This past spring, I did more than my normal share of crossing the Atlantic pond back and forth and then back again, in too short a time span, with meetings and auditions in Germany, Italy, and Austria. I made some great new friends, enjoyed visiting with some old ones, and got some positive results from the whole effort(more on those when contracts are firmly in hand...)
While I was in D-land, I started studying scores by some wonderful Jewish composers who perished in the Holocaust, in preparation for a program I'm putting together for 2012/13. Looking through these pieces evokes such unspeakable sadness. It's horrible when a life is cut short by human action, be it the life of a talented young artist, a mature composer, or "just" a normal person. The Kaleko/ Garner project, Chanson fuer Morgen--which we premiered in April--addresses this, too.
Now that I'm back, though, it's Vinaccesi time. Is that some kind of rare northern Italian vintage micro-brew? Not one bit, not even a sip.
Besides being devilishly difficult to spell, Benedetto Vinaccesi is the name of an obscure seventeenth century Italian composer, most of whose works didn't survive to the present. He's also the namesake for the Baroque chamber group I'm in, the Vinaccesi Ensemble. We are recording all 8 of his extant solo cantatas later this summer and we'll be performing 6 of them at the end of July in SF. They are quirky, expressive pieces, and well worth investigating.
Shameless plug: the Ensemble has some great players and singers: Jonathan Smucker (tenor), Kindra Scharich (mezzo-soprano), Kirk Eichelberger (bass), Amy Brodo (cello), Sarge Gerbode (archlute), and Jonathan Davis (harpsichord). Check us out at Old First Concerts on July 29! If you mention this blog when you say "hi" afterwards, you'll make me smile.
What I'm reading: I just finished Alyson Noel's fabulous Evermore YA series--a coming of age sextet that deals with transformation and spiritual growth. Noel takes the issues, characters, and voices she first began developing in Faking 19 and hones them to a high level.
What I'm listening to: The Ring, Das Rheingold! The SF Ring was all-around fab. Now it's my turn to learn Das Rheingold from the inside out, as I prepare to sing Freia this fall. Plus a fun jazz CD by a new friend from Berlin, Bettina Pohle.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
German ERs and Gernonimo Stilton GNs
I'm on the road again, back in Munich--and once more proving myself to be a dreadfully delinquent blogger. (Nothing new there.)
First off, there's the E.R. part of this post, which is mostly a gentle hymn of praise to the German medical system. The day I arrived in Munich I wound up needing to get some stitches. (Nothing major in case you're worried, I'm okay, but it certainly wasn't how I expected my arrival to be. A nice nap after 24+ hours without sleep would have been more my cup of tea.)
Now, I'd never had stitches before--may I never need them again--and ERs are never fun. But after deciding that yes, I had to go in--at 6 p.m., mind you--and finding the right place to get to-somewhat of an adventure in and of itself--I was treated relatively quickly and very well. There was a bit of a line, but perhaps because the wound was still seeping some of the red stuff that gets the latest crop of vampires so excited, they bumped me ahead of others who weren't bleeding ;). To make an excruciating story zoom by, a couple of x-rays, five stitches, 200 euro charged on the spot, and roughly three hours later, I was done...and really ready to sleep at that point. Shall we say, exhausted, hmm?
This was at the University teaching hospital in Munich, and I can't sing my praise highly enough of the ER doctor who I saw. She was thoughtful, careful kind, and very skillful. She had me come back 6 days later to take the stitches out, and, for those who care, it looks like any scarring will be at a minimum, and luckily not particularly visible.
Some enchanted evening...NOT. But had I gone into an ER in the U.S. with foreign insurance that wasn't taken back home.... well, you can a) imagine the bill I'd have incurred and b) the length of time it would have taken me to be seen. Not to wax too politically, but this certainly is enough to make a person think about health care and insurance issues. (I've now experienced dental care, in 2009 and medical care in 2011 in Germany and both have been excellent.)
Moving on to more fun things. You may or may not know that I'm the translator for the Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novel series for middle grade readers for Papercutz. Here's a not-so-subtle plug:
#1: The Discovery of America, 2009 ISBN 9781597071581
#2:The Secret of the Sphinx, 2009 ISBN 9781597071598
#3: The Colseum Con, 2009 ISBN 1597071722
#4: Following the Trail of Marco Polo, 2010 ISBN 1597071889
#5: The Great Ice Age, 2010 ISBN 1597072028
#6: Who Stole the Mona Lisa, 2010 ISBN 1597072028
#7: Dinosaurs in Action, 2011 ISBN 9781597072212
#8: Play it Again Mozart, upcoming, Sept. 2011 ISBN 1597072761
The concept is cute, the art adorable, and the first five are in their fifth pressing already!
The Italian art/ writing team is out in the Bay Area doing their first U.S. signing/ workshop tour, as part of Free Comic Book Day and Children's Book Week. I won't be around, perche sono in Munich (because I'm in Munich), but here's the info.
May 5 – 4:00 to 6:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
119 Colma Boulevard
280 Metro Center
Colma, CA 94014
May 6 – 5:00 to 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
Hacienda Crossings
4972 Dublin Boulevard
Dublin, CA 94568
May 7 -
11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Lee’s Comics
1020 N. Rengstorff Avenue, Suite F
Mountain View, CA
4:00 to 7:00 PM
Atlantis Fantasyworld
1020 Cedar Street
Santa Cruz, CA
Definitely worth checking out.
First off, there's the E.R. part of this post, which is mostly a gentle hymn of praise to the German medical system. The day I arrived in Munich I wound up needing to get some stitches. (Nothing major in case you're worried, I'm okay, but it certainly wasn't how I expected my arrival to be. A nice nap after 24+ hours without sleep would have been more my cup of tea.)
Now, I'd never had stitches before--may I never need them again--and ERs are never fun. But after deciding that yes, I had to go in--at 6 p.m., mind you--and finding the right place to get to-somewhat of an adventure in and of itself--I was treated relatively quickly and very well. There was a bit of a line, but perhaps because the wound was still seeping some of the red stuff that gets the latest crop of vampires so excited, they bumped me ahead of others who weren't bleeding ;). To make an excruciating story zoom by, a couple of x-rays, five stitches, 200 euro charged on the spot, and roughly three hours later, I was done...and really ready to sleep at that point. Shall we say, exhausted, hmm?
This was at the University teaching hospital in Munich, and I can't sing my praise highly enough of the ER doctor who I saw. She was thoughtful, careful kind, and very skillful. She had me come back 6 days later to take the stitches out, and, for those who care, it looks like any scarring will be at a minimum, and luckily not particularly visible.
Some enchanted evening...NOT. But had I gone into an ER in the U.S. with foreign insurance that wasn't taken back home.... well, you can a) imagine the bill I'd have incurred and b) the length of time it would have taken me to be seen. Not to wax too politically, but this certainly is enough to make a person think about health care and insurance issues. (I've now experienced dental care, in 2009 and medical care in 2011 in Germany and both have been excellent.)
Moving on to more fun things. You may or may not know that I'm the translator for the Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novel series for middle grade readers for Papercutz. Here's a not-so-subtle plug:
#1: The Discovery of America, 2009 ISBN 9781597071581
#2:The Secret of the Sphinx, 2009 ISBN 9781597071598
#3: The Colseum Con, 2009 ISBN 1597071722
#4: Following the Trail of Marco Polo, 2010 ISBN 1597071889
#5: The Great Ice Age, 2010 ISBN 1597072028
#6: Who Stole the Mona Lisa, 2010 ISBN 1597072028
#7: Dinosaurs in Action, 2011 ISBN 9781597072212
#8: Play it Again Mozart, upcoming, Sept. 2011 ISBN 1597072761
The concept is cute, the art adorable, and the first five are in their fifth pressing already!
The Italian art/ writing team is out in the Bay Area doing their first U.S. signing/ workshop tour, as part of Free Comic Book Day and Children's Book Week. I won't be around, perche sono in Munich (because I'm in Munich), but here's the info.
May 5 – 4:00 to 6:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
119 Colma Boulevard
280 Metro Center
Colma, CA 94014
May 6 – 5:00 to 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
Hacienda Crossings
4972 Dublin Boulevard
Dublin, CA 94568
May 7 -
11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Lee’s Comics
1020 N. Rengstorff Avenue, Suite F
Mountain View, CA
4:00 to 7:00 PM
Atlantis Fantasyworld
1020 Cedar Street
Santa Cruz, CA
Definitely worth checking out.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Chanson für Morgen (premiere): music by Bay Area composers Garner, Getty, Conte, Bilotta, Adams
So, disclaimer done, here's the plug and the promo blurb--and
I do hope to see you there!
.......
Don't miss the premiere of David Garner's new song cycle, Chanson für Morgen this Saturday, April 2, in Berkeley, at Trinity Chamber Concerts (2320 Dana), 8 p.m.
Soprano Nanette McGuinness and pianist Kristin Pankonin will be performing a program of music by Bay Area composers, including John Adams, John Bilotta, David Conte, Gordon Getty, and--of course-- David Garner.
The concert features the premiere of Garner's new song cycle, Chanson für Morgen, with texts by the witty and evocative German/ Polish Jewish poet, Mascha Kaleko (1907-1975). Written for McGuinness and Pankonin, Chanson für Morgen is supported by the East Bay Community Foundation and also by your very generous donations to the EBFA's challenge commissioning grant last fall. The concert is also produced in association with the 26th Annual Jewish Music Festival.
Concert information:
When: April 2, 2011, 8 p.m.
Where: Trinity Chamber Concerts, 2320 Dana St., Berkeley
Tickets:Trinity Chamber Concerts
$15/10
About Mascha Kaleko: A member of the so-called "los
t-generation," Kaleko is part the Jewish diaspora whose futures were destroyed during the Holocaust—despite their being fortunate enough to escape with their lives. After her family immigrated to Germany, Kaleko g
rew up to become a member of the pre-war artistic intelligentsia in Berlin. Her first publications of satiric verses were banned by the Nazis in the mid-1930s, and she left Germany for the U.S. shortly before World War II. She remainoed in exile for the rest of her life, first in the U.S. and then in Israel. Her story—as an eternal emigrant and exile, a Jew, a woman, and a mother—and her poetry both still resonate today.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
SF Opera's Spectacular Die Walkuere
Just a quick post tonight, as it's late...
RUN, do not walk, to go see one of SF Opera's last two performances this summer of Die Walkuere (#2 opera from the Ring of the Nibelung cycle by Wagner). This is a stellar performance, with glorious singing, marvelous acting, excellent playing, sensitive conducting, great sets, a terrific "concept"...My, oh my! Even fervent non-Wagnerians will find something to like here. The singers were uniformly terrific--including the ailing Nina Stemme, who sounded not at all impaired, despite the fact that she was suffering from a bronchial infection (announced before the opera began, to a chorus of sad groans).
This bodes well for next summer's Ring cycle. But in the meantime, there are two more opportunities left for this production, June 25 and 30...Tickets at http://www.sfopera.com.
(This is not to say that the other summer opera I saw at SF Opera this June--Puccini's "spaghetti Western," i.e., La Fanciulla del West-- isn't good, as it is was, but rather that this is a Walkuere for the ages, one that's got every operatic element working.)
'Night all
RUN, do not walk, to go see one of SF Opera's last two performances this summer of Die Walkuere (#2 opera from the Ring of the Nibelung cycle by Wagner). This is a stellar performance, with glorious singing, marvelous acting, excellent playing, sensitive conducting, great sets, a terrific "concept"...My, oh my! Even fervent non-Wagnerians will find something to like here. The singers were uniformly terrific--including the ailing Nina Stemme, who sounded not at all impaired, despite the fact that she was suffering from a bronchial infection (announced before the opera began, to a chorus of sad groans).
This bodes well for next summer's Ring cycle. But in the meantime, there are two more opportunities left for this production, June 25 and 30...Tickets at http://www.sfopera.com.
(This is not to say that the other summer opera I saw at SF Opera this June--Puccini's "spaghetti Western," i.e., La Fanciulla del West-- isn't good, as it is was, but rather that this is a Walkuere for the ages, one that's got every operatic element working.)
'Night all
Saturday, June 5, 2010
BFX 10--the 10th Berkeley Early Music Exhibition and Fringe Festival
After a short break-let, I'm on to the BFX, as promised...
June 6--tomorrow--is the start of BFX 10. With seven "mainstage" performances, loads (over 50) of Fringe concerts, and lectures/ demonstrations, BFX is an event-packed early music week that runs through June 13.
More a local affair than in previous years, the Early Music Festival still has much to interest attendees. You can check it out at the Berkeley Festival Blog, SFEMS (San Francisco Early Music Society) website, SFEMS (SF Early Music Society) website or even at the Festival's Facebook page.
My own contribution is a little lunchtime concert of Baroque Venetian music tomorrow as part of the Fringe (shameless plug moment coming up) at Trinity Chapel: June 7, 1 p.m., with the Vinaccesi Ensemble--tenor Jonathan Smucker and a wonderful continuo band--Amy Brodo, Baroque cello, Jonathan Davis, harpsichord, and Sarge Gerbode, archlute.
Entitled Involto il tristo core, the program festures well-known duets by Monteverdi, less-known gems by Strozzi, Caldara, and Castello, and unknown but quirkily wonderful cantatas by Vinaccesi.
WHERE: Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana (betweeen Bancroft and Durant), Berkeley
WHAT: Involto il tristo core: Venetian Cantatas, Solos, & Duets
Tickets: $15 general, $10 sfems, students, seniors & disabled. No one turned away for lack of funds.
In other news, I've finished up reading and judging all the books sent me for the Sharp Writ Book Contest (originally associated with Mensa's SIGs, but now spun-off). The Finalists and winners are due to be announced in the next month or so. This is leaving me the opportunity to do some summer reading, such as the below...
What I'm reading: Just started "Have Mercy"
What I'm working on: see this post, plus two chamber pieces for Cabaret Opera's Tenth Festival of New Music coming up later in June, X in the Heart of Europe and America. More on this after BFX.
What I'm listening to: Have to decide which BFX concerts to go to--while in the midst of other rehearsals...so much good music and so little time...
June 6--tomorrow--is the start of BFX 10. With seven "mainstage" performances, loads (over 50) of Fringe concerts, and lectures/ demonstrations, BFX is an event-packed early music week that runs through June 13.
More a local affair than in previous years, the Early Music Festival still has much to interest attendees. You can check it out at the Berkeley Festival Blog, SFEMS (San Francisco Early Music Society) website, SFEMS (SF Early Music Society) website or even at the Festival's Facebook page.
My own contribution is a little lunchtime concert of Baroque Venetian music tomorrow as part of the Fringe (shameless plug moment coming up) at Trinity Chapel: June 7, 1 p.m., with the Vinaccesi Ensemble--tenor Jonathan Smucker and a wonderful continuo band--Amy Brodo, Baroque cello, Jonathan Davis, harpsichord, and Sarge Gerbode, archlute.
Entitled Involto il tristo core, the program festures well-known duets by Monteverdi, less-known gems by Strozzi, Caldara, and Castello, and unknown but quirkily wonderful cantatas by Vinaccesi.
WHERE: Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana (betweeen Bancroft and Durant), Berkeley
WHAT: Involto il tristo core: Venetian Cantatas, Solos, & Duets
Tickets: $15 general, $10 sfems, students, seniors & disabled. No one turned away for lack of funds.
In other news, I've finished up reading and judging all the books sent me for the Sharp Writ Book Contest (originally associated with Mensa's SIGs, but now spun-off). The Finalists and winners are due to be announced in the next month or so. This is leaving me the opportunity to do some summer reading, such as the below...
What I'm reading: Just started "Have Mercy"
What I'm working on: see this post, plus two chamber pieces for Cabaret Opera's Tenth Festival of New Music coming up later in June, X in the Heart of Europe and America. More on this after BFX.
What I'm listening to: Have to decide which BFX concerts to go to--while in the midst of other rehearsals...so much good music and so little time...
New Music and Mozart
Already June... 2010 is almost halfway over--and it seems like it just recently began...
Today's post is about Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (as promised), Emmeline at Cinnabar Theater, and my upcoming concert with the Vinaccesi Ensemble--part of BFX 10.
First, I heard a beautiful, precise rendition of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto a few weeks ago--performed by Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony's Akademie performers--along with some spectacular singing by soprano Christine Brandes--the first time I've heard her live, although I have been hearing wonderful things about her for quite some time. The clarinetist of the Mozart and composer of the piece Brandes sang were one and the same, the gifted musician Joerg Widmann. A sparkling evening that included (as noted in my last post), one of my favorite pieces in the concerto literature.
More recently, I went to opening night of Cinnabar Theater's West Coast premiere of Emmeline, by Tobias Picker. Based on Judith Rossner's loose retelling of a real story, Emmeline is a dark tragedy that has opera written all over it... Picker wrote the piece for Santa Fe (where it was premiered in 1996, with Patricia Racette in the lead role); he was on hand for a fasinating Q&A session after Cinnabar's opening night, rounding out a great evening.
Plot summary: Set in a Puritan pre-Civil War New England, the piece mines a granite-like New England ethos to retell the Oedipus tale from Jocasta's point of view. Unbeknownst to the eponymous heroine, the man she falls in love with and marries as an adult spinster--after having gotten pregnant while barely a teenager and giving her baby up for adoption without ever having seen him once he is born (she lives for roughly 20 years thinking she had a girl child)--turns out to be her own son. In the aftermath of this revelation, she spends the rest of her life shunned by her community.
In today's world, Emmeline's seduction by the factory owner's roving son-in-law and her subsequent pregnancy might well have caused lurid headlines, TV talk-show appearances, a book deal, a sexual harassment suit, and an investigation for child-labor. Instead, in an earlier environment that was much harsher towards its young women, Emmeline was shuttled off to have her child in private.
Seduction, deceit, lies, tragedy due to a lack of direct communication: it's a tailor-made tale for opera.
Carrie Hennessey sang the title role, embodying Emmeline beautifully and the rest of the cast (Cary Ann Rosko; Melody Caspari; Kimberly Anderman; Robert Stafford; Brian Rosen, Eileen Morris; Will Hart Meyers, and others) supported her with marvelous characterizations. Nina Shumann's chamber orchestra played the reduced score with verve, as always.
The regular disclaimer moment: a large number of the singers as well as musicians in both of the previous two performances are friends and/ or acquaintance.
More on BFX shortly. All this blogging takes my breath away!
Today's post is about Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (as promised), Emmeline at Cinnabar Theater, and my upcoming concert with the Vinaccesi Ensemble--part of BFX 10.
First, I heard a beautiful, precise rendition of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto a few weeks ago--performed by Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony's Akademie performers--along with some spectacular singing by soprano Christine Brandes--the first time I've heard her live, although I have been hearing wonderful things about her for quite some time. The clarinetist of the Mozart and composer of the piece Brandes sang were one and the same, the gifted musician Joerg Widmann. A sparkling evening that included (as noted in my last post), one of my favorite pieces in the concerto literature.
More recently, I went to opening night of Cinnabar Theater's West Coast premiere of Emmeline, by Tobias Picker. Based on Judith Rossner's loose retelling of a real story, Emmeline is a dark tragedy that has opera written all over it... Picker wrote the piece for Santa Fe (where it was premiered in 1996, with Patricia Racette in the lead role); he was on hand for a fasinating Q&A session after Cinnabar's opening night, rounding out a great evening.
Plot summary: Set in a Puritan pre-Civil War New England, the piece mines a granite-like New England ethos to retell the Oedipus tale from Jocasta's point of view. Unbeknownst to the eponymous heroine, the man she falls in love with and marries as an adult spinster--after having gotten pregnant while barely a teenager and giving her baby up for adoption without ever having seen him once he is born (she lives for roughly 20 years thinking she had a girl child)--turns out to be her own son. In the aftermath of this revelation, she spends the rest of her life shunned by her community.
In today's world, Emmeline's seduction by the factory owner's roving son-in-law and her subsequent pregnancy might well have caused lurid headlines, TV talk-show appearances, a book deal, a sexual harassment suit, and an investigation for child-labor. Instead, in an earlier environment that was much harsher towards its young women, Emmeline was shuttled off to have her child in private.
Seduction, deceit, lies, tragedy due to a lack of direct communication: it's a tailor-made tale for opera.
Carrie Hennessey sang the title role, embodying Emmeline beautifully and the rest of the cast (Cary Ann Rosko; Melody Caspari; Kimberly Anderman; Robert Stafford; Brian Rosen, Eileen Morris; Will Hart Meyers, and others) supported her with marvelous characterizations. Nina Shumann's chamber orchestra played the reduced score with verve, as always.
The regular disclaimer moment: a large number of the singers as well as musicians in both of the previous two performances are friends and/ or acquaintance.
More on BFX shortly. All this blogging takes my breath away!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Time flies...
Since coming home from Germany for Thanksgiving, I have mostly stayed in the Bay Area, with the occasional triplet here and there for auditioning, etc. I've been super busy with singing, writing, translating, family, family visits, home repairs, and so forth.
So the time...it has flown and every resolution I've made to blog more regularly...I have blown...
So often I go to a concert or hear a piece of music, or even read a great book, and want to blog about it, but by time I have time, my inclination and inspiration have long grown cold, and I have, sad to say, been there, done that, and moved on.
Sigh.
However, today I started and finished a wonderful book that I had to blog about, even if only briefly: Australian David Malouf's Ransom. A dense, but not difficult read, Ransom is a beautifully poetic look at a specific slice-in-time from the Trojan War that focuses on love, fate, chance, and loss. Stories from Homer are often absorbing; tales from ancient Greece continue to fascinate. This one is terrific. It's a moving, learned, and revealing look at a portion of one of the classic tales of Western lit.
I couldn't put it down.
What I'm reading (see above)
What I'm listening to: Mozart Clarinet Concerto (more on this next time I post). The slow movement is, for me, a sublime, Ur-Werk, one of my favorites.
What I'm working on: The Vinaccesi Ensemble, of which I am a part, has a Berkeley Fringe Fest concert on June 7. We are performing some great 17th century Venetian music by Monteverdi, Cavalli, Caldara, Strozzi, and Vinaccesi--and I'm feverishly engaged with those pieces. It's a great program, with music by well-known masters as well as lesser-known gems. I'm also currently in rehearsal for some interesting new music by Daniel Felsenfeld and Mark Alburger, but since those performances are in mid-June, I'll write about those later!
So the time...it has flown and every resolution I've made to blog more regularly...I have blown...
So often I go to a concert or hear a piece of music, or even read a great book, and want to blog about it, but by time I have time, my inclination and inspiration have long grown cold, and I have, sad to say, been there, done that, and moved on.
Sigh.
However, today I started and finished a wonderful book that I had to blog about, even if only briefly: Australian David Malouf's Ransom. A dense, but not difficult read, Ransom is a beautifully poetic look at a specific slice-in-time from the Trojan War that focuses on love, fate, chance, and loss. Stories from Homer are often absorbing; tales from ancient Greece continue to fascinate. This one is terrific. It's a moving, learned, and revealing look at a portion of one of the classic tales of Western lit.
I couldn't put it down.
What I'm reading (see above)
What I'm listening to: Mozart Clarinet Concerto (more on this next time I post). The slow movement is, for me, a sublime, Ur-Werk, one of my favorites.
What I'm working on: The Vinaccesi Ensemble, of which I am a part, has a Berkeley Fringe Fest concert on June 7. We are performing some great 17th century Venetian music by Monteverdi, Cavalli, Caldara, Strozzi, and Vinaccesi--and I'm feverishly engaged with those pieces. It's a great program, with music by well-known masters as well as lesser-known gems. I'm also currently in rehearsal for some interesting new music by Daniel Felsenfeld and Mark Alburger, but since those performances are in mid-June, I'll write about those later!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Happy Birthday!
In Munich, I'm renting a room in a terrific location near the Prinzregententheater from a warm, brilliant scholar who speaks at least 6 languages--fluently--and probably more that I don't know about. Her English is well-nigh impeccable.
Today is her birthday! So if you happen upon this blog, C., happy birthday!!!
Today is her birthday! So if you happen upon this blog, C., happy birthday!!!
Twenty years after the fall of the wall
I've spent the last 2-3 weeks in Deutschland again, mostly in Munich. It's lovely to be back again! This year is colder than last, but the weather has turned a bit nicer while I've been here. Still, I'm glad I brought both umbrella and down coat.
On Nov. 9--really an accident of timing--I found myself on a train to Berlin, where it was 20 years to the day that the Berlin wall had come down. Finding a hotel room at a decent price had been challenging, but I had to be there on the 10th. So find one I did.
The atmosphere in Berlin was electric and festive. I arrived around 3, and there was a certain feeling that the day was special, even though it wasn't an official holiday and all the businesses and shops were open (As an aside, this is not the first time I've been in Berlin, although I never seem to get to spend more than a day or two there. Someday I'll actually go as a tourist and stay for at least 3 or 4 days. I really like Berlin immensely: it is like New York City in spirit, in the very best way. You can see the link from last year (http://musicandwordsontheroad.blogspot.com/2009/01/berlin.html) where I blogged a bit about it.)
Back to the present. When I took the S-Bahn to Potsdammerplatz, it was so crowded that one could barely fit on. I had thought about getting off there or perhaps Brandenburgtor, but decided there was no way. I dislike being smushed by crowds, and it was rainy and cold anyway. So I went to Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden. Even though it was less crowded on the S-Bahn after that first stop or so, it was still super-crowded getting off at Friedrichstrasse and going through the station. It was only a few hours before the Berlin Wall ceremony, and the S-Bahn was packed: an Englishwoman who was visiting for the festivities said she'd never seen the S-Bahn in Berlin so full.
There were college kids and tourists. There were British, Americans, and Europeans who had been in Berlin before the Wall fell. And as I said, there was an excited feeling of celebration in the air, despite the dampening mood of the weather.
They had set up an immense row of huge styrofoam planks (decorated by youths) that were lined up like dominos, all set up to fall as a symbol of the wall, of the Mauerfall. At 9 p.m., roughly, the dominos went. It was a very moving thing to watch, even though--being a prudent singer--I watched this on TV. But I'm told that people had been in place for hours. Being not just a prudent singer, but also a short one, I would never have been able to see a thing in person anyway.
On to the more mundane.
My second night in Berlin, I had raclette for dinner. How could I resist raclette (even though I'm trying to eat less cheese to help get rid of the remnants of a heavy cold that lingered and lingered)? I'd remembered the spot from the last time, when I hadn't had the opportunity. And I visited the marvelous book/ CD store, Dussmann Kulturhaus. There I arrived just too late for a concert by soprano Simone Kermes (to promote her new CD, Lava-Opera Arias). By the sounds of the thunderous applause that echoed into the bookstore from the concert area, she must have been marvelous. Will have to check out her CD when I get a chance. Ah, to have been born a dramatic coloratura and sing the Queen of the Night!...but the stratsophere is not where I live and that's that.
The counterpart to Dussmann in Munich is Hugenduebel. They have one store, which my friend C. tells me is the spot of the original, first branch, devoted to English-language books. (It's over near Salvatorplatz.) They have another branch at the Karlsplatz/ Stachaus SBahn stop, and yet another--a huge one--on the Marienplatz. This last one is great: you can go to the cafe on the 6th floor and watch the Glockenspiel through the glass windows.
Back in Munich, I feel my time here ticking away. It does look like before I go, I will get the opportunity to go into the new Jewish Synagogue in the Jakobsplatz with a friend of a friend, a wonderful Parisian woman who has lived in Munich for 8-10 years. My first Sunday here, I had gone to the Jewish Center in the Jakobsplatz, where the Synagogue and the Jewish Museum can be found. The Museum is a modern square building, with glass walls for the entire first floor. I walked around the building, reading the windows, which were covered in writing in German and English, mostly about a person coming to terms with their own Nazi heritage. Before going in, I got cold and went home, as it was a blustery day and I'd only worn my leather jacket (silly me).
They are both so different, Munich and Berlin, and I do so love them both. Just as I love San Francisco, New York, and Paris--not to mention Yosemite, San Diego, Maui, and so many other spots. The world is a wonderful place: we had best try not to ruin it for each other.
Next up: Karlsruhe. Still to come: my travails with the internet (but Vodafone still rocks.)
What I'm reading: just finished Asterix and the Golden Sickle (auf Deutsch...immer liebe ich Asterix so!), "Gwydion: Der Weg nach Camelot," a kid's book in German about the Arthurian legend (I persist in trying to improve my German reading ability, although it is sooo slow for me--I'm only to about the fifth page), and Marian Keyes' Sushi for Beginners plus her Rachel's Story. I admit to having fallen for her addictive brand of romantic chick lit. How embarassing. Never thought it would happen to me, but these light books are incredibly entertaining while traveling. Sort of like potato chips. Hard to stop with one or two pages.
What I'm listening to: Tried to get to a performance of the St. John Passion before I left for Berlin. Unfortunately I never could find the church where it was purportedly being sung. The address on the fliers...had no church. After an hour of traipsing around, I and my very sore feet--have I mentioned that my feet have been a real pain this trip?--dragged ourselves home in the drizzle. I've wanted to go to Don Giovanni, but it was ausverkauft (sold out). So really, I'm mostly listening to the music in my own head. Luckily there's a lot there.
What I'm working on: my audition arias, natch. Printed out a copy of William Ludtke's Christmas Cantata at Movimento (more on that some other time, but it's a great place, run by the kind Christian Juttendock), so that I could start working on it again. (I travel with my music for study on a USB stick. Very compact and practical for being on the go, but it's super hard to play it from the screen on my netbook.)
On Nov. 9--really an accident of timing--I found myself on a train to Berlin, where it was 20 years to the day that the Berlin wall had come down. Finding a hotel room at a decent price had been challenging, but I had to be there on the 10th. So find one I did.
The atmosphere in Berlin was electric and festive. I arrived around 3, and there was a certain feeling that the day was special, even though it wasn't an official holiday and all the businesses and shops were open (As an aside, this is not the first time I've been in Berlin, although I never seem to get to spend more than a day or two there. Someday I'll actually go as a tourist and stay for at least 3 or 4 days. I really like Berlin immensely: it is like New York City in spirit, in the very best way. You can see the link from last year (http://musicandwordsontheroad.blogspot.com/2009/01/berlin.html) where I blogged a bit about it.)
Back to the present. When I took the S-Bahn to Potsdammerplatz, it was so crowded that one could barely fit on. I had thought about getting off there or perhaps Brandenburgtor, but decided there was no way. I dislike being smushed by crowds, and it was rainy and cold anyway. So I went to Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden. Even though it was less crowded on the S-Bahn after that first stop or so, it was still super-crowded getting off at Friedrichstrasse and going through the station. It was only a few hours before the Berlin Wall ceremony, and the S-Bahn was packed: an Englishwoman who was visiting for the festivities said she'd never seen the S-Bahn in Berlin so full.
There were college kids and tourists. There were British, Americans, and Europeans who had been in Berlin before the Wall fell. And as I said, there was an excited feeling of celebration in the air, despite the dampening mood of the weather.
They had set up an immense row of huge styrofoam planks (decorated by youths) that were lined up like dominos, all set up to fall as a symbol of the wall, of the Mauerfall. At 9 p.m., roughly, the dominos went. It was a very moving thing to watch, even though--being a prudent singer--I watched this on TV. But I'm told that people had been in place for hours. Being not just a prudent singer, but also a short one, I would never have been able to see a thing in person anyway.
On to the more mundane.
My second night in Berlin, I had raclette for dinner. How could I resist raclette (even though I'm trying to eat less cheese to help get rid of the remnants of a heavy cold that lingered and lingered)? I'd remembered the spot from the last time, when I hadn't had the opportunity. And I visited the marvelous book/ CD store, Dussmann Kulturhaus. There I arrived just too late for a concert by soprano Simone Kermes (to promote her new CD, Lava-Opera Arias). By the sounds of the thunderous applause that echoed into the bookstore from the concert area, she must have been marvelous. Will have to check out her CD when I get a chance. Ah, to have been born a dramatic coloratura and sing the Queen of the Night!...but the stratsophere is not where I live and that's that.
The counterpart to Dussmann in Munich is Hugenduebel. They have one store, which my friend C. tells me is the spot of the original, first branch, devoted to English-language books. (It's over near Salvatorplatz.) They have another branch at the Karlsplatz/ Stachaus SBahn stop, and yet another--a huge one--on the Marienplatz. This last one is great: you can go to the cafe on the 6th floor and watch the Glockenspiel through the glass windows.
Back in Munich, I feel my time here ticking away. It does look like before I go, I will get the opportunity to go into the new Jewish Synagogue in the Jakobsplatz with a friend of a friend, a wonderful Parisian woman who has lived in Munich for 8-10 years. My first Sunday here, I had gone to the Jewish Center in the Jakobsplatz, where the Synagogue and the Jewish Museum can be found. The Museum is a modern square building, with glass walls for the entire first floor. I walked around the building, reading the windows, which were covered in writing in German and English, mostly about a person coming to terms with their own Nazi heritage. Before going in, I got cold and went home, as it was a blustery day and I'd only worn my leather jacket (silly me).
They are both so different, Munich and Berlin, and I do so love them both. Just as I love San Francisco, New York, and Paris--not to mention Yosemite, San Diego, Maui, and so many other spots. The world is a wonderful place: we had best try not to ruin it for each other.
Next up: Karlsruhe. Still to come: my travails with the internet (but Vodafone still rocks.)
What I'm reading: just finished Asterix and the Golden Sickle (auf Deutsch...immer liebe ich Asterix so!), "Gwydion: Der Weg nach Camelot," a kid's book in German about the Arthurian legend (I persist in trying to improve my German reading ability, although it is sooo slow for me--I'm only to about the fifth page), and Marian Keyes' Sushi for Beginners plus her Rachel's Story. I admit to having fallen for her addictive brand of romantic chick lit. How embarassing. Never thought it would happen to me, but these light books are incredibly entertaining while traveling. Sort of like potato chips. Hard to stop with one or two pages.
What I'm listening to: Tried to get to a performance of the St. John Passion before I left for Berlin. Unfortunately I never could find the church where it was purportedly being sung. The address on the fliers...had no church. After an hour of traipsing around, I and my very sore feet--have I mentioned that my feet have been a real pain this trip?--dragged ourselves home in the drizzle. I've wanted to go to Don Giovanni, but it was ausverkauft (sold out). So really, I'm mostly listening to the music in my own head. Luckily there's a lot there.
What I'm working on: my audition arias, natch. Printed out a copy of William Ludtke's Christmas Cantata at Movimento (more on that some other time, but it's a great place, run by the kind Christian Juttendock), so that I could start working on it again. (I travel with my music for study on a USB stick. Very compact and practical for being on the go, but it's super hard to play it from the screen on my netbook.)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The rain in the Bronx is mainly over the stadium...sigh
Game 6 of the ALCS (see previous post) has been--appropriately--postponed. Apparently the skies opened up over Yankee Stadium today and so we won't see an evening of slush-ball. It's the right call, but boy am I in post-season baseball withdrawal! I'd so looked forward to today's game and can only hope for a game tomorrow.
But that has given me time to pick up...and now, put down Neil Stephenson's Anathem. Again. It's the second time I've picked it up and tried to read it. First attempt: I got to page 5. This time: page 90. I wouldn't have stuck so long, had I not read other Stephenson books (see below), and had the initial premise not been somewhat intriguing. (Other than a tiny explanation of the title, there are no spoilers here, though. You can try the 930-page tome on your own.)
Now, I really enjoyed Stephenson's early books, the brilliant cyberpunk Snowcrash and steampunk Diamond Age. I vaguely think I read Crytonomicon, although I don't really remember the book (and no, that's not a comment on the book, but rather on my memory. I can re-read a mystery book and not remember whodunit until a moment or two before s/he is unmasked.). I couldn't really get into the Baroque trilogy, but thought I'd try this one. It's a cornucopia of coined words, most of them quite clever, in terms of linguistic and sociological drift, but there are paragraphs after paragraphs of page-filling-ness (to coin my own not-so-clever word), following the best, Dickensian model (and I don't mean A Tale of Two Cities, either). The title is, itself, a play on words, combining "anthem" and "anathema." But the book is soooo slowwww, and it's really hard to care for or feel engaged with the protagonist or the characters. I got as far as I got, mostly hoping that we'd get some forward motion, and we slowwwwly did. When I find I'm skimming out of boredom and not excitement to find out what happens, and I'm not engaged by nearly the 100th page, I generally cut a book loose. So, I'm sorry, but basta cosi.
But that's okay: I've got a number of library books on my nightstand beckoning to me in the forlorn hope that I might open their pages before I leave on a jet plane (where I'll only have my Kindle, my latest Analog magazines, beloved Asus netbook, and work for company. Anything else is too heavy--but that seems like a lot already, especially the work!).
What I'm listening to: William Ludtke's Christmas Cantata. To be premiered in Berkeley in mid-December this year. My husband is an especial fan of the opening movement. ;).
But that has given me time to pick up...and now, put down Neil Stephenson's Anathem. Again. It's the second time I've picked it up and tried to read it. First attempt: I got to page 5. This time: page 90. I wouldn't have stuck so long, had I not read other Stephenson books (see below), and had the initial premise not been somewhat intriguing. (Other than a tiny explanation of the title, there are no spoilers here, though. You can try the 930-page tome on your own.)
Now, I really enjoyed Stephenson's early books, the brilliant cyberpunk Snowcrash and steampunk Diamond Age. I vaguely think I read Crytonomicon, although I don't really remember the book (and no, that's not a comment on the book, but rather on my memory. I can re-read a mystery book and not remember whodunit until a moment or two before s/he is unmasked.). I couldn't really get into the Baroque trilogy, but thought I'd try this one. It's a cornucopia of coined words, most of them quite clever, in terms of linguistic and sociological drift, but there are paragraphs after paragraphs of page-filling-ness (to coin my own not-so-clever word), following the best, Dickensian model (and I don't mean A Tale of Two Cities, either). The title is, itself, a play on words, combining "anthem" and "anathema." But the book is soooo slowwww, and it's really hard to care for or feel engaged with the protagonist or the characters. I got as far as I got, mostly hoping that we'd get some forward motion, and we slowwwwly did. When I find I'm skimming out of boredom and not excitement to find out what happens, and I'm not engaged by nearly the 100th page, I generally cut a book loose. So, I'm sorry, but basta cosi.
But that's okay: I've got a number of library books on my nightstand beckoning to me in the forlorn hope that I might open their pages before I leave on a jet plane (where I'll only have my Kindle, my latest Analog magazines, beloved Asus netbook, and work for company. Anything else is too heavy--but that seems like a lot already, especially the work!).
What I'm listening to: William Ludtke's Christmas Cantata. To be premiered in Berkeley in mid-December this year. My husband is an especial fan of the opening movement. ;).
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