burn, sugar hat, burn

Happy Holidays! Brenda and I have had a busy social calendar over the past week on top of her already busy performance schedule. She had three performances in five days with the last one on Christmas Day (they all went very well). On Christmas Eve we continued a 4-year-old tradition; we went to Christmas Eve service and then had delicious baked ziti at the McCown's. Barb's parents were in town and they joined in the fun. It was a great evening, and we are already looking forward to doing it again next year.

On the topic of traditions, last night Brenda and I hosted our second annual Feuerzangenbowle evening. We provided the food - Brenda made some delicious chili and equally delicious Irish soda bread - and Adelin, Ariane, and Adam provided the ingredients for the Feuerzangenbowle. They also gave us our very own Feuerzangenbowle set. When we make the move back to the US, we will be sure to bring the set with us so our friends and family stateside can give it a try. Although, we may have a tough time finding the Zuckerhut (sugar hat) in the US.

 If you look closely you can see the blue flames around the Zuckerhut. You have to pour rum on the Zuckerhut for it to burn. We made sure to keep it clear of our dry Christmas tree.

Brenda received a nice Christmas card this year from the Vienna State Opera. Upon closer inspection she realized she was on the Christmas card!

Brenda is in the top right square picture.

Brenda's next performance isn't until New Years Eve, and between now and then we will be going to a Christmas dinner and to the opera Le Nozze di Figaro. We've also been talking about taking a trip to a German city we haven't seen before, but so far we haven't made any concrete plans. I hope all of you are having a great week, and I'll talk to you next year!

Merry Christmas!

Hey All! Brenda and I were too busy today to write the blog entry but we will post one on Thursday. We wish you all a very merry Christmas and we'll talk to you soon!

Goodbye, Hamburg

Greetings from somewhere in Germany! Don't worry, I'm not lost. I'm on a train heading toward Frankfurt, and we are somewhere between Hannover and Göttingen. This is the last train I'll be taking this fall from Hamburg because I am officially done with my study abroad in Germany. (I am also halfway done with law school. That is a strange thought.)  I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Hamburg, and I look forward to going back to visit someday.

While I was busy this morning taking my last final exam (that seems redundant) Brenda was seeing her parents off at the airport. We had a great time with them; we cooked, we went to a couple of Christmas markets, and we took a trip to Heidelberg. I think they enjoyed themselves too, and I know they especially enjoyed seeing two of Brenda's performances.

 Happy vegetarians in a happy vegetarian restaurant.

Not a bad view from the castle gardens in Heidelberg.

My Christmas break has officially begun and now I can begin to think about shopping for presents. As much as I'd like to, I'm afraid I can't get all of you iPad Minis. I know it was on your list and that you were good this year, but I am a student and Uncle Sam won't give me loans for Christmas presents. Brenda doesn't get a Christmas break because she has several performances over the next few weeks, but she will have some free time in between shows. We look forward to spending a lot of time together and enjoying the holiday season. Actually, we've already started enjoying it. We have a Christmas tree!

Cree 3.0

I hope you are also enjoying the holidays. Until next time, have a great week!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Hello all! We have certainly had a change of scenery in Hamburg since last Tuesday. The rain that Brenda and I were trying to avoid turned into snow, and now Hamburg is covered in a thin layer of white. It's really quite pretty and has certainly helped me get into the Christmas spirit, although the downside is that it's colder outside. I didn't bring any winter wear, but I think I can survive the cold for one more week.

 A view from our Hamburg apartment.

Brenda gradually started to feel better last week, and on Friday she felt well enough to go out and explore more of Hamburg. The Maritime Museum was on my list of things to do before leaving so Brenda and I headed over there. Hamburg has the third largest port in Europe, and portions of the museum were specifically dedicated to shipbuilding in Hamburg. The museum has nine floors and you could easily spend an entire day there. I would highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Hamburg.

Can you tell I was excited to learn about pirates? 

 Brenda with a giant Lego ship.

After the museum we decided to explore more of the various Christmas markets around Hamburg. We sampled the glühwein, discovered a couple more delicious treats, and watched Santa fly over the market in front of the Rathaus. I learned two things about Santa in Germany. First, he can fly backwards. Second, he speaks with an evil demon voice. Brenda recorded some of it on her iPhone so maybe we'll post a little video if I can figure out how.

 Brenda in front of the Christmas market by the Rathaus.

Mmm glühwein!

In spite of having an exam tomorrow I am going to the opera tonight. I would hate to be over prepared. Meanwhile in Frankfurt, Brenda is busy cleaning our apartment because her parents will be arriving tomorrow. If I'm not mistaken, their first flight leaves in about twenty minutes. I hope that all of you have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

even Cleopatra eats Kartoffelpuffer

Greetings once again from Hamburg! I won't be able to say that for much longer. My last exam this fall is two weeks from today. Who wants to think about exams when it's Christmas market season? Not this guy. But before we chat about Glühwein and overpriced crepes, I wanted to give you a report of Brenda's Giulio Cesare premiere on Sunday. The performance was great, the audience loved it, and Brenda was outstanding. The cast and director must have done something right to keep the audience entertained for 4 hours (including two intermissions). Brenda woke up with a sore throat a few days before the performance, but she was well enough to sing on Sunday. She sounded perfectly healthy even if she didn't feel that way. By the way, there are some nice pictures of the production which you can see here.

Brenda has a week in between performances so she decided to come up to Hamburg with me. I'm afraid her sore throat has turned into a runny nose and a cough, but I'm doing my best to nurse her back to health while learning about German Criminal Law. As part of her treatment, Brenda and I went to two of the Christmas markets that are set up in Hamburg. I'm afraid we had to forgo the Glühwein since Brenda is sick and I prefer to go to class sober, but we still enjoyed exploring the various shops and sampling a few holiday treats (i.e. Kartoffelpuffer, cheese crepes, and Dresdner Handbrot).

 One of the Christmas markets in Hamburg is set up in front of the Rathaus. As you can see, it was raining when we were there. A common occurrence this time of year.

Brenda taking a bite of Dresdner Handbrot (a delicious mix of bread, cheese, and mushrooms with sour cream on top). Yum!

I don't have class tomorrow so Brenda and I have tentatively planned a trip to Ikea. We may also meet up with the conductor of Giulio Cesare who lives in Hamburg. He also happens to originally be from Iowa. Small world. On Saturday, Brenda will return to Frankfurt and I will stay in Hamburg. It will be the first weekend in over a month that I'm not going to Frankfurt. Looks like I won't have any good excuses not to study.

I had better go tend to my sick wife. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

mmm pie

Hello folks! Chad had a full day of class today, and then went to the opera, so I'm taking over for the week! Chad will have to tell you about the opera next week since I wasn't actually involved in this one! We are currently in different cities, but he'll be coming back to Frankfurt again on Thursday. I love having him in Germany!

Rehearsals for Giulio Cesare are wrapping up here in Frankfurt, and I'm very excited to put this show on its feet! The cast and team have been wonderful to work with, which always makes a show even more fun. I have six costumes in the show, and they're in quite a different style than perhaps the most famous Cleopatra, portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor, but they're beautiful nonetheless! We should be able to share some pictures next week, since the show opens this Sunday.

This past Sunday I had the whole day off, and Chad and I were able to enjoy the company of many of our good friends here in Frankfurt. Since Germans don't celebrate Thanksgiving (the nerve!) we had a postponed feast, which was hosted by our friends Peter and Jerrode Marsh and their children Vanessa and Christoph, who all faithfully cook up a traditional Thanksgiving dinner every year. It's always a wonderful time, and we're so thankful to have such a great group of friends over here. Of course we stuffed ourselves until we were painfully full, so everything felt right with the world.

The Christmas markets have opened up this week, and I can't wait for my first visit. I'm also very excited to check out the scene in Hamburg this year! We'll see how it compares to Frankfurt. It'll be hard to sample all the hot spiced wine and treats, but somebody has to do it! I think I'm up to the task.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family and friends! And pie. Lots of pie. 'Til next week!

Queen Brenda

Another week has gone by, and in that time I've been to Frankfurt and back, learned a little about German Constitutional Law and German Tax Law, and explored more of Hamburg. Meanwhile, Brenda has opened and closed an opera and continued rehearsals for another. Basically, it's been a typical week for Chenda in Germany. 

Brenda's two performances of Maria Stuarda last week were fantastic. I know, I always say that about her performing, but it's not my fault - she's always fantastic! I wasn't able to be at the first performance on Wednesday, but I went to the second (and final) performance on Friday. There were apparently quite a few reviewers at the performances because Oper Frankfurt's press person has sent Brenda a bunch of reviews. They've all been glowing, and we thought we should share one with you (plus you get to see Brenda in her red dress!). 

The title says basically, "A song competition for queens in the old opera house." The first paragraph goes on to say, "Wow, was that great! Two absolute queens in a relentless voice battle. [I have no idea how to translate the third sentence.] They delivered a contest without a loser." The fifth paragraph that starts with Brenda's name says in part, "Brenda Rae in the title role is unbelievable. Her voice was so tender, so high, so strong, and had so much stamina. You could easily faint - from excitement." And the text next to her picture says, "Breathtaking, the dress and the voice: Brenda Rae excites as the queen in 'Maria Stuarda.'" Another reviewer referred to Brenda as a "new star in the bel canto sky." (Bel canto refers to Italian operas from a certain time period.) 

So there you have it. Brenda opens another opera (Giulio Cesare) a week from Sunday. After that she'll get a break from rehearsals and get to focus on performances and learning new music. And she will get to come spend more time with me in northern Germany and see how they do Christmas markets around here.

As the end of the semester looms ever closer, I've realized that I need to finish doing all of those things I wanted to do while living in Hamburg. I checked one thing off the list this past week; I went to one of Hamburg's many museums. The museum had a modern art exhibition and a photography exhibition. I enjoyed it, felt very cultured afterwards, and plan on visiting another Hamburg museum soon.

Everyday on my way to and from school I walk by a prison. It's a pleasant enough building (except for the barbed wire), and I don't usually pay too much attention to it as I walk by. That is, of course, unless I'm walking by in the evening. On Monday nights I am in class until 8:15, and every time I walk to the subway after class there are people on the street having conversations with prisoners who are talking from windows in the prison. As you might imagine, there is quite a bit of distance between the street and the prisoners' windows (70 or 80 yards maybe), but that doesn't prevent conversations. It just means that every Monday night I walk by a handful of people standing on the sidewalk who are chatting (aka yelling) at their friends or loved-ones in prison. It doesn't bother me at all. Actually, I think it's kind of nice that the prisoners get unofficial extended visiting hours. However, it seems to be against the rules...

The sign says, "Making contact is forbidden."

Well, I think its time to go make dinner. I hope you're all having a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

Dressing up

Greetings once again from Hamburg! Time has been flying. In fact, I just realized my last day of class is one month from today. I don't return to the US for another two months, though, so I've still got quite a bit of time for sauerkraut and pretzels. And, of course, lots of time to spend with my lovely wife who, by the way, will be premiering an opera tomorrow night. I've got a spoiler for all of you; below is a picture of Brenda in one of her dresses. That's right. I said, "one of." Brenda will be doing a costume change during the show to get the maximum "swoon effect" out of the audience. The performance tomorrow night (of Maria Stuarda) is being done concert style, which means that the singers stand on stage with the orchestra and just sing the opera with their music scores in front of them. There won't be any staging or costumes, just beautiful music and well dressed people. Like this lady...

Knock 'em dead, Brenda!

I know that most of you don't get many opportunities to hear Brenda sing, so I thought I would let you know about three recordings she's on that have been released recently. I don't remember writing about these recordings in the past, but if I have, you'll have to forgive my forgetfulness. The first recording is actually a DVD of the opera Rinaldo which was made while Brenda was at Glyndebourne. The second is a CD of songs written by the modern composer Lowell Liebermann. The last is also a CD which Oper Frankfurt made of its concert version of Wagner's Die Feen. The following are links to the recordings on Amazon.com.

Rinaldo DVD from Glyndebourne (also available in Blu-ray)

Little Heaven CD by Lowell Liebermann

Wagner's Die Feen performed by Oper Frankfurt

As I mentioned last week, our friend Adelin came to Hamburg this weekend to visit and to see a new German city. We had a good time kicking around town, although I realized that everything I know about Hamburg I can show to someone in a day. The second day we ended up at a French restaurant that is owned by a friend of Adelin's family. The food was delicious, which I'm sure was partly due to the amount of butter they used in the dishes. Maybe I should go for a jog tomorrow to undo some of the damage. Anyway, I think I will call it a night here. Send good thoughts towards Germany tomorrow and Friday for Brenda's upcoming performances, and we'll be sure to tell you about them next Tuesday. Until then, have a great week!

Busy Brenda

Hey All! Sorry I'm a day late this week. Instead of staying home last night and writing the blog entry like a responsible blogger, I went to the opera. Verdi's Falstaff was playing for the last time this season at the Hamburg Opera and I really wanted to see it. Brenda and I were in Falstaff together at UW-Madison many moons ago, and seeing the opera again last night triggered some good memories. After the performance, I met up with one of the singers in Falstaff who also sang with Brenda in Ariadne auf Naxos. He is Canadian but lived in the US for many years, and I enjoyed hearing about his experiences living as a foreigner in the U.S. and some of his thoughts on American politics.

I'm heading down to Frankfurt tomorrow to see my better half, who is really, really busy at the moment. Brenda has two performances of Maria Stuarda next week at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, and she is also in rehearsals for Giulio Cesare. Things will calm down for her after Giulio Cesare opens on December 2nd but, until then, she will be on the go.

I started a new class yesterday with an American professor who teaches at Northwestern in Chicago. The class is Competition Law (aka Antitrust Law) and, when it's over, I am confident I will be able to help you keep your monopoly going.* I start Products Liability tomorrow, so if your toaster explodes and you lose a finger, I'm sure I'll be able to help you get millions.* 

Our friend Adelin is coming to Hamburg for a few days starting on Sunday, so I need to figure out where I'm going to take her while she's here. I'm hoping the weather will be decent, but it seems to change by the hour in Hamburg. In any case, I'll tell you all about it next Tuesday. Until then, have a great week!

* Neither of these statements are intended to be taken seriously. Uh oh, I'm starting to include disclaimers in my blog entries. That is not a good sign.

Tune in tomorrow

Hey all! We weren't able to get the blog entry done today, but we'll write one tomorrow. Talk to you then!

another unexpected debut

(Note: I wrote the following blog entry on Monday morning.)

Hello dear readers and greetings from Paris! I'm not supposed to be in Paris, you say? Well, I was in the mood for an authentic French croissant so I hopped on the next train to France to get one. Ok, maybe not. The real story is that Brenda and I were enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon when she got a text message from one of her friends. Apparently Paris Opera needed an Anne Trulove for their performance of The Rake's Progress the next day, and Brenda's friend recommended her. The text message went on to say that Paris Opera would be calling Brenda any moment. So Brenda shrieked and then said, "Should I do it?" and I, being my usual thoughtful and articulate self, said, "uhhhhhh." And then Brenda's phone rang. I'll spare you the play-by-play from here on out. In short, Brenda hopped on a plane to Paris a few hours later, and I hopped on a train the next morning. I got to Paris at 1 PM and met up with Brenda. She had a 30 minute musical rehearsal starting at 1:30, and the show started at 2:30. The staging was so complicated that they didn't have enough time to teach it to Brenda, so the soprano who was sick still performed the role minus the singing. Brenda sang the role from the side of the stage. Everything went really well, and Brenda sounded fantastic.

 The home of the Paris Opera.

 Brenda in her dressing room before the show.

 the stage

 The left side of the auditorium during the first intermission.

 the ceiling

 the lobby

more of the lobby

As you may remember from the post last week, Brenda is rehearsing a role in Frankfurt right now, and she has rehearsal this morning at 10 AM. In Frankfurt. And we spent the night in Paris. Her alarm clock went off at 4 AM this morning so she would have time to get ready for her 7 AM flight back to Frankfurt. So she's probably in the air somewhere over Germany right now, and I'm at one of the train stations in Paris waiting for my train.

In other (not as exciting) news, I took four final exams last week. I think they all went fairly well. I had my last exam on Friday, and my Professor for that class decided that she would email all of the students the question and we could answer it anywhere we wanted as long as we emailed the answer back within two hours. So on Friday morning I rolled out of bed 30 minutes before my exam, made a pot of coffee, ate some breakfast, and then proceeded to take the exam in my pajamas. I think Brenda was a little nervous that she might disturb me while I took the exam, but she didn't bother me in the least. It was actually quite nice to have her there; she provided great non-verbal moral support.

This will be a busy week of rehearsals for Brenda, and then she will have her final performance in Hamburg on Saturday. We are hoping that we can go up to Hamburg on Friday night so she won't have to spend four hours on a train on a performance day, but we will see if the Frankfurt rehearsal schedule allows it. By the way, I am now on the train, and Brenda made it to her rehearsal in Frankfurt with ten minutes to spare. Plenty of time! Maybe we should live in Paris and Brenda can commute to Frankfurt every day. I'll talk to Brenda about it and let you know what she thinks.

I hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!