SAINTS, NUNS and COLOR WHEELS

Chamber music: is there anything more satisfying to perform? (Well, I suppose if I’m really honest I could ask the same question about singing Handel or Mozart, but I’m in Chamber Music Heaven right now, so I’ll bask in this moment for the time being!) Last night I had the immense pleasure of singing two completely different works for the first time, and it was an evening that will stay with me for a long time. I’m here to sing with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and to make music with such esteemed players really is a joy. It’s the interplay that you can achieve with a chamber group that I just adore: in opera, we stand on the stage, towering (or so it seems) high above the orchestra, which dwells in the depths of the orchestra ‘pit’, and it can feel nearly impossible to achieve a sense of unity. Sadly, I find that often an atmosphere of “us vs. them” seems to emerge, which makes it hard to feel as though you’re working toward a higher cause. However, with a group of 25 players, a conductor and the singer — we all stand on the same level, play for the same purpose, (we can actually achieve eye contact with each other), so the sense of creating a piece together can bring a real excitement. When you have players as generous as in this group, the energy can be electric.

The other electricity of the evening was propelled by the debut of Jake Heggie’s new orchestrated version of his “The Deepest Desire” song cycle. He originally wrote this piece for piano, flute and mezzo, and the St. Paul Orchestra commissioned a new orchestration of the piece (at conductor Patrick Summers suggestion). The result was simply out of this world. I’ve performed the cycle of number of times in recital and have actually recorded the piano version (for release later in the summer!), so I know the work well — but let me tell you, singing it with an orchestra is a completely different force! Jake has orchestrated it so colorfully and hauntingly and thrillingly (what an atmosphere the alto flute can create!), that the result seemed to hold the audience in a state of rapture. I wish I could describe perfectly the feeling of breathing life into a work for the first time. This is a piece that had never been heard before; we were charged with bringing it to life for the very first time — creating these words and phrases and music that had never been heard before, and it is such an exhilarating feeling when you know it is reaching and touching the audience in front of you. This is the very reason I do what I do.

I’m certain that this is destined to be a very significant new work for singers and orchestras to perform — it’s American, poignant, beautiful, memorable, and uplifting. Thank you to Patrick for championing it, to Jake for writing it, to James Kortz, the orchestra’s librarian, for commissioning this piece in honor of his wife, Catherine Shipman Kortz, and finally, to Sr. Helen Prejean for sharing her moving, inspiring words with Jake — the foundation of this entire piece.

The second piece, I was singing for the first time was Rossini’s cantata “Giovanna d’Arco”. Someone help me out here, as we were trying to surmise over dinner if this has been performed — in it’s orchestral version — in the United States before. We’re not sure at all, but we may have just given the North American Premiere of this monster!! Like Jake’s cycle, Rossini composed this work for piano and voice, and upon Teresa Berganza’s request, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro commissioned an orchestration of it back in 1989. It is a 16 minute ‘mini-opera’, and it is one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever sung. (But I can understand why it’s not sung too often — it is also one of the most difficult things I’ve ever undertaken!) I came off stage and was just shaking with adrenalin and energy, and very nearly ready to go back and sing through it all again!

But once again, I had the sense, since it is so rarely performed, that people were experiencing it for the first time, and truly discovering this piece along with myself and the orchestra. This is the sensation I aim to achieve each time I perform — especially if it’s the umpteenth performance of Rosina or Cenerentola or Cherubino: I’m certain that there will be at least one person in our audience that has never before experienced the delight of discovering the brilliance of these works, and I am the person who has been charged to introduce them to these masterpieces. I took my niece, Kelsey, to see Le Nozze di Figaro in Kansas City a few weeks ago. I purposefully didn’t tell her a word of the plot, and was curious to see if she would follow it, ‘get it’, or even enjoy it. I had forgotten how surprising it is to watch the Count discover Cherubino in the chair, to see how Figaro squirms his way (just barely) out of all his jams, and to feel the deep, deep pain the Countess encounters in scene after scene — we take it for granted far too often that we all know ‘how it goes’. This is what singing new works has taught me — I don’t ever want to take one note for granted.

The final thought about this great weekend (which isn’t over yet, we do concerts tonight and tomorrow), is what a JOY it is to make music with friends. Both Patrick and Jake are men who are in music because they believe deeply in the power of it’s language and because they believe deeply in the human spirit’s NEED for it. To be a part of a project with people like that is a rare, precious gift!

Truth be told, however, as much as I love these concerts, I’ll be very happy to get back home, because I have 10 more days free to finish painting my loft!! My time at home is so limited that I become a bit like Martha Stewart on steroids and aim to accomplish as many projects as possible, (in amongst seeing family and friends, studying, catching up on my Royals, and telling myself I should rest a bit)! So far, I’ve gone through 5 different colors of paint (finally settling on orange and red…), and WAY too much blue painter’s tape. It’s been heavenly! I am sure that after all the paint fumes I’ll be more than ready to get back to work and spend the summer with Rossini in Italy! Fra poco…


(Photos: With Patrick Summers, Jake Heggie, James Kotrz, and a private ketchup bottle joke; my painting 'masterpiece' - my art is the color of the wall, the actual hanging art work is by none other than Patrick Summers! )

Welcome!

April 26, 2005

Welcome to the official opening of my web site — my debut on the internet! I hope that you will find the site easy to navigate, and that it will be full of information that you find helpful and, above all, most interesting! My intention is that it will be a real glimpse into my work, showing all the different aspects of a life that is very unconventional, always demanding, and often incredibly rewarding. It may take a little while to work out the kinks and to have it fully functioning, however my goal is that it will be constantly changing, growing, and expanding.

So, “a Voice, a Vision, an Adventure”? What is this? Over a wonderful lunch in a quaint Paris café, Chez Paul I believe, my dear friend (and sometime dresser), Larissa, gave me a lecture on the importance of having a logo. Me? A LOGO? “Yes”, she insisted — and while I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of something so commercial, it did set my mind to spinning a bit: For a little while now I’ve been contemplating the importance of marketing and promotion in today’s climate of classical music and opera. Is it a necessary evil? Is it the only way to bring our ‘product’ to the public for whom it was written? Or is it a way to help people to know me a little better? I do not view myself as a product or as a puppet to someone else’s marketing scheme. I simply want people to be able to identify with who I am and fully enjoy what I can bring them. I recognize that the world functions on many different levels now, and so why not put to use some of the extraordinary tools at my disposal? Which is why I woke up at 4:30 am one morning with this phrase in my head: “a Voice, a Vision, an Adventure”. It’s exactly the declaration I was looking for!

Maybe “a voice” could appear to be a bit obvious, but I’m not referring only to my vocal chords vibrating! I want to incorporate my voice as a person into this site: What do I want to convey to an audience as a performer, as a woman, as a human being? Why do I believe singing is a vital part of our lives, of our existence? What of value do I hope to accomplish in this career? This is the voice I want to explore!

It’s funny, because I’m currently preparing Rossini’s amazing cantata “Giovanna d’Arco” for concerts with Patrick Summers and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in May, and the concept of ‘a vision’ is taking on a completely different meaning. Happily I can report that I’m not suffering from any disturbing visions, however I do love the idea of seeing a clear picture of what I want to achieve with this web site, with my career, and, if you go along with me for a minute, for the arts in general. I’m a big idealist, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. As a result, I’m of the frame of mind that music and art and literature can absolutely change lives. I’ve seen it personally. I’ve lived it on many occasions. I challenge anyone to argue this with me! This is the vision I want to explore.

And precisely because I want to explore these ideas, this is why I call it ‘an adventure’! Every single time I open the score for a new opera, I feel like I’m setting out into unchartered territory and can’t wait to delve into this new world of unknowns! When I repeat a role I’ve done perhaps a dozen times, I continue to discover a freshness and a spontaneity in the story and I always seem to be taking a completely different journey, even if the itinerary is the same! Each time I walk from my dressing room into the wings, waiting for my first entrance onto the stage, the audience is a completely different mix of people, and I feel like I’m setting out for the greatest adventure possible — never knowing exactly what may happen over the next 3 hours! I am infinitely blessed to participate in a world where things are constantly in motion, continually changing, and persistently on the edge — if that isn’t a great adventure, I don’t know what is!

So, with my ‘logo’ in hand, my nerves a bit shaky about this new adventure onto the web, but however, my eyes set straight on the road ahead, I hope you’ll stay with me and enjoy the ride!

A final note is to thank my dear friend, (and full time cheerleader), Alexandra for all the incredible work she did to help get this crazy vision up and running! Her insight, expertise and unbridled enthusiasm is infectious and oh so inspiring — I can’t thank her enough.