Un Séjour Quebecois

January 27, 2009 - Last week I put on my "church musician's" hat and went to St. Hyacinthe, Québec (about 40 minutes outside of Montréal) to inspect the new LeTourneau organ which will be delivered to Emmanuel Episcopal Church (where I am organist and choirmaster) in about 3 weeks. The instrument is glorious and it was well worth putting up with all the snowy, slushy, grimy yuckiness of the Canada in January to visit it. Also had dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Au Pied du Cochon which had an entire section of the menu dedicated to foie gras preparations. Definitely not for the vegetarianly minded diner.

On the OV front, I'm pleased to announce that the children's roles in our upcoming production of Albert Herring have been cast. Veronica Page will sing Emmie, Austin Nikirk will sing Cis, and Collin Power will sing Harry. Thanks to Mairee Pantzer and the Children's Chorus of Maryland for providing such fine young musicians. I look forward to working with them.

The Coronation of Poppea is fast approaching. Get your tickets now to see this decadent masterpiece! See you at the opera!

Downtime? What Downtime?

January 19, 2009 - Because opera companies (particularly opera companies in geographic locations prone to that cold white stuff falling from the sky) rarely produce shows during January, the general public has the idea that this must be "downtime" for us. Well, here's a little snapshot of what OV has been engaged in since the start of 2009.

1) Working out final details of the design, construction, and load-in of the set for The Coronation of Poppea. This is a more complicated process than you might think (and it has not really been made easier by the economy) involving bringing artistic sensibilities, budgetary realities, and space usage logistics all into one harmonious whole. Here's a sketch of what audiences can expect when they attend.

2) Auditioning children for the roles of Emmie, Cis, and Harry in our upcoming production of Albert Herring. So far I've heard kids from The Handel Choir of Baltimore Children's Chorus, The Children's Chorus of Maryland, and The Peabody Children's Chorus. Final casting decisions will be made by the end of this week. This piece is a delightful comedy for families. Britten wrote very well for children's voices but expects a high degree of musicianship from the kids so auditions are taken just as seriously as those for the adults.

3) Setting repertoire for 2010-2011. More of that in later posts, but yes, we do actually plan that far in advance and there are many companies that plan even further ahead.

4) Writing proposals for Artscape 2009, grants for funding, blurbs for press releases, etc., etc., etc. Well at least that undergraduate English major of mine is coming in handy.

5) Planning all things of an orchestral nature for the 2009-2010 season. Thanks Jed, JoAnn, and Michelle for your valuable input.

6) Auditioning singers for the 2009-2010 season. For some reason, this is not as time-consuming as it has been in the past since singers are inexplicably not auditioning as much as in the past. I say inexplicably because my instinct would have been that, with companies cancelling auditions, productions, and seasons, more singers would be going after the opportunities that still exist. Oh well, guess it's good to be reminded that none of us have a crystal ball.

The list actually goes on, but I hate to belabor points. So back to the "to-do" list.

Stay warm and see you at the opera!

The Case for the Arts

January 13, 2009 - I was going to blog about what's going on at OV today but I simply had to disseminate this post (click here to read it) from the development goddess Penelope Burk. It's moving and should remind all of us in the arts why we do what we do and the essential role we play in the lives of our patrons. Amazing stuff. Thanks, Penelope.

And after reading, please know that the season to "show your love" has not come to an end. You can still donate online (or via the phone or via mail) and if you aren't in a position to send money, please consider other ways in which you can help OV with time, talent, or useful items (office supplies are always welcome). Have you hugged your opera company today?

I wish you all a wonderful 2009 filled with all the things that make life worth living.

Travelogue

January 6, 2009 - Just wanted to give a brief account of my travels during the "twelve days of Christmas". My partner and I departed Baltimore at 9pm on Christmas Day and landed at London Heathrow Airport on Boxing Day aka The Feast of Stephen that Good King Wenceslas was so fond of looking out on at about 9:30am. We got a car from Europcar (caveat emptor - don't ever rent from them since they quote you an amazing price and then nickel and dime you to death when you return the car) and drove 5 hours roughly due west to Newport in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The rest of Boxing Day is a bit of a blur given jetlag, etc. but we did manage to stay up long enough to have a lovely late brunch at a fantastic restaurant called Llys Meddyg (more of this in a bit).

The next day, we drove down to St. David's to visit our friends David and Freya Dixon at their gallery (The Albion Gallery). David does amazing, evocative watercolors and Freya is an absolute goddess with textiles and handmade papers. If you are ever in St. David's be sure to check them out on Non Street, just around the corner from the fantastic St. David's Cathedral. Unfortunately, both David and Freya were sick so the visit was a bit truncated but it was still lovely to see them. That night we went back to Llys Meddyg only to find out that they were completely booked for dinner, so we and our friend Frederica Chapman headed over to the Royal Oak Pub for some pub grub and one of the most surprisingly (given the pub aspect of the place) delicious ginger sponges I've ever tasted. We also happened to meet the Mayor of Newport having a pint at the bar.

Sunday we hiked hiked through Ty Canol Woods in search of St. Brynach's Cave, a site where legend has it St. Brynach lived and communed with angels on Carn Ingli (Welsh for Mountain of Angels). For video of this little expedition, see my Facebook profile. They were taken with my Flip, another amazing little bit of gadgetry that I love almost as much as my iPhone. (Thanks to my godson Conor for giving it to me and Bill for Christmas.) Sunday night we ate dinner at a new restaurant back in St. David's called Cwtch (which means "cuddle up" in Welsh). The meal was okay, but the dessert (a warm bread pudding made with the traditional Welsh fruit bread known as Bara Brith) was amazing.

Monday, we were determined to dine at Llys Meddyg so we had made reservations and boy howdy was it worth the effort. This place is absolutely fantastic on every level. It's worth the trip to West Wales just to eat there. And evidently it's also become a bit of a celebrity hotspot. We sat at the same table where Keira Knightley has sat. Pretty hot, right? Anyway, definitely plan on going there if you're ever in even the remote vicinity of Newport.

Tuesday morning we left Newport and took a beautiful (but quite long) drive over the Brecon Beacon Mountains to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. We stayed at a lovely hotel named Cotswold House. Accomodations were fantastic; food in the hotel's bistro (except for the Christmas Pudding) was not so great. Seems the pattern on this trip (except at Llys Meddyg) was so-so meal, totally boffo dessert.

Finally on Wednesday (New Year's Eve), we drove into London, dropped the car off at Europcar (where the aforementioned wallet raping occurred) and got a taxi to the Sheraton Park Tower Hotel. Room was great, but the meal (a whopping 99 pounds sterling prix fixe 7 course festival of pretentious crap at the restaurant named OneOOne) was completely dreadful. Guess that will teach us not to make advanced plans for New Year's Eve in London. An unfortunate end to what had been a lovely trip. Oh well, can't win them all I guess.

Okay, so the next posts will be about all the exciting OV stuff that's coming up. See you at the opera!