Opera Singing in Germany and other adventures....

My favorite practice room in Henderson Hall, # 308B (and me in the mirror-lol!) Since I didn't get a chance to post these photos on here while I was actually in Blacksburg, VA at IVAI, I will post them on here now, so that you guys can see after the fact what things were like there.  I honestly should and would have taken more photos of more people and places in VA while I was there, but you know, as you can see from my photos here- the majority of my time was spent in this lovely little practice room (which amounted to something like 3 hours a day) and then the rest of my time was spent in lessons (something like 4-5 hours a day) and then the rest of my time was spent sleeping, eating, or some other uneventful but necessary thing like that.  However, I do resolve to take more photos when I am in Bad Orb (and have done so already - yahoo!) because I do realize that I am sorely in need of photos with people in them from my time at IVAI. More of my favorite practice r...

So, for my reintroduction into musical adventure blogging of new pieces with which I'm not familiar, I am taking the opportunity to highlight two pieces in particular which were part of last evening's concert here at IVAI and were performed wonderfully by my colleagues at the festival here. (Call me sentimental, but I am still so affected by the performances from last night that I am posting this practically 12 hours early, AND talking about the pieces that I just heard last night AGAIN!) Therefore, without further delay--on to the music! (And what wonderful music it is- you're in for a treat here!!) 1. Ravel's "Introduction et Allegro" can be found here on YouTube, and these are my thoughts on this piece: I love the addition of the harp to this ensemble instead of the piano--what a different and more mysterious sound world it gives the whole ambience of the piece!  I also really enjoy the way that Ravel creates such distinct changes of mood with the harp...

Upon arriving in Blacksburg, VA on Tuesday evening of this week, I was excited and astonished at being able to have this wonderful opportunity to spend a few weeks at such a prestigious program, surrounded by highly-lauded Opera professionals, with whom I was able to work on music that I would like to perform or prepare for upcoming performances. And, these first four days here have not fallen short of my elevated anticipations, I can happily say. Thus far, I have gotten to meet everyone in the program who is a fellow singer, and I have met four new coaches in the disciplines of language (4), stage direction/acting/interpretation (1), and conducting/collaborative piano (2), and I am excited to become acquainted with the entire faculty by the conclusion of the program's activities. To give a brief description of what I've been up to since arriving here, my days have basically been comprised of the following elements in different quantities of time each successive day: coachi...