Super-excited!

Dear Friends!
This afternoon my dearest friend Tatiana flew all the way from Moscow to visit us here and stay with us at our home for two weeks!
Needless to say, I am super-excited! Because she is such a dear friend (our friendship is um... let me see... 16 years old???!!!), this feels like a mini family reunion. We have a lot planned and of course, I will probably be unable to blog that much for the next two weeks.
So please bear with me. I promise to post reports of all our fabulous adventures here in Baltimore, in DC, in Pennsylvania and in NYC (when we hit the Met and have an overnight stay in the city that never sleeps)!
On a side note, this afternoon while waiting for Tatiana at the International Arrivals, I thought that that place,International Arrivals, may be one of the happiest places on Earth. I haven't seen so many mass tears of joy, hugs and kisses for a long long time. International Departures might be quite the opposite. But - that's life, I guess.
Time to go to bed - good night, everyone!
Stay tuned!

FCS: From the Heart

A switch from teaching to social work that I made over 2 years ago did not promise too much excitement. After all, how could you even compare standing in front of an audience with all that almost artistic adrenaline rushing through your veins, to seeing senior citizens one on one at a desk, by the window with a view?
That's right, sounded boring to me too! However, for a new mom it seemed like a better and a far more reasonable option.
It's no secret that if done with love, any job can become exciting.
I have always liked working with people. Even more so helping them.
My new job required a lot of advocating for senior citizens.
I am not sure if you all are aware of how many low income seniors lose their social benefits due to unclear reasons on a daily basis.
Helpless at their age, they are often desperate and do not know who to turn to for help.
This is the part of the game where I step in.
I do not want to pretend to be a lawyer, which I am not.
I am the one who does the dirty work of bugging, nagging, calling and fighting with all kinds of agencies, so my seniors could get back their health insurance, food stamps, taxi vouchers, etc.
Sometimes it takes months of phone fights and e-mail/letter writing.
Some agencies know my voice and are not loving it.
( Note to self: Maybe I should try to sing for them next time I call...)

This lady came to see me several months ago. She had lost her health insurance plan for no reason and could not get it back no matter what she did. Being a low income senior, she was horrified to watch medical bills for thousands of dollars piling up on her desk.
As usual, I told her there was no guarantee of success, but that I would try to fight for her as hard as I could.
I did. For 2 months.
Last week she came running into my office and said: " I got my insurance coverage back!"

That moment, the moment of true victory that you share with someone who almost lost their hope is priceless.
Nothing is more rewarding than knowing that you fought for justice and won.

Yesterday the same lady walked into my office with a happy smile on her face and said:
"Raisa, you have helped me so much. The amount of compassion that I have seen from you in this short period of time is more than I have seen in years. I remembered that I used to make jewelry and decided to make this just for you. Please accept it - it comes from my heart!"

With these words she gave me a little box with this gorgeous bracelet in it.
"It's freshwater pearl, lapis and Swarowsky crystal, she added. I made it just for you."

How could I not have accepted it?
At my job I am not looking for gifts. I do it because I happen to love it and get paid for doing it too.
However, what comes from the heart goes right into the heart and stays there, spreading the warmest and brightest light of all: the light of human gratitude.
That light is amazing, priceless and worth living for.


That bracelet just screams "Take me to the opera!", does it not?

DO (the Note)

I think Troy knows the note DO ( C that is). Every time I play this chord (C Major) -->
he runs up to the piano and sings DO, the right way, exactly like the note sounds. For those of my readers who are not very familiar with piano keyboard, he is right. DO (or C) is one of the 3 notes played in this chord.

A Step to Offenbach

I have no shocker for you all this Friday. However, I do have a little Troy-themed update.

This week, as a little tribute to Dame Joan Sutherland, I pulled out this CD from my opera collection and played Les oiseaux dans la charmille (Olympia's aria) for Troy. He loved it and sang right along.

Then, pleasantly surprised, but picky as ever, I played Amis! Anour tendre et reveur,

Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour,

Scintille, diamant,

Jour et nuit (oh, he loved! loved! LOVED this one!!! Hey, who can resist singing that trala-lalala-lalalalalalalala line?)

C'est une chanson d'amour, and finally,

Adieu! Je ne veux pas te suivre.

In my own words (I do keep it simple and short) I tell Troy what those pieces are about and sometimes I make up and sing my own lyrics to make it easier for him to understand.

Yes, at this point Troy is probably taking in just the upper, illustrative layer of Offenbach's music. Apparently, this is what he is ready for and he loves it.

However, just like any great masterpiece, Les Contes d'Hoffmann can and should be re-visited and re-discovered over and over again.

As he gets older and more mature, he will dive into its depths and discover a serious, philosophical, complex and never outdated Offenbach.

What made him prepared at the age of 20 months to experience this musical adventure?

Not Handel.

Not Mozart.

Their music (that he has heard so far) still stands quite far apart from the all-embracing, epic and endless ocean of Offenbach.

What made Troy truly prepared was Gluck and his incredible Orphee!

Once he got into the musical dramatism, the dynamic arias and choral scenes of Orphee - he was prepared. The step that he had to make from Gluck to Offenbach turned out to be relatively small and therefore, easy.

To tell you the truth, Orphee et Eurydice still remains my son's favorite opera. Anyone who saw him listening to it, would tell it touches him most deeply. Ah, that music... that story...

On another note, when asked to show how he plays the piano, he moves his hands as if playing the piano. It makes me very happy that at this age he knows the difference between the piano and the violin and between the ways to play them.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Ms. Minna

If one could use the word “severe” to describe rain, today would be the best day for it.
Water bill must be included in the rent up there!
Besides, it’s been quite gloomy all day long today.
Yet, I got to have my ray of sunshine.
About 2 hours ago a lady wearing a rain poncho walked into my office.
Her name is Ms. Minna. She is an ardent fan of my Opera Seminars. She is 94 years old and a walker user.
On her walker “seat” she had a couple of vinyl records.
‘Raisa, I came to show these to you,’she said.
I love your seminars and I have a huge opera collection at home.
Here is my favorite Madama Butterfly, and here is Mario Lanza.
I have many more at home, you know. If you need any of these for your seminars I would be happy to lend them to you. Of course, now they listen to discs. So if you don’t have the right player, I could lend you mine.

I could not believe it! This 94-year-old lady walked to my office with a walker, under the pouring rain to just share samples of her opera collection with me!
I don’t believe anybody’s heart could stay indifferent to this genuinely sweet, generous and sincere action.

Everyone knows how to take, but not everyone knows how to give.
However, like any art, music is heart opening.
Therefore, once it enters your life, you do not want it all for yourself! You want to share it and let the world hear what you hear, feel what you feel and see what you see. It becomes an urge!
And then, once you look at things from that perspective, age is just a number and rain is just water.
Sharing beauty is what really comes first.
This gesture of major thoughtfulness and kindness alone has made my day and truly warmed my heart.
I will probably never get tired of saying that it’s people like Ms. Minna and you all, my dear readers, that keep me going and motivate me to explore music on deeper levels.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement!
And Ms. Minna – a very special Thanks to you!
On a seminar-related note, my Rossini/Il Barbiere seminar is scheduled for November 3rd! The preparation is in full swing, and as always, so much fun! Stay tuned for details.

P.S. I was considering a couple of titles for this post, but decided to call it Ms. Minna. She deserves it, don't you think?

Piano Discoveries

This weekend Troy discovered the existence of piano pedals and spent a fair amount of time under the instrument studying them.
The piano is an endless adventure for him. There are so many unknown territories to explore!First there is the keyboard with a variety of sounds that those keys produce, all “singing” like different animals.
And then there is an “under the piano area” with the three shiny pedals that can be pushed down and jump up if you let them go. Wow!

I do not think I have mentioned yet that sometimes Troy runs through the keyboard with both hands, obviously copying me playing the piano. Sometimes it sounds quite jazzy. It’s nothing much because (of course!) he pushes those keys randomly. However, he realizes that playing the piano makes a nice melody! That, my firends, is a discovery!
Sometimes for a change, he just pushes the same key in different octaves and listens to it. Same key – same “name” - different octaves. Huge discovery! And even if it has not been fully made yet, it’s sure on its way.

P.S. By the way, when singing those notes to Troy, I have switched to the Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si format, just to avoid confusion with the alphabet. The confusing part of it is that the alphabet and the octave do not start with the same letter, (meaning that the octave starts with a C)! Sometimes it's easier to memorize two completely different things than two things that are almost similar and yet, a little different.

Dame Joan Sutherland Dies

The saddest news, my friends.
Yesterday, on Sunday, October 10th, the world lost Dame Joan Sutherland.
If you are reading this, pause for a second and think, what this name means to you personally, what memories it brings to you.
I say What would the world do without the epic Sutherland-Domingo -Bacquer Les Contes d'Hoffmann?
Who could ever portray the 3 facets of Woman better?
Internet is running over with her obituaries today - feel free to read any of them if you want more official information about this incredible artist.
I will be short, though, and just say that this is an enormous, irretrievable loss not only for the world of opera, but also for the humanity in general.
Dame Joan Sutherland was a true ARTIST(that's right - all caps). She shared the magic of her voice as well as the beauty of her personality of a true artist - modest, sincere, unselfish, generous...
She loved music unconditionally and was its most devoted servant all her life.
To me this is a personal loss, and I grieve most deeply and sincerely.
May you rest in peace, True Artist.
Farewell.
The world will never be the same without you, but those touched by the light of your voice will turn it into a better place. Sooner or later they will.

The Beginning!

Ladies and Gentleman!

I am very proud to announce that today Troy and I have opened our new 2010-11 Opera Season together at the good old Baltimore Lyric Opera House!!!

Well, technically not quite so "old": the gorgeous building is being renovated and is now re-named into Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric and the company is now called Lyric Opera Baltimore (LOB).

Anyone who has been reading this blog for the last couple of years knows how devastated we were in Baltimore to have lost our lovely Baltimore Lyric due to bankruptcy. These two years have been the time of great struggle, when the company did everything possible and impossible to get back on its feet. And when I say great, I mean the great, beautiful, enormous, noble and restless initiative and effort to bring music back to people.

Guess what? They made it! We made it. Yes, my friends, Baltimore opera is back!

This morning a crowd of 60 or so ardent opera lovers came together to the lobby of the Lyric for a free 45-minute recital of arias and duets from popular operas, operettas and musicals. I recognized some people and they recognized me too. Same devoted volunteers with faces illuminated with joy and hope accommodated everyone in the lobby, gave out the brochures, offered punch and cookies and made sure that everyone was seated comfortably for the recital. It was impossible not to enjoy the atmosphere of happy energy and excitement. It was like a reunion of very good old friends brought together by the same passion.

There were 2 young performers: a soprano and a baritone. They sang Verdi, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Bizet, Lehar, and Gilbert and Sullivan standing on top of the famous marble staircase, which they used most effectively to help us envision the scenes they were singing.

Now, without further delay, I have to share that I was ( and still am) so proud of my son.

He was so excited to listen to real artists singing real opera and operetta right in front of him. He was fascinated, happy and very interested. He sat on my lap with a huge smile on his face, looking up at me every now and then and clapping after every piece.

It was interesting that when the baritone was performing The Prologue to Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, he came up to us, looked at Troy who was standing on my lap at that point, patted his head and sang right to him with his big, well-shaped voice: Signore!...

Troy was not in the least shy but he was fascinated.

When I was growing up, opera was distant and inaccessible. Somehow the stage separated the audience and the artists. Once the curtain dropped, we went on with our average lives, and artists - with their presumingly fancy and luxurious ones. Nowadays, opera is reaching out to people of all generations, actively trying to gain more popularity with every age group.

It's sort of coming down its pedestal, even if only a little, to be closer to people. Wasn't Troy born in the best of times?

Just imagine what it is for a little boy to see a real singer standing right in front of him and singing right to him? It must be magic!

Another funny thing was at the very end of the recital, when the artists were finishing their duet and sang a final C together, suddenly Troy (who was 100% quiet during the program) opened his mouth and joined them singing that same C. The funniest part of it was that he got the note right!

After the concert a couple of people came up to me to say how well-behaved Troy was and how great he acted. One lady said "People make such a mistake not to bring them [kids] to shows, because they are wonderful!"

The young soprano joined them saying that she was shocked how good he was and how well he listened.

The major good news is that LOB will start functioning as an opera company next fall, in the Season 2011-12 and will present 3 operas, fully costumed and staged: La Traviata in collaboration with Pittsburg Opera, Le Nozze di Figaro with sets and costumes from L'Opera de Montreal and Faust in collaboration with Indianapolis Opera. All the productions will be using our own Lyric Opera Baltimore chorus, which is another great news, because we do have a lovely chorus!

It was an incredible outing: the beginning of something new and exciting!

The Winner!

Dear Readers!
Yesterday, October 4th was the deadline for the Face contest.
Just to remind you all, the question was
What opera or non-opera musical character could that Face in the mountains belong to?
Some of you left me messages in the comment section, others DM-ed me on Twitter.
I confess I only got several entries and I appreciate them all, no matter what answers I received.
Thank you all for taking time to read my blog and giving that question a thought.
And the winner is Lanna from San Francisco, whom you all know from the wonderful comments she leaves on this blog.

Her answer was
The Mountain King from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt.

Remember the famous theme when during his long travels in search of the sense of life Peer finds himself in the Hall of the Mountain King?
The music begins slowly and quietly in the low register and then snowballs into a really dynamic, crashing apotheosis when the mountain colapses, as Peer Gynt successfully escapes from the King and his trolls.

Congratulations, Lanna and thank you so much for participating!!!

This prize will be sent to you in the mail. Hope you will continue to enjoy the incredible music of Grieg.

Thank you for you love of classical music!

Playing and Learning

Yeah, I know it’s Friday, and I am supposed to shock you with my weekly FCS ( Friday Culture Shock). Not today though. Instead, on this windy first day of October, I would like to give you all a little update on how Troy is learning about music.

As you all know, during this past month Troy and I have been exploring Mozart’s music together. One month ago he still loved uncatchy music. However, now he is into catchy tunes. His most recent favorite is Non piu andrai. Yay, finally!!!!

Who could blame him for liking the happy dynamic music of this aria. Recently I noticed that closer to its end, he does the make-believe “conducting”. He waves his arm, making a pointing gesture and yells out the “big notes” right before they come.

Besides it just being a cute little thing that he does, I think it would be safe to assume that he knows that music well enough to tell when those notes are coming.

He is fascinated by Andre Rieu! The way Andre Rieu plays the violin is really magic for him. He loves pretending to play the violin and does so very often. Two days ago, we stopped by at my mom’s house while she had company. One of her guests happened to be a music teacher. We started talking and I mentioned that Troy loves music, especially Gluck, Handel and Mozart.
Then I asked him to show how he plays the violin. I did not have much hope to see him doing it in front of strangers, because he is usually pretty shy to do that, (us being a lucky exception). However, the music teacher must have done something right to earn his trust!
Troy walked to the middle of the living room, lifted his left arm as if holding the violin, lifted and bent his right arm as if holding the bow and started moving it.
The music teacher was shocked, said that she never saw a 20-month-old doing things like that and praised him from the bottom of her heart.
I could tell Troy felt really happy and proud! The minute we came home, he demonstrated the same thing to his Daddy. He almost felt like he performed and was pretty excited and happy about that.

It’s been a week since Troy showed a lot of interest in the piano. He has always been interested, but recently his interest has become more focused and more mature so to speak.
He comes up to the piano and asks to open it. Once he has access to the keybord, he pushes the keys gently, one at a time, listens to the sound that the key makes, looks at me and asks : Ah?
To which I reply by singing the note to him. Over and over again. C…D…E…He starts doing it too, by pushing the key and singing eeeeeeeeeeeeee. I know I am simplifying it. I am aware that a key is not a note. However, those are the basics: you can’t teach a toddler sharps and flats yet, right? Anyway, he loves it. He thinks it’s such a fun game! He might memorize his CDE, before his ABC.

There is also another piano game that I made up myself and think it is pretty nice. Let’s say that every octave, going left to right, is the voice of an animal. The lowest one is the Bear. And from the Bear we travel all the way up to the Wolf, the Fox, the Bunny, the Mouse, the Baby Mouse… Once associations kick in, you can rest assured – the learning process is on!