Mobile, with its small parks and fine houses, is similar to Savannah, Georgia.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Hey, y'all!
I am now in the Deep South. Does it get any deeper than this? Mobile is one of the oldest cities in the nation. It was founded in 1702 by the same French brothers who established New Orleans. Mobile has much in common with its larger neighbor to the west. The historic district looks very much like the French Quarter of the Louisiana metropolis. It is, of course, smaller, but it oozes southern charm. Mobile is the only seaport in Alabama. It was the site of a famous sea battle during the Civil War (unsurprisingly named Battle of Mobile Bay) in which the Union forces gained control of the bay. During WW II this was a boom town due to the shipyards located here. The town went into decline thereafter but has since sprung back to life. Many of the fine old buildings in the downtown area have been restored to their former glory.
The opera company has housed me with some partrons who live in the suburbs and provided me with a rental car for the duration. My hosts, Kevin and Jeff, took me out to breakfast at a place frequented by the locals, the Tiny Diny. Its slogan is: Park your Hiney at the Tiny Diny. That would give a good indication of the general ambience of the place. I loved it. I had an omlet (their spelling) with grits. Grits are a southern staple, of course. The dish is very similar to farina, I think, with a good bit of butter in it. I enjoy the local manner of speech (and yes, they do say 'y'all' -- a lot) and the mannerly tone of social intercourse. It reminds me of Austria, actually, where people are exceptionally polite and solicitous.
Yesterday we met for the first time in an afternoon session. It was a sing-through with the principals (no chorus). We were missing the mezzo, who was otherwise engaged. The singer doing the Holländer has done the role at least half a dozen times. The Senta, Amanda Mace, is tackling her formidable role for the first time. Amanda has been singing and living in Europe for the past eight years. She commented on how differently things work here. For example, our conductor is very easy going and accomodating of the singers. The European way of doing things is very authoritarian: what the conductor says goes, no discussion.
I went into town early (the rehearsal hall is on Dauphin Street, the main drag in the historic district) to have a look around. It is a charming town. There are many lovely old bulidings and small parks. This is a very Catholic town and the French influence is still present, mostly in place names and the like. Of course, these have been anglicized: Bienville Park is pronounced 'byenvill' and Dauphin Street has become 'dawfin'. In the evening we had the first staging rehearsal, starting with Act I. Anyone who has been through the process of staging an opera knows that it can be a long and tedious ordeal, with a good deal of sitting around and repetition. The director has done the show before and has clear ideas of what she wants. This is hard work for me as I play every rehearsal, but there is a lot of socializing that will go on as we work together. On our dinner break we visited one of the many restaurants in the area, one specializing in Thai cuisine. The commercial district has not yet been invaded by the otherwise ubiquitous chain restaurants and stores. All the businesses seem to be locally owned. May it stay that way.
The opera company has housed me with some partrons who live in the suburbs and provided me with a rental car for the duration. My hosts, Kevin and Jeff, took me out to breakfast at a place frequented by the locals, the Tiny Diny. Its slogan is: Park your Hiney at the Tiny Diny. That would give a good indication of the general ambience of the place. I loved it. I had an omlet (their spelling) with grits. Grits are a southern staple, of course. The dish is very similar to farina, I think, with a good bit of butter in it. I enjoy the local manner of speech (and yes, they do say 'y'all' -- a lot) and the mannerly tone of social intercourse. It reminds me of Austria, actually, where people are exceptionally polite and solicitous.
Yesterday we met for the first time in an afternoon session. It was a sing-through with the principals (no chorus). We were missing the mezzo, who was otherwise engaged. The singer doing the Holländer has done the role at least half a dozen times. The Senta, Amanda Mace, is tackling her formidable role for the first time. Amanda has been singing and living in Europe for the past eight years. She commented on how differently things work here. For example, our conductor is very easy going and accomodating of the singers. The European way of doing things is very authoritarian: what the conductor says goes, no discussion.
I went into town early (the rehearsal hall is on Dauphin Street, the main drag in the historic district) to have a look around. It is a charming town. There are many lovely old bulidings and small parks. This is a very Catholic town and the French influence is still present, mostly in place names and the like. Of course, these have been anglicized: Bienville Park is pronounced 'byenvill' and Dauphin Street has become 'dawfin'. In the evening we had the first staging rehearsal, starting with Act I. Anyone who has been through the process of staging an opera knows that it can be a long and tedious ordeal, with a good deal of sitting around and repetition. The director has done the show before and has clear ideas of what she wants. This is hard work for me as I play every rehearsal, but there is a lot of socializing that will go on as we work together. On our dinner break we visited one of the many restaurants in the area, one specializing in Thai cuisine. The commercial district has not yet been invaded by the otherwise ubiquitous chain restaurants and stores. All the businesses seem to be locally owned. May it stay that way.
Friday, March 5, 2010
KC to Mobile
About six months ago, over a couple of beers at Harry's Bar in Westport, the Artistic Director of the Mobile Opera Company, Andy Anderson, asked me if I would be interested in coming down to Mobile in the spring to assist in the preparation of the upcoming production of Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer". I immediately said I would but wondered how I would manage to take three weeks off in the middle of the semester. In my twenty-five years of service at the Conservatory I have never taken a sabbatical or a leave of absence. Many of my colleagues go off regularly to sing roles or play concerts or teach elsewhere. I decided that my turn had come. Granted, I'm not a tenured faculty member, but let's not quibble over status! It took me hours of work and countless e-mails to line up the crew to cover my work at the Conservatory. I am not indespensible, of course, but there are not that many capable people out there who do what I do. And all the good ones are really busy. But I managed to cover every lesson and every coaching. It may take a village to raise a child but it takes an army of pianists and coaches to cover my duties at the Conservatory.
I have prepared many opera scores in my day and have often played rehearsals for our professional company in town, the Kansas City Lyric Opera, but I have never been hired to be the official pianist for an out-of-town professional opera company. This would be a first for me, and an interesting project as well. We don't do enough Wagner at the Conservatory! Actually, we don't do any. I had a look at the FH score last summer and thought: egads, what have I gotten myself into? I would count FH among the more difficult scores I have ever had to prepare. (In case you're curious, the most demanding scores I have had to play are Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos", Britten's "Midsummer's Night Dream", Adamo's "Little Women", and topping the list "Lysistrata", again by Mark Adamo. That one nearly drove me insane.) FH is doable, it just takes a bit of mental re-writing.
Leading the cast of the opera in the role of Senta is soprano Amanda Mace. I remember Amanda from the time she spent at the Conservatory working on her undergraduate degree. She is one of our greatest success stories. Two years ago she made her début at the Bayreuther Festspiel (singing Eva in "Meistersinger"). She lives in Munich now and has professional engagements all over Europe. When Andy told me that he had cast every role except Senta, and that he would ideally love to have Amanda Mace for it, I suggested he simply ask her. The worst she could say would be no. It turned out that she wanted to learn the role and try it out somewhere, and she happened to have the block of time free in order to come over to the States and do it. Thus, one of Europe's rising stars on the Wagnerian horizon will grace the stage at Mobile Opera.
The remaining members of the cast (and that would be the mezzo Maria, der Holländer, der Steuerman, Daland and Erik) are all seasoned professionals. The opera demands a huge chorus, two men's choruses in fact. I am curious to hear what forces Andy has mustered. All the principals and myself are arriving in Mobile today. We are invited to the maestro's house for an informal get together this evening. Knowing Andy's culinary skills and his excellent taste in wines it should be a very pleasant evening indeed.
I have prepared many opera scores in my day and have often played rehearsals for our professional company in town, the Kansas City Lyric Opera, but I have never been hired to be the official pianist for an out-of-town professional opera company. This would be a first for me, and an interesting project as well. We don't do enough Wagner at the Conservatory! Actually, we don't do any. I had a look at the FH score last summer and thought: egads, what have I gotten myself into? I would count FH among the more difficult scores I have ever had to prepare. (In case you're curious, the most demanding scores I have had to play are Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos", Britten's "Midsummer's Night Dream", Adamo's "Little Women", and topping the list "Lysistrata", again by Mark Adamo. That one nearly drove me insane.) FH is doable, it just takes a bit of mental re-writing.
Leading the cast of the opera in the role of Senta is soprano Amanda Mace. I remember Amanda from the time she spent at the Conservatory working on her undergraduate degree. She is one of our greatest success stories. Two years ago she made her début at the Bayreuther Festspiel (singing Eva in "Meistersinger"). She lives in Munich now and has professional engagements all over Europe. When Andy told me that he had cast every role except Senta, and that he would ideally love to have Amanda Mace for it, I suggested he simply ask her. The worst she could say would be no. It turned out that she wanted to learn the role and try it out somewhere, and she happened to have the block of time free in order to come over to the States and do it. Thus, one of Europe's rising stars on the Wagnerian horizon will grace the stage at Mobile Opera.
The remaining members of the cast (and that would be the mezzo Maria, der Holländer, der Steuerman, Daland and Erik) are all seasoned professionals. The opera demands a huge chorus, two men's choruses in fact. I am curious to hear what forces Andy has mustered. All the principals and myself are arriving in Mobile today. We are invited to the maestro's house for an informal get together this evening. Knowing Andy's culinary skills and his excellent taste in wines it should be a very pleasant evening indeed.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Olympic Dreams
I had no intention of watching the recent Olympic Games but, alas, I somehow got hooked and tuned in for quite a few hours. Some of that time was enjoyable and instructive. Who knew that speed skating could keep you on the edge of your seat? But the manner in which NBC broadcasted the games became increasingly annoying. I refer to the veritable orgy of commercialism that washed over us like a tsunami. Not only were the events frequently interrupted by interminable commercial breaks, you couldn’t watch a single clip on the NBC website without viewing another commercial. Enough already! Granted, NBC shelled out a gazillion dollars for the rights to broadcast the games, but can’t we find a better way to do this? Why do we, as a civilization, put up with this?
There were moments of agony and of ecstasy, all played out on the world stage. There were a few incidences that struck me as worthy of special consideration. Take the case of the Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer. One week he won the gold in the 5,000 meter race and was on top the world, having achieved the Olympic dream and glory for his nation. The following week he crossed the finish line first in another race but was immediately disqualified due to an unfortunate communication from his coach. He was understandably frustrated at the outcome and was visibly shaking with anger. It was a heartbreaking moment. Poor guy. One can imagine that he will replay those few seconds of that race for the rest of his life. Most people would do that. What can we learn here? Two things, I think. First, that nothing is permanent in this world. Happiness can be changed into gloom in a second. There is nothing we can hold onto. Even the best moments slip out of our fingers before we even realize it. Secondly, that if you pin your happiness to events in the external world you are playing with fire. Understandably, being a world class athlete, Sven Kramer was intensely focused on the outcome of his race. But if he examines the cause of suffering he will perhaps learn that, by being attached to the outcome, he had created suffering for himself. That’s just how the cookie crumbles. I wish him well. May he enjoy peace and a life free of suffering.
Then there was the extraordinary spectacle of the Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette. Her mother died in Vancouver, having just arrived, expecting to savor the Olympic success of her daughter. It was reported that Joannie was an only child and that she and her mother were very close. It was very moving to see her go out on the ice under such trying circumstances and actually do her routine. At the end of it she broke down. There was probably not a dry eye in the house. The audience cheered and cheered for her. I was struck by our capacity for empathy, our ability to feel the suffering of others, to put ourselves in the shoes of our fellow beings. We all know what the bond with our parents can mean. Each one of us could imagine what the lovely and talented Ms Rochette was going through and our hearts opened up to her. This ability to empathize is something that puts us apart from all the other species on the planet. Few other animals have any regard for the plight of their kind. (I think elephants and perhaps apes are the only other species that has been known to show an inkling of concern for their own.)
I know that Schadenfreude is not the most noble of sentiments, but I couldn’t help feeling that justice had been done when, in an early men’s speed skating race, two of the Koreans in the lead both slipped and knocked each other out of the race. The Koreans are particularly apt to cheat and this was, I thought, an example of karma in action. Their poor sportsmanship came back to bite them in the ass. And they did it to themselves – that was the beauty of it! I indulged in another moment of Schadenfreude when the Russian figure skater, Yevgeny Plushenko, was awarded the silver. He made an impression of being smug and arrogant, even bad-mouthing his competitors before the competition. He was so convinced that he should have won the gold medal that he later ‘awarded’ himself a platinum medal on his website! How’s that for the height of arrogance! The fact the he got ‘only’ the silver medal is the lesson the universe has given him. May he learn from it.
Lastly, there was the famous hockey match between the USA and Canada. I don’t give a flying puck about hockey, but I dearly wanted the Canadians to win. It is their national sport, the games were held on Canadian soil. It seemed only fair and right that they should win that bit of glory. If I were the King of the World, I thought, I would let them win. And – they did -- in spectacular fashion! Go, Canada!
There were moments of agony and of ecstasy, all played out on the world stage. There were a few incidences that struck me as worthy of special consideration. Take the case of the Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer. One week he won the gold in the 5,000 meter race and was on top the world, having achieved the Olympic dream and glory for his nation. The following week he crossed the finish line first in another race but was immediately disqualified due to an unfortunate communication from his coach. He was understandably frustrated at the outcome and was visibly shaking with anger. It was a heartbreaking moment. Poor guy. One can imagine that he will replay those few seconds of that race for the rest of his life. Most people would do that. What can we learn here? Two things, I think. First, that nothing is permanent in this world. Happiness can be changed into gloom in a second. There is nothing we can hold onto. Even the best moments slip out of our fingers before we even realize it. Secondly, that if you pin your happiness to events in the external world you are playing with fire. Understandably, being a world class athlete, Sven Kramer was intensely focused on the outcome of his race. But if he examines the cause of suffering he will perhaps learn that, by being attached to the outcome, he had created suffering for himself. That’s just how the cookie crumbles. I wish him well. May he enjoy peace and a life free of suffering.
Then there was the extraordinary spectacle of the Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette. Her mother died in Vancouver, having just arrived, expecting to savor the Olympic success of her daughter. It was reported that Joannie was an only child and that she and her mother were very close. It was very moving to see her go out on the ice under such trying circumstances and actually do her routine. At the end of it she broke down. There was probably not a dry eye in the house. The audience cheered and cheered for her. I was struck by our capacity for empathy, our ability to feel the suffering of others, to put ourselves in the shoes of our fellow beings. We all know what the bond with our parents can mean. Each one of us could imagine what the lovely and talented Ms Rochette was going through and our hearts opened up to her. This ability to empathize is something that puts us apart from all the other species on the planet. Few other animals have any regard for the plight of their kind. (I think elephants and perhaps apes are the only other species that has been known to show an inkling of concern for their own.)
I know that Schadenfreude is not the most noble of sentiments, but I couldn’t help feeling that justice had been done when, in an early men’s speed skating race, two of the Koreans in the lead both slipped and knocked each other out of the race. The Koreans are particularly apt to cheat and this was, I thought, an example of karma in action. Their poor sportsmanship came back to bite them in the ass. And they did it to themselves – that was the beauty of it! I indulged in another moment of Schadenfreude when the Russian figure skater, Yevgeny Plushenko, was awarded the silver. He made an impression of being smug and arrogant, even bad-mouthing his competitors before the competition. He was so convinced that he should have won the gold medal that he later ‘awarded’ himself a platinum medal on his website! How’s that for the height of arrogance! The fact the he got ‘only’ the silver medal is the lesson the universe has given him. May he learn from it.
Lastly, there was the famous hockey match between the USA and Canada. I don’t give a flying puck about hockey, but I dearly wanted the Canadians to win. It is their national sport, the games were held on Canadian soil. It seemed only fair and right that they should win that bit of glory. If I were the King of the World, I thought, I would let them win. And – they did -- in spectacular fashion! Go, Canada!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Le dernier blog du voyage
At the risk of being accused of blogorrhea I am making one last entry for this trip.
I am so glad I chose the route I did to return, even though it was slightly longer. I made it home in three days, putting 1,700 miles behind me. The forecast storm started at Emporia, Kansas, about two hours south of KC. The snow wasn't sticking but it sure was blowing! One of the scariest experiences in this weather is driving at 65 mph when a semi passes you, creating a wake of blinding snow behind it, leaving you with zero visibility. Yikes! Just after I left Amarillo this morning I encountered a fog as thick as pea soup. It lasted for about a hundred miles. That was a bit scary, too. I know I didn't miss anything interesting scenically -- the Texas Panhandle is about as exciting as plain oatmeal. Oklahoma is edenic by comparison. To be honest, I am not all that fond of long road trips. I could have flown to Phoenix and rented a car (as I have done several times before) but there is a lot I would have missed. This great land of ours is so vast and so varied. Despite the long hours behind the wheel it was worth it to experience the immensity and diversity of just this one small part of the American continent. Record cold is predicted now for much of the country. The snow on my deck is three feet deep, no doubt left over from the last storm. I can conjure up the memory of California sunshine and palm trees and of the Arizona desert to warm myself.
I am so glad I chose the route I did to return, even though it was slightly longer. I made it home in three days, putting 1,700 miles behind me. The forecast storm started at Emporia, Kansas, about two hours south of KC. The snow wasn't sticking but it sure was blowing! One of the scariest experiences in this weather is driving at 65 mph when a semi passes you, creating a wake of blinding snow behind it, leaving you with zero visibility. Yikes! Just after I left Amarillo this morning I encountered a fog as thick as pea soup. It lasted for about a hundred miles. That was a bit scary, too. I know I didn't miss anything interesting scenically -- the Texas Panhandle is about as exciting as plain oatmeal. Oklahoma is edenic by comparison. To be honest, I am not all that fond of long road trips. I could have flown to Phoenix and rented a car (as I have done several times before) but there is a lot I would have missed. This great land of ours is so vast and so varied. Despite the long hours behind the wheel it was worth it to experience the immensity and diversity of just this one small part of the American continent. Record cold is predicted now for much of the country. The snow on my deck is three feet deep, no doubt left over from the last storm. I can conjure up the memory of California sunshine and palm trees and of the Arizona desert to warm myself.
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