Reasons to Look Back

1. So tomorrow, the glorious year of 2009 is officially over, and let me tell you - this has been one blast of a year.

Let's look back and see why it has been such a wonderful year.

1. January 2009 - I gave birth to Troy!!!

Pause right here. Enjoy that one. For even if nothing else happened in 2009, it would still be the best year. At least for me.

1. May 2009 - my husband got me a piano for my 35th birthday!!!
2. July 2009 - I revived this blog!
3. July 2009 - we took Troy to his 1st BSO concert
4. August 2009- we all travelled to Boston for a beautiful wedding
5. September 2009 - I started the gym and baby weight loss routine (which I still successfully maintain)
6. September 2009 - My husband and I went to U-2's concert
7. By October 2009 I lost 23 pounds of that baby weight
8. October 2009 - I saw live and met Joyce DiDonato in New York
9. October 2009 - I anchored my music talk-series
10. October 2009 - I took an OperaAmerica La Boheme class
11. October 2009 - Mom and I took Troy to BMA to see his favorite Matisse
12. November 2009 - My husband and I had an incredible vacation in Cancun
13. December 2009 - I participated in Too Hot to Handel sing-along at BSO
14. December 2009 - My husband and I went to Renee Fleming's recital
15. December 2009 - I took Troy to his 1st New Year's Play

Some years pass pale,unnoticed and completely uneventful, others stick in our memories forever. This year has been one memorable, wonderful year.

Happy New Year , everyone! May the coming year be full of life, joy, peace, love and interesting happenings!!!

Diva, Diva-ism and Friday Cynicism

Having found a small wrapped box on my desk yesterday morning, I knew right away it was a gift from one of my co-workers. We are huge at holiday gift exchange at my work.
It turned out to be a very pretty costume jewelry set: a necklace and a pair of earrings – a perfect match for the outfit I was planning to wear to Renee’s Recital. BINGO!
Then there was a long day at work with a lot of running around, meetings, calls and what not.
Then off I went to Baltimore Lyric. According to our arrangement, My husband and I were supposed to meet in downtown for the pre-recital dinner at my favorite restaurant, Robert Oliver that I referred to several times on this blog. However, having arrived at the place, we discovered that the whole building was dark, empty and locked. Obviously, it went out of business. What about my lobster bisque? Where do I get to eat the best one now?
Anyway, we found another nice place and had a pasta dish there.
And so at 7:20 back we were at the good old Baltimore Lyric.
What a déjà vu...
Reminded me just a bit of Phantom of the Opera. An old opera house that has not been used for a long time... remember?
In the lobby there were free Renee Fleming magnets – nice! As we walked in, we noticed a quintet packing up and ready to leave. They had obviously played, and we had obviously missed it. Should we have known about it…but hei – we were both coming straight from work, hungry and cold- we would not have made it anyway. Our seats were in the Balcony Row N. Actually, they were not bad at all, however, as soon as we sat down we spotted much better seats to scoot down to. Balcony Row A, right at the bar! We exchanged meaningful looks and both knew where we were going to head in the intermission.
Prior to the recital, I read an interview with Renee Fleming, where she clearly stated that after what happened at her Baltimore Lyric recital last time, she was not going to do Desdemona’s aria this time. Oh, well. This diva is full of surprises. As soon as I opened the program, I saw it : Desdemona’s aria, #2 in the program.
And she did it, having said before she started: Do you want to see if we can do it this time, without being interrupted by a door alarm?
The program was really nice. She sang Rossini’s Armida, Verdi’s Desdemona, Massenet’s Cleopatra, The Jewel Song from Faust, Mimi from La Boheme of both Puccini and Leoncavallo, and many more.
She was wearing an amazing pearly-gray satin and tulle dress in the first part of the recital and in the intermission changed into a burgundy dress with her faithful accessory, the long scarf. We both enjoyed the recital, especially my husband who saw Renee live for the first time.
Her technique was wonderful and flawless. However, somehow, I felt, especially after attending Joyce's recital back in October, that the People's Diva was not giving it all last night. Ummm...65-70% ? Maybe two years ago I was a little more naïve, or maybe this recital was just a little bit too lightweight for me, but I kind of enjoyed her first recital more. Even though of course this one was very nice as well.
And then of course, the diva-ism aspect... The diamond necklace that Ms. Fleming was wearing all recital long was put on a silent auction months ago and bids were accepted till today. Er... I am not crazy about the idea of a necklace quadrupling in price because it was worn by a diva.
Even if it's Ms. Fleming, she is still human, right?
And then, excuse my cynicism, another question comes up: would they actually wipe the necklace with a special jewelry cleaning solution after it leaves Ms. Fleming neck or would the price immediately drop should they do it?
Oh, God, I have to stop before I start sounding like La Cieca.
Anyway, when the lights went up and it was clear that Ms. Fleming was not coming back with another encore, my husband and I saw somebody we know, sitting on the back row of our section - a Thom King, a cantor and an average baritone, who sang at our wedding ceremony almost 5 years ago. We were not surprised - we saw him at the opera before too.
It's always like that with opera crowd: opera people always see other opera people at the opera - where else?
Looks like we are done for 2009 - no more recitals on my calendar. Hallelujah!

A New Instrument

While still pregnant with Troy, I did some research on introducing a baby to music. Most sources said that you should not teach your child to play the piano until he/she is 4 or even 5. Earlier children are just not able to physically do everything that they are required to do, become frustrated, tired and as a result, unwilling to learn. So until the ages 4-5 the general recommendation is to develop your child’s sense of rhythm. This can be done through letting your child play easier instruments, the use of which require little or no skill, such as tam-tams, drums, whistles, wooden flutes, rattles, etc. We brought him quite a lot of those from Mexico. However, he is probably still too young for any of those but the rattle, which is pretty heavy for a little guy to hold for a while.
Anyway, yesterday, I stopped by at the Russian store and got him another instrument – a pair of small wooden spoons. Yes, in the Russian folk music wooden spoons play a very important role as an instrument. They sound really nice too and are light as feathers. They are hand-painted and lacquered and look really nice.
So this morning I gave him the spoons and showed one time how to use them to make a sound, and he immediately started doing that, while I was singing a folk song. It was so much fun and he had such a wonderful, happy expression on his face.
I loved it!
P.S. Renee Fleming’s Recital tomorrow – stay tuned for an update.

The Magic of the Nutcracker

Every holiday season my heart just begs to listen to the magic Nutcracker or even better, to go see the ballet. However, this is one of those things that falls under the category “Next time – with Troy." So, while we are not doing it this year, a lot of nutcracking is still going on in our lives this season.
First came the toy.
Around Thanksgiving time, I took Troy to a craft store and bought a small wooden Nutcracker ornament. The only painted thing that it had was the face. The rest was tabula rasa, so to speak, a clean unpainted wooden surface. So we painted it ourselves and made it our very own and special Nutcracker. When I say we, I mean it, because Troy was there the whole time, watching me painting with a lot of attention and patience. (He loves to watch people paint).
Second, came the music.
I introduced Troy to the beautiful magic world of the Nutcracker. We keep listening to it while driving and he likes it. He smiles and laughs especially when he hears Dance of the Snowflakes and Waltz of the Flowers.
Third, came the gift.
The Nutcracker water snow music ball. That was one of the holiday gifts I got for Troy. I could not find the image online, so the closest I could get was this book cover, created by the same artist.
So if you wind the ball and shake it you can see The Nutcracker and Marie flying in a slay through the sparkling snow over the castle surrounded by angels/fairies to the sound of the Dance of Sugar Plum Fairy.
It’s a beautiful toy. It fascinates him. He can just sit there staring at it for a long-long time.
Fourth, came the movie: George Balanchine’s Nutcracker. We watched it together this weekend. Of course, Troy is not able to stay focused for a long time yet. But we took breaks. Just for the fun of it I danced around and he started dancing in his play pan as well, holding his head proud and high, just like the dancers on the screen. He was a lot of fun to watch. It was a fun thing to do on a nasty rainy Sunday, and I am sure Troy got something out of it. At least, he heard a lot of good music and had fun moving around to it.

As for the Nutcracker itself, every time I listen to it, I recall listening to a musicologist speaking about this ballet and emphasizing that actually it is very sad and that the audience gets so distracted by the dancing, the costumes and the scenery, that they almost stop hearing the music. But if you just listen to the music – it is really sad.
From the journey to the Fairyland up to the apotheosis–it almost feels like there is a mini-death in every piece. To me, it’s all about the fleeting joy of the dream, the temporary-ness of love and happiness, the impossibility to hold onto your dream (no matter how hard you try – it still slips right out of your hands and leaves you to embrace harsh and cold reality).
If you read this and feel strongly about it, be it strongly agreeing or strongly disagreeing, post a comment – I would be thrilled to learn how my readers feel about the magic of the Nutcracker!

BSO Report

I had to leave work a little early to get to the BSO by 5:15. As I walked in, there were two desks moved together with a staff lady at each. At the right desk there was a sign: Basses /Altos, at the left - Tenors/ Sopranos. So I walked up to the right desk, paid the registration fee in the amount of $10.00 ( also the ticket price for the event) and got a cool sticker with the word CHOIR on it for just in case I wanted to step out during the break.

The foyer was decorated very festively and I made time taking pictures and being photographed with all that beauty. Then I looked around. Nice crowd, lots of nice, laid back people of all different ages. Many were leafing through their sheet music, others just socialized. Some ladies looked like an experienced church choir crowd, but the majority were total amateurs.

I met another alto there. She asked me if I sang in the choir, to which I replied no, but I sing to my son. She seemed to be happy with my answer and said" Oh, OK, I don't sing in a choir either, but I do sing in the shower!" So we stuck together. A baby singer and a shower singer.

Soon staff members came out and directed us to our seats. They explained to us that the choir was sitting in the audience, told us where each of the 4 voice types sat and said that we had to sit among them.

The choir turned out to be college students. They wore red Santa hats and purple shirts. So we sat among them.

Then onto the stage came the maestra, Marin Alsop (for those of you who are not from the area - she is the leading BSO conductor). She made brief introductions of herself and the the soloists and started the rehearsal.

Every once in a while she would praise us, but one could tell by her expression that she was not that pleased. We started the rehearsal with the original Hallelujah ( oh joy!) and Ms. Alsop emphasized that at all times we have to put an accent to the syllable lu, not the syllable jah!

I guess, many people were driven by the momentum of the piece and did sing it with the accent on the last syllable.

Then she commented on us not putting enough deepness in the quiet part

the kingdom of his world is become.

She said that when there is little voice used, the music should be sung with a special deepness.

Then we rehearsed other pieces, which were a combination of jazz and gospel. Not a fan of either.

After the rehearsal was over, it turned out that we, the choir's community part are not going to perform on the stage. We were supposed to stay in the audience and sing from there, rising every time it was our turn to sing.

In the intermission my wonderful husband came to support me at the show. We spent some time taking pictures together and chatting. Unfortunately, photography and videotaping were strictly prohibited, so my husband could not take any pictures or videos of me performing.

They were serving free cookies and fruit punch in the foyer and everybody was eating so much of that stuff. Doesn't anyone know that you can't eat too much before you sing? Opera singers never do.

Anyway, the show was fine. We sang fine. For amateurs who never had a rehearsal. Many people had no idea how to read the music and were lost in the pages. Some people did not know the lyrics and just stood there silent. The soloists did fine, the choir was wonderful and the full orchestra was there and it was fabulous.

Because, to my great disappointment, we did not perform the original Hallelujah, I figured out that Ms. Alsop really hated the way it sounded at the rehearsal.

Overall, it was quite a nice evening.

Would I do it again?

Probably not.

This is good enough done once. However, I am open to new music adventures!

Let's see where the music will take me next.

BSO Sing Along tomorrow.
Last night I spent 4 hours practicing my(alto) part singing with the CD and the sheet music. For an amateur like myself, sheet music is quite a language – and definitely not an easy one. I helped myself a lot though by playing my part on the piano to see which notes I have to hit.

Choir singing is not as easy as it may look at the first glance, let me tell you that. When S, A, T and B (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) sing the same word, but each hits a different note, it can be quite tricky to hit yours instead of getting swept away by the power of other voices and getting tangled in someone else’s part. I am mostly talking about the original Handel’s Hallelujah, my favorite piece, a work of unmatched beauty and harmony. (The rest of the songs are an adapted Handel, a mix of Gospel and jazz).
On the one hand, physically, for the voice it’s kind of easier to sing those adapted versions of Handel. However, overall, for me personally, it’s so much easier to sing the original Handel. Being a vocally challenging piece, it gives you so much satisfaction to actually sing it and being able to chip in a little bit of your own heart into it. It’s not about ambition. Not at all. Rather it’s about being able to come closer to a piece of genius work. Feels like looking at the statue of Victory Samothrace in the Louvre, or Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.

I am not nervous (just yet).
Hei - I am not singing solo after all! But the whole thing of having this opportunity is so exciting.
Troy loves the original Hallelujah. No matter where he is, be it his car seat or his play pan, he hops to it and laughs out loud very happily. And I… I love the fact that he loves it. I wish we could bring him – but we can’t.
Stay tuned for an update. Tomorrow is the day!

Friday Culture Shock: Another Blow...

Well, as much as I would like my every Friday post to be a joyful dwelling about world culture, unfortunately, more and more often they turn into obituaries.
It’s with so much sorrow in my heart that I report that today, at the age of 81, another great Russian actor, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, passed away in one of Moscow hospitals. He was a real star of the classic cinematography. He starred in so many movies that it’s really hard to pick the best one. My personal favorite is Prince Andrey Bolkonsky in War and Peace (the screen version of the famous Tolstoy’s novel).
However, no matter who he played – a prince, a spy or a simple country boy - his characters were always full of psychological deepness, inner and outer beauty, and just a hint of that mysterious Russian sadness.
So there, another shock, another blow. The world has lost so many stars this year!

BSO? So Be It!

A week ago I was leisurely looking at the BSO( Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) web site and saw a call for singers...hmm...singers? How do I fit in?

Well, not professional singers, my friends.

This holiday season BSO is making a community sing-along, called Too Hot to Handel. There is no audition for it. Basically, anybody who registers before the deadline can participate.

The concert focuses on the best pieces from Handel's Messiah. There are no rehearsals before the concert, except for a dress rehearsal 2 hours prior to the the concert.

Anyway, I applied for an alto part and, having not heard anything from BSO right away, forgot about it. That's what kind of person I am - I always apply for stuff like that and dare myself.

Anyway, yesterday I received an e-mail confirming that I am in!

So, funny as it might sound, yours truly is singing at BSO on Wednesday, December 9th at 7:30 p.m. and, mind you, the concert is not even free - it's $10.00 per ticket. Honestly, the only audience that we can count on will be families and friends of us, the singers.

When I told my mom about it, she cooled me off quite a bit. Have I mentioned that my mom has always been my toughest critic?
She said that it would be very unprofessional of me to go up on the stage and sing, while not being a singer, not having formally learned how to sing or rehearsed the music properly (she is right of course, the lack of rehearsals is not good and could be pretty nerve wrecking...)
My husband, on the contrary, gave me a lot of support and encouragement.
For a little while I was not sure where I was standing with the whole BSO singing thing. I started having second thoughts. Would it be a good or a bad thing to do?

To sing or not to sing? That is the question!

And then I played Handel's Hallelujah, and my choice was made.

Let's look at it this way...
I am given a chance to sing beautiful music by my favorite composer, Handel, a chance to embrace the music from within, because unlike the audience, I will be physically standing right in the middle of it!!! How many times have I tried to imagine what it might be like for the artists to sing with that immense sound swirling around them?! Well, now I am getting a chance to personally experience that!

Of course, I won't sing professionally, but hei - none of us will. It's just people from the street wearing street clothes, remember? People like me. However, I will put my heart and inspiration into it, and if we all do that, maybe we'll get to pull it off.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky once said: When there is so much beautiful music around you, you just can't sing bad.
Let's do it then, shall we?
Courage!

Note to self:
Still have to pick those street clothes. Street as they may be, they better be nice. Hmm... Where was that coupon to Kohl's that I saw in the mail pile the other day?

Whatever Happened -

-to Anna Netrebko's Ask Anna thing? I actually e-mailed her a couple of questions which I thought were pretty interesting and was hoping she would pick at least one to answer. Is there any hope? I guess Anna is busy at present and the whole question and answer thing is put on hold.