Oxford

Hey all! It's been life as usual here in London with lots of studying, classes, and field trips. Our most recent outing took us to the charming town of Oxford. We all got up early Saturday morning and hopped on a bus out of town, which ended up taking a lot longer than expected. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was - someone said there was a tree in the road, somebody else said it had to do with all the flooding - but our bus trip that was supposed to last an hour and a half ended up taking almost four hours. Luckily, when we arrived our kind tour guide agreed to show us around town even though we had missed our appointment with him by over an hour.

 Our tour guide took us to one of Oxford's beautiful colleges.

 I immediately thought of Hogwarts when I walked into this building. Apparently, the building that was used as the Great Hall in Harry Potter is actually in Oxford (this isn't it).

 I don't remember an organ in the Great Hall.

 There was gorgeous architecture all over the town.

Even though the trip started on a bad note, we ended up having a nice time. I expected Oxford to be bigger and more metropolitan but it actually felt like a charming, medium-sized college town. I imagine it's a very nice place to get a degree.

Brenda is once again in Frankfurt and has begun rehearsals for Mozart's Così fan tutte. She has a lot of friends in the cast, which always makes the rehearsal process more fun. I'm especially excited to see her in this opera because it's one of my favorites and she has such beautiful music to sing.

Speaking of Brenda, it's time for us to chat. I hope you all have a wonderful week and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

a merry Munich meeting

Hello All! It is once again time to fill you in on our recent endeavors. As I mentioned last week, Brenda and I spent the weekend together in Munich celebrating her birthday. We had a great time together, as we always do. We weren't able to pack all of the celebrating into one day because of Brenda's performance, so we just spread the merrymaking out over the whole weekend.

Brenda's performance in The Tales of Hoffmann was wonderful. Even though she's performed a role in this opera before (Olympia), this was the first time she was singing the role of Giulietta. The version of Hoffmann that the Bavarian State Opera is currently doing has three soprano roles, which are typically performed by sopranos of different voice types (that's right, there is more than one kind of soprano!). Sometimes, however, one soprano will sing all three of the roles in the same performance. As you can imagine, this makes for a lot of singing in one night. Now that Brenda knows two of the three roles, she'd only have to learn one more...

Brenda posing outside of the Bavarian State Opera.

For her birthday, Brenda wanted to have a nice meal at one of the vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Munich. She settled on Bodhi, a wonderful little place with an all vegan menu and a very friendly staff. The only complaint I have is that they didn't stop me from eating everything they put in front of me.

Appetizer: beet soup for Brenda and sweet potato Thai curry soup for me.

 The main dishes were vegan versions of traditional German food. I had the "beef" roulade with gravy, which was served with red cabbage and potato dumplings. Brenda had some seitan patties covered in a champagne sauce and served with truffled potatoes and a root vegetable of some sort. (Not pictured, the Kaiserschmarrn we had for dessert.)

Alas, the celebrating had to come to an end. (Well, at least for me it did. Brenda is probably still partying in Munich.) My flight back to London last night was uneventful (just how I like them) and week five of my spring semester is now underway. I'm planning on checking out one of London's museums sometime this week and am also going to Oxford on Saturday as a part of a class field trip.

Before I sign off, I wanted to share with you two posters I saw while waiting at Heathrow for the train back to London. They were advertising The Economist, and they give you a little insight into one of the current debates in Britain.

I should call it a night. I need to get to bed a little earlier tonight so I can get up early to walk to class. The underground (aka subway) workers are going on strike again this week. After two days of walking to and from class, I'm ready to give in to their demands. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

outside learning

Hey all! The blog entry this week is coming to you from a very sleepy blogger. As you may be aware, Brenda and I tend to be night owls, which works really well for her operatic lifestyle. There are those occasional days, however, when the world demands that we get out of bed a littler earlier than we would like. Today was one such day for me, but the loss of sleep was worth it. First thing this morning our class met outside the Houses of Parliament (aka the Palace of Westminster) and enjoyed a guided tour through the impressive building. We were taken into the chamber for the House of Commons (green is their color) and the chamber for the House of Lords (they get red). As you can imagine, both rooms were beautifully decorated. They were also surprisingly small - the members of each house won't all fit in their respective chambers at the same time. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed so I don't have any pictures to share with you.

I do, however, have pictures from a tour we took through Middle Temple's dining hall. Barristers in England must belong to one of the four Inns of Court of which Middle Temple is one. On Friday, our class took a walking tour through London to see the buildings for the four Inns of Courts. We were told that Middle Temple has the most beautiful dining hall which, like so many places in London, has a long and interesting history.

A picture of the dining hall from the balcony.

This is Middle Temple's symbol (excluding the fire escape part), which can be seen all around Middle Temple's buildings. 

 Several members of Middle Temple made their mark on the United States.

As you can see, a lot of the learning I'm doing this semester is happening outside of the classroom. And that's fine by me. Less time spent with my nose in a book allows me to take advantage of being in Europe and to maximize my time with Brenda. Speaking of which, my wonderful wife decided to fly to London this weekend after she was told that she wouldn't be needed for rehearsals for a few days. Now there's something we couldn't do when I was studying in the U.S! We had a really nice weekend together - Brenda got a lot of practicing done and we saw the movie American Hustle - and we look forward to being together again next weekend when I go to Munich to see Brenda's show and help her celebrate her birthday.

Where's Waldo? Er, I mean, where's Brenda?

Oh, I almost forgot. It seems that some of the underground (aka subway) workers are going on strike starting in about 45 minutes and not stopping until Friday morning. Our apartment in London is 3.5 miles away from my school. Looks like I won't need to go to the gym tomorrow.

Have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

revisiting our old haunt

Hey All! Greetings once again from London. Brenda and I have been having a great time together since she got back from New York last week, but she's hitting the road tomorrow to get to her next gig. Luckily, we won't have to be apart for long. I'm going to fly to Munich in a little over a week to see her and her performance in The Tales of Hoffmann, which also happens to fall on Brenda's birthday. (I'm definitely open to suggestions for birthday presents!)

This past weekend we decided to get out of town and enjoy a little bit of the English countryside. Our travels took us to Lewes, the town we lived in during the summer of 2011 when Brenda was singing with the Glyndebourne Festival. We had fun wandering around the small town and eating at some of our favorite restaurants. We also popped over to Brighton to visit a couple of Brenda's friends from that summer.

 The hotel we stayed in was built in the 1500s. (If my face looks that serious when I'm reading a room service menu, I'd hate to see it when I'm reading legal textbooks. Actually, I probably just look confused.)

 Brenda posing for a picture in the hotel.

 We ate dinner one night at our favorite pub in Lewes, the Snowdrop Inn.

On the train headed to Brighton.

We got back to London on Monday, did a little work (Brenda practiced while I read), and then we went to the opera. Our good friend Elza van den Heever is singing a role at English National Opera right now, and she was kind enough to get us two tickets to the dress rehearsal last night. Elza was fantastic, as she always is, and I have no doubt the show will be well received.

The curtain at ENO.

I think I'll sign off now and spend the rest of the evening hanging out with my Frau. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

C is for Cookie (and Carnegie!)

Hello all! Chenda is reunited once again! I'm back in London after a memorable week in NYC. As Chad mentioned last week, I was there to sing in Marilyn Horne's 80th birthday gala concert. I can't begin to explain what an incredible honor it was for me to celebrate this amazing woman! Standing backstage during the concert, I couldn't believe how many great artists I was surrounded by. My twin made this funny picture from the Carnegie website giving the details of the concert.

But Marilyn Horne is not the only singer on that list to have sung on Sesame Street! Here are the links to the Sesame Street videos. In my mind, it is a clear mark of success to be on Sesame Street! Marilyn Horne, Renée Fleming (says the Muppet Show but I'm pretty sure it was actually Sesame Street), Samuel Ramey, and Isabel Leonard.

Left to right: Lester Lynch, me, Piotr Beczala, Marilyn Horne, Jamie Barton, Samuel Ramey, and Renée Fleming. 

Another perk to this concert was sharing the stage with my good friend Isabel! We went to Juilliard together and the last time we sang together was in 2007. Long overdue, and I hope we get the opportunity again soon!

Chad's Uncle Earl snapped this picture, which I will cherish! You can also see the brilliant pianist Warren Jones on the left, who played for me. He's the only collaborative pianist I know who plays everything from memory. Unbelievable! 

I was also really lucky to have a lot of family and friends cheering me on in the audience! If any of you who were there have pictures of our time together in NYC, please send them to me! 

My Aunt Marilyn and I the day after the concert.

With Chad's parents, at a lovely brunch along with other members of his family! It was great to catch up a bit! 

As usual, I got to visit with some old friends, but there's never enough time to see everyone! I'm hoping to go to NYC again in October, though that sounds like a long time from now. But I'm sure it'll go fast! I've got 6 operas to sing between then and now! :-) Speaking of which, maybe I should go study! Have a great week everybody! 

The beautiful view of NYC from Weehawken, NJ. 

Jolly good

Greetings from London! I just finished my first day of classes and things are off to a good start. There are 18 students in the program, all from U.S. law schools, and five faculty members (three from the U.S and two from the U.K.). Our study center is located in the heart of London and is just a few minutes away from a Chipotle (I think there's a Starbucks even closer). I should avoid the local cuisine and just eat at American chains, right? I haven't had much of a chance to sightsee yet, but I'll wander around town this weekend. Brenda and I arrived last Thursday and spent the weekend settling in to our new place. We're renting the flat (I'm already starting to blend in!) from a friend of ours at a very friendly rate. It's a great place and is just 35 minutes away from where I'm studying. Spending all of this time on the tube (more blending) is really reminding me of our days in New York.

Brenda is probably also being reminded of our days in New York because she's in New York right now. She's there for lessons and coachings and to sing at Marilyn Horne's 80th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. A lot of our family members will be at the performance. Come to think of it, most of the people that read this blog will be there. So why am I telling you about it? You should write me and let me know how it goes!

I'm afraid we didn't take any pictures over the past week in spite of being in two of the world's major cities. I did, however, go to the Inns of Court tonight as a study abroad field trip, and I recommend checking out pictures of those gorgeous buildings online. I'll need to go back during the day and take some pictures of my own.

Brenda will be back in London by the next blog entry, and I'm sure we'll have some pictures to share with you by then. Until next time, have a great week!

Getting organized

Hey All! I hope you've had a good first week of the new year. The week has flown by for us, although I don't remember exactly what we did. I do recall spending a significant amount of time reorganizing our files. To be honest, I was organizing our files for the first time. Instead of sitting in a stack on our bookshelf, they are now neatly organized in binders. There is, however, still work to be done, but it will have to wait until I'm on spring break. Brenda and I head to London on Thursday and my spring (and final) semester begins on Monday. 

 We enjoyed a lovely raclette evening last week with the McCowns.

Sad-clown Brenda in her dressing room during her last performance of Ariadne auf Naxos for the rest of the season. 

Brenda, InSun, and her dog Chacha, in our apartment this evening.

I am looking forward to writing to you next week from our temporary housing in London. Brenda will be in New York at that point, but I'll tell you all about that next Tuesday. Until then, have a great week!