My Summer at Sugar Creek, Kansas City Symphony Chorus, & Planking

What an amazing last several weeks!  I had a great time at Sugar Creek, met so many wonderful people - it was hard to leave some of them knowing I may not see them again - but hopefully I will see them all soon.  The performances went great and the audience was very gracious.  The cast was terrific, the orchestra was superb, and the maestri and directors and stage managers all made the experience wonderful.

I have some incredibly exciting news about an upcoming gig, but I can't say anything publicly about it yet unfortunately.  It is so so so exciting though - certainly one that I will remember for the rest of my life!!  There will be many postings about it in the future, but until then I just wanted you all to be curious...

Yesterday, I auditioned for the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, which if you don't know, has expanded to over 160 members - that's larger than any of Robert Shaw's choirs.  I wanted to be a part of it this year because their season is spectacular, as it will be the first season in the new Kauffman Center.  We will be performing Brahms' German Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, and (wait for it) Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (the gates of Music Heaven open with six-winged fat, horned Brunhilde serphim operatically lauding the mere mentioning of the piece).  Plus, we will be performing some Wagner on the opening night Gala Concert of the Kauffman Center's Orchestra Hall on September 17.  This is a HUGE event featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Diana Krall, and Itzhak Perlman.  Tickets start at $500, so good luck with that if you want to go.  I am so thankful that I get to see and sing in the opening of what will be one of the world's greatest performing halls!

But on to some pictures - here are some memories of my time at Sugar Creek - remember I stayed on a farm...

The view driving up to my homestay - you wouldn't believe the view at night - so many meteors and other cool things that the city lights would flood out

Yeah, so...singers and farm equipment obviously go together...nevertheless, I was so curious about it all that Marv decided to show off his toys and tell me about how he works.  These combines, and for the opera singers out there combines harvest the crops, drive by satellite - perfect to within one inch!

Me in a wheel...something that I failed to mention on this blog is that Marv, the farmer, fixed my car for me after the starter broke.  If you remember, my wife and I recently had to buy a new car because her car broke, and here I was in Illinois with a broken Diane (my car's name) as well.  Thank you Marv!

Let's talk about the food around here.  IT TORE ME UP!  Not to make too many judgements, but it was obvious that the people up here are not too concerned about what they eat.  At this diner, my friend David and I got some breakfast.  Now, I always eat everything, and usually have plenty of room to spare (insert angry comments from women here) and I haven't gained any weight in eight years (insert more comments/cursing here).  I felt like death after nearly drowning in my tar pit of biscuits and gravy.  However David finished a plate of toast and eggs (you can barely see it but it is an entire dinner plate full of eggs) and a giant stack of plate sized pancakes.  By the end, there was only a quarter bottle of syrup left as well!  It was the greatest eating feat that I have ever witnessed!  The lady at the diner said people rarely finish the pancakes, let alone another plate of eggs and toast - leave it to an opera singer to push the boundaries of human achievement.  He later ran six miles...

Chicago skyline from a water taxi...

My brother and my mother planked at the Hancock Building in Chicago.  If you haven't heard of "planking" it is when you lie face down in a public place.  If you are wondering why people do it, it is mainly to be funny.  I love how the people in the background generally don't care what is going on.  Evidently everyone up in Chicagoland has social-blindness, we saw a man take all of his clothes off except for his tighty whities, and we were the only people staring.  That incident happened at Shedd Aquarium, where we also learned about the birds and the bees from the sea otters.

What diverse people...a shirtless man walking with his wife, a little girl and giant in the same picture (seriously he was significantly taller than 7 feet)......(I still can't stop laughing at this picture!)

Well, now back to the grind.  These last three weeks have made appreciate the opportunities that I have received so much and I feel so lucky to be able to be a professional musician.  My friends at Sugar Creek, I will hopefully see you again somewhere, sometime.  As for Kansas City - I'm excited to start my second year of my Doctorate, and participate in what will be one of the most exciting musical years of my life.

Stay tuned for my upcoming performance schedule...I won't post it until I can say something about the gig that I can't tell anyone about yet...(biting nails)

TODAY IN OPERA HISTORY - May 23

Last weekend, my wife and I took the opportunity to visit a Kansas City Symphony concert.  They are certainly excited for the upcoming opening of the Kauffman Center, billing it as one of the greatest performance halls in the entire world.  Oh, and the Symphony concert was great too:

1. Brahms Alto Rhapsody (he's probably my favorite composer)

2. Beethoven's 1st (so clean...the best live performance I've ever heard of this, however the audience showed their musical ignorance by clapping between the movements.  You may think that it is pretentious to critique this, but this poor etiquette is very rude to the orchestra and conductor who were obviously bothered by it.  If you are not a musician, think of it as if you are proposing to marry someone in four sentences.  However, after you finish each of the sentences, your future fiancée interrupts saying, "oh, I love that shirt! Is that the one I bought you?", "Your hands are really soft!", "Hold on, let's get someone to take a picture of us", etc.  See, it's pretty obvious that your fiancée is somewhat appreciating the situation, but isn't really paying attention to your expression of love in the proposal.  And you and the conductor and orchestra would probably ask yourself, "Why am I doing this, if they aren't caring as much as I am?")

3. Prokofiev Cantata Alexander Nevsky, written in the USSR's heyday (it's obviously propagandistic, but I couldn't help getting excited, especially with a full chorus).

If you're in town, make sure to go to the Symphony's Celebration at the Station concert at Union Station. A big fireworks show will follow!

I sang the National Anthem at the Royals vs. Rangers baseball game on Thursday.  It went ok I suppose.  I could have done better, but I received a nice ovation.  I really like doing these kinds of things - the "perks" are great.  After doing things like this so often, I almost have become too relaxed.  It seems that when I get really nervous, I perform better than when I do things "just for fun".

Last week, my mom, dad, and grandpa all had birthdays.  That got me to think about who they shared birthdays with, which also got me to think about what important events happened as well.  So, in that mindset, this next week, every day I will have a "Today in Opera History" post, sharing some of the important and very distantly related elements of Opera History.

TODAY IN OPERA HISTORY - MAY 23

Today in 1829, the Accordion, was patented by Cyrill Demian in Venia.  Amazingly, several composers have been able to put the accordion in their operas (Berg's Wozzeck; Weill's Threepenny Opera - I know, it's technically a musical).  I love the accordion, but it has that roughness that seem impossible to refine, like an old-timey bar piano, or the bagpipes.

Ignaz Moscheles was born on this date in 1794 in Prague.  He was a friend to Felix Mendelssohn (who, if you don't already know, is one of the most important composers in history).  His effect on opera history pretty much comes down to when he was chosen by Beethoven to write the piano reduction of his only opera, Fidelio. Moscheles was so ecstatic and proud of the score he produced, that he wrote, "Finished with God's help" on the top of the score. Beethoven approved Moscheles's version, but scratched out the words and wrote over it, "O Man, help thyself!."  Check out Ignaz' Ignazty facial hair...

Today is also the 99th birthday of French Opera Composer, Jean Françaix. His most famous opera was La Princesse de Cleves. Here is a clip from the non-musical film version. (skip forward to 17:00 to see an exciting racquetball contest in costumes and tights!)




Happy Birthday to the famous German soprano, Ingeborg Hallstein.  Since she is still living (and she's obviously a woman) I won't shout her age out all over the internet, but lean up to the screen and I'll whisper a hint...it's her dodranscentennial birthday.  Anyway, to spare her the embarrassment of knowing that a bunch of opera geeks around the world are going to learn the Latin duodecimal system to figure our her age, I will also post one of my favorite recordings of her timeless voice.



It is the 270th birthday of  Italian opera composer, Andrea Luchesi.  He wrote several operas, relatively unknown today, but his music was influential to both Mozart and Beethoven.

Happy 223rd Birthday to South Carolina, the setting for Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Actually, they were the first state to seceded from the Union during the Civil War, and they were readmitted when they adopted the 13th Amendment on November 13, 1865 - so I guess today is kind of a pseudo-birthday since they became a state twice.

Today in 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, and later famously sold to the English, convicted, and burned to death at the stake.  Her story has been retold in many operas by many of History's greatest composers: Verdi, Duprez, Gounod, Tchaikovsky, Dello Joio (one of my favorites!), Bernstein (his is technically a play with accompaniment), and many others.

And finally, it's WORLD TURTLE DAY.  So, go out there and kiss a turtle.  And believe it or not, I Googled "turtle opera" and the Royal Opera across the pond actually sponsors an autism charity called The Turtle Opera Project.  Go check that out as well.

UPCOMING PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

• Administrative Director of the 33rd Annual Summer Choral Institute - 6/5-11
• National Anthem - Sporting KC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps - 6/25
• Sugar Creek Opera Festival (Chicago) - role: chorus/cover, opera: Daughter of the Regiment - 7/20-8/7
• Kansas City Symphony Chorus Auditions - tba