Can I borrow your voice?

The other night, My Parents (who came to see their cubs perform in this part of the world) and I, traveled to London to listen to my brilliant violinist brother , play the Mendelssohn concerto with the Royal Phil.

For that concert , he has received a special violin to play on; A very special one, which used to belong to the great Menuhin.

Beside the fact that my amazing brother is all that and much more, I couldn't stop thinking about how strange it would be, if I could borrow a VOICE for different concerts and operas. What a fabulous and most bizarre thing!

I think this strikes a special chord with me, since the one thing in my self which I often dream of exchanging,(ok, beside my butt), is my voice. (and it's not because I hate my voice, but because there are so many other ones I love too).

From the beginning of my singing career, I was often envious of people who just opened their mouth , and a magical creamy, big velvety tone came out. regardless of musicality or any skill they might or might not have yet; some people are born with a big and beautiful instrument, some people are not. (just like some got naturally gorgeous physique and so on). Of course beauty is a subjective matter. But one thing you can not argue about, for example, is the beauty of , let's say, Renee Fleming's tone.
The rest of us, (and here I am talking of most singers really) do what we can to compensate for what we lack or might lack for a percentage of our listeners , with the help of other talents and skills.
But this fantastic idea of occasionally singing with a different instrument; what a marvel!
( This makes me laugh, remembering that through out my student years, I always had the Soprano anthology with me, and with my dear pianist friend, we would just sight read, aria after aria: Aida, Violetta, Elvira, Mimi, you name it. All the stuff my soul was born to sing but not my body) .

baby Doh!

And arond the world, people come up with some strange names for their baby. 4real!

Discretion advised

Just thought you'd be interested to know that, last night, after the Don Giovanni in London, we all went to dinner (I was sitting across from AN).
I can't tell you much more than that. oh yea; I had 2 glasses of a nice red, and a piece of prosciutto. ;)

Lead the way

It's good to see that at least someone Has been signed, because they have been around for a fairly long time, because they have been working hard, and because they have been successful long enough, (and not just because they are PHOTOGENIC).
Congratulations to a fellow mezzo!

On rejection

I was "on hold" for a role in a production I dreamed of doing. I had two main reasons for wanting it so: the first and the larger reason was because this was such a good production, I could have evolved artistically in a rare way which, does not appear in my life all that often. (meaning: the opportunity to LEARN a whole lot from a true master, and carry it on for the rest of my days).
The other reason was the triumph I could have had along side. (yes, even I hope for a little bit of that sometimes...).
At the end they went ahead and chose someone who is my complete opposite, for their own private casting reasons. I still took it pretty hard for a few days.
My manager (who noticed how down in the dumps I was), had to have a talk with me, (what is kind of him, considering how many talks like this to how so many rejected singers he has to pull out his sleeve on a weekly basis), explaining to me what I know but tend to forget: This business is simply not kind. And it's full with rejection like a rotten apple and its worms, more than any other business. and, c'mon dear, you need to move on, forget about it, and know that there are better things coming your way. OK then. yay. (Still got a month here before heading back home. I miss home).

Curse

Last night, our Fiordeligi cover , who has been singing with us for the past seven shows, has lost her voice. First half went well, but for the second, for an extremely mysterious and unknown reason, (allergic reaction? nerves? voodoo?) her voice was absolutely gone.
And since she IS the cover, there is nobody else.
She kind of marked through her big aria, but completely stopped singing after that.
All our recits, were softly spoken by her, sung by me, then the big Finale (which is us singing in thirds), well, was sung solo, by your humble mezzo, while our poor silent soprano was trying to do her blocking, hardly managing to see through a stream of flowing tears.
The show must go on, and that's what happened.
I sang HER lines in "E nel tuo, nel mio bicchiero...", which turn into a duet with Ferrando, which turns into a trio and lastly a quartet. I started their duet with him, then I sang MY line. It still sounded like some kind of a lame trio, as the entire rest of the opera ended up being.
I wish I could sing in two voices at the same time, ( some people can! did you know that?) but all I could do was to sing with only mine, shakily, (gosh, I think I was physically shaking) my own phrase, and wonder how wrong it sounds, missing the top line in all these ensembles.
This was like one of these singer nightmares we get during our anxiety dreams. I still can't believe how strange this whole summer has been so far.

No headlines

singing in a returning production, taking part in an ensemble piece, I certainly am not making any headlines. I am disappointed.

It is pretty quiet here, and I am realizing it especially after a few visits with my dear friend at Covent Garden.

Now, THERE are some headlines. Opera world's sweetheart is not going to show up to her premier, and it is now going to be his show , and his alone, thank you very much!

Blogs are filling up with rumors and speculations, there are interviews everywhere, and a buzz is created in less than a minute. I love it how the world of opera is starting to become a brilliant reflection of Beverly Hills 90210. (and the players are no less pretty, either).

Returning to my little flat, away from the city, I am asking my self the same question I always ask: Is this really what I dream of?

AN is making 10 times my fee (looking at our current productions, lol). She is a couple sizes skinnier, got about a few men a head of me, 11 more apartments around the world,and she probably got a few hundred fans who have purchased a ticket (at $300 a piece) and maybe airfare+ hotel only to get here and see her replacement on opening night. Is she living her own dream?
*edited to add TOI TOI TOI to whomever is involved, and a speedy recovery to whomever is not.