Brugge

I'm off today to probably the most beautiful city in Belgium. I'll be in Brugge for a couple days rehearsing with Kantores, a wonderful choir directed by my good friend Reinhard Andries. We are doing several performance at a festival in Wallonie, and I look forward to reporting more from there. Then off to Sardinia next Saturday to beginning putting together AOT's first international performance, our "Le Cabaret de Carmen". There will be a lot to do, turning a warehouse into a theater, lighting, restaging, and musical rehearsals. In the midst of the Ignoti Dei will perform a concert of sacred Italian music from the 18th Century. But, there will also be good friends, lots of exotic and authentic Italian food, and the best wine in Europe (we won't tell Sophie Roland, AOT's General Director that, she is under the impression that the French have the best wine!).

I look forward to giving updates as to the progress of the production. I hope the fact the Sardinia has remained detached culturally from the mainland won't mean it is too hard to find internet access. Besides work on "Carmen", AOT has two other large projects on the horizon: our Crumb/Couperin show in Bloomington, IN (part of the New Frontier Project demonstrating the future of technology and opera and using two of AOT's regulars, Rebecca Duren and Emily Noel), and of course of Kurt Weill presentation with Sylvia McNair. Busy times for everyone involved!

Cleaning house

Its one of those days where I spend lots of time clearing the dust off of AOT's e-sources (ie the website, the blog, the facebook page, and now the flickr page). It is a steep learning curve for me, but healthy none-the-less. It is the way AOT eats its veggies!

Tomorrow I am leaving for a brief performance at a festival in Belgium, and then AOT's first international performance in Sardinia. We are doing "Le Cabaret de Carmen" as part of the Ente Concerti festival in Sardinia. That should be a blast, but it takes me away from home (and regular internet access) for a number of weeks. So I'm in a rush to get everything done before I leave!

(Notice the new Facebook gadget on the side of the blog! If you're not yet a Facebook fan of AOT's...sign up now to get all the updates on us you could ever want. I have also posted the 2009-2010 season here finally, and made my recording recommendations.)

One Last Thing Before I Go...

I'm leaving this coming Monday to move our stuff from Antwerp to Amsterdam which will now be home. Before then though, I will be spending the weekend at first staging rehearsals with the dynamic-duo sopranos Rebecca Duren and Emily Noel. In October they will be performing a new concept piece called "Annunciation + Visitation" at Indiana University and funded through the New Frontiers Foundation. The music is in two parts, the first being song cycles by George Crumb and then the Tenebre Lessons of Francois Couperin. SO...that will keep me pretty occupied this weekend.

Artscaped

I never went to Artscape until this weekend. I always thought it too hot and, in what now seems cynical folly, always thought that is was either light on the arts and heavy on the funnel cake, or too esoteric. I'm happy to admit I was wrong, and I'm super proud of my city. Artscape, from the perspective of the AOT booth, was a great melting point. I got to meet folks from all different backgrounds and all different ages. Right outside our booth on Sunday an African drumming circle and I saw people of different races, ages, and creeds dancing with each other. For all the talk that goes around the opera community about reaching out to new audiences, this weekend I felt we were really doing it as all sorts of people visited us, expressed their joy at opera surviving in Baltimore, and signed up for tickets for next year. Even more, at our, admitedly difficult, performance on Sunday the diverse group of young and old and black and white and rich and poor that were enthused by the performance gladdened my heart. So, I can't believe I'm going to be so hokey as to write this, but BALTIMORE BELIEVE!

Artscape Away

I am sitting at a Cafe enjoying a few moments of quite before the last day of Artscape begins. I love being part of this enigmatic festival that brings together so many people from so many diverse backgrounds! AOT has been able to tell literally hundreds and hundreds of people about what we are doing this year. Time and time again we hear "I thought opera was dead in Baltimore." And it is my delight to tell them about whats going on.

Today we will present two short performances of "A Pilgrime's Solace" at 2pm and 5pm. Come out to Artscape if you can - great weather for the first time in years!

Artscape and in the news!

Here is a great little picture that was sent to me recently. It is from the cover of a magazine that had an article about the workshop I was honored to be Artistic Director of with Sophie-Roland...and here we are having a great time. It is also a perfect AOT image because it shows the two directors of the company doing what we love to do most, have fun.







I'm in the midst of rehearsals for "A Pilgrime's Solace", which is AOT's offering in Artscape this year. This is a collection of 12 songs by John Dowland, the 16th century singer-songwriter that wrote songs of unparalleled deep of emotion. I've compiled these songs roughly into a piece that explores the human grief cycle, for mezzo soprano and guitar. I'm thrilled to finally be working with Monica Reinagel, who has performed so much in Baltimore, but not yet with AOT. Andrew Dickenson, a Peabody alum (and incidentally from my home town!) is our guitarist. We finished staging this weekend and it is a powerful and moving piece. It is only 45 minutes, and 45 minutes that fly by, but the ocean of feeling explored is deep indeed. There are two performances on Sunday the 19th, at 2pm and 5pm. They are both free and I hope to see you all there (Corpus Christi Church across from MICA).



Incidentally Dowland is one of the great poets of all time. I'm going to try to share some of his poetry here in the days leading up to the performances.



Now Oh Now I Needs Must Part



Now, oh now I needs must part,
Parting though I absent mourn.
Absence can no joy impart:
Joy once fled cannot return.



While I live I needs must love,
Love lives not when Hope is gone.
Now at last Despair doth prove,
Love divided loveth none.



Sad despair doth drive me hence;
This despair unkindness sends.
If that parting be offence,
It is she which then offends.


Dear when I from thee am gone,
Gone are all my joys at once,
I lov'd thee and thee alone,
In whose love I joyed once.


And although your sight I leave,
Sight wherein my joys do lie,
Till that death doth sense bereave,
Never shall affection die.



Sad despair doth drive me hence;
This despair unkindness sends.
If that parting be offence,
It is she which then offends.



Dear, if I do not return,
Love and I shall die together.
For my absence never mourn
Whom you might have joyed ever;



Part we must though now I die,
Die I do to part with you.
Him despair doth cause to lie
Who both liv'd and dieth true.



Sad despair doth drive me hence;
This despair unkindness sends.
If that parting be offence,
It is she which then offends.

Thats what summer is for...

Here I am back in Bloomington. I finally arrived this past Tuesday, but this is the first chance I've had to write. My last days in Canada were great. I had a wonderful time getting to see my friend Timothy Vernon who is the conductor and artistic director of Pacific Opera Victoria, which now also performs as Opera London. I saw their Magic Flute with some fantastically talented young singers and Timothy and I got a lot of time to chat. Now I'm here at IU for a series of meetings about AOT's collaboration on Appartition/Visitation (staged songcycles by George Crumb and Francois Couperin) that we will do here in October. There is also exciting talk about future collaborations (perhaps even John Adam's El Nino) that have me busy here.

In the free time I am working on putting together a version of Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande" for performance in Amsterdam next Winter. Peter Brook did a version for two pianos (which is actually just a splitting of Debussy's original one piano reduction) that lasts about 90 minutes. After spending some time with the score, however, I'm not altogether happy with the changes he made. A lot of beautiful, and important, material was cut, including the sung lines of Yinold which are a fantastic addition. So it looks like I will do my own version. Also I'm orchestrating the songs for our Kurt Weill program with Sylvia McNair (who is here in Bloomington and I am happy to get to spend some time with again). And somehow I'm managing to help the Summer Opera Workshop with some acting classes for their students. Oh...and learn Dutch.

Happy Summer!