New Year and I resolve to learn Pagliacci.

We had our second music rehearsal for Pagliacci on Monday and will continue to have weekly rehearsals until Maestro Lyall comes into town and we start staging. This week didn’t go as well as expected and we disappointed our Chorus Director with our lack of preparation as only a few people could sing without looking at their scores. I have been recording our rehearsals so I can use that along with my keyboard to study at home and hope that by next week I will have Act One memorized. We don’t have a lot of music to learn, and the Italian isn’t hard, but some of the rhythms are tricky and the true Altos are not appreciating the notes at the top of the staff which must be held for 4-6 bars. We also had some turnover in the chorus. Life tends to interrupt art at times and people are forced to decide between the two. Stacey Urbin has joined the Mezzo/Alto team and we are happy that she is singing in her first show with Opera Grand Rapids.

My future office.

Update on The Betty Van Andel Opera Center: it looks like we will be moving the office on the Monday after Pagliacci closes. Wow! That is going to be crazy! I have started boxing up things in my office, but can’t do too much since we are in production and need to use all our resources. This is also the time of year when we announce our next season and offer our current subscribers the opportunity to renew their seats. Moving the office and announcing a season in the same breath is mad! This insanity makes Pagliacci an even more appropriate show for the time. If you see one of us in pancake make-up wandering around Fulton Street humming Vesti la giubba, just point in the direction of BVAOC and send us on our way.

Pagliacci

Pagliacci

Who doesn’t enjoy a crazy, murderous clown? I have always thought clowns were a bit creepy, so this show ought to reinforce my opinion. I have searched YouTube for performances of Vesti la giubba and my favorite is a Coke commercial where a little boy is watching from backstage and walks out to hand Canio a Coke to make him feel better. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAUDHxDYMMo) You have to see it; it’s absolutely adorable!

We started music rehearsals for the chorus last Monday. There are 40 choristers and it is nice to have more people both for the voices and the camaraderie. We had about half this number in Cosi fan tutte, and not much to do in performance, so a lot of chorus members were bored during the long rehearsals the week of the show. In fact, we almost got in a lot of trouble when a baritone started a debauchery game of “Name that tune” which resulted in too much laughter in the theater while the principals were staging. It is always a good idea to keep the chorus busy or we will find trouble.

My music room is painted and put in order, but I need to sort through all my music and get it filed neatly by genre before I will be satisfied. For now I can rehearse my Pagliacci music and the concert pieces I will be playing on my flute at the end of January. I am still using a keyboard and may give up on the idea of a piano since they require a lot of care and I don’t have the resources to keep up with the never-ending tunings.

Now we have a break for the holidays and return to music rehearsals on January 4. I hope to have the music we worked on memorized by that night so I will be off to a good start. The Opera Grand Rapids office is closed from Christmas Eve until the 4th and that gives me a lot of time to work on my music room as well as my materials. As long as I don’t procrastinate, it ought to be a productive time.

Final Dress for Cosi

Last night was our final dress rehearsal for Cosi Fan Tutte and it went rather well. We are very relieved to finish in less than three hours which was doubtful when we started rehearsing. The principals really carry this show and it is definitely a group effort. The two couples are absolutely adorable and Despina (Abigail Nims) is cunning, charming and silly all at the same time. One of the funniest scenes is when the men drink poison and are revived by Despina in disguise. Jeremy Kelly and Norman Shankle act up the melodrama as Sarah Jane McMahon and Phyllis Pancella fret and flitter upon the stage. The chorus only pops in a few times and are not all that integral to the storyline; but then, the story is a bit shaky as it is so it doesn’t really matter if a group of townspeople are there for a reason or not. Don’t think too hard about Cosi Fan Tutte, just sit back and enjoy the music and antics of the show.

Costume Fitting

On Monday we had our last chorus music rehearsal for Cosi fan tutte before heading to the rehearsal space next week. The costume shop is up and running in an old storefront at CenterPointe Mall and the chorus has been fit. My costume is brown, beige and orange with a brown and green hat. It isn’t the prettiest outfit, but it doesn’t itch or pinch so I won’t complain. Tracey pinned up my skirt and took in the waist of the belt and vest so I am sure she will have it looking great by our dress rehearsals the week before the show. We won’t be wearing wigs so I need to think about how to do my hair with my hat. When I started singing with OGR we had wig and make-up people for every production. Now, our funds have been cut to the point where the chorus brings in their own make-up and we do our own hair styles. I prefer to do my hair and make-up unless my character is a Geisha (Madama Butterfly) or Spanish Gypsy (Carmen). It isn’t difficult to do a Peasant look.
Our Production Manager, Cat, is getting our rehearsal space ready for the principals to start practicing this weekend. The principals should be getting into town today and will be welcomed with a dinner party at the Irwin’s house tonight before the two weeks of chaotic rehearsal starts. The weather is cold and rainy today and may snow by Sunday night which makes for an unpleasant welcome to Grand Rapids. On a more pleasant note, ArtPrize is finishing this weekend and I hope our visitors will get a chance to see some of the great art we have on display around the city.

Women Are Like That

Così Fan Tutte.
Thus do all women.
Mozart’s comedy opera portrays women as being fickle and untrustworthy creatures which, back in the day, was an acceptable theme. Today, the feminist in me feels insulted, but then I calmed down and realized that it is all just a bit of fun. And we plan on having some Victorian-era fun!
The chorus began music rehearsals last week where we discovered that we have a very small part in this opera and that our rehearsal times will be less than normal. This makes blogging about the show a little more difficult. We went through all the music and pronunciation last Monday and now we have been entrusted to work on our own to memorize everything by the next time we meet. Recently I changed my “computer room” over to be a “music room” so I do have a space to work with a keyboard (still looking for a piano) at my house. I also play flute and piccolo in a concert band so it is nice to have my music set out and my instruments readily available for when I can find the time to practice. A friend suggested that I paint the room green because every performer needs their own “green room” so I hope to get it painted and everything put in its permanent place soon. I’ll try to post a photo when I have it all completed.
On another note (pun intended), the Betty VanAndel Opera Center is taking shape. We have walls and the electric lines have been moved so that the second floor construction can start. We plan to have the building ready for Porgy and Bess rehearsals at the beginning of 2010. In the meanwhile, our beloved Dunham’s store has been rented so the Production Manager is back to finding a suitable space for staging rehearsals

Ground Breaking

On June 17, 2009, Opera Grand Rapids broke ground on its new office/rehearsal space. It was a cloudy day with drizzling rain, but nothing could dampen the spirits of the Chorus and Board members who celebrated the occasion that was eight years in the making. Executive Director, Michael Havlicek, welcomed everyone and started off the days speeches of thanks. Other speakers were our Board President, Bill Fehsenfeld, David and Carol VanAndel and Maestro Robert Lyall who flew into town just for the afternoon festivities. A group of Chorus members sang the Bridisi from La Traviata while accompanied by a French Horn quartet from the Grand Rapids Symphony. After the speeches, shovels were handed out to select choristers as well as the speakers and the dirt was officially turned for the new opera center. Attendees were then treated to cake and strawberry punch. It was a lovely time and smiles were abundant.
Now as you drive by the corner of Fulton and Carlton you may notice some changes; a few trees are gone and the power lines have been moved. It is beginning at last. If all goes as planned we should be moving our offices into the new building at the beginning of the new year.
Even though we have reached our goal for the building campaign, Opera Grand Rapids is still in need of sponsorships for the 09-10 productions as well as general operating donations. It is the life of a non-profit arts organization that we always need more support. So, after a day of celebration, we are back to the everyday life of fundraising and ticket selling. Show your support; send a donation or buy a season ticket.

A Fond Farewell to a Fast Faust

Faust is over and it is a bittersweet end. I did not think I would grow to love this opera as much as I have. When I first started working on the score I was mostly interested in getting the language correct since the music was not too difficult. The chorus rehearsals and my private practice all flowed easily and I entered staging excited to turn it all into action. The staging went very quick, just four days, and the technical rehearsals resulted in some sleep deprivation for many of us who had to be at work early in the morning, but it all seemed to fly by too quickly. Now the show is over and I can read the newspaper, go through my mail, and stare into my empty refrigerator. I almost forgot to go home after work yesterday, expecting to walk over to DeVos Hall once again and prepare for an audience. Once home I did notice that my house doesn’t look as clean by daylight as it does by the light of the moon and that the laundry does not clean itself or the lawn mow itself (though I do believe someone else is mowing for me today).

The Opera season is over and I am very thankful that I was able to participate in each of the shows. I would like to thank the principal artists who were so kind to the chorus and worked with us to make great opera. Everyone who had anything to do with the productions should be very proud of themselves for we had a great run!

For Faust in particular I need to thank Joe Gladstone for being a great stage manager, Jon Mull for being my personal masseur when my back had a spasm during the Dress Rehearsal, Christian Vigrass for his work on the dance scene, Jill Marrese for the language help, and Tina Williams for being a professional dresser. I could go on, but this sounds like an academy award speech so I will end with saying that I enjoyed working with everyone associated with Faust and I hope to work with all of you again.