And on it goes
February 04, 2009 03:48
We continue to rehearse “Salome” here in Geneva, Switzerland. In many ways, it seems like we’ve been doing this forever. Rehearsals began on January 5 and will continue for another week. We open on February 13. The show is in excellent shape (actually, it’s been in great shape for weeks). We finally started rehearsing with the orchestra yesterday which helps move things along a bit more quickly. Although we’ve had excellent pianists on the show, it’s nice to hear the colors than only an orchestra can bring to a Strauss score.
The production will be controversial but I’m happy with the characterization we’ve come up with for John the Baptist. It’s powerful and tortured-just as it should be for this opera. As always, it’s great to sing the great lines that came from the mouth of this great Biblical character.
The weather has, for the most part, improved during my stay here. It was at first a very grey place to be but we’ve had a few spectacular days since then. I’ve enjoyed the days with snow but there really hasn’t been all that much in the city. On the very clear days, you can see the mountains which have quite gorgeous white toppings. One of the closest mountains, Mount Blanc, is over 15,000 feet high. Once we get this show up and running, I’d like to get out of the city and do a bit more sightseeing.
This has been a very long last 12 months. Basically, last February commenced a time period when I’ve travelled more than at any other time in my career. The long time on the road basically continues until mid-May but at least I’ll be able to pop in and out of Pennsylvania a bit more often due to singing close by. I am greatly looking forward to being back on the east coast in the not too distant future.
I stayed up late to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night. It didn’t start until after mid-night in Europe. I made it to the third quarter. I then drifted off but awoke for the final few minutes. It was very exciting but by 4 a.m., enough was enough.
More important to the sports world, we’re at the height of the greatest time of year---basketball season!!! I can’t wait to be home and seeing many games including the NCAA tournament. It can’t come soon enough!!!
The production will be controversial but I’m happy with the characterization we’ve come up with for John the Baptist. It’s powerful and tortured-just as it should be for this opera. As always, it’s great to sing the great lines that came from the mouth of this great Biblical character.
The weather has, for the most part, improved during my stay here. It was at first a very grey place to be but we’ve had a few spectacular days since then. I’ve enjoyed the days with snow but there really hasn’t been all that much in the city. On the very clear days, you can see the mountains which have quite gorgeous white toppings. One of the closest mountains, Mount Blanc, is over 15,000 feet high. Once we get this show up and running, I’d like to get out of the city and do a bit more sightseeing.
This has been a very long last 12 months. Basically, last February commenced a time period when I’ve travelled more than at any other time in my career. The long time on the road basically continues until mid-May but at least I’ll be able to pop in and out of Pennsylvania a bit more often due to singing close by. I am greatly looking forward to being back on the east coast in the not too distant future.
I stayed up late to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night. It didn’t start until after mid-night in Europe. I made it to the third quarter. I then drifted off but awoke for the final few minutes. It was very exciting but by 4 a.m., enough was enough.
More important to the sports world, we’re at the height of the greatest time of year---basketball season!!! I can’t wait to be home and seeing many games including the NCAA tournament. It can’t come soon enough!!!