Flibbertigibbets and Bananas

Both myself and my computer were sick last week, the latter having an awful problem in that whenever I pressed the "b" or the "n" on the keyboard, a million Windows Help screens would pop up and freeze my computer.  Finally, after two days, I rewrote the registry (a difficult process!) and disabled the part that was causing all the trouble.  And, I am so excited to write a lot of B's and N's once again!

Unfortunately, that has taken up so much time, that I will have to postpone the first post describing my audition process, but until then I will get you caught up on everything from this crazy week.  On Wednesday, I sang in a masterclass for Diana Soviero, a very famous opera singer.

I was asked to sing Questa o quella from Rigoletto. I had to wait silently for an entire hour before I went on, but when I sang, I completely botched the ending.  I had to wait for so long that my voice wasn't warmed-up right.  But,  we worked on my highest notes for the entire time.  It turned out to be a great thing because those notes ended up having great space and ring.  She was teaching me to do some bad habits that in the end cured some of my other bad habits.  Whatever the case, I will have to find a way to replicate that sound in performance (because it was awesome) without looking too crazy.  For instance, she had me cover my teeth with my lips, which gave some extra cover to my high notes, kind of like this picture:

Who knew they made pictures like this?  Anyway, then she had me sing out of the side of my mouth, like Bryn Terfel, or in this case, Jerry Springer:

It doesn't look pretty, but it sounds awesome.  Later on Wednesday, after being told several times that the opera Turandot would be sold out at the new Kauffman Center here in Kansas City, I took a chance and went there in person to see if I could buy an unused ticket or get a standing room ticket.  Well, I got there and asked, but right when I was doing that, their computer system broke down.  During the 20 minutes that I was waiting, I talked to the manager and we talked about the grand opening and how amazing it was to sing on stage that night, and by the end of our talk, he just decided to give me a comp ticket!  And, I could pick a seat from either the middle of the 2nd row or a seat in a suite - one of the boxes that overlooks the stage!  I chose the suite so I could hear and see everything well.

It was amazing - an enormous production.  The singers were great, Liu (Elizabeth Caballero) soared above the orchestra with her delicate high notes, Turandot (Lise Lindstrom) was powerful, dark but beautiful, Timur (Samuel Ramey) was obviously a great dramatic voice and certainly an honor to see live, and Calaf (Arnold Rawls) made it through - he is the tenor (and if you don't know Turandot, it is the opera that Nessun Dorma is from).  I hate to be critical of a tenor, but he had a tough night at my showing, in that it took him an enormous amount of energy and heft to get through the high notes, but he did - it just looked very painful at times.  The most exciting part of the show for me was the dramatic staging.  Before scene 2 of Act 2, the stage transforms into the King's Palace, and a gigantic set moved forward from the back of the stage silently, enormous 100 ft. tall statues descended from the ceiling; it was so well done that it could have been a movie camera effect if I forgot that I was in an opera house.  The finale was also a great explosion of color that was gorgeous to watch.  The opera began with snow falling on stage and ended with thousands of flower petals falling like confetti during the final chorus number.  The costuming was very elaborate as well, especially for the Princess Turandot.

On the downside, the sets were a little too minimalist - a lot like the Met's new production of Tosca.  The orchestra, as great as it was, overplayed the treble heavy instruments like the piccolo among other things - perhaps higher pitches bother me more than most, but it was almost painful at times.  Also, and this has nothing to do with the production, but at my showing I think everyone was suffering from whooping cough.  I think coughing is very distracting, because I am intently listening to the quality of the sound.  Every cough disrupts that.  Sound is sacred to musicians, we respond to it and absorb it in every sense.  Coughing is as annoying to musicians as instant replay commercial breaks are to football fans - one or two are ok, but after five or six we want to throw something.

Finally, I have some new KVCI donors to tell you about.  We will again be having our celebrity auction this winter, and I have already announced some participants in that.  This year, new to our charity event and along with new scholarships in their names, I am happy to announce that Donald Trump is wanting to contribute and we will support a scholarship and have items from him in our auction.  Also, Eric Whitacre is renewing his scholarship and this year for the auction, he has graciously offered to compose, by hand, a one page music manuscript signed and dedicated at the request of the winning bidder.  This is a really exciting and unique offer!  Also, I have been talking with the famous soprano, Joyce DiDonato, and she has shown great interest as well.  Nothing has been "set in stone" yet, but I expect that we will incorporate a scholarship in her name in the very near future.

In the meantime, it is offer to opera rehearsal for a production of Le nozze di Figaro (the Marriage of Figaro) in November.

To see my performance schedule, please visit www.bryanpinkall.com

Opera Singers Under Water & On Fire!

I know you all love the "good ol' days" of a brown globe background and the lovely orange links and titles of this old blog.  But as conservative as you may be - "times, they are a changin'".  The simple fact remains: it is somewhat ugly, and since last month saw more visitors to this blog than ever before - I think it's time to change to something more modern.  Soon, this will be the new look for my blog: http://bryanpinkall.blogspot.com/view/magazine

You can go ahead and try it out right now, but I am still trying to get all the kinks worked out.

Evidently, I have to step it up in the content department to keep this as entertaining as the last month has been.  Last month alone, I've had readers from 40 countries around the world - visitors from every continent!  Thank you all!  But seriously, I don't know how to top all of the Kauffman Center and Placido Domingo excitement.

But I'll take another shot at it with the help of some German ingenuity.  Anyone who knows me, knows my fascination with anything German (I think it's in my blood).  Well, over the summer, I was told of something crazy going on over there, and I just had to do some research on it.  And what is this showcase of German ingenuity? Underwater Opera!?



I wonder what it was like to audition for the role of Shelf Ice?

Obviously the large "environmentalist" overtone cannot be missed with the trash cans on the pool floor.  But a floating-plastic-bag-littering chorus!? - now that is art!  If you didn't catch it (because you don't understand German) they recorded sounds from 100 meters below the sea ice in Antarctica and played a mix of those sounds in the opera itself.   I am seriously impressed in one sense, that there is an area culturally healthy enough to support an endeavor like this.  HOWEVER, this whole thing is quite a strange idea.  Plus, the point of operatic singing is to sing acoustically (without amplification).  I would like to see the audience get some goggles and a snorkeling mask and have to listen to the underwater portions without the use of recording equipment - like the perspective in the following aria.



I was certainly interested to see what else these singers performed.  Low and behold they have made a "Flame Opera" where the characters literally burn themselves alive (with protective clothing, natürlich). I am wondering (and perhaps I should patent this idea) if the composer wrote in coughing attacks, for rhythmic purposes obviously. Take a look:



And then there is the more subtle "Culinary Opera" that uses the sounds of preparing a meal as the accompaniment.



The Flame Opera, awesome! The Underwater Opera, really awesome! But as for the Culinary Opera, I seriously need more ice cream and less nagging!  Watching her complain and cook, I can't help but feel as though I did something wrong, but have no idea what it was or why...guys, you know the feeling.  But the ideas are awesome.  I can't wait to find out what they do next.

Anyway, hopefully that's enough entertainment (torture) for right now.  If you hear of any other odd opera productions, I would love to hear about it - email me at bryanpinkall@gmail.com

Next week, I will start a segment about my audition process and how I go about preparing and actually performing in an audition - you'll know about all the places that I'm applying to as well.

This week, I will be performing a masterclass with Diana Soviero. She has performed at the Met, La Scala, the Royal Opera house, Paris Opera, etc.  I am very excited, and I will hopefully let you know how that goes as well.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know about how this year's KCVI Celebrity Auction is coming along.  Last week, I began contacting musicians, artists, authors, athletes, and other celebrities about donating to the Kansas City Vocal Institute to begin a scholarship in their names, providing voice lessons to area children and families here in Kansas City.  Well, already I have been in talks with the Kansas City Chiefs - nothing official yet, but I'm hoping to hear some good news from them.  However Zubin Mehta (one of the greatest conductors on earth), who donated last year, has contributed again this year to continue his scholarship fund.  This year we will be auctioning an autographed baton from him, and as always, whatever we earn will support his scholarship fund.

And the Kansas City Royals have graciously donated to the Kansas City Vocal Institute to begin a new scholarship.  This winter we will be auctioning some tickets for next year's baseball season.  And, if you are not a baseball fan, the Royals are the host for next year's All Star Game.  So it will be an exciting year, and you will be able to bid on those this holiday season.

For more, including my upcoming schedule, please visit www.bryanpinkall.com