Poetry Planet No. 6 "Moon Imaginings"

The next installment of Poetry Planet on StarShipSofa No. 245 will hit the ether today. You'll find my segment at around the 43:00 minute mark. This one is all about the Moon. These are the show notes. 

You'll hear poetry by:

• Geoffrey A. Landis - Geoffrey A. Landis is a scientist with the NASA John Glenn Research Center and a Hugo and Nebula Award winning science-fiction writer. His most recent publication is in Buzzkill - an anthology of apocalyptic poetry. His poetry is collected in Iron Angels.
• Lyn C. A. Gardner - With master's degrees in English literature and library science, she's been the editor for a private maritime museum and currently serves as catalog librarian for a public library. In addition to writing, art, and photography, she enjoys fencing, swimming in lakes, biking around the neighborhood, skating (ice & sidewalk skates). Shes love owls, cats, trees, snow, the stars, the color blue, and playing folk guitar and harpsichord. Most of all, she loves spending time with her family. Her recently published poetry collection is Dreaming of Days in Astrophel. 
• Sandra Lindow - Writer/Editor/Teacher. Regional Vice President for the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. She has published five books of poetry most recently Touched by the Gods.
• Nathan Boole - StarShipSofa listener and aspiring writer. Find his short story Black Bradley and the Mercenary Captain on Amazon.com
• David Kopaska-Merkel - David Kopaska-Merkel raises giraffopards for the Venusian Defense Force, and publishes Dreams & Nightmares magazine, now in its 26th
  year. He won the Rhysling award for best long poem (2006) for a collaboration with Kendall Evans. Their latest collaboration, The Tin Men, was published by Sam's Dot in 2011.
• David Lunde - David Lunde is a poet and translator whose work has appeared in many journals. His work has been included in 40 anthologies, and he is the author of 11 books of poems and translations, the most recent being: Breaking the Willow (2008), and 300 Tang Poems (2011), translations of classical Chinese poetry. His collection Blues for Port City contains the Rhysling Award winning poem Pilot, Pilot.
• Mari Ness - More of Mari Ness' poetry can be found at Goblin Fruit, Ideomancer, Stone Telling and Bull Spec. She blogs, sometimes but not usually about poetry at mariness.livejournal.com and for Tor.com, or you can follow her on Twitter @mari_ness. She lives in central Florida.
• Gerald Warfield - Gerald Warfield’s short story, “The Poly Islands,” won second prize in the first quarter of the 2011 Writers of the Future contest.  The same year, his humorous story “The Origin of Third Person in Paleolithic Epic Poetry” took first place in the nationally syndicated Grammar Girl short story contest.  His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines including New Myths, edited by Scott Barnes.   Gerald published music textbooks and how-to books in investing before turning to fiction.  He is a graduate of the Odyssey Writers Workshop (2010).  He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Please follow the links to the poets' websites and publications. Support you favorite one!

Links to the other items mentioned on this show:

• "Silence" - Meinhard Gerlach, lute and Diane Severson, voice.
• "The Moment of Change" and "Here, We Cross" edited by Rose Lemberg
• SFPA Poetry Contest
• 2012 Rhysling Anthology, edited by Lyn C. A. Gardner
• PoetryPlanet Survey

Poetry Zines (online):

• Centrifugal Eye
• Inkscrawl
• Versification (poetry review site)
• Grand Science Fiction

You can find a list and links to all of my voice work on StarShipSofa and elsewhere here.

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Celebrations

A couple of weekends ago I traveled to Hong Kong. It seems like much longer ago and almost dream-like because it was so brief and I've done so much since then.

I was only in HK itself for 3 days, 72 hours almost exactly. It is far enough away and you cross enough time zones that travel took about a whole day one way. I left Thursday afternoon and returned on Tuesday morning about when my family was waking up. Magnus had Thursday and Friday off from work (Germany is great for vacation days, this was Ascension Thursday and oh, just take Friday off as well! It's hardly worth it to come in only one day before the weekend!), so child care was relatively easy to arrange. The boy only had to go to day care the whole day on Monday.

The trip took about 16 hours to HK with a layover in Hannover. Somewhere between Hannover and Frankfurt I got an email from Albert saying he'd just realized another Hong Kong friend of his (Bernard) living in Frankfurt and I were on the same flight. We found each other at the gate and had a nice chat. I'm definitely a spoiled international traveler: The airplane didn't have individual video screens, so I did the most reasonable thing - I read and listened to StarShipSofa until I decided I could fall asleep and slept for the duration.

First impression of Hong Kong: Holy moly, those are some tall apartment buildings! I went straight to the hotel (Hotel Kowloon), which was right next to the Peninsula, where most of the wedding festivities would be held, but much cheaper. Nice comfortable hotel. Breakfast was NOT worth the €16 added to the room price! I took a nap while I waited for friends from my time in Frankfurt who were also in the wedding party to arrive and call.

Friday night was the wedding rehearsal and I was to run through my songs with Albert's sister Sharon and the organist. Both went extremely well. Sharon is an excellent pianist, even if she hasn't played regularly (or was it "at all") in years. She applied herself these past few months and got the Malotte Lord's Prayer up to snuff. The rehearsal dinner was held at the Hong Kong Cricket Club (well, well!) and was an excellent western style meal. Upon arriving I asked for water and it came warm! It was actually the perfect antidote to the torrential rains outside and the glacial air conditioning inside. This dichotomy would turn out to be a recurring theme while I was there! I made sure I had my pashmina or my shrug sweater with me at all times.

Saturday I had a dim-sum lunch with Bernard, Jen and Patrick (the Frankfurt friends) at the Prince restaurant. It was on the top floor of the building and overlooked the bay towards Hong Kong Island (we were in Kowloon) and the food was oh so yummy. Jen and I went shopping in Centre (Hong Kong Island). I was on a mission to find a reasonable pair of concert shoes: black, closed toe, heel but not too high and above all extremely comfortable. Oh, and in my size. I quickly realized that I do not have the small and dainty foot of your average Chinese maiden. I was lucky if they had a size 39 (US 9) let alone the 40 or 41 that I actually needed. I did, however find a perfect pair of dance shoes by Repetto that were unfortunately just that much too small. If they'd had a size larger, they would've been perfect and I would not have hesitated buying them one second. As it was despite more searching that night after "High Tea" I came up empty handed.

We joined Albert, Natalie and families for High Tea at the peninsula. I just had cake. But the tea sandwich/cakes tower looked delectable. After tea, a Hong Kong friend of Albert's who he met in San Francisco (Ken) went shopping with me! Such a gentleman! He also joined me for dinner at a well known restaurant and then refused to let me pay! This was also turning out the be a recurring occurrence, since Bernard bought lunch for all of us too!

The next morning I met Jen and we went to get our hair put up at a nearby salon. They did an excellent job with mine and I'm sure it wouldn't have ever budged a millimeter if I hadn't taken out the gouging bobby pins after I was done singing at the reception!

The wedding!!! ...was at 15:30 (officially) I was to sing "Bist Du Bei Mir" by Bach (Anna Magdalena Songbook) the moment Natalie arrived in the car. But there was no sign of her until almost 16:00 (4:00pm!). The Bach went well and the ceremony was beautiful. It was interesting to hear Amazing grace sung in Cantonese! And I haven't heard a congregation sing like that ( well and loud ) since Christ the King, Frankfurt! Alberta's uncle, who is a minister working in the UK at the moment did the sermon. He printed out an English translation for those of us ignorant of Cantonese. Lovely.

During the signing bit Albert's sister Sharon and I did the Malotte. It went very well except for me almost losing it emotionally at the beginning. I am just so happy for Albert! After the ceremony we performed it again and recorded it. There is a video I'll have to embed another time. I've been writing about this weekend way too long already!

The reception was in the Spring Room backs at the Peninsula. Albert asked me to sing a few songs with the jzz combo he'd hired. I prepared Summertime, At Last and Skylark, which was Albert's request. I was a little early to rehearse with them and they were still sitting around eating we talk about tempo and keys. And when I asked later if we shouldn't go rehearse the leader said, "honey, we just did!" gotta love jazz musicians. I was terrified at first but aside crime the keys actually not being right for At Last and Skylark, it went very well! I was even able to jazz it up a little. We did The Nearness of you as a bonus too. The food at the reception more traditionally Chinese and wonderful!! I stayed until the very end when it was just Patrick, Jen, Ken and Bernard and I plus a few other young folk I didn't know. Joy.

I took a walk the next morning intending to go up to Victoria Peak, but by the time I found the tram t goes up there it was time to return to the hotel. Had a nice walk around Centre though and happened past the old Episcopal Church.

I took a taxi to the airport with Jen and Patrick because our flights were relatively close together. We ate lunch together and parted ways. I miss them! Friends like that are rare.

The trip home was long but uneventful. A 3 hour flight to Singapore on which I started but couldn't finish the American version of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and a few hours layover there made it interminable. I arrived home in Hannover at about 8am and spent the morning playing with Dante. He missed me! But had lots of good boy time with his Papi.

Announcing the 2012 SFPA poetry contest

The Science Fiction Poetry Association announces its 2012 speculative poetry contest. Speculative poetry encompasses science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry. Deadline September 15, 2012.

There is no entry fee, and the contest is open to non-members, with $50 prizes and publication to the winners in 3 length divisions, and an additional $50 prize to the best poem by a non-member. Winners also receive a year's membership in SFPA and member publications.

The complete guidelines for the 2012 SFPA contest are posted on the SFPA website here.

Oh! And if you think you might have the odd genre poet who frequents your blog or website, the SFPA would be much obliged if you'd copy and paste the above and post it somewhere prominent! Thank you!

Interview = Fame!

I'm overdue to post about various recent events, but I would like to briefly mention, while it's fresh and new, that it's official - I am now famous - I have been interviewed! A friend, colleague and former fellow student in Bremen, Astrid Nielsch, writes a monthly Newsletter in which she regularly interviews people she knows who do cool things. And imagine - she thinks I do cool things! She herself does extremely cool things of an incredibly varied nature - Harper, web-designer, artist, photographer, gardener, etc. Her Newsletter is always interesting to read, even if it's not about me. ;-)

Here's the interview:

Asni Multimedia Art & Design Newsletter

Actually, it just occurred to me that this is the second interview that's been published about me. The first one wasn't available on the web though, that one was ostensibly about my mother and as an off-shoot of that, me. It was for the alumni of the high school my mother went to in Armstrong, Iowa. I don't imagine that it was very widespread, but still. I shouldn't discount it. But this! This is now out there in the ether for the world to read if it should so choose!

Concerts - report

When it rains, it pours! At least, that's what they say, and I have to admit it often seems true! This year when Easter rolled around I didn't have a whole lot planned for the next few months. But that changed drastically.

In the throes of one of the most horrible colds I've had in a while, my dear colleague Joachim Dreher in Dillenburg called and asked if I could jump in and sing in a concert in May. He'd had a soprano soloist all lined up (most likely a year in advance as is his wont), but she had called and said she was no longer able to do the gig. He remembered my offer in October that if he should ever find himself needing a soloist at short notice that he should turn to me. Not having a whole lot lined up for 2012 and being a quick study means that I could be what saves a concert if someone gets sick. Well, at least I had a few weeks notice for this concert. But more on that later.

But first the performance at the Herrenhäuser Chortage 2012 in Hannover by Raggio-di-Sol. That's the small vocal ensemble (10 singers), that I sing with. As per usual, we sang a few pieces during this choir festival. A whole weekend featuring  choirs from Hannover. We performed on Saturday afternoon. We did "Pastime with Good Company" by Henry VIII, "Pedro y bien te quiero" (anon.) "When David Heard" by Thomas Weelkes, "Luci seren e chiare" by Claudio Monteverdi and "Magnificat anima mea", by Alfredo Ihl (our director). We did adequately. I say adequately because Alfredo made everyone nervous about the Weelkes by harping on one small section way past the point of no return. A pity, because it would've been just fine. As it was, there was no complete breakdown, but at least one person lost their way. Oh well. The rest of the pieces went quite well! That took place at the end of April.

This past weekend, May 12-13, took me back to my old haunt Dillenburg again. This time to sing Bach cantatas. Joachim had stitched together a wonderful pastiche of pieces of various cantatas and organ pieces to create a program he called "Bach and in Honor of Bach" ("Bach und Bach zu Ehren"). The church choir, a small baroque orchestra (with a few members I know from previous performances), a bass soloist and me performed from 9 different cantatas and an organ soloist performed works by Liszt, Rinck and Karg-Elert on themes from Bach pieces. It was a wonderful program and the orchestra and choir were in fine form. I'm quite satisfied with my performance, although it wasn't perfect, when is it ever? And I don't think there was anything that anyone but a professional musician might have noticed. Maybe not even then...

17 May 2012 I flit off to Hong Kong! My dear friend Albert is (finally) getting married! I know Albert from choir at the Episcopal Church of Christ the King in Frankfurt. After he left Frankfurt he spent several years in the US and then returned to his home town Hong Kong where he met Natalie. I am so pleased for him (and her!). And he asked me to sing at his wedding, offering to pay for my flight! How could I say no?!? The wedding date being 20 May 2012 meant that it fit just perfectly between the concert in Dillenburg and Magnus' grandmother's 90th birthday celebration in Bussolengo on 27 May 2012! I'm flying to HK by myself. The boys will be alone for 5 days! Unfortunately, because travel time is so long to HK I'll only be there from midday Friday to midday Monday. But I'm sure it will be an amazing experience. One set of friends from Frankfurt (Jen and Patrick) will also be there participating, so I'll be able to hang out with them. Unfortunately, the one other person I know in HK (Solveig, from Voices Found) will be in Paris that weekend! Figures!

I will be singing The Lord's Prayer by Mallotte and Bist Du Bei Mir by Anna Magdalena Bach during the ceremony. At the reception Albert has hired a jazz band and requested I sing a few numbers. I've chosen At Last and Summertime and he requested Skylark. Oh, this will be so fun!

So that's what's been going on and what's in the works. 


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Presenting Hildegard von Bingen - IWAH General Meeting 17 April 2012

A couple of years ago I offered to the then Chairwoman of the International Women's Association of Hannover (IWAH) that I could do a presentation on Hildegard von Bingen for one of the monthly General Meetings. A few months ago, 2 Chairwomen later, I was asked to make good on that offer.

It happened yesterday. I've never done a PowerPoint presentation or really any type of public speaking before, although as a professional singer, it's not that far removed from performing in public. When I arrived at the venue, the venue IWAH has been using month in and month out for years and years, apparently a photographer for the kindergarten kids had been installed in the large meeting hall that we always use. And he refused to move. Well, there are a couple of much smaller but none-the-less large rooms upstairs which were offered to us. Luckily, the room we used was just big enough to hold the 30 or so members who came to hear me speak (and sing).

I spoke about Hildegard's life and work, showed some of the illuminations from her books of visions, and other pictures and sang a few excerpts from various songs and one complete song (O quam magnum miraculum est). Luckily, after all the illness I've had and travel I've been doing, my voice held out. I had intended on recording the whole talk with my iPhone, but someone called me in the middle (argh!!!) and I didn't get it started up again properly. So, I've only got about 10 minutes of it.

Although the audience was more knowledgeable about Hildegard than I had expected, I don't think anyone quite realized just what an amazing woman she was and how many kettles she had in the fire. The title of the blurb I wrote for the IWAH Newsletter really is true: Hildegard von Bingen - Nun, Mystic, Healer, Poet, Composer. What I really wanted to accomplish - to bring her to life for them - was accomplished I hope.

Review: A night at the Met in Hannover, Germany

Recently, I became aware that one of our local cinemas participates in the live broadcasts of select performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Met has been broadcasting about 10 performances per season for several years now. We were in London when I first heard of it in 2007 or 2008. But I hadn't realized until now that they were doing it in Hannover. The Met broadcasts the live performance via satellite in HD and includes exclusive interviews with the performers in the intermission.

Saturday (14 April 2012) was the last broadcast of the season and we saw La Traviata, one of my favorite operas (and a lot of people's too, I know). The music is stunning and memorable and emotionally laden. I know it quite well because we did the opera when I was the Opera Props scholarship recipient at the UW-Madison. I got to sing the thankless role of Annina, because as a 21 year-old Violetta was naturally way beyond my ability, but it was a great experience none-the-less. Regardless, I was quite excited to see a Met production of it as well as to hear a singer I admire sing Violetta: Natalie Dessay. I'd never heard of the other soloists, but the opera is a vehicle for Violetta anyway, it lives or (and) dies with her.

However, Dessay should not have sung that performance. Apparently, she missed her first performance on Monday last week because of illness but sang the second on Tuesday. I imagine she didn't want to miss out on the Live in HD performance, but she should have bowed out. She was clearly not well vocally and it got worse and worse. From the very beginning you could hear that she was protecting her voice, which in my opinion was probably worse than just singing full out and not worrying too much about weaknesses. Long delicate notes cut out more often than not and the money note at the end of the first act was a real struggle. Unfortunately, we, the audience members of the broadcast got a close-up of the struggle. There was one redeeming thing in the first act and that was tenor Matthew Polenzani who sang Alfredo, Violetta's love interest. Wow! What a fabulous, rich, open and expressive voice! A wonderful actor as well, who brought tears to my eyes in the duet in the first Act. Too bad he doesn't have a more prominent role in this opera. Finally, someone whose Italian (and I imagine any language he sings in) is understandable!  This was unfortunately, not the case with Dessay and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who sang the role of Germont. Although, I'm not sure, had Dessay been well, if she would've darkend the vowels quite so much. Hvorostovsky's performance was additionally marred by the wheezing, gasping breaths he took between each phrase. Was he ill as well? Or is that a hallmark of his singing? Quite distracting in any case.

The chorus and the orchestra were first rate, as is to be expected. All minor singing roles were admirably sung. The set was quite minimalistic and modern in a timeless modern kind of way. Not at all disturbing, but definitely added nothing to the overall production. The staging and direction made it overall an extremely dark version, giving Violetta nothing to work with when things were meant to be going well and she and Alfredo happy.

Despite all the griping above, I did quite enjoy it, although not nearly as much as I would have, had Dessay been singing well. What a shame actually, because it's clear that she is a very good actress and the vocal weakness was distracting to her and ultimately to the audience and made it impossible to be completely immersed in the drama. A real pity. I look forward to attending more such Live at the Met productions in the future. They gave a preview of the next season and there are several I'd really like to see.

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