puppet masters

Hey all! Brenda and I are enjoying some time together this afternoon before she heads back to work. As she mentioned last week, Brenda is currently in rehearsals for a new production of La Sonnambula. Usually rehearsals at Oper Frankfurt happen in the morning and the evening (e.g. 10-1 and 6-9), which gives us time in the afternoon to have lunch, run errands, and just enjoy each other's company. Also, with new productions, like this one, rehearsals don't take place at the opera house until a couple of weeks before the show opens. Before then, rehearsals happen at a warehouse that is inconveniently located in a more industrial part of Frankfurt. I'm sure Brenda is looking forward to rehearsals moving to the opera house in a couple of weeks so she can shave an hour off of her daily commute.

On Saturday, Brenda and I were invited to Biedenkopf by our friend Andi and his family to see The Merry Wives of Windsor (the opera version). But this was no ordinary performance. Instead of

sweaty tenors and overly dramatic divas, the performers were marionettes. Actually, it may be more accurate to say that the performers were the folks behind the curtain pulling the strings (literally). Two of those performers were Andi and his sister. This all may sound familiar to you from a blog entry Brenda wrote last October when she went to Biedenkopf without me (I was in Iowa reading several law books at the time). Brenda enjoyed her time in Biedenkopf so much last year that she wanted me to see it, too. It was a great trip, and we look forward to heading back up for another marionette opera sometime soon.

 After the show ended, the curtain was pulled back and the performers repeated the final scene of the opera so the audience could see them at work. Their coordination was amazing, especially in such a cramped space.

 The show was sold out.

 Andi gave us the backstage tour after the show.

 He even let us play with the marionettes. Unsurprisingly, it is much harder than it looks.

Andi and I posed for a picture with a giant kohlrabi that his parents grew. I'm no expert, but that thing looked like state fair material to me.

So that's what we've been up to. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

nose job

Hello all! It's Chenda's lesser half, Brenda! :-) Things have been busy the past week, but not necessarily exciting! I've continued to rehearse for the opera that I have a small part in, and also started rehearsals for the opera in which I play the title role. I'm really excited to sing "La Sonnambula" (I'm La Sonnambula, which means the sleepwalker!), because it's the opera that basically made me fall in love with opera, and decide to seriously pursue it! It's full of beautiful melodies, and is really wonderful to sing. 

Other than me rehearsing all the time, and Chad working on our German taxes, we've managed to see some friends that we'd been missing, and also enjoy the beautiful weather we had over the weekend. It's a good thing, because Germany seems to have fallen into its traditional cold and rainy weather as of today. At least it's warm and dry inside! 

This upcoming weekend we're planning on visiting a friend and his family who live about an hour away, and we'll be privy to a unique performance of the operetta "The Merry Wives of Windsor", about which we'll share more next week! Hope you all have a good one!

If we haven't mentioned it before, Germany tends to not have very traditional productions of opera. This is the mask I have to wear for the role in which I play a falcon. I think it makes me look like I do something other than sing opera for a living...

The poster is up for our production of "La Sonnambula"! I haven't exactly figured out what it's supposed to symbolize yet. 

We packed a picnic lunch on Sunday and took it up to the city forest which isn't too far from our apartment. As you've probably noticed from previous blog posts, we go there a lot! 

A very beautiful and abnormally large tree for our forest! 

day trips

Hey all! Brenda and I are in Frankfurt once again and are loving being back in our apartment. Not that our place in Munich wasn't great, it's just that it didn't have any tables, which can make the simplest things (like eating) more difficult. Anyway, Brenda started rehearsals yesterday for one opera and will begin rehearsals for a second opera next week, so she's quite busy at the moment. I'm going to begin an on-line German language course tomorrow, and I don't really know what to expect. Hopefully, my German will improve!

During our last week in Munich, we were able to squeeze in two day trips to some beautiful nearby towns. Our first trip took us to the town of Herrsching, which is next to Lake Ammer (or, in German, Ammersee). We enjoyed walking partway around the lake before making our way to a local abbey, Andechs Abbey (German: Kloster Andechs), which in addition to having a beautiful church, also has a brewery.

 The towns around Lake Ammer must get quite busy during peak tourist times.

Luckily, we went a few days after Oktoberfest ended, and it wasn't very busy it all.

 Walking to Andechs Abbey took around an hour.

 The path took us through a beautiful wooded area that Brenda loved.

As we got closer to the abbey we could see the Alps in the distance. (You may have to squint to see them in this picture.)

 The abbey was in sight!

 Our reward. 

The cuisine was very reminiscent of our meal at Oktoberfest.

 Feel free to ignore me in this picture and just read the sign. It translates to "Singing and making noise are not allowed." Call me crazy, but if you don't want people to sing or make noise, maybe you shouldn't serve them giant beers.

Our second day trip took us to Mühldorf to visit our friend Karin. Karin was kind enough to take the afternoon off of work to hang out with us and to show us around the area. One of the highlights was visiting Burghausen Castle.

 Karin and Brenda posing for a picture by the castle wall.

From the castle we had a great view of the town of Burghausen.

After Karin finished showing us around the area, she took us to her parents' house for dinner. They served us a delicious dinner that included pumpkin soup and Dampfnudeln, a traditional dish in that area of Germany. We had a lot of fun getting to know Karin's parents.

We all posed for a picture after dinner.

So that's what we've been up to. I hope you're all having a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

And one more thing!

I forgot to mention that an interview with Brenda appears in the October issue of the German opera magazine Opernglas. If you're interested in ordering a hard copy (or an electronic version) you can do so here! Consider it a good opportunity to work on your German. :-)

I also forgot to mention that Opera Rara posted a video on YouTube today of Brenda singing a duet from Fantasio with castmate Sarah Connolly, which was recorded at the CD release party in London last week. You can check out the video here.

Oktoberfest!

Hey all! Brenda and I finally made it to Oktoberfest last week, and we've got the pictures to prove it. We went in the mid-afternoon on Wednesday, which ended up being a great time because it wasn't very busy. After taking a stroll around the grounds, we found a beer tent so we could rest our weary legs and sample some of the local food and drink.

 I have to admit, lederhosen are really comfortable.

 A friend told us that her favorite beer at Oktoberfest is Augustiner, so we went to the Augustiner beer tent in search of a place to sit.

 Here is a picture from inside the Augustiner beer "tent." At 3:00 in the afternoon we couldn't find a place to sit inside, so we ventured outside.

 Luckily there were a few tables outside that weren't completely full. Shortly after we sat down the server walked over to us and held up two fingers. We nodded, and a little while later she brought us two beers. Decisions about which type of beer to order or whether we wanted light or dark beer were totally unnecessary. There was just the one kind. And it was delicious.

As you would imagine, Oktoberfest has numerous beer tents that are operated by various breweries. But the festivities aren't just limited to beer. There are a lot of rides, games and food vendors all around the Oktoberfest grounds. And why shouldn't there be? After all, large quantities of beer and roller coasters go very well together.

 We really enjoyed wearing our Oktoberfest outfits. Now when can we wear them again...

 After we left the Oktoberfest grounds, Brenda and I went into the subway and saw a long line of workers standing between people who were waiting for the train and the tracks. You might not be able see it in this picture, but there are officials lined up the entire length of the track.

Other than our Oktoberfest outing, Brenda has been busy with performances and preparing for upcoming roles. By the way, thank you to those of you that tuned in for the live stream of Brenda's opera on Sunday. Ain't technology grand? On that note, I should call it a night. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!