A month later, still alive!

I just realized it's been a long time since I've written a post! Over a month, actually. I think I figured you needed a bit of a break after the small novels I kept writing about China. I sure needed a break after all that wall-climbing and dumpling-eating, and I got my wish. Most of the operas I'm in start in December, so I've had lots of free time in the last month to learn music, sing another Queen of the Night, and eat sausages. (And now that the Christmas Markets are open, I can eat a different sausage every day by walking around the corner and pointing!) Speaking of China, I finally took a picture of the jacket I had made for me. Here I am!

My biggest excitement this month was Queen #2. MUCH better than the first time. After the costumer left my dressing room, I took the heels off, hid them under the couch, and put my own shoes on. So, about 90% less tripping occurred. I say 90%, because my dress was now about an inch and half too long, so I had to pay more attention walking. I felt great on both my arias, and this time around, I actually got more applause than Pamina. This is really my goal in this role, to be on stage for 10 minutes and somehow manage to get more applause than the girl who was on stage all the time and had to work way harder than me. Thanks, Mozart! Here are a couple pictures of me as Königin der Nacht in the big production. Not quite as exciting as the costume for the kids' show.

Last week I got to fly to NY for the Opera Foundation Gala. The Opera Foundation is the group that gave me my scholarship to Berlin, and so they bought me a plane ticket to come sing at their annual dinner. It was a great event. Depending on how much you want to donate, seats are either $500 or $1000, so I was expecting the food to be perfect. And it was. First course of lobster, followed by rack of lamb, followed by a lovely dessert with fresh fruit and different sorbets in a chocolate shell. After the lobster, the three scholarship recipients sang. I sang the Queen of the Night's Vengeance Aria, and also a duet from The Barber of Seville. The aria got lots of cheers, and as soon as I sat down I was given a business card from a publisher of Opera News, who told me to call her. She said she was just thrilled with my singing and wants me to stay in contact. I was also approached by a woman from New York City Opera, saying that even though they're going through some transitions, she wanted to pass along my information to them. I even had a few of the wait staff come up to me with compliments! Here's a picture of me with Harold Wilson, a former scholarship recipient and the emcee of the evening, and Elizabeth Walbröl, New York socialite and in charge of the Opera Foundation.

Back at Deutsche Opera, I'm in two productions that are starting rehearsals this week, a premiere of Strauss' Die Ägypstische Helena, and Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. The director for Helena has decided that all the singers with smaller parts that should only be in one scene of the opera will be on stage for the entire opera. This means I'll be called to every rehearsal until opening. Not so much fun. Vixen will be fun, I have three tiny roles and get to dress up like different animals. Probably more exciting than both of those things is that I found out that the woman singing Zerbinetta in our new production of Ariadne auf Naxos will be absent from the first 10 days of rehearsals. And I'm the cover! So that means I'll get to sing all of her rehearsals during that time and probably stage all of Zerbinetta. I'm almost done learning the role – it's not easy but it's a ton of fun to sing.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I had two! My parents moved it up a week to when I was home, and then on the real Thanksgiving, I went to a big dinner with a bunch of American friends here in Berlin. Glad I at least got to spend one holiday at home this year, since Christmas and Easter will be spent here.

Tonight I went to the premiere of Tannhäuser. I was told that at premieres, the applause at the end can be the most exciting part. Some singers were cheered more than I've ever heard in my life, and the Elizabeth/Venus was booed. I don't think I've ever heard boos before in a theater. Her boos weren't anything, however, compared to the boos for the director and designers. The whole theater booed as loudly for them as they had cheered for the Wolfram. Crazy stuff! Glad I was there to experience it. I found the production to be sort of blah, not great, not bad. Certainly not boo-worthy.

I'll post again once I have something more substantial to write about, like my upcoming rehearsals and shows. Until then, have a great December!

End of China and beginning of Königin der Nacht

Temple of Heaven

Scary looking Buddha on display

I only burned a little film.

Beats me.

And I did.

Panda!

Look closely, it's another baby butt!

We decided not to take the pleasure boat.

Well, I'm back in Berlin. The last couple of days in China went well. I didn't have to perform so I basically had the days free. The highlights were the Temple of Heaven, the Beijing Zoo where I got to see the pandas, a fun artsy shopping street, and on the last night, I shared another duck with my friend Stephanie. After the first roast duck, I didn't think it was possible for one to be better, but this one put the first duck to shame. We went to a place off the beaten track that I had read was amazing. It was a beautiful little restaurant, and you could see the oven in back with the ducks hanging and the fat dripping off. This place made its own hoisin sauce for dipping, which I could have drunk straight from the dish. The duck was perfect. Juicy and tender, not one bit of fat anywhere, and the crispiest melt-in-your-mouth skin possible. The waiter who carved it really got every bit of meat off, unlike the other place where we pretty much just got the breasts and the rest went back into the kitchen for someone else's meal. I will definitely miss Peking duck, fresh dumplings, and most of the rest of real Chinese food.

My schedule has been super light since I came back. The big thing that's happened, of course, is my real debut in a non-children's opera. Last Friday, I sang Königin der Nacht in the main production of Die Zauberflöte. Now, let me tell you how things happen around here. When a new singer enters an old production, they don't particularly rehearse. I received two rehearsals for Königin. One was about 20 minutes long, and was about four weeks ago. The other one was two days before the show, about 15 minutes worth. At my first rehearsal, I had the Pamina there, but no one else, and we of course weren't on the stage. Second rehearsal, I had Pamina and Tamino, which was better, so my arias felt slightly normal. I was told what would happen in the final scene, but never got to walk through it. Never got to wear the costume, never got to use the props, never got to see the stage. Well, the night of the show rolled around, and I felt fairly confident about the staging. I was a little nervous about the first aria, since I start by running from the back of the stage to the front, and I am followed by a number of girls in mini black dresses carrying a huge piece of black silk that covers the stage. I'm supposed to grab the knife that's stuck in the floor, collapse, and this piece of silk is brought over me and I grab it and put it around my neck like a big cape. It's a cool effect. Second aria, pretty easy staging, final scene, I figured nothing could go too wrong.

Well, here's how it went down. First off, I put on the 4-inch heels I was supposed to be running in, and I tried to run. They fell off. I got the costumer, who added some heel pads so they'd stay on. I still didn't feel so great about wearing them. Then, I put on the costume, and never in my life have I smelled riper armpits. I tried not to think about it. I was pre-set for the first aria, and ready to run. Somehow the shoes stayed on, but once I collapsed at the front of the stage, I could not for the life of me find the front end of the silk. I finally got it right in time to sing my first line. Not bad. Then the trouble started. The dress (sorry I don't have pictures, I completely forgot) is a long straight dress with about a four foot train. The bottom is wide enough to walk easily, but when you're collapsed on the floor and have to get up, it's not an easy event. My staging was to get up and sit on a chair that was about a foot to the left of me. I had such a hard time getting up! I kept stepping on the dress, or a shoe would get caught in it, and I was afraid that the shoes would just come off entirely. So I kept struggling until I finally made it onto the chair. I was fine for a while, until I had to stand on the chair, which I was hoping wouldn't require hiking my dress up too far, but it did. I almost made it on the chair at the right time. The one part that went perfectly was my stabbing of the life-size picture of Pamina. I think I was getting out my frustration at the costume and the shoes. OK, so the second aria was much better. I again had a hard time getting from the floor to standing, but the tripping was minimal. Then came the final scene. The stage for the show has an extra piece that is in front of the orchestra, it's about a three or four foot wide path. I waited with Monostatos and the Three Ladies in the pit for our entrance. I made it to the middle of the path with not much of a problem (besides hitting my head when I came up the stairs to the pit, oops). While we're singing, the Second Lady hands me a rifle. When the lightning and thunder happen, we all put our guns down and walk to the side. Well, having never done this before, I figured, I'm walking to the left, I'll put my gun down to the right so I don't have to step over it. Good thinking, until I stood up and realized that my gun was on the train of my dress. I was petrified! I didn't know what to do, so I just walked, hoping it wouldn't fall either a) into the pit and kill the conductor or b) fall into the audience and kill whatever rich old person was sitting in the front row. Well, God must have taken pity on me, because the rifle gently rolled off my train and into place on the stage. And that was it! My big debut! I guess you're probably wondering how the singing went. I hit all the right notes at the right time, and according to a couple friends in the audience, the crowd went crazy after Der Hölle Rache, which I totally nailed. All in all, I think it was a success, and I can't wait to do it again now that I have a better idea of how things work. And I will definitely be switching out their shoes for my shoes, whether they like it or not.

Sadly, my Staatsoper gig didn't come through. I came back from China, and a week later received an email that they needed to record earlier than they thought, so they had to hire another singer. Oh well. At least they know I'm around and can hit the high notes, so maybe they'll call me again in the future. I also almost lucked into singing Königin der Nacht at the Komische Oper Berlin last Saturday night. Their Königin was sick, and I got notification right before Friday's debut asking if I was available. They called the next morning saying that they had found another replacement who had already done the production. Maybe next time!

Coming up for me is another Zauberflöte on Nov. 4, rehearsals for the new production of Tannhäuser (which I don't sing until May), and Cunning Little Vixen in December. I'll make sure I take some pictures next time!

Mind the Hilly Road

Yeah, so rather than another long post you probably don't have time to read, I figured I'd keep it shorter and write about just a few days. Lots of exciting stuff to see! And lots of exciting menus to read. And the pictures are:

1. Sign seen in many places at the Summer Palace, it's very hilly there
2. Tower of Buddhist Incense at the Summer Palace
3. One of the many decorated ceilings at the Summer Palace
4. Dancers on the Great Stage at the Summer Palace
5. Me on the Great Wall
6. The path I walked all the way up to the top
7. From the menu at the Hutong restaurant
8. We ordered the first dumpling listed, can you tell what it's made out of?
9. An item at the dumpling place we thought it was wise to stay away from

Day 8:

On Monday, we went to the Summer Palace, which is very similar in look to the Forbidden City, but more spaced out and with fewer tourists since National Week is over. I think we were there for about five hours, walking up lots of steps to nowhere, and seeing beautiful Chinese buildings. There is a little shopping street on a section of the river on the grounds of the Summer Palace, and one of the booths had a man playing various Chinese flutes and other instruments. We stopped over, and he let us try the instruments, and I played a pretty mean Frere Jacques. I ended up purchasing a beautiful little instrument that translates to Oriental Magic Flute (how appropriate for a Queen of the Night!). It looks like a small tear-shaped vase, and sounds like a low pan flute. It will be beautiful to display, and something I can’t really get anywhere else.

Day 9:

I had  no one around in the morning to do anything with on Tuesday, so I explored a bit on my own. I went to the ultra-touristy Silk Market, a huge six-story building with hundreds of vendors trying to sell you knock-off clothes, silk scarves, tablecloths, chopsticks, freshwater pearls, everything you can imagine. When you walk down an aisle, the vendors grab at your clothing trying to get you to look at their wares. As you walk away, the prices shouted at you get lower and lower. The whole experience has a bit of a dizzying effect on you.

After I got back, I met up with a friend, and we got lunch in the Hutongs where we had been before. We also did some shopping at a handmade pottery store, where the items are made out of purple clay, a type of clay only found in southern China. We both bought a number of items, they were very inexpensive and absolutely beautifully made and colored.

Day 10:

Today was the big day – the Berlin Wall and Grant’s Tomb. I mean, the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. We went to the Badaling (not Badabing, but it helps me remember the name) section of the Great Wall, which could also be called the Great Wall of a Thousand Steps and Steep Slopes. This is the major tourist section. You start at a low point in the middle, and can either go left or right up the wall. We went left, because it looked like there were fewer tourists going left. Probably because the left side was the extra steep side. We went as far as we could go, and despite having to pull ourselves up via the handrail at times, and climbing hundreds of stairs, it was an unbelievable experience. We ended up having time to walk halfway up the right side, also, but were happy to let our uncontrollably shaking legs rest on the bus afterwards.

The Ming Tombs were another story. Talk about boring and waste of time. We were given two hours until we had to go on the bus again, and basically, there’s one building. You walk down to the depths, look at the 13 tombs of the Emperors and Empresses of the Ming Dynasty, and walk back up and wonder what you’re going to do for the next hour and a half. So we sat on cute little stone elephants and waited for the clock to move.

Once home, and starving, I went back to the dumpling place I had been earlier in my trip with a friend, and ordered six different types of dumplings I hadn’t tried before. All delicious. 36 dumplings plus tea cost 46 yuan, or about six dollars. And that includes the price of looking at the funniest menu we’ve come to so far. We actually ordered a dumpling, and had no clue what some of the ingredients were because the Engrish was so bad. Tasted good though!

So the amusing part of my day was that I had heard that there weren't any bathrooms with toilets at the Great Wall, so I tried to not drink much water so I could avoid standing over a hole in the ground. After climbing for almost two hours, I figured I’d at least look at the bathroom, and it turned out there was a whole row of stalls with toilets. Well, after I got home, I drank a ton of water to make up for earlier, and after our first round of dumplings, I really had to use the bathroom, which of course ended up being a hole in the ground. D’oh! I’m going to try to avoid those for the next few days, but I sure was kicking myself for not drinking more water while up on the Wall!

On tap for my last two days: Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple, Confucius Temple, $5 massage, maybe the Beijing Zoo if I can talk anyone into it, but probably not.