I had an amazing week. I sang at the Department of Energy's Small Business Conference with special dignitaries, Governors, and US Congressmen in the audience. It went very well - and especially well for waking up at 5:30 am! This weekend, my parents came up to visit Dusti and I, celebrating my mother's 50th birthday. I specially made a Schwartzbeere Kuchen - a recipe that my Grandma and all of my mother's side makes to celebrate special occasions. I was very proud of how it turned out!
Besides the great time that I had with my family, I was reminded of several things close to my heart and mind recently. One of which is my childhood music teacher and mentor who was diagnosed with cancer just a couple of days before my wife and I were married. She was to play the piano at our ceremony. Since then she has battled cancer, and still is doing so. She will be walking in the Barton County (KS) Relay for Life celebration on June 10. They are selling luminaries to light the path for $10 and can be dedicated to a person battling or has battled cancer. All of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. If you are interested in making a donation to the ACS while celebrating someone's life with a luminary, please send a check payable to "BMI-Relay for Life" and mail it to:
Denise Wilkens
Benefit Managment, Inc.
PO Box 1090
Great Bend, KS 67530
Also, I have another video comment on the recent news concerning the arts situation in Kansas.
I was just contacted today by the Kansas City Royals. They have asked me to sing the National Anthem again! This time, it will be against the Rangers - on Thursday, May 19 - that's this coming Thursday. If you are in the area, hopefully I'll see you there, and hopefully I won't have to use the earbuds this time!
UPCOMING PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
National Anthem - Kansas City Royals vs. Texas Rangers - 5/19
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
I want to thank all of my friends and family who came to watch the opera this weekend. It really means a lot to me that you made the trip to see my performance in Don Giovanni at the Conservatory. I thought it went well, and I am excited to now have the time to begin work on other things.
For the most part, this week I will be trying to recoup from being in performance mode for so long. Every day that I had to sing, I went through a specific routine of allergy medicine, coffee, bananas, sleeping at the same times, all to keep my voice in some kind of healthy shape. It becomes a little neurotic at times, but it is all for the love of the art.
Thank you for all the comments about the "Lazy Person's Guide to Opera" posts last week. I hope that you find some entertainment out of those, and hopefully I will be able to add to those in the future. If you missed them, here are the links to the posts:
This week made me think a lot, not only about Don Giovanni, but opera in general and what the future of opera looks like. I love to go to the movies and I caught myself searching for upcoming releases to see what I could be looking forward to: war movies, sequels to other movies that I like, movies from directors that I like, etc. That lead me to think that this was probably how opera was received in Mozart's time. I know we will never see that kind of reception for opera again, but perhaps there are some things to get excited about.
So, I did some searching online about some upcoming operas, just to see if I could feel the same excitement towards them as I do movies. Keep in mind, that I am an opera freak, fully aware of the differences between movies and opera. None of these have had their world premiere, but I tried to study them a little bit - this takes the place of a teaser trailer. And in the movie critic (Roman Emporer) culture of thumbs up and down, I will set a rating system using Pavarotti Hankies and Susan Boyle - 2 Pav Hankies mean I am the most excited, 1 Pav Hankie means I am looking forward to it even though it may be weird, and a Susan Boyle means that it looks and sounds pretty strange to me.
So, here is my first review (keep in mind, this is just measuring my personal excitement - so there's nothing scientific about any of this)
Sonntag aus Licht by Stockhausen
This opera is premiering April 9 at Oper Köln (Cologne, Germany). Out of a long list of premieres, it caught my eye because it was written by Stockhausen. Stockhausen is one of the most important composers of the last 100 years, however he died in 2007. So, to produce an opera after death - it is pretty intriguing. AND, this is the last opera in a cycle of operas. Each opera is a different day of the week - this one means "Sunday". Stockhausen began writing the first opera (Thursday) in 1978, so this is a long work coming. The operas are about the mythology that brought about the days of the week - gods, battles, love, and all. Yet another exciting thing is the instrumentation and composition in the first six operas including: trumpets on rooftops (Thursday), eyebrow and nostril dances (Saturday), the first "modern orchestra" of synthesizers (Monday), the battle between Lucifer and Michael using eight loudspeakers (Tuesday), an opera for children's orchestra and children's choir (Friday), and the most odd of them all, a helicopter and string quartet - using four string instruments and four actual helicopters (Wednesday). By the way, the whole opera cycle is about 29 hours long!
"Sunday" is the last opera of the cycle by Stockhausen. It was finished in 2003 but this is the first time that it will be performed. The story is about Eve and Michael, but what intrigues me are his inventive programming and orchestration choices. Scene two is called "Angel-Processions" and is written for seven choirs! Scene four is called "Scents-Signs" and involves the release of fragrances as sort of a smell symphony. And scene five (which I'm sure will be tortuously long) consist of a Hochzeit (a traditional Germanic musical form for the wedding celebration) for five choirs and one for five orchestras. They perform them simultaneously in two separate auditoriums, and at various points, windows are opened to hear the other performance going on. AND THEN, the performers switch halls and they do the whole thing again, so the audience has two different perspectives of the piece.
I am very sorry for the English speakers out there, but here is a German video about the music from the first scene that has many musical excerpts. (I dare you to listen for longer than 15 seconds)
Ok, so for the rating. I am not too excited about Stockhausen's music since it is pretty mathematical and not even close to tonal - the movie equivalent to a film being an hour of random color blotches instead of being a Disney animated feature. But his ideas seem to be really neat, and I like mythology in art - it usually brings about some pretty awesome and imaginative things. So, I will give it:
1 Pav Hankie
(It might put me to sleep, but I've never smelt music before)
Also, I have one more schedule update. I will be performing the world premiere of "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day" by Betty Liang, an art song for marimba and tenor on April 17 at Grant Recital Hall at the Conservatory.
I know most who read this blog do not live in Kansas, but I must talk about something that I am so passionate about. But first, I would like to give a little update before I talk about that. I have heard from Sugar Creek Symphony and they have informed me that I am one of their 30 finalists after hundreds of auditions for only 10 spots in the summer season. (UPDATE: I just received an invitation to be cast in the Daughter of the Regiment at the Sugar Creek Opera Festival this summer in Chicago. More information to come on Monday's update) I should find out sometime this week about their decision. Also, in a bit of fun news, I have asked the Kansas City Royals and Sporting KC (MLS) if I could sing the National Anthem at some of their games. I am a huge sports nut, so this would be a lot of fun. I will keep you updated on these, but I have to spend some time on what has been on my mind in recent days.
Kansas recently had a Gubernatorial election, and to no one's surprise, former Senator Sam Brownback won the Governorship. Governor Brownback is a Republican and has taken over after the previous two Governors were Democratic. As a result, there were some changes, obviously triggered by the motives of what one party favors over the other. One always expects this to happen in these situations.
Well, Governor Brownback recently released his proposed budget for the year. He is wanting to make significant cuts to balance the budget. Unbelievably, he has proposed to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission by the middle of the year. The Kansas Arts Commission provides millions of dollars in grants to local communities to help foster the artistic culture of the state. This move will also likely eliminate state funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and cancel all public funding for public radio and public television stations in the state.
All that can be done now is to help educate our representatives about why this is important to retain. Without public television, I would have not been introduced to opera - with the three tenors programing. Organizations like the Wichita Grand Opera introduced me to the art form and allowed me the amazing chance to see Pavarotti in concert (one of the greatest thrills of my life). I have been a public radio member for seven years and that is now the only station I listen to. Public school educators will see a $103 million cut in their operating budgets, even as the Governor increased teacher pensions and building projects. I suppose there will now be more new schools, but sadly a greater chance of fewer music, dance, art, and drama teachers. I have been a recipient of public school music education for twenty years and I owe all of my gratitude to my wonderful teachers. All of these were public sources of education and all of which have led me to where I am now even as I am beginning my own music charity.
I am so saddened that this would occur in my home state. It is full of gracious and loving people, none of whom zealously attack education and all that is noble in this world (as it may appear, between events like this and other infamous debates of the past).
I have asked to meet with my representatives and hear where they stand on the issue. I have not heard a response but I will post it and let you know if I will be heading to Topeka.
Many artists including myself have had to live a life in which we struggle to find respect in our profession - even the painful and ego-crushing debates with family and friends combating the purpose and necessity of what we do and who we intimately are. Art is not entertainment. It is an expression of what it is to be human. And it educates us in passion, tolerance, reason, and love. Striving to be elite, to be the best, to learn all that is possible to learn, to express all that can be expressed, to understand all that can be understood - these are not enemies of humanity. This is what defines us.
What better way to end than this? Dramatically, of course! Just like an opera, with my favorite aria of all time - so meaningful and passionate. It is sung by one of my very favorite singers Renee Fleming at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. This is Vissi d'arte (lyrics included below) from Puccini's opera Tosca. The aria is sung by Tosca before she allows Scarpia to have sex with her as a bribe to release the one she loves from being wrongly executed.
I lived for art, I lived for love,
I never did harm to a living soul!
With a secret hand
I relieved as many misfortunes as I knew of.
Ever in true faith
My prayer
Rose to the holy shrines.
Ever in true faith
I gave flowers to the altar.
In the hour of grief
Why, why, Lord,
Why do you reward me thus?
I gave jewels for the Madonna's mantle,
And songs for the stars, in heaven,
That shone forth with greater radiance.
In the hour of grief
Why, why, Lord
Ah, why do you reward me thus?
