London, Covent Garden, friends…
Hi there! This week I flew to London, to visit some friends and visit the city where I studied my Masters Degree.
I had an incredible week, walking the streets of London and making music. I met some of my friends from when I was a student at the Royal Academy of London. I love just walking through the city and getting lost and wonder through it.
It is very nice to see some of my friends and to see they are doing well and I am glad that after so many years we still keep a sort of connection. I had the chance to meet Hester Crombie, she was my pianist at the Academy with whom I made several competitions and won some prizes. It was really nice to talk about our student time. I am glad to see that she is doing well and had a beautiful family.
I also had the opportunity to make music with a great friend of mine. I am glad we keep in touch and we can understand each other. I stayed over at his place for few days. Aki came to visit as well and we had a very nice time all of us.
The first evening Aki and I went to see The tales of Hoffmann at the Royal Opera House. Singing the title role was Juan Diego Florez. It was a very nice and funny production, very entertaining and clever. The cast in general was very good. The best of the evening was the was the baritone who sang Lindorf, Coppélius, Dapertutto and Dr. Miracle. About Juan Diego, some parts, the lyric parts were really nice and elegant but any time the orchestra comes full and where you have the big trio or the big moments, he is almost… you cannot really hear him at all, sometimes you here a bit of squillo but it is almost impossible to hear him when the full orchestra comes in. I already thought before going in that it would be that the challenge for him, and , it was. I am sorry because he could be still doing the lighter repertoire instead of Hoffmann, but Aki and I also believe that there is a way he can sing still more brilliant on his high notes and not so opaque, as if he looses the metal of the voice on the very top. We believe that is a technical problem he can solve because sometimes he really hits the spot for his voice where is really brilliant but then he looses it. But who am I to say he sings this or that way… he is still one of the greatest so, it is just my opinion. I myself look at the mirror and I am years light away from singing great haha, but I keep trying my best through studying and discipline.
Of course as you know me, I love coffee, so I went to several coffee shops in London, some I visited already the last time I was there and I also tried some new ones.
Our last day we decided to spend it in Oxford. We had a nice walk around and saw the beautiful architecture, visited the botanical gardens and had a very nice lunch and coffee. Coffee at the covered market, and lunch at church’s café where the place was built around the year 1320. So I guess officially is the oldest place I have ever eaten.
My friend Jeff as all about singing and tenors, so we had some time to talk about technique and singing in general, the life of us musicians and as well the politics that are involved in the profession.
I had a very intense week walking many thousands of steps everyday carring my bagpack and my camera, taking photos and walking without stopping for several kilometres. So now I am super tired.
I keep doing my 4 time a week exercise routine although this week and I keep reading Daily Stoic and Tolstoi.
Take care and see you next week.
