O Canada!

So the involuntary pause continued for some time. We still have no internet at home (crazy Dutch system). I'm finally here in Canada though, and able to have plenty of internet access to write on the ol'blog. It was an interesting flight over. I sat between a wonderfully talkative Mormon kid (it has to be said...he was only 22) on his way to pick up his fiance to be, and a wonderfully talkative Budhist women returning from the Plum Village Monastary in France (a place I've always wanted to go).

Now, here I am for a wonderful weekend with Sophie-Louise Roland, hopefully productive as well. It is Thanksgiving weekend here in London Ontario and I'm looking forward to lots of Canadian family time (with Todd, Eleonore, Anabelle, and Denise as well of course). BUT, then its off to Toronto to begin work on Opera York's new "La Boheme". I have to say...it isn't a show I EVER thought I'd want to direct. I always loved it, but didn't see myself in it. I take it all back. I think it is an absolutely perfect, timeless, and extremely human piece. I'll write more about what I have in mind for it in the coming posts, but I'm very excited  It will be simple, direct, honest. I have never met the cast, the conductor, anyone from the company. It is going to be a real adventure for me. Can't wait...

Involuntary Pause

I'm not out of commission for lack of ideas or time. We don't have internet in our brand new apartment in Amsterdam, so it has been hard to post. I've actually been VERY productive the last couple days, working on my blocking for an upcoming "La Boheme" with Opera York in Toronto. I've always thought "Boheme" (I used to go see it EVERY Christmas in New York) was perfect, but not one I would ever stage. Actually, though, I've found it quite wonderful to work on and have a great concept which I hope to share soon. What a fantastically perfect piece, absolutely without any problems. I love it. Other than that I'm preparing two competitions, one for Opera America based on John Adams "The Flowering Tree" and one for Opera Europa based on "I Capuleti ei Montecchi"...both I have to say rather inspired. Dan (husband) is off in Cremona this week looking for a new violin, so I've been on my own and working hard. I just got offered a new "Voix Humaine" which is a wonderful piece, with the Dutch National Opera Academy, and have lots of AOT things on the burner. Busy time...but then again they all same busy these days. I hope we'll have internet and I can write more soon. After the competition deadlines I'll post photos of Ryan Winneinger's (my beloved designer) stage designs, and info on the concepts. Great stuff...I think...I hope.

Back in Action

So yeah...took a LONG break from blogging this Summer. I needed a chance to refigure what I wanted to do with this blog and also was busier than I've ever been with projects all over the world. First things first! The blog is doing now what I like to think about as "expanding". In reality, I'm feeling that it might be a little easier for me to write regularly on the blog if I felt like I could write about everything I'm up to, and not just the AOT projects. Making the blog exclusively for AOT was fine when I didn't have much else going on, but now I find myself pulled from project to project - dream to dream - and was frustrated that I couldn't write just about what was going on in my mind. If I'm going to give to the blog I think the blog should give back to me. I mean, using the blog as a place to air out ideas and think outloud could really help me develope concepts and communicate with myself (and since giving up journaling several years ago...I'm in desperate need of self-communication). So, I'm still going to keep readers abreast of AOT activities, but I'm going to open the blog up to writing about a whole lot more.



And second of all...what have I been up to? Well right after the "Giulio Cesare" in London I returned to the Netherlands where I staged Peter Maxwell Davies opera "The Lighthouse" for the Nationale Reisopera to open the 2010 Grachtenfestival. I left right from those performances to Sardinia where I staged my old "Dido+Aeneas", which just gets more refined everytime, and premier a new piece called "Butterfly" based on the Puccini, but much more about her fragile psychology than all the Asian trappings. Maybe I'll find time to expound on all that in the weeks to come. But for now here are some photos and video of all that stuff.



John Molloy, center with Kris Belligh and Richard Rowe
THE LIGHTHOUSE





Sarah Barnes as Cio-Cio San
BUTTERFLY

Sophie-Louise Roland as Suzuki



Brian Arreola as Pinkerton









Vlog 3 [a trilogy]

I'm in a great COAA masterclass given by Eric Melear, and taking a moment to post a vlog entry I made last night. I got carried away a bit and did an extra long vlog, but I've split it up into three parts.

COAAed

I'm in London Ontario teaching about 13 hour days at the University of Western Ontario. AOT finished its 2009-2010 season with a great success in "Jephtha"...sold out houses of enthusiastic crowds, all standing ovations. Now I'm onto work for "Giulio Cesare" which opens in Canada in about one month. I'm keeping a blog on that production work and you can find me there during this little hiatus. I'll try to update AOT news hear, but mostly I'll be writing on "Giulio Cesare" (as you know, my favorite opera) for the most part.

Find the "Giulio Cesare" blog HERE

Addendum:

I write a little more on my "other blog" about "Giulio Cesare" here.

Trying something new...

As most of you readers can figure out, I'm not the best at keeping the blog as up-to-date as I would like. I'm also not the slickest kid on the block when it comes to technology. BUT, I'm going to try something new. Orchestra London, with whom I'm directing a production of Handel's "Giulio Cesare" this summer, has asked me to document the process via video blogs, or rather VLOGS (which I can't decide if I love or hate as a piece of terminology). I spent hours, that hopefully won't have to be repeated next time, yesterday figuring out how to do this, and I made my first one which I'm going to post here. If the process goes well, it is something I'd like to continue and do more often on this blog for AOT pieces (I will incidentally cross-post all my "Cesare" video here since "Cesare" is in Baltimore's future as well...though I'm not telling...).

Maybe I'll figure out podcasts one day!