Chemnitz, Tenor gala, preparing...
Hi there! This week was a surprising one. Akiho started her new season at the theater and we are still sorting out our stuff at our appartment after the moving from Wuerzburg. I have aslo been studying Dichterliebe for a upcoming project, hopefully in Mexico and I had a last minute jump in for a gala concert.
Listening to several versions of Dichterliebe has been really interesting. Recordings I heard years ago and new ones I did not know. I am really happy to hear many different interpretations. Some of them I thought were very good years ago, this time turned out to be not so good as I remembered them. I am sure it is just how I see now things now, and it helps a lot that my German has improved. Now I am able to understand more. I have to say though some poems use very old German or to say very poetic german and those ones I do not understand complitely so I must search for the translation. That means I am learning further german and that is only helping me to understand better this language.
On Thursday I got a called to jump in for a concert on Saturday, a gala with three tenors, with all the Italian classics, opera, napolitan songs, tosti, etc. It was in Bad Staffelstein. It went really well and also there, there was another Mexican Tenor called Oscar de la Torre. This was the first time we sang together. We met few years ago in another jump in where I sang Tamino and he was going to sing the day after another concert on the same place. Finally we sang together and it was nice to have another Mexican colleague singing. I think it was actually the first time I sang with another Mexican tenor a concert in Europe. When I sang in Freiburg (2016) Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Belcore was Mexican and Dulcamara Too. Since then I did not sang with another Mexican, so, I was glad it happened. After last nights concert we had a breakfast together and we had a long chat. Both of our stories are different but the meet because we both studied with Francisco Araiza, at different points in time, he much earlier, but it was interesting to know he also studied with him. From what he told me they were very close, and for Oscar it means a lot that Araiza was his teacher and they shared very nice moments. Araiza has been really important for already few singers I know. I have been in touch with him lately, I hope I can see him again after almost 10 years of not seeing him.
I keep my 4 times a week exercise routine and reading "Daily Stoic" and some Tolstoi. I also continue with the "The artists way".
Take care and see you next week.
