city lights

Hello all! Another week has gone by, and Chad is swamped with homework, so I'm taking over the blog for the week! However, we realized it was blog day a little bit late, so this won't be a spectacular post. :-) BUT! I have pictures! Oh yes, I know you love pictures...

I'm in New York right now, taking lessons to prepare for my upcoming role in La Traviata and also recording a CD of songs by the composer Lowell Liebermann, whose opera I performed at Juilliard five years ago! It's so great to sing his music again, and I can't wait for the disc to come out!

I had a wonderful time in Minneapolis with Drew, and as Chad told you, we did lots of fun things, including my first trip to the huge Renaissance festival in the area. I've never seen so many nerds in one place. It was a beautiful thing.

And now, PICTURES! Have a great week all!

Holding my beautiful niece Beatrice

for the first time!

Drew and Bettina at the Renaissance

festival. Oh yes, they wore costumes.

Happy twins at the apple orchard!

Taunting and feeding the goats at the petting farm

at the apple orchard.

Drew made friends with the donkey.

That's a big ol' chair.

Dining al fresco at the Minneapolis restaurant

Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge.

Dan and Whitney were with us! And a mask

friend was too...

High school buddy Lara and the twins in a Minneapolis

pub called Merlin's Rest. It had a British theme,

so I felt right at home. ;-)

fair maidens and gallant knights

Hey All! I'm cutting my blog deadline a little close this week; I have nine minutes left before Tuesday is officially over. Anyway, my wonderful wife got sick of me studying all the time and decided to go visit her sister. Brenda arrived in Minnesota yesterday and has already been to a renaissance fair and been apple picking. Not at the same time, of course. Jousting is strictly forbidden in apple orchards. At least I think I read that in one of my law books. All of these laws start to run together.

The happy couple together again.

This past weekend Brenda and I went to my home town to spend some time with my family. While we were there Brenda got to meet our beautiful 7-month-old niece, Beatrice. Brenda also spent a good part of the weekend working on the songs she's going to record next week in New York. Brenda will be working on La Traviata while she's in New York, too. It should be a whirlwind trip.

Once Brenda gets back from New York we'll have almost a week together before she flies to Frankfurt. We spent last week (when I wasn't in class or studying) trying out different restaurants in Iowa City, going to movies, and getting settled in our apartment. We still need to hang up photos and put away a few pots and pans, but the apartment is starting to shape up. Brenda is going to look for some furniture at Ikea while she's in Minnesota so hopefully a couch is in our future. As it stands, one of us can sit in the recliner in the living room while the other sits in the bean bag chair. It makes cuddling up to watch a movie challenging.

Well, it has been Wednesday for almost 30 minutes now so I had better wrap this up. I need a decent amount of sleep if I want to stand a chance of understanding what is going on in class. I hope you're all having a great week!

the couple that studies together, stays together

Hello all! It's Brenda again. Chad and I are both busy being studious, but because his deadline is tomorrow, I'm taking blog duties for the week! However, I'm quite tired, so this will be a photo heavy blog! :-)

I got back to the States on Saturday after a whirlwind week! Last Monday was the last show at Glyndebourne, then we had a day off, then Wednesday we were back in rehearsals to re-stage the show for the performance on Thursday at the Royal Albert Hall in London. We left Lewes on Wednesday night to head up to London, and I have to say I was rather sad to say goodbye to that charming little town! But being in London to perform at the Proms was an absolutely incredible experience. What a way to end my time at Glyndebourne! The cast had a great time partying after the show, and then the next morning I was on a flight back to Frankfurt. I was in Germany for less than 24 hours, and then I was off to the US to see my darling law student husband! Though both of us have a lot of work to do, it's still great being around each other, and taking breaks together! I think Chad's starting to get used to the schedule, but I have to say, I'm really glad I don't have to do all that reading!!

Well, sorry to say, but I'm going to end it there. Hope you all have a great week!

Me, Anett Fritsch and Sonia Prina in a taxi in London

after a morning rehearsal at the Royal Albert Hall.

My costume pile for Rinaldo. I doubt I'll ever have a

costume like that again!!

Celebrating my find at the liquor store in Iowa City:

Ommegang beer from upstate NY! Memories of Glimmerglass Opera...

Being silly while unpacking the kitchen supplies

in our new apartment...

Standing onstage at the Royal Albert Hall during rehearsal.

Around 6,000 people came to the performance!!

What a difference three months can make. Chad posted this same shot

on May 24th, right after we got to Lewes. Such different colors!

back to school

Hey All! It's me again. Brenda was so kind to write the blog last week. I was neck deep in law school orientation, and any blog I would have written would have been heavily influenced by my lack of sleep and general confusion about all of the legal stuff I've been learning. Don't worry, I am well rested this morning, although the legal confusion persists. I'm sure that will clear up in a few years or so.

Brenda had her final performance at Glyndebourne last night. It's hard to believe but her 15 performances are done and she only has one thing left: the BBC Proms. It should prove to be a whirlwind week for Brenda. She has to pack up things today, rehearse for the proms tomorrow and head to London, perform Thursday, fly to Frankfurt on Friday, and then fly to the US on Saturday. My wife the jet setter. (By the way, on the BBC Proms page I linked above you will be able to stream Brenda's opera for 7 days after the performance.)

I can't wait for Brenda to get here. We have a lot of really fun things planned. For example, she gets to quietly watch me study. And, um, then we may eat dinner someplace after which we will immediately return home, I will continue studying, and she can continue to watch me study...quietly. It should prove to be a thrilling time for both of us. Brenda will actually be doing a lot of studying of her own. She has to prepare for her next major role (Violetta in La Traviata) and she will be making a recording of some Lowell Liebermann songs in a couple weeks. Brenda and I can work on our homework together.

Today is officially the first day of law school. It feels like we've already started, however, since we had a 1-credit orientation-week class. As the Professor said, we are 1/85 finished with law school after orientation. I've even taken my first law school exam. It was part multiple-choice and part essay. The exam was pass/fail but I won't find out if I passed for another week or so. In the meantime, I am going to focus on my 4 semester-length classes (Contracts, Property, Torts, and Legal Analysis Writing and Research). I thought that my Torts class was about delicious pastries, but the assignment I read last night didn't mention so much as a croissant. This could be a long semester.

I should get going. I need to skype with my lovely wife before class. I hope you are all having a great week, and I (or Brenda) will talk to you next Tuesday!

doing my part

Hello All!

It's one of those rare occasions in which the "enda" part of "Chenda" is writing the blog! You see, Chad only agreed to go to law school because I promised to help out with keeping the blog up to date. Oh, I'm just kidding! ... Okay, I'm half kidding...

Anyhoo, it's been a pretty busy week even though I only had two performances at Glyndebourne. We had a four day break, so I took that opportunity to head to London for a day. I had a three hour coaching on the opera La Traviata since I'm preparing for my debut in the role of Violetta at Frankfurt Opera in October. If you don't know Traviata, try to listen to some of the music! There are some amazingly beautiful moments, and it's one of my dream roles, soo I'm pretty excited! After my epic coaching session, I had dinner with a friend who lives in London. I met her while singing in Bordeaux this past winter, and it was great to catch up. She and I made some new friends on the Golden Jubilee Bridge, and were persuaded to sing "Happy Birthday" to one of the guys once they found out we were opera singers. Now, getting opera singers to sing in public can actually be quite difficult, since most of us are rather shy about singing when we're not onstage! But the birthday boy seemed really excited about getting an operatic happy birthday, and so did all the innocent bystanders, so it was worth it.

On one of my other days off I decided to actually have a real day off, and went to the beach in Brighton/Hove with one of my friends. Don't be fooled by the beautiful blue sky and flip-flops; it was actually quite chilly due to the wind. Chilly but still beautiful at least!

Now that Chad's in law school across the ocean, I've been adjusting to apartment life on my own. This includes many things, such as getting the bed all to myself, and getting all the coffee to myself, but it also includes negative things. Case in point: yesterday morning, as I was having a nice lazy morning before my show, I was getting ready to cook breakfast, and I noticed one of these spiders had made a beautiful web on the stovetop. Well, I wasn't about to have spider for breakfast, so I needed to deal with the spider issue. Come to think of it, it's probably good that Chad wasn't around, since he probably would have just killed the spider, but my dad taught me not to kill spiders, since they eat mosquitos. And we all hate mosquitos. I would definitely feel no remorse over killing a mosquito. Anyway, I very generously took this spider outside and freed her into the bushes outside the door. And how did this spider pay me back? By building it's web right in front of the door at about eye level. Sigh. I'm glad I saw the web (and the spider idly sitting in the middle of it) before I got a face full of spider goo, because I probably wouldn't have felt so generous after that. I don't really know what the moral of this story is, but for my own peace of mind, I'm going to credit that spider for my lack of mosquito bites.

Well, it's getting quite late, so I'd better think about getting my beauty rest. We have a show tomorrow, and it's being filmed for release on DVD. They'll film the next show as well, so thankfully I have two chances to get it right! Wish me luck, or hope that I break a leg, or spit over my shoulder. One of those should work!

In closing, I leave you with this YouTube link. It's a very silly song, made by "auto-tuning" the girl's spoken voice, and the result is quite catchy! I dance to it every morning. Hope you enjoy!

when sheep attack

Hey All! Since I wrote to you last I've finished gathering all of the basic items I need for Brenda's and my apartment in Iowa. Among other things we now have a bed, a shower curtain, and a coffee maker that is fancy enough it could probably take my law classes for me. I've also obtained my law school necessities: books ($770 for 10 books is a good deal, right?), a student ID, and a parking permit. I have a week of law school orientation starting on Sunday that includes a one-week, one-credit course that is pass/fail. If I fail the orientation course I get to take the test over again until I pass it. I'm hoping that's what all of law school will be like.

Meanwhile in Europe, Brenda has her 11th performance (of 15) of Rinaldo tomorrow. She doesn't have that much time left in the UK, which, for selfish reasons, I'm quite happy about. As soon as Brenda's done in England she's coming to see me. This morning Brenda went to the final dress rehearsal of the Turn of the Screw. It is the last production to go up this summer at Glyndebourne. Brenda thoroughly enjoyed the production and the singing. The Turn of the Screw, which was composed by Benjamin Britten, is a wonderful opera that Brenda and I both adore.

As far as I can tell, Brenda seems to be enjoying life in England in spite of my absence. I'm not saying she is happy that I left, but I think she is making the best of the situation. She has been spending more time with her fellow cast members, and she has been working on new music that needs to be learned. Glyndebourne has rooms that Brenda can use to practice and she has been taking advantage of them. When the weather allows it, Brenda walks to Glyndebourne to get some exercise and to enjoy the beautiful downs. On one of her recent walks to Glyndebourne, Brenda apparently caught the attention of a nearby sheep. The sheep began to chase after Brenda, which prompted Brenda to change her walk along the downs into a run along the downs. I don't know why, but the image of Brenda running down a big grassy hill while being pursued by a baaing, fluffy-coated sheep brings a smile to my face. Not that I blame her. I was on those same downs, and when I was surrounded by scores of sheep I was prepared to pick up my pace if I saw a pair of cute little horns coming at me.

Last Friday was my father's birthday. To celebrate, my parents and I hit the links. We had a great time and, with the exception of about 10 minutes, we were able to avoid the rain. Through sheer dumb luck I managed to birdie a hole. My parents, rightly believing it to be a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment for me, decided to take a picture to commemorate the occasion.

Well, I had better call it a night. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

from cool Lewes to sweltering Iowa

Hey All! I'm writing to you this evening from my remarkably hot and humid home state. Over the past few weeks I've been hearing about how hot the weather was in the midwest, but I had a tough time relating as I walked around Lewes in a sweater. Well, I understand now, and I'm sorry you all had to suffer through this heat without me. I'm here now to share your pain, and I've already begun cursing the weather as I've moved boxes and furniture into our new apartment in Iowa.

Brenda has had two performances since I wrote to you last. There was some excitement at the show yesterday because of some transportation issues. Apparently a water main broke at a train station between London and Lewes which caused train delays. Some of Brenda's cast members live in London and commute to Glyndebourne on performance days. All of the performers did eventually make it, although one of the main soloists arrived 15 minutes after the show began. For those first 15 minutes his cover, well, covered for him and the show went on. You just never know what's going to happen in live theater.

And speaking of live theater, Brenda and I went to the Lion King in London last week. We were both way over dressed - I was wearing a suit and Brenda looked gorgeous in a new brown dress - as the vast majority of the audience was in jeans. The musical was quite the spectacle and we both enjoyed it. Afterwards we went to a surprisingly satisfying Italian restaurant nearby that had opera playing in the background. Believe me when I tell you, it is very difficult for two opera singers to have an uninterrupted conversation when there are opera arias playing in the background. Every time a new aria would come on we would stop what we were doing and start trying to figure out which aria it was and who was singing it.

This week, Brenda is spending much of her non-performance time learning music for upcoming performances. I am spending the week getting things ready for classes which will begin in less than two weeks. I am also still getting over a little jet-lag, so I should end this here and go to bed. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!