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...

Just wanted to share with you all that if you click on the title of this post, you will be redirected to the website for my first summer musical activity (make sure to scroll all the way down to find my pic and bio--they always seem to do these things alphabetically by last name...go figure!).  I hope that you all enjoy perusing this page, and checking out my very talented colleagues' information too! There is also this 'www.' presence that has been up for some time now, but perhaps which you haven't seen and which involves my performing in Germany! I will be posting dress pictures tomorrow for those of you who read the post before this one....so, get your clicking fingers ready to choose the dress of your choice and help me out with fashion advice!!! :)