What a roller coaster the last weeks have been! From intense rehearsals and performances of The Merry Widow in Modesto, to making instruments and teaching songs to children in Berkeley Elementary Schools to a MUCH NEEDED vacation with family in southern California. Well, the vacation was cut a bit short...
While driving through Beverly Hills on a Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from the Modesto Symphony wondering if it were possible for me to sing the soprano solo in Mahler's Symphony No. 4. The snow storm had made it impossible for the soprano to leave the east coast, and this meant I would have to learn the German text and melody in the car on the drive home, possibly not singing it until rehearsing in front of the orchestra...sure, why not? My dear friend and colleague Ming was gracious enough to let me do it, as I was supposed to sing in a gala for his youth symphony in Napa, CA. It turns out that the tenor I as supposed to sing with was also snowed in out east. What a wild weekend!
I arrived home from vacation late on Wed. night, got my rehearsal and formal wear together and left for Modesto on Thursday afternoon for the first rehearsal with the orchestra. Talk about BUTTERFLIES! Yikes, I don't think I can explain how I felt, because as much as my stomach was not allowing me to keep anything in it, I still felt very calm. It was really strange. I guess when you know you have a job to do, that's what happens.
I heard the piece once through with just orchestra, then sang through it with them before the break. At the break there was a meet and greet with the subscribers and I was able to chat with my lovely host from the opera just two weeks prior, Bob. He introduced me around and we had a lovely chat. Then I went back stge to rest my voice. it was quite harsh on it to be speaking words in the car drive for 10 hours almost solid. Then back to rehearsal. But I was not aware that it was an open rehearsal for the subscribers...gulp! A little nerve-wracking, but again, I had a job to do and knew it was neither the time nor the place to worry about perfection, but just the next layer of getting comfortable with the piece, the German, the interludes, and the orchestration for which I needed to listen. Needless to say, I slept like a baby that night. Thank goodness, I was exhausted!
In Friday's afternoon rehearsal I was able to add still one more layer of comfort with the piece and with what i needed as far as breath etc. Maestro David Lockington was so incredibly generous with his conducting and making sure that I was alright and had what I needed. I am extremely grateful for his patience is letting me chip away at the piece in layers, knowing that more sound and more interpretation would come on the night of the performance. I am also grateful to Ming for allowing me to go and take on such an opportunity!
You just never know what might be around the corner!