It's getting serious!

OK, so we have almost everything organized - EXCEPT the program booklet! And now, even I am starting to get nervous about it!!

My mother is arriving this afternoon. Poor thing her flight is delayed 3 1/2 hours! I'll go there to pick her up. She called very early this morning to tell us that she'd be later than expected. She said it was something with the plane, nothing to do with the recent terrorist scare, so that's a good thing!

Magnus' mother and Manon are busy stressing out about how to organize the wedding day with all the appointments for doing hair and make-up and what-not. It seems to be especially difficult because Magnus and I shouldn't see eachother at any point after we've started getting ready! At any rate, it seems like my mom, Barb and I will go to the hairdresser and make-up lady as a group and Manon, Franca and Magnus as another group.

So, here we go! 9 days and counting!

Rehearsal for the Gala Dinner

I finally had a rehearsal with the accompanist for the WNA Gala Dinner I'll be performing at on Sept. 8. His name is Nigel Foster and he seems to be a pretty well-known accompanist. Paul Martyn-West recommended him and since then I've seen his advertisment in a few places. It was very synchronistic because on the day I asked Paul if he could recommend anyone, I was at his house and he'd given me Nigel's phone numbers and we'd moved on to other things and the phone rang - it was Nigel Foster! So I spoke with him right then and there and he agreed to do it!

I went to his house in Wimbledon and we went through all the songs. They all went well except the Warlock song "The Cricketers of Hambledon" so we tossed it. It didn't go so well in the program and the key doesn't suit my voice very well. Oh well! We decided to do another Purcell song - If Music be the Food of Love, First Version in the arrangement by Benjamin Britten. It goes well with the rest of the program and is a link to the other Britten song we're doing. This is the program:

1. If Music be the Food of Love, H. Purcell, arr. Britten
2. On the Brow of Richmond Hill, H. Purcell
3. Sweet Polly Oliver, arr. Britten
4. Bedlam, arr. Cecil Sharp
5. The Bells of the Chepe (from Old Ludgate), Charles Ancliff
6. Rhyme (from A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table), William Walton

My mother is going to help me memorize the text to these songs. If we can just repeat them over and over, I think that will help a lot! Memorizing strophs is not my forte. Sigh.

The Final Countdown

I suppose you could say we're on the home stretch to our wedding day - September 1st, 2006. We made our final trip to Italy this last weekend in order to make "final" pre-preparations. On Wednesday I traveled to Frankfurt mostly for play and Prosperity. I taught about 8 lessons as well. Thursday evening, with a mysterious air, Pamela took me out. She said I should dress as though I were going out for a night on the town in London. So, basically I dressed up. She took me to my favorite restaurant that serves Frankfurter Kueche (Frankfurt Cuisine) and we were joined by Caroline, Kelly, Sue, Sabine, Andrea and Alison. It was a Bachelorette Party!!!! Thank you, Pamela, for organizing thatgirliey night out! It was fabulous! And girls, thank you all for coming to celebrate with me! I felt very loved and honored! And I had tons of fun! I just love the "outfit" you got me for my wedding night! I got some lovely items to go with it while I was in Italy. :-)

Friday evening Pamela, Caroline and I had a Prosperity session. It was really good, way too long since the last time. I don't want to even think about the time I might have to stop coming. :-( Pamela and Caroline brought jewelry and stoles for me to try with my dress as things old/new/borrowed/blue.

Saturday, in the middle of the night, I flew to Italy. Magnus' father came to pick me up in Bergamo because Magnus was still sleeping off his Stag night! I went to the Bridal shop with Manon and Magnus' mother for the "final" fitting. There are still adjustments which have to be made. Unfortunately none of the jewelry Pam and Caroline gave me goes with the dress. But I do now have something borrowed, blue and old to carry with me (Pamela's handkerchief). And I think I will keep Caroline's pink stole in case it is cold!

Later we went to the Castello di Bevilacqua (www.castellodibevilacqua.com) to meet with the florist and work out what and where and how we want the flowers arranged. I don't even want to think about how much it's going to cost! But the florist seemed very competent and down to earth and willing to do whatever we (Franca!) wanted.

That evening we went to dinner in La Bortegha (I think) at the restaurant San Marco. There we had the most spectacular pasta I've ever had!!!! Tortellini, which were so delicate and Tortelli alla Zucca (with Pumpkin filling) which was sweet and flavorful. Mmmmmmmh. Magnus' mother presented me with a gift to go with my wedding dress - a pearl and silver choker and small pearl earrings to go with it! I was speechless. I didn't know what to say to thank them for such a precious gift.

Sunday we went for a bike ride and visited Aunt Rita. She lives in the old family farm complex. All the farmland was sold off long ago, though. I must take my mom there to see what a typical Italian farm house looks like. Later, Magnus and I took the MG convertible out with Simone and Claudia for an aperitive and dinner. Anna L. joined us for dinner and we went to a restaurant she had tried to take us to another time but it had been closed. The food was good, but pretty expensive. And compared to San Marco the cost/value ratio wasn't nearly as good! We made it home just before the heavens opened up and a deluge came.

Monday, Manon and I went to a lingerie store to exchange something for her and to find some nice undies for me. We found something just perfect!

Later we flew back to London. With all the turmoil around flying to/from London it wasn't too bad. They were letting people take small bags onto the airplane (I was allowed to take my purse, but had to pack my keys and my London Oyster card!). Our flight was delayed slightly, and we arrived in London just fine. We waited forever for our bags though, which is abnormal. It was around 8pm when we arrived home.

17 days and counting!

Civil Ceremony

Magnus and I got married in a civil ceremony on Saturday, May 27! We had stepped up our plans to do that considerably in order to facilitate getting my visa for the UK. We had thought the ceremony would be very brief, especially since we weren't exchanging rings or anything, but it ended up being almost an hour and quite lovely as a result of a few things. First, my friend Pamela came to Bussolengo from Frankfurt to be my witness. Since she speaks no Italian at all, we needed a translator. Manon, Magnus' sister, served as Interpreter. She did a great job, but it made the whole thing twice as long. Second, the man who married us read a poem, on married couples, by Khalil Gibran from his book The Prophet (the English version was then read by Manon). It's a beautiful poem and I'll try to post it here soon. He then gave a little sermon of sorts (translated by Manon), sharing his thoughts on the meaning of the poem. It was lovely.

Oops! I got a little ahead of myself! The day started at the crack of dawn - Magnus and I, Manon and M's mother, Franca had an appointment at the hairdresser's at 7:30! It was a struggle, but we weren't too late. And the place was already full, basically!!! We were there till almost 10:30! I got a color rinse, got my hair cut and styled and it looked great - quite cute with an up-flip. We raced home and got dressed - the ceremony was at 11:30!!! Pam came over and we took a few quiet minutes where she presented me with what my Prosperity girls (she, Sandra and Caroline) had prepared for me on my wedding day: They had made a collection of many things old, and or blue (which were, of course, borrowed) and Pamela had bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers (which served as the thing "new") from all of them! It was so sweet and really touched my heart. It was the perfect thing in the hecticness of the morning.

I'm not positive, but I believe we actually made it to the city hall on time, Magnus and I. And believe it or not, it was Magnus' father who we waited for! In addition to Magnus, Pamela and I in attendance were: Franca and Luigino (M's mom and dad), Manon (sister), Magnus' nonna Gina (grandmother), Magnus' witness, boyhood friend Raffaele and his wife Anna. I wish my family could have been there.

After the wedding we drove to Villa Amistà,which is a 5 Star hotel and spa near Bussolengo in the Valpolicella wine region. As you'll see, it is incredibly beautiful. Recently restored and decorated with modern art and design furnishings. It's a stunning combination.

Normally the restaurant isn't open at lunchtime on Saturdays, however, Magnus' mother told them I was a famous singer, wanting to celebrate somewhere where I could go incognito! Isn't that a hoot?!? Unfortunately, I didn't know until we'd been there about a half hour or I would have played it up a bit! LOL! As it was, I noticed the staff looking at me kind of intently, but chalked it up to them being solicitous to the bridal couple! But they were too discreet and and no one asked for an autograph. Darn. :-)

Here's a link (copy it into your browser) to a of Magnus and I at the Villa:

fotos.web.de/divadiane/Civil_ceremony

The meal was spectacular! At the dessert Magnus and I cut it together as if it were a wedding cake, but before we did that, Magnus presented me with a new "engagement" ring! He'd bought a beautiful, classically set diamond ring while he was in Hong Kong. I was completely surprised and very moved. He had asked me what my ring size was while he was there, but then dissembled by saying they hadn't had anything he liked in my size! I can't really be upset with him for being such a bald-faced liar!!!

We got a tour of the hotel facilities, and saw a few of the fancier rooms. They are so colorfully and fancifully decorated it seemed as though you were in a child's playroom - delightful!

Later on that evening Manon had arranged for some friends and cousins to meet for Prosecco at a place near Lake Garda. After that, we went to a Disco, which was fun. We (and everyone else) sang and danced to Italian hits. We got home around 4 am! Pamela had to be at the airport at around 6:45, so we got about 2 hours of shut-eye before taking her there. Even though it was short, I'm so glad she was there.

Monthly Teaching

Once a month I'm going back to Germany to teach over the weekend. I'm so blessed by dedicated students! They seemed genuinely devastated when I told them I was moving to the UK and then genuinely eager that I come back to teach them periodically. I won't be doing this forever, but it's a good thing to do to maintain ties and perhaps I'll be able to do some singing every once in a while!

So far, it's worked very well, that I've come on Thursday, taught on Friday and Saturday and again on Monday and Tuesday. The church of Christ the King (CtK), in Frankfurt - the church I've attended since arriving in Frankfurt in 1997 - generously gives me space to teach on these long weekends. Generally, I give each of my pupils 2 lessons over the course of the 4 days. It's like a mini-seminar for them.

While I'm in Frankfurt (Ffm) I stay with friends. I still have lots of them here and it's great fun to see them and spend time with them. Usually, my Prosperity group meets for a few hours of meditation and energy work. It's also great that I'm in Ffm over the weekend so that I get to go to CtK and sing with the choir, my buddies. I've been around so often since I moved though (almost more often than after I moved to Oftersheim), that they haven't really had a chance to miss me!

Moved to London

Yes, I've moved to London and everything is topsy turvy here... Well, life has been a bit turbulent, what with moving, going back and forth now to Germany to teach monthly, organizing the wedding(s) etc. I haven't had much time to worry about a career here in London, so I don't have much in that respect to write about.

I did, however find a good teacher, one I can collaborate with on the improvement and training of my voice as well as getting me up to par for auditioning here.

Magnus and I will be getting married in a civil ceremony on May 27 (and later on Sept. 1 in church) and after that, I will hopefully have time and mental space to get the ball rolling.

Elysium in Ordo Virtutum

By some wonderful coincidence all the members of Elysium were hired to sing in a repeat production of Hildegard von Bingen's "Ordo Virtutum" with musical director Stefan Morent. Stage director Enrico Masseroli was also part of it as well as most of the singers that took part last time. 2 singers joined us, Rebecca Bain as Anima, who I've performed with before in Sequentia's production of OV and Katherine Ross, who I'd never met before, but who made a wonderful Humilitas. Amy was hired to replace one of the singers who couldn't do it and so it was like a big, happy family reunion! We performed as part of the concert series "Vocal music along the Romanesque Road" (Vokalmusik entlang der Romanischen Strasse) during the summer festival in Rhineland-Palatine (Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz). We were in a beautiful romanesque church in a place about as far out in the boondocks as you can get in western Germany - Offenbach-Hundheim. A tiny village where the shops are hardly ever open and almost never when we had time to go in them and which had only 3 restaurants. But it was a pleasant enough 4 days. We were busy anyway!

We managed to put the whole thing together after having last performed this version of it 4 years ago in San Diego. It was hard work, but the end result was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! I think Enrico has an amazing eye for space and movement (not surprising since he's a dancer), but he prefers to do everything on the spot and try things out first. We didn't really have enough time to do that method justice, so it was a bit nerve wracking. I was doubly nervous - I don't know how it happened but I had a ton of spoken text which I had to deliver memorized (since it was staged). And that's not one of my fortes! However, by the grace of God, I didn't forget anything, and feel like I did a pretty good job! Magnus came to the performance and was moved. He thought that the staging was beautiful, using the space (around the altar) wonderfully. He likes Hildegard's music too.

After the concert, we took Anna with us and returned to Oftersheim (home). We flew to Italy the next day! More in another post.