, which consisted of Mozart's Solemn Vespers, a Swedish piece called Saul (we didn't sing it in Swedish, thank goodness), and three hymn tunes with organ. The Mozart piece was done with a small chamber orchestra. Like most sacred masses and oratorios, there were solo parts, in this case a quartet in most movements and the famous soprano solo "Laudate Dominum", which is nothing but beautiful. I sang the alto solo in the "Confitebur" movement. It was the first time that I had sung solo with orchestra, and I was a bit nervous, but it turned out very well in the end, and I was more than pleased with the outcome of the concert. I'll admit, it was nothing less of exciting to sing with an orchestra. And to be singing Mozart with orchestra...amazing!

Rehearsals for Opera Workshop have begun; this semester's program has more, shorter pieces than before. I'm doing English opera again, this time the lake scene from Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw. I'm singing the role of Miss Jessel, the former governess (former because she's dead) to Miles and Flora, who, with the former manservant (also dead) Peter Quint, are trying to corrupt the children, and the new Governess is trying to prevent it, all the while not sure if it is actually happening, or if it is something of her imagination. Actually, it's one of the creepiest things I've ever come across, but it's wonderful music, and I'm very excited!

The jury for my senior recital was yesterday, and I got it! I had been nervous, mostly because my health seemed to be finally letting down its guard. It started on Saturday when I fell twice on the ice on the way to my first class, causing my head and legs to hurt and to leave me covered in water and a few bruises. Lovely. But after that it seemed that my throat was rather dry. Of course the two had nothing in common, only that they happened around the same time. So, after a trip to health services, I was told that my throat was a little red and that my tonsils were slightly swollen. I took some medication, gargled warm salt water, had some Cold Eeze, and went to bed very early. I had also felt very tired for the whole week, which I think was due more to stress and exhaustion than anything. Good think Spring Break is coming up, and I can sleep...