Resolutions for 2010

December 31, 2009 - So last year around this time, I blogged a typical favorite things of the past year post, but since with very few exceptions (a new President, getting an award for 10 years of leadership of OV from Opera America, and the continued love and support of my family and friends) this year has pretty much sucked a big pile of suckitude, I decided to blog about my aspirations, goals, hopes, etc. for 2010.

In the coming year, I hope to be more realistic in assessing what I can accomplish and the relative importance of those accomplishments. I will aspire to not take other people and their contributions for granted, and to not put off doing and saying things that affirm, praise, or console because of a belief that "oh, there's always time to do that when I'm done doing this". I've discovered that's often not the case. I plan on being more attuned to the pleasure of simple, little things that cross my path every day and which have hitherto often gone unnoticed and under-appreciated and (the flip side of this coin) to address and then let go of petty slights and insults (real or imagined) rather than let them fester.

And finally, I'm going to attempt to be a colleague, friend, son, husband, and person that people are pleased and proud to have in their lives all year through, not just during the holiday season when we all rush around trying to make amends for all the things we did or neglected to do during the previous 12 months.

I wish all of you a happy, healthy, and abundant 2010.

A few random musings

September 30, 2009 - Just some thoughts that have been running through my head.

One man's tired cliché is another's cherished memory.

Innovation that provides no insight is not brilliance, merely a desperate cry for attention. Cinderella done with an all male naked cast or in an insane asylum may be innovative but does it really provide any insight into the themes of the piece (or entertain any but the most prurient and/or jaded audience)?

Companies that are continuing to produce art (even if it's not "lavish") in the current climate deserve respect (even if it's begrudging) not carping about the physical elements that their budgets allow.

Comments welcome.

And there are still good seats available to the two remaining performances of Cinderella. Click here to get yours or show up at the door and save yourself the processing fee.

See you at the opera!

Greetings from Tulsa

June 11, 2009 - Hey friends. I'm here in Tulsa directing A Little Night Music for Light Opera of Oklahoma. I haven't been posting much, not because I'm swamped with rehearsals here (wish I could say that I was) but rather because OV is in the process of redesigning its website and evidently blogs are the hardest thing to transfer to I'm trying to not make Inspired Revolutions job and more difficult. Look for more regular postings when I get back in a couple weeks to Charm City. In the meantime, look for your OV 2009-2010 season brochures in the mail.

Updates on Various Fronts

March 17, 2009 - The Coronation of Poppea closed this past Saturday with a completely sold out house. It was one of our most popular shows, and I already miss the wonderful group of performers who made it such a joy to work on. Next up is Britten's Albert Herring (May 1st thru 9th), a delightful comedy set in a small English village engaged in crowning a May King. Effervescent fun for the whole family. Click here to get a ticket.

On the audition front, my apologies to singers awaiting to hear our decisions about casting for next season. Budgeting has proven to be even more of an arcane science this year and so contracts have been unavoidably delayed. We're very close to sorting it all out though and singers will be notified very shortly. Thank you for your patience.

Finally, tickets are now on sale for our annual gala fundraiser, this year entitled When the Clock Strikes Twelve. It will take place on May 16th from 8-11pm at the beautiful Winans Mansion (1217 St. Paul Street) and will have a fairytale theme. Tickets are $100 and may be purchased by calling the box office at 410.547.7997. Everyone had a blast at last year's gala, so come celebrate and support OV.

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!

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!

Requiem for the Return Call

August 27, 2008 - Okay, just a brief note to ask "What has happened to the return phone call?" Recently, I have had instance after instance of leaving messages (sometimes several messages and sometimes in several forms of communication - I'm including the "reply email" in this threnody as well) only to receive - wait for it - NOTHING! I understand that we're all busy people, but as busy people you all should realize that as you don't have time to reply, I don't have time to communicate with you multiple times because of not receiving said reply. So do us all a favor (I'm being inclusive here because somehow I sense that I'm not the only one for whom this is a major button-pusher), take 30 seconds out of your busy life to respond in some way, even if it's "Can't focus on this right now. Will get back to you by (insert date/time here)." There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Okay, getting down off soap box and replacing opera director hat on head.