Radio Broadcasts!!

I totally forgot that there are people "out there" who record radio broadcasts and upload them to file sharing servers!!! Hooray!! Now I can listen to Saturday's Die Zauberflote performance and yesterday's Armida performance as much as and whenever I want. These are not pirated recordings - they are the radio broadcasts. And they are free free free. And that's why I'm listening to Die Zauberflote again right now.

Caaaarrrmmmeeennn!!

I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THURSDAY!!!! I specifically didn't go to the HD broadcast of Carmen today because I want to see it fresh, fresh, fresh. I haven't even read any reviews. But I did listen to the radio broadcast and it was FAB. It was SO COOL to hear Liz sing. I am so excited for her, and to be going to the Met, and to be going on a looooong "date" with Husband, that I'm ready to explode. Explode, I tell you.

So I listened to the radio broadcast - I realized I could listen to the streaming broadcast of the local classical station on my iPhone, meaning, I could go anywhere and still listen. Great, because during intermission we all went outside and joined some neighbors for a walk. One of the girls was at that New Year's Eve party, the one who kept demanding that I sing, sing sing. She's in 2nd grade so she's older than 6 - I guess she's 7 or 8. I told her what I was listening to, explained that it was LIVE and that I know one of the singers. We all ended up at the track field at the nearby school. This girl was so cute. She took me by the hand to lead me to the bleachers to sit and listen. She sat with me and listened for a good half an hour after the interminable intermission ended. She loved it. She kept saying, "Is that your sister?" and I kept saying, "She's my friend, not my sister!" Then she kept asking me to sing a note like that. Ha! Not bloody likely. But I showed her how to sing using her abs, opening wide like a yawn and so on. She was belting out the notes like nobody's business!! She had never heard real opera before. She said her mother watches it on TV - "You know, that woman with the curly hair?" Took me a moment before I realized that I think she meant Susan Boyle. All I said was, "Someone who wins a television contest is not an opera singer. The people you're hearing right now dedicate their lives to studying music and opera, they go to school for it and do nothing else." It was so much fun to share the excitement of the broadcast and the general excitement of live opera with her. She kept telling me that I was so funny, I think because I don't act like a "regular" adult. I tend to talk to kids like they're adults rather than talk "kid talk" to them, if that makes sense. Sharing the experience with her made it even more special.

Then to top off the fabulous day we had tamales for dinner. Oh and I did have my voice lesson this morning. For the very first time, I actually didn't have my music with me! I had taken it out of my bag to go over when to breathe. I do the breathing but sing it only in my head , not out loud. I might have left it on my desk at work. Uh, not that I practice my music while I'm at work. Ahem. I'm sure it was while I was waiting for some work-related computer program to load. So anyway we went over the words and some diction stuff, then for fun worked on Art is Calling for Me. That's going to be fun once I really get it together. We have a lesson next Saturday before the afternoon recital. Should be fun.

Next: What to wear on Thursday, and also, what in the world should Husband wear? He's anti-suit/tie. Dress pants, dress shirt and jacket, sans tie? We'll see. I'm sure I'll post pictures.

Really what I want is, when we're backstage, to be able to put 1 foot, just 1 toe, onto the stage and get a photo. Silly, I know, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.

A Much Nicer Post - La Juive, Live from Amsterdam

This is a much nicer post than the post I didn't post.

THIS post is to direct you to a copy of live broadcast of La Juive from last night in Amsterdam, starring an I'd Rather Be Sleeping favorite who sometimes reads and comments, John Osborn!! I'm listening right now. *sigh* It's beautiful. I've never heard of this opera and it's so so pretty. Bravo Johnny!!!!

Why Why Why

Today's Saturday Afternoon Broadcast from the Met was the English family version of Mozart's Magic Flute. Ahh what memories. Only, the cast was of course totally different from the version I've seen about 500 times. And the dude who sang Papageno... What were they thinking? English is not his first language, which doesn't really matter, except that his diction was terrible. And his delivery.... Booooorrrriiiiinnnngggg!!!!!! Flat. No sense of timing, no expression in the voice, no, I don't know. Something was missing. Certainly there are plenty of baritones out there who can excel at Papageno. Our Favorite Baritone can't possibly be the only one. Why did the Met pick this guy? I don't know his name and I'm too lazy to look it up.

The Pamina was good, but they cut a huge chunk out of the only aria of hers they left in the production! They just chopped out the whole, "looook Tamino, I am weeping, but you turn and walk away...." part. The entire thing was like 2 minutes long. I think Pamina was Nicole Cabell, who was in Pearl Fishers in Chicago this season with those other guys I've been known to mention here on the blog. It's so not fair to take away most of Pamina's singing.

Tamino, too... don't know who it was but I wasn't thrilled. Perhaps he sounded better live. I could swear he was flat at one point.

Seriously, the only parts that sounded better than the version I know were the ones with the three spirit boys. The audience probably thought so too, since the boys got the loudest applause after each appearance.

I didn't catch Queen of the Night. Wish I did but we were out running errands and were in and out of the car.

So all in all I was not pleased with the performance for a variety of reasons.

Better luck with the casting next time, Met Opera!

*by the way, the title of this post is a also link to a video.

Tuesday Post # 1 - Pearl Fishers Broadcast WOW WOW WOW!

Pearl Fishers. I had no idea how beautiful it was. I had a real, "Where have you been all my life?" sort of feeling, because I don't think my mother ever had that one on in the background when I was growing up. I wish I could have seen the action, but the radio announcers did a great job giving a detailed synopsis of what was about to happen before each act. The famous duet is right near the beginning, and then that same melody returns in bits and pieces throughout the rest of the opera, in such a way that it just makes your heart ache.

It's like this - Zurga, (the Gunnster), is sort of the top dude in this fishing village, like a judge and lawmaker type dude. One day his old buddy Nadir shows up and the two of them reminisce about how much they had been through together way back when, and they sing that oh-so-famous duet about how they were at this temple and saw this priestess and they both fell in love with her. They decided not to let that ruin their friendship, and then at that point for some reason I didn't catch, they parted ways. Zurga went off and found the village. Nadir, the sneak, stalked the priestess. She knew he was stalking her and thought it was kind of cool. Ok. so, back we are in the present. Every year (I think) this priest (deep-saffron clad CVH) brings a beautiful priestess, Leila, to bless/pray for/bring luck to the village. She wears a veil, has a vow of purity, yadda yadda yadda. So soon after Nadir arrives, up floats the boat with the beautiful priestess. Zurga is like, "Hey, are you ready to do your thing?" and when she replies, Nadir recognizes her voice, then she somehow sees him and does a double take, causing Zurga to be like, "Um, are you sure?" and she's sworn in or whatever the ceremony is. Later as everyone is out working but that sneak Nadir, he goes to sing to the priestess. She can't resist him (if he sang to me like that I'd have been his too) and replies that she digs him too. So of course they can't help themselves and there goes her vow. Now I wasn't totally paying attention so this part of the story is a bit fuzzy, but I think they either get caught, or, more likely, Zurga realizes who she is and goes to talk to her because, of course, he still lusts after her after all these years. She admits to him that she and Nadir are already "together," and he freaks out, abuses his position of power and in a fit of jealousy condemns them both to death. Harsh.
So to prepare for being dead, she gives her necklace to a soldier and asks him to give it to her mother, it was given to her by a man whose life she once saved. Well of course jealous Zurga overhears and recognizes the necklace because, wouldn't you know, he's the man.
So everyone's ready for this execution - it's like a big party because this is an Event. Zurga is like, dang, I can't put them to death, not only do I still love her (and him, in that brotherly way), she saved my life! So instead of just telling everyone, which would have been the right thing to do, he sneaks off and lights the village on fire. Then he comes running back, yelling, "Fire! Everyone run back and save the children!" When the villagers are gone, he tells Nadir and Leila to run while they can - he's saving their lives! He knows that when the villagers realize what has happened they'll put HIM to death. So it's all heartbreaking and stuff and even the happy couple floats off in a cloud of guilt.

So I know my description is a bit lighthearted, but the music was anything but. I was all weepy and sniffly for most of it. I was so moved, I sent messages to both CVH and Eric Cutler to let them know, mid-show, (yes I know they weren't checking their email during the show) how wonderful it was.

In between acts they broadcast bits of an interview that was done with the Gunnster, Eric Cutler and some others. Eric explained a technique called "mixed voice" for hitting the higher notes in certain arias. He sounded amazing. Seriously - another one of those, "If you sing it to me, I'll do whatever you ask" kind of voices. Dang.

Now I want to hear the opera over and over (and I can because I have a copy of the broadcast already) and read as much as I can about it. It's nice to add a new opera to the mix in my brain.

Johnny Do You Copy? ....over....

This is a test of the friendly blogger system. Testing to see if John O is reading the blog. So instead of sending a message through the regular channel, I'll post it here... Johnnnnn.... question for you....

Do you know if this summer's R&J will be broadcast on any airwaves? One with you, not that other guy. A couple people have asked... why they ask me, I don't know... (read my prior post on not knowing...) So do you happen to know?

So here's the test part: Post a comment but put something in it so I'll know it's you... like... ok I know... That night we hung out, what article of clothing did I find on my way out of the opera house, what color was it, and how did it travel from the opera house to the bar? I don't think I blogged about it, and I think Husband was the only one I told. And we all know he doesn't read the blog...

If you don't read the blog, well, then forget it.

Over and out.