Friday Culture Shock: J.D.Salinger Dies

On Wednesday, January 27th American and world literature had an irretrievable loss - J.D. Salinger, the author of the world famous subtle, psychological and philosophical The Catcher in the Rye passed away at his home in New Hampshire.

I personally have always considered him a classic writer, even though he lived in our time.

This is just so, so sad!

Roses and Opera

Remember last summer I surfed an international cheese counter and discovered so many opera cheeses?
Well, my friends, did you ever think about how many roses have opera-related names? Just check this out and have fun!


1. Rose Rossini

2. Rose Verdi
3. Rose Boheme

4. Rose LuluAnd the last, but not the least

5. Rose Dueto



What's your favorite?

To Bored Opera Lovers

A couple of days ago I read a funny post on one of the blogs. This post really surprised me.
The blogger went to the Met to see Carmen with Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna and liked it of course. However, apparently the blogger felt a lot of disappointment about Micaela's aria and called it... Buckle up, you guys, boring!!!
I realize that everyone is different and opera lovers differ as well. Some love every opera, others don't. However, I never thought that an opera lover can actually be bored at the opera while listening to the opera.
Especially, Micaela's aria - one of Bizet's gems...

All right, maybe, at one point, I used to not like Madama Butterfly. I admit I criticized it, saying that it has too much pathos and too many fussy pseudo-Asian rhythms. However, I was never bored to listen to it, or any other opera.
But again, that's me and the way I personally feel about music in general.

Furthermore, about 2 weeks ago I read an interview with a popular opera singer who indicated that her least favorite opera is Les Contes d'Hoffmann!!!

Least favorite?

I confess I was shocked.
How is it even possible?
How can anybody, and in this case a professional opera singer, not like that music? or not like that story at least?

However, as much as I have to say about the subject, I will refrain from further criticism and will just suggest to anybody who reads this post and considers some operas/ arias boring to listen ... Just listen...
Feel that music flow through your veins. Let that music become part of you. Do not only listen to the music. Listen into the music.
And then, hopefully, you won't be bored!

Art Is Calling!

Tomorrow is my son's 1st Birthday!!!
So for the last 2 days I have been cooking and baking things that I haven't made for years for the lack of time of course. Not that he can eat them yet...
but this is the best, biggest and dearest day for our family and for that reason - let's party!
Um... before I forget - Tomorrow's Menu:

First course - Borsch ( traditional Ukrainian beet soup)with pampushki (garlic rolls)
Ukrainians say that a real Borsch has to have the minimum of 10 ingredients and has to be so thick that you could stick a spoon in the pot and it would remain standing.
Mine has 15 ingredients and the spoon stands as long as you want it to.

Second course - Stuffed Peppers ( my mom is cooking them)

Dessert - my very special torte "Prague"
(I learned how to make it from one of my ESL students (yes, my friends, I used to be an ESL teacher) who was a professional baker and shared some very subtle professional secrets with me - the secrets that you can't find online).

Wait a sec, what does this post have to do with music though? Well, I think music and cooking overlap somehow, somewhere on some level. If you do them well and get creative, they both become art.
On this happy note, my friends, back to the kitchen - art is calling.

Sing, Sing Together!

I don't think at this point anybody would be surprised to read on this blog that my son is very responsive to music and singing.
He loves to listen and he likes to sing too!
His grandma (my mom) sings this lullaby to him that he repeats exactly with all the same accents and details. You just have to tell him: "Troy, sing Babba's song" and off he goes! He has been doing that for at least a month and a half.
This morning I was singing to him as usual while fixing his breakfast. This time it was a new song from a Russian musical-movie "Finist Yasny Sokol" (Финист Ясный Сокол) that we recently saw together. The song is incredibly melodic, and even though modified to a more contemporary version, it has a lot of folk coloring and character and allows a lot of freedom and flexibility for the voice.
For my Russian readers:

На Ивана, на Купала

Все вокруг светлее стало

Позабыта грусть

Позабыта грусть

Позабыта грусть.

Anyway, he sang along the whole time and he paid attention to when I was singing louder or softer and sang exactly the same way - louder or softer!
I thought it was pretty good for someone who is not even 1 year old.

Oh Joy! Oh Horror!

WNO ( Washington National Opera) just announced its 2010-2011 Season last week.
The exciting news is that it is hosting a recital of Juan Diego Florez on February 27th, 2011!!! Oh joy!
The un-exciting news (and a typical Mr. Domingo's way to draw the crowd) is that you have to become a subscriber of course to earn a chance to purchase that ticket. Oh horror!

However, believe it or not, I am thinking of doing it.
That would allow me (along with seeing some good operas and possibly taking friends to see them), to take my mom to see Juan Diego live!!!
Having attended La Fille at the Met in 2008, I know in person what a joy, what an unforgettable experience it is to hear Juan Diego Florez live. I think mom will love it as her holiday gift! What a perspective - so much for both of us to look forward to.

La Boheme Plan

The date of my next Music Talk/Opera event is scheduled. It's Wednesday, February 24th - a little more than a month from now. The featured movie is of course La Boheme with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon. The movie is available at Netflix and is in high demand. They showed it recently on PBS and I watched it again. It's hard not to. Once it starts, you are in.
When I make flyers for this event, I should probably write :"Bring your Kleenex box - you'll need it." Anyway, time to start getting ready for that talk. Don't forget, my friends, that I recently took that online La Boheme course and know quite a bit about the opera now. Let's see what happens. Exciting!

Friday Culture Shock: A Good Book and a Special Call!

Earlier this week I stopped by at a Russian bookstore, where they sell Russian books as well as books translated into Russian. While I was checking out the children’s section, this book captured my attention. “King Mathew the First” and “King Mathew on the Desserted Island” by a Polish writer Janusz Korczak. Does the name sound familiar to any of you guys? Somehow, it did sound familiar to me even though I could not come up with one single clue.
Anyway, I opened the book and ran through a couple of pages. A young prince becomes an orphan and is supposed to become the king. However, he is very lonely and power does not make him happy, because no one in the whole world loves him now.
It sounded subtle and psychological to me, and yet – easy to read and understand. I purchased the book and told my mom about it. She said : “Oh, Korczak was a wonderful man. He was a writer, educator, founder of an original system of education, and patron of children to whom he remained faithful to the end. Not wanting to abandon the orphans entrusted to his care in the Warsaw ghetto when they were condemned to death by the Nazis during World War II, Korczak refused a chance to save himself. He was voluntarily deported together with the children of his orphanage and died together with them in a concentration camp.”
So I would really like to read it to Troy when he is older. Meanwhile, I might as well read it myself. It’s really one of those books for all ages, where each and everyone can draw their own lesson out of it. It’s deep, it’s kind, it’s philosophical and it teaches you all the right values.
Stay tuned for details - I'll share the details if I decide to read it.

And now another one!
This morning I got a very special call from my dearest friend in Russia. I am not sure if she wants her name to be mentioned on this blog, so I will refrain from doing that just in case. We have been friends since college ( in our case, university), i.e. for 15 years at least. We write e-mails to each other almost every day and she is also a frequent reader of this blog. Besides all that, she speaks fluent English and French, is a successful businesswoman, a wonderful friend and a mother of a lovely 5 year-old girl.
Even though, like I said, we have been in ongoing correspondence for years, a personal call always makes such a difference. It really warms your heart.
So here, my friend, cheers to you and thank you for your call!

Friday Culture Shock: Food, Basketball and Running

Of all the sports that my husband likes to watch, I join him in watching 2: tennis and basketball. Both are extremely dynamic sports where every second something happens. Baseball fans out there, I do appreciate your fave as well, even though it's quite an acquired taste for me.

Anyway, about 3 or 4 years ago I got my favorite basketball player - Manu Ginobili for San Antonio Spurs. No, readers, I am not from Texas - never even been there. But the guy is so talented - so what does it matter what team he is playing for? He reminds me of Juan Diego Florez, except that he is in basketball, not in opera.

I guess I just like talented people and little do I care what they are talented at.

Anyway, I once mentioned to my husband that I would love to see Ginobili play live. The Spurs usually play Washington Wizards in January. Last January I was so pregnant when they played that we decided to postpone our basketball outing till this year. This year the game was on January 2nd, so off we went to DC.

We drove in early and had dinner at an amazing Spanish restaurant called La Tasca.

Go ahead, look here!

http://www.latascausa.com/site/

Wow, what delicious things we ate! The real show stopper for me was Croquetas de Pollo : little crusty balls of mashed potatoes and chicken. Delicious! The best thing about them is the contrast of textures, creamy filling against crispy crust. That gem went very well with white sangria.

Our seats were in the VIP section and we could see everything so well, that,against our tradition, we did not even think about scooting down. The game was extremely dynamic and interesting. And - the Spurs won! Ginobili did not play his best this time, but he still did very well. It was so worth it going out to DC to see this game.

P.S. Another little shocker, for you, my friends.

I don't think I ever mentioned on this blog that I like to run long distances. Hmm, I should update my personal profile and put it there, right? I want to run a marathon one day, possibly in 2011???, because it requires too much preparation to do it any time sooner. Anyway, out of two times a week that I go to the gym, I do aerobics once, and run the other time on the "skiing machine". I finished 2009 making exactly 4 miles an hour, which , considering, Level 6 that I am at right now, is not bad at all. You are not just running, you are "lifting weights" with your legs, which certainly makes it a lot harder. Anyway, at the moment I am aiming at 4.5 miles an hour, and yesterday I made 4.1!!! So, slowly but steadily I am moving towards my goal.

New Year Resolutions of a Blogger

According to the poll about New Year Resolutions that I saw on the news the other day, the majority indicated weights loss. Saving money came second.
Then I started thinking about my New Year resolutions. Weight loss not being one of them, and saving money being an every year resolution, I came up with a couple of new year resolutions as a blogger.
Last year I promised my readers to post about several subjects and somehow never did. So there now:

My New Year Resolutions:

1. Post about the Opera of my Life: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
2. Post about how I learned Latvian, the language of Elina Garanca
3. See Elina Garanca live at the Met
4. Keep my blog poll alive
5. Shock my readers every Friday with Culture Shock posts

Numero Uno is coming very soon - I promise. It's beeing brewed in my head as I write this.

Stay tuned for the Culture Shock tomorrow!

Bravo, Andre Rieu!

What do you all think of Andre Rieu?
I can almost hear many of you saying : Oh, the guy is brilliant!
He definitely deserves all that praise.
To my taste, he is a little bit too much of a showman and too joky about music ( or can it be that I am too serious about music?)
Anyway, I was never fascinated by his programs, even though they are beautiful.
However, earlier tonight we had PBS on, and my son saw Andre Rieu's Vienna Concert ...
He just could not take his eyes off the screen.
He watched everything with the same passion and enthusiasm: Andre playing the violin, the orchestra playing, the singers singing Strauss, Mozart and Lehar. To my great joy, my little one already heard almost all those pieces while riding in the car - so he was a prepared listener.
We did some dancing around the living room: some waltzing and some chardash.
It was equally enjoyable for both of us.
Then it was his feeding time (yes, readers, those feedings, naps and diaper changes get in Troy's way to enjoying music), so I took him to the kitchen. He could still hear it all, but could not see the screen. Then a nice young soprano started singing Dove sono from Le Nozze di Figaro. I could tell Troy loved it, because he was paying so much attention and - lifting his index finger, he was saying " Mama, mama".
Ah, if you are reading this and you are not a parent, you probably think"This woman is nuts - what is she writing about? The baby lifted his finger and said Mama. Big deal!"
However, if you are a parent - you know. Those little things are a big deal.
I should probably take him to Andre Rieu's concert when he is a little older. The guy is a frequent guest here, in Baltimore.