No, not mine - I'm already married! Rather, everyone we know who's not, decided to this summer! Luckily (!), they must have consulted with one another and have scheduled their weddings evenly paced so that we can attend (nearly) all of them.
First, on June 1 was a lovely wedding in DC. A "school" friend (sort of, but it's a complicated story) of Magnus', Roberta and her (also) Italian boyfriend Andrea got married. Andrea is a diplomat at the Italian Embassy in DC. They have a lovely house, which we got to see. The reception was held at the Cosmos Club, where we also had our accomodation. The Cosmos Club is one of those typical old school clubs, the sort that only exist on the East Coast, if you know what I mean.
This weekend we're off to Florence/Arezzo, Italy for the wedding of a former colleague (Karlsruhe) of Magnus', Francesco.
Mid-July my Prosperity friend, Sue and her fabulously lovely boyfriend of several years, Xavier are getting married on Sue's birthday in France (where Xavier is from). That will be especially fun, because I'll get to see many of my Prosperity friends, whom I haven't seen in ages. Some of them are even flying in from the States so it will be extra-special. Lucky Sue!
At the end of July, long-time fiancés Marzia and Beppe (originally Marzia was a friend of Magnus' but I've known her for years as well, since she lived in Karlsruhe. This one takes place in Cadore, Italy up in the mountains above Treviso. I love that area. There will be many Karlsruhe friends and I'll be singing during the ceremony too. Fun, fun!
In August my cousin Mike is getting married. Unfortunately, we won't be able to attend that one - logistics make it just too difficult, never mind the expense of travelling to the States in August!
September marries my dear cousin Rose's daughter Theresa, who visited Magnus and I in Germany AND London. I'm really hoping that at least I can attend this one, but Magnus already knows he can't. Theresa asked me to sing and my mom will play the organ too, so that's extra incentive!
Phew! That's enough!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Weekend in Helsinki
M has to go to Finland every 2 or 3 weeks for business. Until now, it's been winter (no fun for vacation) and/or his meeting has been in the middle of the week. This time his meeting was on Monday and since in Germany May 1 is a holiday and NO one works on a Friday after a Thursday holiday here, we made a LONG weekend out of it. We were there for 5 days and we hit the weather jack-pot! It was sunny and "warm" the whole time! I guess that's pretty unusual. It was between 60° and 70°, but the breeze off the sea was still pretty cool. One day I ended up carrying my jacket and my sweater around all day!
We walked our feet to bloody stumps! I didn't bring great walking shoes and we did a whole lot of it. Ouch. We had bought a brochure detailing 6 or so walking tours of the city and an island fortress and we did at least 4 of them! The brochure gave the details of the more interesting buildings, churches and statues, parks and even some historical cafes! The island with the fortress on it was beautiful, we had a fun picnic eating Finnish bread and cheese on a bastion overlooking the sea where the huge ferries come in and out. And since the weather was so fantastic there were also lots of cute sailboats on the water.
We ate fabulously all weekend, trying various typical Finnish dishes. The first night we went to a cute restaurant called Lappi that specialized in food from Lapland (the area above the arctic circle). We ate a taster platter with deer sausage, reindeer steak and moose/elk steak with root veggies. I had a cool cocktail with sort of pale pink blackberry sort of thing called cloudberry. :-) The second night, at the Seahorse M had deep fried Baltic Herring and I had Finnish meatballs. mmmmmh. The atmosphere wasn't so great though. The third night we took a boat out to an island just off the coast to a restaurant called the Boathouse and had grilled salmon. oh, was it good! Here we had the whole second floor of the restaurant (which was round with huge picture windows overlooking the sea) to ourselves. It was lovely. Not sure why business was so slow. It was only their 3 day open for the season...
We went to the movies twice! The movies in Finland all have Finnish and/or Swedish subtitles, as opposed to in Germany where everything is dubbed. So we took advantage and saw Darjeeling Limited and There Will Be Blood. Both were very good, but There Will Be Blood was a bit creepy. Mostly I think it was the soundtrack that gave me a weird feeling all the time, but the main character, one of the first oil barons in Texas, was such a violent person lacking in any moral fiber. Darjeeling Limited on the other hand was a delightful movie. You should go see it if you haven't already! It's about these 3 brothers who meet on a train to go across the Indian countryside ostensibly to go visit their mother who's become a nun after their father died. They are wacky characters and much hilarity ensues. I'm sure you'd get a kick out of it.
One of my pupils here in Hannover is huge fan of the Finnish band, Him, and asked me to buy her a CD she couldn't get here. The singer, Manna, is married to the guitarist (I think, well someone) from Him. So we went on a little treasure hunt. It wasn't too hard to find the CD once we found the shop! That was a bit of an adventure - we got lost in the department store Stockmann's! Back at home I've listened to the CD and it's really great. I can recommend it highly. I think it is possible to get it through iTunes. Manna writes the songs and lyrics for the most part and sings. She has a lovely light voice, which is clear and the words (in English) are perfectly understandable. The music is not loud, more on the folky/pop-y side. Very nice.
We also bought a graphic novel version (in English!) of the Kalevala, which is the Finnish folk epic kind of like Beowulf or the Canterbury Tales. We asked for a version of it in English and they showed us two paperback editions, one was cheap quality and one was super expensive and we wanted a nice one that was maybe illustrated or something. Just to have, who knows if we would read it! Then I had the idea to look in the comics section and there it was! A nice hardcover edition in black and white and in English! Amazing.
We walked our feet to bloody stumps! I didn't bring great walking shoes and we did a whole lot of it. Ouch. We had bought a brochure detailing 6 or so walking tours of the city and an island fortress and we did at least 4 of them! The brochure gave the details of the more interesting buildings, churches and statues, parks and even some historical cafes! The island with the fortress on it was beautiful, we had a fun picnic eating Finnish bread and cheese on a bastion overlooking the sea where the huge ferries come in and out. And since the weather was so fantastic there were also lots of cute sailboats on the water.
We ate fabulously all weekend, trying various typical Finnish dishes. The first night we went to a cute restaurant called Lappi that specialized in food from Lapland (the area above the arctic circle). We ate a taster platter with deer sausage, reindeer steak and moose/elk steak with root veggies. I had a cool cocktail with sort of pale pink blackberry sort of thing called cloudberry. :-) The second night, at the Seahorse M had deep fried Baltic Herring and I had Finnish meatballs. mmmmmh. The atmosphere wasn't so great though. The third night we took a boat out to an island just off the coast to a restaurant called the Boathouse and had grilled salmon. oh, was it good! Here we had the whole second floor of the restaurant (which was round with huge picture windows overlooking the sea) to ourselves. It was lovely. Not sure why business was so slow. It was only their 3 day open for the season...
We went to the movies twice! The movies in Finland all have Finnish and/or Swedish subtitles, as opposed to in Germany where everything is dubbed. So we took advantage and saw Darjeeling Limited and There Will Be Blood. Both were very good, but There Will Be Blood was a bit creepy. Mostly I think it was the soundtrack that gave me a weird feeling all the time, but the main character, one of the first oil barons in Texas, was such a violent person lacking in any moral fiber. Darjeeling Limited on the other hand was a delightful movie. You should go see it if you haven't already! It's about these 3 brothers who meet on a train to go across the Indian countryside ostensibly to go visit their mother who's become a nun after their father died. They are wacky characters and much hilarity ensues. I'm sure you'd get a kick out of it.
One of my pupils here in Hannover is huge fan of the Finnish band, Him, and asked me to buy her a CD she couldn't get here. The singer, Manna, is married to the guitarist (I think, well someone) from Him. So we went on a little treasure hunt. It wasn't too hard to find the CD once we found the shop! That was a bit of an adventure - we got lost in the department store Stockmann's! Back at home I've listened to the CD and it's really great. I can recommend it highly. I think it is possible to get it through iTunes. Manna writes the songs and lyrics for the most part and sings. She has a lovely light voice, which is clear and the words (in English) are perfectly understandable. The music is not loud, more on the folky/pop-y side. Very nice.
We also bought a graphic novel version (in English!) of the Kalevala, which is the Finnish folk epic kind of like Beowulf or the Canterbury Tales. We asked for a version of it in English and they showed us two paperback editions, one was cheap quality and one was super expensive and we wanted a nice one that was maybe illustrated or something. Just to have, who knows if we would read it! Then I had the idea to look in the comics section and there it was! A nice hardcover edition in black and white and in English! Amazing.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Carmen in Hannover
A couple of weeks ago M and I went to see Carmen at the Hannover Opera with a colleague of his and her boyfriend. (I know, it took me long enough to get around to blogging about it...) It was the premier. A Georgian mezzo by the name of Khatuna Mikaberidze sang the title role. Jose - Pedro Velázquez Díaz and Micaela - Arantxa Armentia. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either, I'm afraid. I've heard operas where the singers were very bad. Here, in Carmen, the singers were quite good, especially Arantxa Armentia, but they were pretty much all of them simply over-singing. Why? I have no idea. The Japanese girl who sang the role of Frasquita (Hinako Yoshikawa), was quite excellent and the only one who didn't sacrifice musicality to sing loudly. Unfortunately, we don't get to hear a whole lot from Frasquita. The Card Aria (Trio) was wonderful, in large part due to Hinako Yoshikawa. The staging and direction was a bit random which hindered the singers in expressing the emotions fully. One exception was the death scene at the end. Pedro Velázquez Díaz as Don Jose sang very sensitively. The orchestra was quite excellent. The conductor, Jahbom Koo, was a bit excited at the beginning, though. The overture began at a racing tempo and returned to that theme at a much more relaxed tempo.
One real gripe: Why must there always be naked people on a German opera stage? Carmen was no exception.
One real gripe: Why must there always be naked people on a German opera stage? Carmen was no exception.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Singing Revolution?
Can singing cause a revolution? The answer is yes! When 1 million Estonians sang for their freedom, it happened. Well, at least that's what the people involved in getting a documentary (of the same name) screenings say. I'd love to see this movie, but somehow I don't think I will be able to. They are doing a campaign to get screenings around the USA and Canada and if they get at least 1500 requests they will organize it. So far, it is or will be shown (for a week long run) in 25 cities around the US and Canada. They have a map on the site where you can see how many requests have been made in cities all over. Madison, WI has only 73 requests... :-(
Go have a look and make a request! Click on the title of this post!
Go have a look and make a request! Click on the title of this post!
Friday, April 11, 2008
14th Annual Free the Voice Seminar
I just got back from Frankfurt yesterday, where I attended the voice seminar offered by Carol Baggott-Forte. This is the same seminar that was once taught by my mentor, Cornelius Reid. The work is the same: Functional Voice Training. And let me tell you - it was FANTASTIC. Unfortunately, I only had 4 lessons myself (I thought I was going to have 6, but there you go), but they were so good. Carol is so amazing. I feel like I took another huge step towards vocal freedom. At the same time, I listened to her teach throughout most of the seminar 10am - 1pm, 2:30pm - 5:30. It's the most fascinating thing to listen to these people singing and hear what she does with them. Her explanations are always clear and concise and I learn soooo much. The progression of the singers is phenomenal, even in the course of one lesson, but especially at the end after they've had 4 lesssons. Now I just have to incorporate what I learned into my own teaching. My first course of action is going to be to be more adventurous with my pupils. I hope that I can inspire them to sing better, more reflexively and to trust their bodies and their ears!
Want to know more about Functional Voice Training? Go to Carol Baggott-Forte's website: www.liberatedvoice.com
Want to know more about Functional Voice Training? Go to Carol Baggott-Forte's website: www.liberatedvoice.com
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Singing and Short Stories
So, things are flowing nicely around here. I'm up to 4 pupils now with the possibility of a 5th in a couple of weeks. I'm off to Frankfurt next week for 9 days - I'll be attending a voice seminar with Carol Baggott-Forte and seeing some friends. One of the stories I narrated for the StarShipSofa's BSFA series - Lighting Out, by Ken MacLeod - won the award! Congrats, Ken! I have a couple of more narration projects in the works - Tideline, by Elizabeth Bear (which is up for the Huga Award in the short form category) still needs to be edited and then I'll do my biggest project to date: Three Days in a Border Town, by Jeff VanderMeer. Eventually, I'll get around to doing Storm Constantine's The Green Calling and then I'll be doing a recording of some Dr Who FanFiction (by Jeri Massi). After that? Who knows. Hopefully, I'll also be singing before too long now....
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Sledge-maker's Daughter, by Alastair Reynolds
For those who are interested, My 3rd story recorded for the StarShipSofa (as stated in the title of this post) has been posted to the Sofa's website. It is another of the nominees for the BSFA Award in the Short Story category.
It's a great story about a girl living on the banks of the Tyne river in a far, far future Northern England, which is engulfed in a seeming endless winter. She is given knowledge and a tool with which she is meant to preserve the memory of what happened to the earth and how to protect its people from a threat they don't remember, but which looks as though it might return soon.
It's a great story about a girl living on the banks of the Tyne river in a far, far future Northern England, which is engulfed in a seeming endless winter. She is given knowledge and a tool with which she is meant to preserve the memory of what happened to the earth and how to protect its people from a threat they don't remember, but which looks as though it might return soon.
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