Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you have all been enjoying the holiday season. We've been keeping busy with social events and the latest season of Downton Abbey. Brenda's most recent performance was on the 26th and her next one is tomorrow, so she's had a little bit of a break from work. We've decided to celebrate the new year this evening by having a quiet night at home so Brenda can be well rested for her performance tomorrow. We will definitely not be turning in early, however. You may recall from previous posts that the city of Frankfurt erupts in fireworks on New Year's Eve. In fact, they've already started going off sporadically even though the new year is still over five hours away.

Barb and Brenda in holiday colors on Christmas Eve.

Barb and Michael put real candles in their Christmas tree. 

I spent the evening with my hand on a fire extinguisher, ready to spring into action should the tree start to go up in flames. My glass of wine would be considered a fire extinguisher, right?

Brenda had some olive oil heating on the stove that she forgot about for a minute or two, and when she went back to check on it the oil had turned green. I thought it was most likely a Christmas miracle, but Brenda thought it had turned to poison. We threw it out just to be safe.

Brenda and I had our annual Feuerzangenbowle evening with the Plocks on Friday. Pictured above is the rum-soaked sugar cone shortly after it was lit.

It's time to prepare our New Year's Eve dinner, so I had better get going. I hope you all have a nice time ringing in the New Year, and we'll talk to you next week!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hey all! Brenda and I are about to run out the door, but I wanted to wish you a quick Merry Christmas before we do. We've been getting into the Christmas spirit over the last week and also spending quite a bit of time in the opera house. Tonight we will continue our Christmas Eve tradition of dinner with the McCowns, which we look forward to every year. 

 The tree you saw last week all dressed up.

We got two very nice homemade ornaments in the mail today from Brenda's aunt Mary.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season. Until next time, have a great week!

O Tannenbaum

Hey all! Here is your late blog entry as promised. I've been a little distracted lately with final exams, long papers, moving out of our U.S. apartment, and flying to Germany. The last item on my fall to-do list will be crossed off tomorrow, at which point I can focus 100% of my attention on my wonderful better half.

Speaking of which, she had a great time recording last week and, by all accounts, a phenomenal performance on Sunday. Opera Rara, the company that is making the recording of Fantasio, compiled a list of glowing reviews, which you can view here. I'm sorry to have missed the performance, but I'm very excited to hear the recording when it comes out late next year. By the way, Brenda will be back at it again tomorrow with another performance of Ariadne auf Naxos. It's been seven weeks since her last one, but I think she remembers most of the notes.

 Brenda, and her flowers, after the show.

My flight to Germany was a little more complicated than usual this time. I thought I might have some troubles because my layover in Chicago was scheduled to be one hour. When my first flight left around 45 minutes late, I got even more concerned. Sure enough, I missed my connecting flight, which was the last flight to Frankfurt for the day. Luckily, I got out on a flight to Munich that night and flew to Frankfurt later that day. Of course, my bags didn't make it, but they were delivered this morning, so all's well that ends well.

My protracted travels, along with Brenda's prodding, helped me stay awake quite late last night, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get over jet-lag easier than I normally do. One of our sleep-avoiding activities yesterday was buying a Christmas tree. The tree salesman was a young German guy that remembered Brenda and me and her parents who were with us when we bought the tree last year. He also remembered that Brenda is an opera singer. We must have made an impression. It makes me wonder if we knocked over some trees or something when we were there last year.

It was heavier than it looks, I swear.

Brenda just started decorating the tree, and I should go lend a hand. I hope you all have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

Chenda in Germany once again

Hey All! I dropped the ball on the blog entry yesterday. Sorry about that! I arrived in Frankfurt a few hours ago so Brenda and I are together again. I will fill you in on more in a post tomorrow. Until then, have a great night!

buildings and bridges

Happy Wednesday everybody! Hope you weren't too distraught that the blog is late this week. :-) Today I had a rather different day of recording -- there was no singing involved! Since this is a comic opera that we're doing, there's dialogue! IN FRENCH! So that's what we focused on today, and I must say, we had a lot of fun! Our French diction coach seemed very pleased with us as well, so that's a good sign. Chad took his last exam today, and is nearing the end of his duties for finals, although he still has two papers to turn in. One is basically done though! Tomorrow he has to move out of our apartment in Iowa City, assisted by his parents, who are incredibly kind to help!! I feel more than a little badly that I'm not around to share the load. Someday I'll make it up to them… 

As I mentioned, I'm having a great time in London. The recording is going very well, and I've really enjoyed getting to meet the rest of the people involved, as well as reconnecting with some old friends who are in London! I took advantage of the lovely weather on Sunday and went for a jog/walk along the River Thames. I had to dodge a lot of people, but the crowds gave me an excuse to stop and take pictures!

The beautiful Tower Bridge. You'd think London Bridge would be as beautiful, since there's a song about it, but you'd be wrong! The original London Bridge was much fancier compared to the modern one…

A view of part of the Tower of London (which is a fortress) and some modern architecture as well. It's so interesting to see buildings that are many hundreds of years old next to ultra modern buildings.

This is Henry Wood Hall, where we've been recording the music for the opera. It used to be a church, but now it's solely used for music rehearsals and recordings!

Below the main floor of the hall. There's a cantina to buy food and drinks during recording sessions. I love how it looks like an old library study area!

The actual hall. The orchestra we're recording with is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. If you go to their website, you can find pictures of our rehearsals last week, and also a short interview with me! I sang with the orchestra while I was at Glyndebourne and I'm thrilled to sing with them again! They're truly fantastic!

We recorded the dialogue in a different location -- St. Jude on the Hill, which is still a church, but has a rich history of concerts and recordings taking place there as well. And it made an appearance in a Harry Potter movie. How cool are these places?!? I feel so lucky to be here!

Well, we're back to recording the actual singing parts tomorrow, so I'd better get to bed! By this time next week, Chad and I will be together in Frankfurt again, and I can't wait! Have a wonderful week! 

check back

Hello all! I told Chad I would write the blog this week, as he's busy with exams, but of course I got home late after a long day of recording, and am now too tired to write it tonight! So please check back tomorrow for the full length entry, including pictures of London! Everything has been going very well here, and I'm having lots of fun! Stay warm! Until tomorrow...

in the air, then on the air

Hey all! Brenda and I are once again on different continents, although not for long. She flew off to London on Saturday after a few wonderful days of celebrating with family. It was great to be back home for Thanksgiving this year with all of my extended relatives. Around thirty people came to this year's feast, most of whom Brenda and I hadn't seen for almost two years. We took a lot of pictures, but our camera is in London at the moment and Brenda is dealing with a bad internet connection at her otherwise fantastic apartment. We did manage to get this picture...

 Brenda, our niece Beatrice, and me

Two days later we celebrated another major holiday: Christmas. My parents were kind enough to move it up about 4 weeks since Brenda and I are going to be in Germany on the actual day.

A few hours after our Christmas celebration ended, Brenda hopped on a plane to London where she has already had two days of rehearsal and a radio interview with BBC 3. (You can hear the interview here. The show that Brenda was interviewed on discussed Brad Mehldau, La Serenissima, Rolf Hind, Sir Mark Elder. The segment that Brenda is involved in is about 12 minutes long and starts at 1:42:48 and ends at 1:54:28. They play a recording from the opera, but Brenda isn't singing in it.) Brenda said everyone has been really nice, and she's been enjoying their beautiful rehearsal room.

A picture of the rehearsal room in London.

I have my last classes of the semester tomorrow, which means I will be done with all of my law classes in Iowa. Did I mention that I'm studying abroad in London next semester? I figured that even if living in England isn't the same as living in Germany, it is a heck of a lot closer to Brenda than being in the U.S.

Next week is finals week for me and recording week for Brenda, so the blog entry may be brief. Until then, have a great week!