settling in

Hey all! After a prolonged journey that included planes, trains and automobiles (although not in that order), we arrived at our home for the next five weeks. Our journey was complicated by a combination of bad weather and a rebooking mistake, which forced us to spend the night in Chicago. When we ultimately arrived in Frankfurt we only had a few hours to repack our bags before getting on the train to Munich, but from that point on everything went off without a hitch and we've been spending the last couple of days getting settled in our new apartment. Brenda also had her first rehearsal yesterday which, she tells me, went very well. 

One of the benefits of the opera world being so small is that Brenda often knows at least one person in the cast before rehearsals began. On the rare occasion that she doesn't know anyone, she will definitely have friends in common with her castmates so they can usually bond over their mutual acquaintances. Brenda already knew a few people in this production from her previous engagements in Munich, and she has known the leading tenor for several years (he was in the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt), so she felt quite comfortable in rehearsal. The cast is also bonding over the difficulty of the music. The opera, Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman), was composed in the 1930s, which makes it relatively modern as far as operas go. And since modern operas tend to be quite difficult musically, it's quite impressive that the cast is only rehearsing for two and a half weeks before the first performance. 

While Brenda was in rehearsal, I ventured out into the city so our cupboards wouldn't be quite so bare. Our apartment is close to a subway stop, which allows us quick access to the center of Munich. Below are a few pics I snapped while wandering around the Karlsplatz area.

 A store dedicated to Dirndls and Lederhosen. Brenda and I may need to do a little shopping so we can fit in with the natives.

Before I sign off, I thought you might be interested to know that Brenda will be adding two recordings to her discography this month. The first is Milhaud's The Oresteia of Aeschylus, which was released on Amazon today, and the second, Offenbach's Fantasio, comes out at the end of the month. Brenda will also appear on yet another recording, Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, that should be released sometime this fall. I'll keep you posted on that one.

I'd better get going so I can beat the after-work crowd to the store. My jet lag is making me wake up very late, although the up side is that I've been enjoying some quiet reading time in the middle of the night. I hope you're having a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!