Pre-birthday Wisdom

I have a friend, who happens to be a musician by trade and my hairstylist. Originally from Ukraine, she immigrated to Israel in the 80-s and moved to the United States 10 years ago. Ella (that’s my friend’s name) is a very intelligent and flexible person. Plus, she is a workaholic. Upon her arrival in this country, she realized that the competition was way too tough for her to make into the music world. Her social skills, sense of style, analytic thinking and intuition of a business woman guided her well: she became a super successful hairstylist.  At this point, she has a very impressive clientele and is quite wealthy. Needless to say, when she shares her thoughts, I keep my ears wide open, because Ella knows what she is saying. She knows life.

One afternoon we talked about careers and she asked how old I was. After I told her my age, she added: “Well, you have 10 years to make it – that’s it. 10 years to make the most important things in your career happen. After that you can develop what you started earlier, but starting from scratch will be extremely difficult".

Somehow, I sensed that she was right. That was two years ago and I was 35. Tomorrow I am turning 37, and looking back at this past year from the musical point of view, it was a wonderful year!

My birthday wish to myself? To say the same thing exactly one year from now.

According to Ella, I still have 8 of them to make it, unless by the time they elapse, 45 will be proclaimed the new 25. In that case, I’ll get 20 more.

At this point, however, I declare that 37 is the new 25, except that it’s better. (At 37 not only do you look good and think straight – you have experience, and more often than not, experience equals wisdom!!!)

Cheers!

"If I rest, I rust" Placido Domingo

From light to darkness, from Italian comedy to Greek tragedy here I was, back at the WNO to see Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride in a dark and weird production of Emilio Gadia. If you go to the Reviews section of http://www.bachtrack.com/ ,you will see my review of this production. Actually, you can ‘narrow’ your search by selecting Opera sub-section, which will take you right to my review.

See you in a bit.

Well, now that you are (hopefully) back from Bachtrack, the only thing that I would really like to add is that I was thrilled to see Placido singing opera again. My heart starts beating a little faster even when he is in the pit (it must be the power of the opera legend that gets me), even though I do not consider him a very strong conductor.

Listening to his beautiful, called by many “golden voice” from the short distance of Row S ( Row 12) was truly exciting and inspiring.

When people mock Domingo for not being willing to retire at his old age, they do not understand something that becomes obvious when you watch the guy on stage.

It’s not a job for him. Music is his life.

In his case, saying: “You are old. Why don’t you retire?” equals “You are old. Why don’t you die?”



Traditional curtain call pic

Do not believe me? Go see Iphigenie en Tauride in the WNO.

You might find it a little hard to enjoy the creepy “You-are-cordially-invited-to-attend-our-Black-Mass” production by Emilio Sagi (which could have been interesting, had it not been so eclectic and out of place and epoch), but you are guaranteed to enjoy the performance of a true opera legend, unconditionally devoted to stage and music. And then you can tell your grandchildren: “Yes, I have heard the great Domingo and was that a great voice or what??!!!”

My 2010-2011 Opera Season is hereby officially closed – no more opera until the fall, my friends. Yet, lots of reading and studying to do. Before we know it the fall will be here, which in this case means resuming opera life in its every aspect: teaching, learning, attending performances and writing reviews.
Meanwhile, stay tuned for new posts on my blog, where music life never stops.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Almost forgot... Another great thing to make it worth going - my newly discovered choco-licious Kennedy Center incentive!

Music and Kids: a Great How-to!

A beautiful and ah, so true how-to article ! Enjoy!

Don Pasquale: My "Recipe of True Happiness"

The night of Friday 13th found me on the road, driving to “my other office” (that’s what I like to call the WNO these days). I almost feel like it’s my second job, except that I like it too much to call it a job. No, I am not as superstitious as many drivers, who obviously preferred to stay at home on the said bad luck day-date, thus making my trip smooth and almost traffic-free.
Bad luck superstitions do not affect grand opera either: the opening night of Leon Major’s headspinning production of Donizetti’s
Don Pasquale went without a hitch and definitely was the best Pasquale I have ever seen.

Going to the opera is always about so much more than opera, even to me, the most ardent opera lover. It’s about dressing up and making your hair straight and sleek. It’s about wearing heels, even if you throw them on in the theater parking lot, just an hour before the show. It’s about surfing the opera shop and getting a cool theme-souvenir for your kid. It’s about having a no-rush dinner topped off with a slice of an incredibly rich chocolate cake filled with coffee-flavored cream (even if it’s just in a semi-self-serve cafeteria) . Going to the opera is about getting to your seat ahead of time and embracing the marvelous atmosphere of an almost-ready to start show. Going to the opera is about the dizziness and unconditional happiness that music makes you experience.

And now to the performance itself.

Due to copyright right-related reasons, bloggers will no longer be allowed to post links to their Bachtrack reviews on their blogs. So now we have to work twice as hard to make it worth for our readers to look for our reviews on their own (LOL).Thus, please go to the Review section on http://www.bachtrack.com/ and just scroll all the way to May 13th to read my short, sweet and funny Recipe of True Happiness.

Trust me, I do not find particular enjoyment in praising my own work, but this one came out as light, playful and sweat-free as Donizetti’s opera and so far was liked by everyone who read it, including Bachtrack director, who actually tweeted about my review, having posted a link to it on her Tweeter page: For opera lovers Raisa has distilled a Recipe of True Happiness with @dcopera’s Don Pasquale ingredients.
So, see you in a bit, after you are back from Bachtrack

Lovely curtain and set background

All right, besides everything already said in the review, I would like you to remember the name of young Spanish tenor Antonio Gadia, who sang the part of the lovesick Ernesto. (What’s with Donizetti and the E-names anyway? Ernesto, Enrico, Edgardo…) His voice was a major standout. Of course, you and I know that no one can beat Juan Diego Florez when it comes to singing bel canto. However, had I never heard Juan Diego, I would say with all confidence that Antonio Gadia is the best lyric tenor I have ever heard. Yes, that’s exactly how good he was. So keep your eyes and ears open, my friends. And those of you who live in DC and the surrounding areas – you just have to see this production. Trust me, you’ll never forgive yourselves if you don’t. And if you live in Baltimore, you have an extra reason to go – James Morris is a Baltimorean. So come cheer for your guy!


My blog's trademark - curtain pic
(Left to right: Gadia, Siurina, Morris, Croft)

P.S. Almost forgot to share with you what I got for Troy in the Kennedy Center souvenir shop. As you all remember, he uses soft round nail files for his “conducting”. So I got two new additions for his collection: one with a piano keyboard print and one with sheet music print. He loved-loved-loved them both!

Signing off now, but not for long (I promise). Cheers!

Opera Needs Babies!

It might be old news by now, but put your hands together anyway for a new mommy that opera world will be getting this year: Elina Garanca is due in October!


Just think about it: three years ago, when some of us “met” in the blog world, none of our wonderful opera favorites had kids. Except for Renee (2) and Dmitri(4) (who are a decade older), Nathan (4 then, 5 now) and Joseph (2).
Then all of a sudden, opera entered its baby boom stage (no pun intended), and everyone started having babies.
First came Anna, then yours truly (who is not an opera star, but does have a little opera fan at home), then Diana, then Gustavo, then Juan Diego, and now – Elina!

I realize that my joy for Elina may not be the easiest to share by those of you who have already gotten their Met tickets for Anna Bolena, but hey, we’ll have to bear this temporary loss the best we can. It’s for a good reason after all!
Opera needs babies! Hardships of parenthood are nothing in comparison to the beauty of being the mom/dad of someone who fills your life with light and true meaning. And that light and meaning will without a doubt project right into the music.
On another note, how cool is it that I do not even have to use last names for you all to know which artists I am talking about? At their young age they are true legends and their glorious names already made it into opera history.

Doing So Much More

I hate to brag. Believe it or not, contradictive as it is to the whole nature of writing a blog, I do. So I truly hope that you, my lovely readers, do not take my Troy posts as bragging of a baby/music - obsessed mom. Rather like a true update on a little boy’s journey through the marvelous world of music.


So before I proceed with the post, a quick fine print reminder.
Because these posts are part of my Troy’s musical diary, please know that everything you read here is 100% objective and true. Nothing is made-up or exaggerated in any sort of way.
(Not that other posts in this blog contain any type of exaggeration!)
That said, shall we?

Well, my friends, Troy is steadily in love with music. It brings him joy. It gives him energy. He is always humming, or singing, or chanting, or “conducting” or playing an instrument. For him music is alive, and music making is an alive, almost sacred process.

Now that he speaks so much more he uses terms like tjurah (overture), aria, orchestra, ductah (conductor) and tyatya ( theater) which helps him verbalize his musical preferences and actually say what exactly he wants to hear.
Thus, for Orphee’s Bravura aria, he says “ Ahr-fei, aria”. For the opera’s incredible overture, he says: "Ahr-fei. Tjurah”.

Ah, this is so much easier than just guessing and guessing and guessing.

He names his favorite composers: Mottit (Mozart), Gook (Gluck), Handel and Isinni ( Rossini) and identifies them in the little portraits that we have at home by pointing to each and saying the name.
If asked what Gluck wrote, he says “Ahr-fei”, if asked what Mozart wrote he says “ Pa-pam” (Troy’s name for Little Night Music), if asked what Handel wrote, he says “oolie-oolie” (Halleluja). If he hears any of those pieces, he names the piece and the composer who wrote it.

And the last, but certainly not the least, he knows quite a few musical instruments and names them: French horn, trombone, tuba, double bass, cello, violin, piano, drum. Every time he hears piano or violin on the radio, he recognizes its sound and names the instrument. So far just those two.

On the piano he tries to re-create music from his favorite Orphee. He announces “Orphee. Tjurah” and tries to play something that would sound as rich and intense as the overture. But because there is only so much he can do, he waves his arms in the air to add expression to his playing, then plays again and then waves his arms in the air again.
If you ask him to play how “the mean ones” (our nickname for shadows and evil spirits) sing, he goes to the low octaves and plays as fast and intensely as he can. If you ask him to play how Orphee sings, he goes to the higher octaves and plays there.

Troy loves singing along. I guess it will be safe to assume that by now he knows all the words of La Cenerentola and Orphee. Not only does he sing along with the artists, but also he often prompts the words for both arias and recitatives, which is really cute.

Our lullaby tradition has changed as well. Before it was just me singing and Troy listening. Now we sing together.
Very often it’s Alla Hornpipe, which he calls “Too-too”, Si, ritrovarla, which he calls “Si-si”, or songs from Thomas and Russian cartoons. Sometimes instead of us singing together, he plays harmonica and I just listen.
It’s a very beautiful, truly uniting experience, my friends, that I cherish with all my heart. Seriously, the best times ever! And words can’t express how grateful I am for every moment of those times!

Weekend Culture Shock: A Very English One!

As you all know, this is a music blog, which obviously means that no matter how much fun Troy and I have off the musical tracks, I do not post about it here, on the blog. Unless of course, it qualifies as a Friday Culture Shock.

However, last weekend was filled with excitement and fun of such outstanding quality, that even though it was not strictly musical, it definitely deserves a post. And because the excitement lasted Friday through Sunday, I have named this post Weekend Culture Shock.

Chapter 1. The Royal Wedding.

Friday morning I turned the TV on for just a second, but all Troy and I were able to see before it was time to leave was a huge crowd in front of Buckingham Palace.

However, I did have time to tell Troy that it was a very special day because the Prince was getting married.

Because the only prince available for my son’s reference at that point was Don Ramiro from La Cenerentola, sung by Juan Diego Florez, he naturally inquired:

Diego?

After a short clarification, the details of which I will graciously drop, I told Troy that he needed to eat well and rest a lot all day long, so he had energy to watch the wedding at night.
Which he did.



I think I might need a smaller size, please.

So Friday night we came home and turned the TV on right away. And the first thing we saw was important guests in crazy hats entering Westminster Abbey. I mean seriously, the funnier the better, right?


Royalty or not, here I come!

Having laughed enough at the hats, we decided to make a Crazy Hat Party of our own, and my old Preakness hat came in quite handy, didn’t it?


Well, if nothing else, neither of us looked like a rhino or a unicorn wearing it. But we had soooo much fun taking pics and laughing at each other.

The wedding coverage was taking forever and the only interesting thing that Troy did get to see before his bedtime was Prince William traveling to and arriving at Westminster Abbey. As he was waving from his Rolls Royce, Troy was waving back to him and calling out: Prince Williaaaaaaaaaam!

He even clapped as the prince entered the Abbey, and went to bed utterly content with what he had seen.

I watched the rest until midnight and thought the whole event was absolutely marvelous. I was particularly touched by Kate’s arrival at Westminster Abbey to the sounds of grandiose music and chorale.

Ah, what a truly royal moment it was... and what a moment for her father!

Next day different channels ran re-caps and re-plays of the event, and around 6 p.m. I got to show Troy the wedding ceremony. He loved it. He truly and consciously loved it.

He tried to sing along with the choir. He “conducted” the orchestra. He kept saying Kate…Kate… white dress…. Kate…sit… Prince William… Kate… kiss.

So I went ahead and pre-ordered a DVD of the Royal Wedding for only $5.99.

The first truly significant historical event that Troy and I watched together… I hope he’ll cherish it.



In any case, he still tells me he wants to watch Prince William and Kate, so I guess it was the right thing to do.

Chapter 2. From Rolls Royce to Railroad

Our Sunday started at 8 a.m. with a Day (or should I say, a Morning) Out with Thomas at the B&O Railroad Museum. And I do have to tell you, my friends, that being the biggest classical music lover does not prevent my son from being a huge Thomas fan.



Real engineering starts with the tracks!



As soon as my mom, Troy and I entered the museum premises, we saw it, Thomas – the steamie, Thomas, the really useful engine! Looking just like all the toys and book images, Thomas was rolling its eyes and puffing out steam, while the first passengers were boarding.

Because our ride was not to take place for another 40 minutes, we employed our time the best way we could, taking pictures with Sir Topham Hatt inside the museum and going on old-fashioned carousel rides.



And then we boarded Thomas and off we went. During the ride, both Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt “talked” to the kids on the radio and asked them questions. As the journey progressed, the kids were treated to the most popular of Thomas’ hits that Troy recognized right away and sang along! The conductors checked and stamped everyone’s tickets and awarded every kid with a certificate of a Junior Raiload Engineer, signed by Sir Topham Hatt himself!

Needless to say that Troy was beyond himself with joy and loved every minute of it.

In conclusion, I just can’t help bragging: we won!!! tix for a Day Out with Thomas for this Sunday.

Yes, it is Mother’s Day, but for a mom nothing is more important than seeing her kid happy. ( If you are a parent – you know…) So we are going again - and he just can’t wait!