I'm coming out of retirement and singing for my super again. I don't very often have either the opportunity or the desire to do this any more, but there are some pieces which I have performed over the years which I cannot resist the opportunity to reprise. Tonight's piece, Dream House by American composer Steven Mackey, is one such as I performed the world premiere in Amsterdam in 2003, the American premiere in Boston in 2007, and recorded the piece two years ago in New York. I'm not ready to let anyone else do it yet.
So tonight we are performing the piece at the brand new Media City in Salford, home to the BBC Philharmonic, who will be accompanying us. The piece calls for one solo voice (the unbelievable Rinde Eckert) and ensemble of four (Micaela, Heather and Mike from the wonderful Synergy Vocals plus me, an erstwhile member), a quartet of electric guitars (Catch Electric Guitar Quartet from Amsterdam) and a very full symphony orchestra. It's loud, puzzling, exciting, and ultimately joyful and great fun to perform. Steve is conducting so it's going to be a great night.
My career as a Director took over from singing many years ago now, and I frankly don't maintain my voice properly, so these rare gigs are very scary. I become the worst kind of paranoid singer, worrying about every catch of phlegm in the throat, every little tickle, and terrified that the top of the voice will not come out right or at all! This piece involves many styles of singing too, from the close harmony work I did in Swingles, to some sections that require full out singing. It is challenging rhythmically and you really need to know the voices around you.That kind of quick switching between vocal styles of production is difficult.
It is interesting to come back to a piece every few years as it demonstrates how once's voice changes over time. Sections that used to be near impossible or cause worry are now easy, where as some simple passages which I used to be able to easily float are now very problematic. The muscles change and harden with age (and underuse!).
Each time I sing again, which works out to be once every 18 month to 2 years, I swear 'never again'. I don't particularly like myself as a performer and, were I directing me, I really wouldn't like me! However it does me good each time to remind myself what the performers I work with in my other life have to go through. It's a good exercise and every director should try it.
Wish me luck - the panic is rising!
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Blackbirds update
Three little blackbird chicks making an appearance just before I left! Beautiful to see up close. Shame I won't watch them develop, but at least I've seen them.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Precious days at home
I'm entering my last precious day at home before heading to Bregenz (via Manchester) for the Summer.
In this game, home takes on almost mythical status as a place of refuge, a touchstone, shangri la - all because one rarely gets here! We give up many things for our profession which everyone else would consider normal, but of course experience huge benefits in return. For me though the ache to really develop the garden and to have animals around the house again gets more and more acute.
There has been some consolation in this brief time at home in the form of a pair of blackbirds who have become regulars. Last year they nested (though I know not where) and raised a couple of fledgelings in our back yard. Early this year they nested in the discarded Christmas Tree, which I was tardy to dispose of, and again raised two ugly and noisy chicks who fluttered and squawked behind the many pots until they could fly away. The handsome Mr Blackbird was kept busy feeding them until they were bigger than he.
Barely before this year's fledgelings have taken to the wing, and whilst her partner was still busily sating the appetite of their first brood, Mrs Blackbird was pulling her old nest to pieces and building another. This time she chose a clematis growing from a pot and clambering messily over trellis in the backyard for cover. The nest is a deep construction - almost a foot - which clings precariously to the wide-weave trellis and the thin, brittle clematis.
She has happily built despite our constant interruptions and, for the last week, sat snugly in her nest awaiting the occasional visits of Mr Blackbird who lets her fly off for a few minutes, fetching her back sharply if he thinks she is taking too long.
We have sat out just three feet away from her for many hours enjoying the Summer Sun and she seems quite unconcerned. In fact checking in with Mrs B first thing in the morning and last thing at night has become an enjoyable habit. Quite like having a pet.
I shall miss seeing how this latest brood (?) develops and it will be left to our visitors to see Mrs B feed and raise her chicks.
I hope she comes back next year.
In this game, home takes on almost mythical status as a place of refuge, a touchstone, shangri la - all because one rarely gets here! We give up many things for our profession which everyone else would consider normal, but of course experience huge benefits in return. For me though the ache to really develop the garden and to have animals around the house again gets more and more acute.
There has been some consolation in this brief time at home in the form of a pair of blackbirds who have become regulars. Last year they nested (though I know not where) and raised a couple of fledgelings in our back yard. Early this year they nested in the discarded Christmas Tree, which I was tardy to dispose of, and again raised two ugly and noisy chicks who fluttered and squawked behind the many pots until they could fly away. The handsome Mr Blackbird was kept busy feeding them until they were bigger than he.
Barely before this year's fledgelings have taken to the wing, and whilst her partner was still busily sating the appetite of their first brood, Mrs Blackbird was pulling her old nest to pieces and building another. This time she chose a clematis growing from a pot and clambering messily over trellis in the backyard for cover. The nest is a deep construction - almost a foot - which clings precariously to the wide-weave trellis and the thin, brittle clematis.
She has happily built despite our constant interruptions and, for the last week, sat snugly in her nest awaiting the occasional visits of Mr Blackbird who lets her fly off for a few minutes, fetching her back sharply if he thinks she is taking too long.
We have sat out just three feet away from her for many hours enjoying the Summer Sun and she seems quite unconcerned. In fact checking in with Mrs B first thing in the morning and last thing at night has become an enjoyable habit. Quite like having a pet.
I shall miss seeing how this latest brood (?) develops and it will be left to our visitors to see Mrs B feed and raise her chicks.
I hope she comes back next year.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
The set of Andre Chenier taking shape
I will be working on the premiere in the indoor theatre of a new opera by Judith Weir called Achterbahn or Miss Fortune and the purpose of this trip was to see elements of the set in situ on the stage and make sure everything is working the way we want it to. The sculptural design by Tom Pye looks wonderful on the huge stage of the Festspielhaus and I'm looking forward to the project immensely.
Meanwhile outside on the lake, the giant set for this year's opera am see is taking shape. The set takes months to build and it is always exciting to see a new leviathan slowly rise out of the lake, there to remain for two years before slowly being dismantled.
A brief, but tantalising trip, then back to London for stage rehearsals of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the London Coliseum.
Monday, 4 April 2011
London Two
Back in London and missing the Disney version of reality. Yes really. The 'Disney Difference' as they call it, is a powerful drug and it takes a while to detox and get back to reality.
Fortunately I am working on another exciting project Midsummer Night's Dream at English National Opera with the American Director Christopher Alden.
Christopher has a unique imagination and always takes an oblique slant on stories which one thinks have been thoroughly explored before. His concepts often make one think 'that will never work' but they always do, frequently brilliantly. The last piece I worked with him on was Tosca and he took a skewed approach to that old warhorse which brought it zinging alive as it never has before for me. In fact I never want to see it done another way.
Dream will have an equally challenging approach, but we can already see that this too will be brilliant. The whole cast have come onboard with the concept wholeheartedly and are enjoying the challenge of the Alden approach.
Fortunately I am working on another exciting project Midsummer Night's Dream at English National Opera with the American Director Christopher Alden.
Christopher has a unique imagination and always takes an oblique slant on stories which one thinks have been thoroughly explored before. His concepts often make one think 'that will never work' but they always do, frequently brilliantly. The last piece I worked with him on was Tosca and he took a skewed approach to that old warhorse which brought it zinging alive as it never has before for me. In fact I never want to see it done another way.
Dream will have an equally challenging approach, but we can already see that this too will be brilliant. The whole cast have come onboard with the concept wholeheartedly and are enjoying the challenge of the Alden approach.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Living the Disney Dream
There is no reason to visit the Caribbean, except the guaranteed sunshine, the jewel blue water, and beaches with pure white sand the consistency of caster sugar. Ok, so there are three really good reasons to visit the Caribbean! However, if you are looking for culture and interesting destinations this is not the place for you.
I’m aboard the Disney Dream - the third, and largest, of the Disney Cruise Line fleet. This is a trip to visit Jeff - the payoff of being apart for so long is the perk of a free cruise. The ship is only in its seventh week of operation so everything has that wonderful new yacht-varnish smell. To be fair to Disney’s unparalleled standards of maintenance it will still have that smell in ten years time.
Disney manages to strike everything right on the nose - the perfect experience for kids, whilst having excellent values, but also a great experience for the adults. The overall quality of everything on offer, and of everything you see around you onboard, mean you feel pampered but without the pretensions that sometimes accompany this type of experience.
I’m on two short back-to-back cruises, visiting only Nassau and Disney’s own island Castaway Cay, both in the Bahamas.
Nassau is, on first look, much like any other Caribbean cruise destination - an excuse for more shopping identical to the last destination. There is a taste still of the old colonial town there with the Government buildings still in use, and the uniforms of the police and army having a familiar look, but there is not a great deal else to see.
By exploring off the main drag a little I managed to find some beautiful, if run down, old buildings. It is predominantly shabby. It could be a quaint place if it didn’t have 10,000 cruise passengers flooding the streets every day, but then without those visitors there is no saying how much more shabby things would be.
There is the upmarket resort of Atlantis on Paradise Island which I will be visiting on my second stop in Nassau later in the week. I’ll report on the other side of life in the Bahamian Capitol.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Kommilitonen!
Kommilitonen opened on Friday night. A great night. The Academy Theatre was packed with the great and the good who responded enthusiastically to a fine performance from the students. This is a good piece and I hope it continues to have a life long after the RAM production is finished.
I spent most of Friday in meetings with gratifyingly enthusiastic colleagues from the Juilliard School in New York, who will revive this production in November. We are all looking forward to working with a new set of students on the piece, and also looking forward to a month in one of my favourite cities!
In between meetings I managed to grab an hour watching some of the RAM Bass players in a masterclass with Matthew McDonald, the young Australian Principal Double Bass of the Berlin Philharmonic. It put a big smile on my face! Great stuff.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Birth of an Opera
Today is a special and rare day. I'm sitting in the auditorium at the Royal Academy of Music listening to the Sitzprobe of the new opera 'Kommilitonen' by Peter Maxwell Davies and David Pountney on which I have been working for the last month.
A Sitzprobe (literally 'sitting rehearsal') is the first time the orchestra and the singers get together to put together the piece musically. It's always an exciting rehearsal because everyone sings their best and you begin to get a real sense of the what the performance will be like after the hard work of stage rehearsals.
In this case it is doubly exciting as no-one has ever heard this piece put together with orchestra. Max's score is complex, layered and very theatrical so the 'birth' we are witnessing this morning is a wonderful event. I can't wait to put singers, orchestra and production together tomorrow.
I've been lucky enough as a performer and director to work on a number of world premieres and it is a great experience. You feel like you are carving stone - creating something which will live on. Of course as a director your physical production will not live on - it will at some point end up in the bin and live only in people's memories. But the music will still be there to be taken on by a new team of artists and performers.
I quite like the fact that our physical production, out theatrical experience, is only for the here and now. We are creating something which has a fleeting life in the ear and on the eye and gone in an instant, but which can influence the brains and hearts of our audience forever. I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that the Director for this piece, David Pountney, ran English National Opera when I worked there as an usher and was responsible for most of my early operatic experiences. My brain and heart were definitely changed by those experiences. It's great to be present as he and Max create a piece which I am sure will have a strong influence on the audience and an indelible impact upon the young performers involved.
For more info about this production read David's article in the Guardian here.
A Sitzprobe (literally 'sitting rehearsal') is the first time the orchestra and the singers get together to put together the piece musically. It's always an exciting rehearsal because everyone sings their best and you begin to get a real sense of the what the performance will be like after the hard work of stage rehearsals.
In this case it is doubly exciting as no-one has ever heard this piece put together with orchestra. Max's score is complex, layered and very theatrical so the 'birth' we are witnessing this morning is a wonderful event. I can't wait to put singers, orchestra and production together tomorrow.
I've been lucky enough as a performer and director to work on a number of world premieres and it is a great experience. You feel like you are carving stone - creating something which will live on. Of course as a director your physical production will not live on - it will at some point end up in the bin and live only in people's memories. But the music will still be there to be taken on by a new team of artists and performers.
I quite like the fact that our physical production, out theatrical experience, is only for the here and now. We are creating something which has a fleeting life in the ear and on the eye and gone in an instant, but which can influence the brains and hearts of our audience forever. I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that the Director for this piece, David Pountney, ran English National Opera when I worked there as an usher and was responsible for most of my early operatic experiences. My brain and heart were definitely changed by those experiences. It's great to be present as he and Max create a piece which I am sure will have a strong influence on the audience and an indelible impact upon the young performers involved.
For more info about this production read David's article in the Guardian here.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
The View
I'm gradually coming round to a truce with London. Hating the crowds, loving seeing old friends. I'll blog more soon but meanwhile, here's the view from my flat here - the view is as huge as the apartment is small!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
