Gratitude - Day 149

So, my last day of gratitude before hopping a plane to a long, wonderful, delicious vacation. You won't hear much from me for the next few weeks - my computer needs a vacation as well, but I'll catch up where I left off (day 150 when I return!), probably with a ridiculous number of photos of beaches and landscapes and blue sky, wine bottles and grapes and olives, and sunscreen! Thank you all so much for your support over the past season - it has been one of incredible intensity, reward and discovery for me, and I thank you for taking the journey with me!

As I sign off for the time being, I am grateful for this reminder of whom I'll have to be paying homage to in preparation for my first big role back: my very first Donna Elvira. (Which, by the way, the opening night will be broadcast LIVE - that's right, my FIRST EVER Donna Elvira broadcast LIVE in theaters across Europe - on September 8. I know it will be here before any of us knows it, but before then, there is some serious "lazy" on order!)

Gratitude - Day 148

I'm grateful for ITALY! I'm grateful for being given the chance to have spent so much time here. I'm grateful for their influence on the world of their culture, food, wine, art, and fashion. I'm particularly grateful this time around....

...for their hats,

...their shoes,

...their artists,

...and their cherubs!

Gratitude - Day 147

I'm grateful for people with amazing spirits! This project, like all projects, takes so many people to bring it together and breathe life into it. You have the orchestra players (and this bass player is a dead ringer for Pete Sampras!),

soloists,

sound engineers,

and in this case even a video team!

I cannot stress how beneficial it is to me to have people that are positive and involved with more than just their brains or egos - I want heart and soul! And happily, this experience epitomized that in every element, making it a most grateful-filled experience for me! Grazie a tutti, especially the shining Patrizia Ciofi!

Gratitude - Day 146

I'm grateful for the brilliance of the Europa Galante Orchestra, under the direction and inspiration of Fabio Biondi. We all met up in the HEIGHT of the HEAT here in Florence, Italy - our first meeting; there's truly nothing quite like jumping into the fire and making glorious music together from the very first downbeat! However, I will say that trying to find inspiration to sing about cool breezes on long, floaty, languid lines and NOT have them go flat and lag in tempo in this heat and humidity and thick, heavy air is a challenge of the first order, but I think we managed.

The group is dedicated, positive, uplifting, full of spirit, ideas and imagination and a complete joy to work with! Happily, we also had a great audio team on board to capture everything, and I trust that the final result will be something DEFINITELY worth waiting for. Of course, I can't speak in detail about the project, but I will tell you some of the lucky participants will be back in January to finish the project! (Lucky dogs - cooler temperatures and fewer tourists!!!) And I will also say that should you save your pennies and splurge on it, it will most assuredly be worth the wait!

Gratitude - Day 145

I'm grateful for a safe arrival in this amazing, inspiring, breathtaking, Hotter-Than-Hades, hotbed of beauty and renaissance, Florence.

Gratitude - Day 144

I'm grateful for an unexpected, yet perfect "oomph" of inspiration. Tonight before my last show here in lovely Madrid, I'll admit it - being the last show and so close to vacation, it was challenging, shall we say, to keep focused on the task at hand, and for Mozart, you pretty much have to stay focused on every little semi-quaver, or else...

Well, in addition to all the amazing people I meet backstage, the theater here also boasts the most wonderful Press Department, and tonight I met the daughter of one of the beautiful ladies who deals with all things "pressing". (Ha - can you tell it's 3:00 am???) Well, she walked in the door, and just like her Mom, she lit up the entire dressing room. I went on to learn that she comes to most of the shows - most recently Makropolis Case, which she in fact, loved! I warned her she was in for a lot of Mozart's notes, but assured me she was really looking forward to it. (Come to find out, at the end, while she was definitely ready for her bed, she loved every note of it!) She also plays both the cello and piano. When I asked her, most presumptuously, if she would play me something, in great Spanish Style, she hesitated not, and went on to play a really beautiful piece for me - oozing musicality.

Come to find out, she also recently lost her father, and immediately I felt a pinch of kinship with her, separated by a few decades obviously, but I felt her pain. I assured her, as best I could, that I was pretty sure her Dad could hear the music she makes, and while that made her smile, I got the feeling I wasn't telling her anything she didn't already know. Her shining eyes and eager thirst for new adventures was the perfect "oomph" of inspiration for me in this last show of the season.

On a side note, I got a big chuckle out of walking past this sign each day while carrying my bag of apples and yogurt from the Corte Inglese supermarket - (if you click on it, you can see it larger, and you just might be able to make out the list of names on the right...you know, you have your "Domingo", your "Villazon", your "Heppner" and "Stimme". Well, you also have a little "DiDonato". And no - I never get used to seeing my name on lists like that blown up over a huge square in a huge city! But it reminded me that I'll soon be back to kick off my FURORE concert on December 3rd. It is the first of a big tour, and I simply cannot wait. I've put so much work into this project, I've heard the final edit of THE DISC, I've seen the final cover art for THE DISC - and it's ACTUALLY REALLY HAPPENING! Wow.

So for now, it is "Adios" to Madrid, this wonderful town, "Adios" to Idamante for the time being, "Adios" to a wonderful theater and a lovely cast, and I'll be back with (furious!) bells on before long.

Now I'm off to Florence for (another!) exciting (I promise - you won't believe it!) recording project. Three days of lots of notes and recits (I swear - you'll want this one on your shelf as well!!) and THEN ... VACATION! (Am I there, yet???)

Gratitude - Day 143

I'm not really sure how to categorize this feeling of gratitude today, but I think perhaps a day like today is exactly why I need to always search for the little gifts - or, as fate may point out, the big gifts as well.

This morning I woke up in a really bad mood: I'm tired from a long, hard season, my mind is already on vacation (am I there, yet?) while my body sweats in these hot costumes, I miss my husband, I miss my family, I miss my parents, this has been a challenging run of shows, and I'm swimming in oceans of new notes and words and feel like I'll never get it all learned in time. And what do I hear upon arriving at the theater? That the Teatro Real family lost a dear member today: Josè Luis Fernandez, a 34 year old carpenter for the theater, a son, a husband and father of 2 young children was killed in a motorcycle accident earlier in the day. The man was beloved. To sum up the words of a fellow worker, "Of course, you never want anyone to die, but especially not him - he was too good."

I don't know that I ever met him. It's possible that he was one of the pairs of hands working the scenery that I met with a "buenos tardes", but never knew him by name, but I wouldn't know a face to go with the name. But I do know that, as I've written here many times before, it takes countless people to put together a show, to enable me to walk on stage and open my mouth, and this theater, of all the theaters, is an incredibly special family, so I feel the loss in my own, small, but deeply felt way. Tonight, the show was dedicated to his memory and his honor, and I hope that in some small way, it helped carry him onward.

It makes me realize, once again, how precious, and fleeting this life is. It makes gratitude spill out of me that I can wear hot costumes at the end of a long season, tired and exhausted, and sing the notes of Mozart as if he had written them just yesterday for us all to hear anew. It makes me look at this photo of father and son, lost in a moment that belonged to just the two of them, that shows life's enormity in its most beautiful glory, and feel more gratitude than I knew I possessed.

I wish the family of Josè Luis all the strength and comfort to walk through these days with each other, knowing how special his presence here was.

Gratitude - Day 142

I'm grateful for bold, uninhibited displays of sheer joy.

This little energy bundle, belonging to a fellow cast member, rarely stands still for a single, solitary second, so actually capturing him in a non-blurred moment was nothing short of a miracle. (I'm not kidding - I probably took close to 80 shots, and got this ONE good one! It was exhausting!) However, this expression seems to embody the pure, unadulterated joy of life, and nothing less - and I plan on returning to it as often as I need to, to be reminded of the good life!

There are two casts here in Madrid, both taking at stab at this opera, and last night was our only shared evening off, so we took ripe advantage and had a tapas/wine party. Laughter was the theme of the evening (mostly due to this rambunctious one), and we all enjoyed kicking up our heels here in the dry, Madrid HEAT.

How can you not be grateful for something this fabulous? ¡Olè!