Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears

Bam! The quarter has begun and we have hit the ground running- er, singing. It's only the second week but it feels like we've been back longer.
The opera scene I'm cast in is from Hoiby's Summer and Smoke adapted from the play by Tennessee Williams. I am Mrs. Bassett. It is a lot of fun though still in the rough stages. We're supposed to be off book (memorized) by next Thursday.
It was announced last Spring that the UCSB Chamber Choir will be touring France this summer! 18 days! Starting in Paris and singing in the choral school that Professor Gervais established in the Notre Dame cathedral! Then we're working in Tours for three days in a conducting academy. We are the choir in residence and student conductors will practice on us. This will be a nice reward for making it through the year.

We had opera auditions last week. The opera production for this year will be Aaron Copland's opera, The Tender Land. I was nervous because there aren't a lot of women's roles. There is the mother, a contralto. So I picked another contralto aria to audition with from another American composer. I was cast in and will be singing the role of Ma Moss. Having a fuller low range I tend to play the mother roles. (see above and Riders to the Sea 2008.) I don't mind playing the older women. They usually have a deeper outlook and their music is more soulful. Sorry sopranos.
This morning (October 7) I had my recital permission audition. I sang a couple songs of their choosing from my entire program and they decide whether I can give my recital. My teacher was on the panel and told me afterwards that that was the best she had heard me sing. And that the head of the department agreed. So, now I can give my recital. Yes!
With my practice time and rehearsals I'm singing, on average, 6 hours a day. It's a little nuts but the more prepared I can be and feel the better. It's a lot easier to think about technique if I'm not trying to remember words at the same time.

Left at Albuquerque

In July my parents and I made the long drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit my sister and her family. Who'd have thought there would be some much great music to be found.
First of all my little nephew, Robby just sings all the time. He's the singin-ist kid that ever there was. It was so fun to get to see this musical expression of his joy.
While in Albuquerque we noticed there was a broadcast of the MET's Tosca production. My sister, mom and I went. Amazing! The crowd scene in act II, on the MET stage was incredible. The amount of people and the scale of the sets knocked our collective socks off. The music, Puccini, was beautiful and we were all sniffly by the end. It was so moving and I'm reminded again that there is quite an enormous difference between movies that try to make you cry and dramatic opera. No contest. All I can think in movies trying to make me cry is, "really? That's all you got?" But opera, hello! It is so moving. There's a reason Puccini was a master composer.

Who can visit Albuquerque and not make the quick drive to Santa Fe for the Santa Fe Opera? Especially when they are performing Madame Butterfly. (Puccini.) Luckily Santa Fe's opera season extends over the summer. Most companies take the summer off. The open theater is so simplistic that the sparse sets really fit and played well with the beautiful desert sunset seen in the distance. The singing was beautiful and once again there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Cio-Cio San's fantastic aria Un bel di vedremo can be heard on my play list. This aria is opera perfection. From a scholastic viewpoint, Madame Butterfly is noticeable in western music history as Puccini has taken Japanese melodies and incorporated those into his Italian style of writing. He didn't just copy their style of music but to blend it with his style. There are moments more Italian and moments where the Japanese melodies come through. He even uses familiar American tunes at times throughout the opera.

O Sole Mio- The Italian Tour

This summer the Santa Barbara Quire of Voyces toured Italy. There are about 32 singers and we ended up taking over 80 people! Beginning in Rome we sang at the Pantheon and High Mass at the Vatican!

Then on to beautiful Maiori on the Amalfi coast. I never thought I could be impressed by another beach town but... breathtaking!

We performed in Amalfi and on to Naples for another concert.
As co-founder of the Tower Climbing Club, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't find one tower to climb. We definitely weren't in Tuscany anymore. I did hike to the fort above Maiori.
Before leaving for the trip I knew I wanted to see the Roman catacombs. I had toured Rome the previous summer and didn't want to do the same tourist destinations everyone else was doing. This meant I had to find my own way to the catacomb's. Our first hotel, in Rome, was within walking distance of 3 catacombs! It was meant to be. And I was not disappointed.