Italia

Hey All! I am writing you from beautiful, sunny Frankfurt. Well, it's not sunny right now seeing as it's almost 1 am but, trust me, it was really sunny today. Actually, the past few days have been gorgeous. It started getting nice right after my parents left and it is supposed to get cold and rainy again as soon as Dan and Whitney get here. Hmm, strange. I think I am starting to notice a pattern. When we have guests, the weather stinks. That settles it, no more guests. We need the sun.

I need to get you up to speed on a few things. First, and I think I touched on this a little before, Brenda was amazing as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor. My parents and I got to see her first and last performances and she was absolutely incredible. Of course, you might think I'm biased since we're married and all. Well, the throngs of people screaming "Bravo!" during and after the performance as well as the group of people that waited to get her signature were not biased and they definitely shared my opinion of her performance. After the first performance, some members of the audience stayed longer than I've ever seen before at Oper Frankfurt. The curtain had already been shut for the night and the audience was still clapping so Brenda and the tenor were forced to squeeze out on to the lip of the stage for one final bow. The last performance received a full standing ovation, another thing I have never seen at Oper Frankfurt. A few fans told Brenda that they enjoyed her so much that they came to all 5 performances.

I'm telling you all of this not only to brag about my wife but to also give you an idea of how important this particular opera and this particular role were for Brenda. It is far and away the most recognition she has gotten in Frankfurt in the almost two seasons she's been here. I am so proud of her and am happy that I was here to see it.

Next on the list of things to talk at you about: Italy. Our trip to Italy all started with a trip to the airport to get our rental car. We had reserved a car shortly after my parents arrived in Frankfurt and picked it up almost a week later. As we made the reservation, I showed off for my parents by only speaking German with the car rental lady. She spoke amazing English, of course, but I wanted to prove to my parents that I had actually learned something over the past two years and not just written blogs and eaten pretzels. Well, when we went to pick up the car everything was great except for one small thing, the car had a manual transmission. I don't recall the rental car lady asking about manual or automatic but, then again, she was speaking German and I was busy nodding and trying to act bilingual so that important bit of information could have flown right by me. In any case, I can't drive a stick and my parents hadn't done it since I was -10 years old. Dad, however, stepped up to the plate and, in spite of that elusive 3rd gear, he led us safely to Munich, Florence, 7 (or so) picturesque Italian towns and back again. I was impressed to say the least.

While in Italy, we stayed in a villa at a picturesque vineyard outside of a town we referred to as Collie. We used the villa as our home base. During the day we would travel to beautiful towns in the area (e.g. Volterra, Lucca, Montepulciano, Sienna) and at night we came back to the house, made dinner and drank some wine we had found during the day. We took tons of pictures, of course, and I have included a few below.

Having lunch in beautiful Montepulciano. For all of you New Moon fans, this is where they filmed the scenes that took place in Italy. We didn't see any vampires but that's probably because we were there during the day.

These barrels belong to a wine producing family that has been in business for over 1000 years.

The famous opera composer, Giacomo Puccini, was born in Lucca in the building in the middle of this picture. That is a statue of him in the foreground.

A view of olive trees and vines from the vineyard where we stayed.

It was a great trip and it would have only been better had Brenda been able to join us. And speaking of trips, we are already eagerly anticipating our trip back to the US this summer. It is a little over a month away which seems unbelievably close. Before that, though, we have a couple of operas to perform and some friends to show around Frankfurt so I will surely have some news to share in the coming weeks. For now, I should turn in. Until next time, have a great week!

A quick post

Hey All! Brenda is finished with Lucia, I am back in Germany and, as of a few minutes ago, my parents are back in Iowa. Things are returning back to normal. Well, for a little while at least. Our good friends Dan and Whitney are coming to visit next week and, until they get here, we'll be doing the usual. Brenda is rehearsing La Giuditta and I am preparing another small role from the opera Palestrina which will begin performances in mid June.

It has been a long day so I'm going to keep this short. I do want to tell you more about our trip to Italy, as well as Brenda's performances of Lucia, but that will have to wait. Check back soon! Until next time, have a great week!

Chad in Italy, Brenda singing in Italian

Hey All! It’s Monday once again and I am writing you from sunny Italy. Well, mostly sunny Italy. Tuscany has been having an unusual amount of rain as compared to their usual May weather. Things here are beautiful nonetheless and I’m having a great time with my parents and their friends, Tom and Patty.

While we’ve been down here hopping from one really old city to another, Brenda has been up in Frankfurt singing her heart out. Tonight was her 3rd performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. After the 2nd performance she got a bouquet of flowers thrown at her during her bow. I haven’t talked to her yet about this evening’s performance but I’m willing to bet it was another success. Brenda has also started rehearsals for the opera La Giuditta which is, in part, why she wasn’t able to join us in Italy.

My parents and I will be returning to Frankfurt on Friday. Until then, we have planned more day trips to other beautiful Italian cities we haven’t seen yet. I hope you all have a great week and I’ll talk to you next Monday.

Brenda was/is amazing!

Hey all! My parents are in town and we're headed off to Munich tomorrow so I'm going to make this short and sweet. First and foremost, Brenda's performance of Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor on Saturday was an incredible success. When her first aria ended Brenda was greeted with an explosion of applause and bravos. The audience obviously loved the entire cast and showed their appreciation at the end of the opera by clapping longer than I've ever seen an audience clap at Oper Frankfurt.

I've included a couple of pictures from Saturday night. The first is Brenda in her bloody wedding dress immediately after the performance. The second is with tenor Joseph Calleja and baritone Aris Argiris at the curtain call. Forgive the fuzziness of the second picture, there wasn't a lot of light in the audience at the time.

I will try to write a little more later in the week about Brenda's outstanding performance as well as my upcoming travels with my parents. Until then, have a great week!

It must be Monday somewhere in the world

I think I'm approaching this blogging thing all wrong. I told you that I would post a blog every Monday and I think I've proven that I am incapable of doing that consistently. Therefore, I'm going to lower my standards a bit. From this point on I swear to post a blog every Monday unless I don't. Wow, a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I will still post weekly and I will shoot for Monday but it may just have to be Tuesday.

My darling wife is in the other room right now studying Lucia di Lammermoor and coughing up a lung. That's right, Brenda is sick. In spite of that, she has still been going to rehearsals and has actually learned the staging for most of the opera in just two days. It would be great if she could get healthy again at some point before Saturday since that is the day of the first performance. Please send some healing vibes her way.

You'll be happy to know that my allergies are under control for the most part now. The doctor gave me steroids (YAY!) which allow me to breathe almost normally. The one good thing about having allergies, though, is it means the weather is getting better. Frankfurt has been gorgeous lately. We've been getting out and taking advantage of the sunshine as much as possible. The nice weather should allow me to step up my running a bit which will, hopefully, help me drop some of this hibernating weight I picked up over the winter. Of course, my parents will be arriving in Frankfurt on Thursday which will probably cause me to put on even more winter weight in spite of the current season. It will be totally worth it, though. We can't wait to have them here.

Well, time to turn in. I've got to get my beauty sleep and Brenda has to get healthy again. I hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you next Monday(ish)!

a beer by any other name

Hey All! First things first, Brenda is back! She decided to return to Germany in spite of how much she loves New York. Of course, had the volcano in Iceland erupted a few days earlier and left her stranded in NYC, I doubt she would have complained too much. Luckily for me, though, she made it back home safe and sound and right on time. However, she did come back a little worse off than when I left her. She somehow picked up a cold in New York and when you add that to my allergy-induced wheezing and sniffling, we really make quite the snotty pair. Brenda has already been to the doctor, though, so she is on the road to recovery. My appointment is on Wednesday. I'm hoping for steroids.

The night before Brenda's return to Frankfurt, Florian invited me over for a movie and beer night. The movie: Ninja Assassins. The beer: Budweiser. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Was Ninja Assassins awesome?" Yeah, it kind of was but it was also one of the bloodiest movies I've ever seen. If you like ninjas AND blood, though, it is definitely the movie for you. You may also be thinking, "I thought you moved to Germany to drink good beer, Chad. I am ashamed of your beer choice!" Well, before you judge me too harshly, you have to know that this wasn't the Budweiser we have back in the US. This was a different beer brewed in the Czech Republic that happens to share the same name as our Budweiser back home. I would love to tell you more about it but Wikipedia does a much better job. What I will tell you, though, is that it tasted pretty good. As Florian would say, "Es geht runter und es bleibt unten" or "It goes down and it stays down."

Our friend Kris is in town at the moment. He came down from Amsterdam for an audition in Karlsruhe and we are very happy he decided to spend a few days with us. I totally blame him for this blog entry being a day late, though. It certainly couldn't be my tendency to procrastinate.

I think it's time for me to hit the hay. I will touch base with you all next Monday at which point Brenda will have started rehearsals for Lucia di Lammermoor. Until then, have a great week!

Laundry time

Hey all! I hope you had a great weekend. I am happy to report that my lovely wife will be returning to me in just a couple of days. Less than 36 hours actually. From what she's told me, it sounds like she's been having a great time in New York. She spent a few wonderful days with her parents, got lunch with my lovely aunt Ann, saw several friends and even found some time in there to have a few lessons and coachings. Now that I think about, she's having such a good time, I hope she's still planning on coming back to Frankfurt.

I have, of course, been suffering greatly since Brenda left me last Tuesday. In spite of that, however, I managed to have some fun visiting my friend Jeff over the weekend. Jeff lives in Hagen and works full-time with the opera theater there. I didn't really get to see much of Hagen this weekend, though, because Jeff was singing at a theater in Gelsenkirchen. I saw him perform in two very nice productions and also got to meet some of his friends and colleagues.

The town of Gelsenkirchen has a population of somewhere around 250,000 people. As I sat in their beautiful 1,000 seat theater, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if every town in the US with 1/4 million people had an opera house. If that were the case, our blog might be called Chenda in America. I doubt that will happen anytime soon, though. Opera houses in Germany are funded in large part by the government. That is the only way they're able to stay afloat. Opera houses in America are privately funded and, therefore, there are a lot less of them.

The train ride up to Gelsenkirchen lasted 4 1/2 hours and was quite enjoyable. The German countryside is beautiful and I always like seeing Germany's various towns and castles. I look forward to exploring even more of Germany when my parents are here in a little over 2 weeks.

I'm back in Frankfurt now and it's time to face the music. Brenda is coming back early Wednesday morning and I haven't done one bit of cleaning. I had planned on doing a little every day but I, of course, didn't and so tomorrow is the day. I will try to take some interesting pictures in the coming week so I have something for you to look at on the blog next week. Until then, have a great week!